In autumn 2011 my husband, his daughter Anne and I visited several shamans, diviners, healers and fortune tellers in Tamil Nadu, India. All but one live in the Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu.

In a small village we learned to know a male shaman who helps people with family problems. He finds out if a person has cast a black magic spell on his client. Although he told us that he was a Christian, he asked the Dravidian village God Sudalai for advice. He threw some cowrie shells and their position was interpreted by the God via the shaman. E.g., within 31 days the problem will be solved.
Then we visited two ladies who work as diviners. Their main God is Lord Murugan, accompanied by some other Hindu Gods, to whom they pray and offer coconuts, fruit, incense sticks and fire. The first one also helps people with family problems, the second says that she heals some illnesses, as e.g. diarrhea and sleeplessness.
Very interesting was our visit of a Kani shaman`s house in Kanikudiyruppu village in the Papanasam area. The Kani people are classified as tribal, and are considered to be a jungle tribe. The shaman who explained his work to us also has a regular job in the forest department. He works together with his uncle (the Kaniplathi = chief priest). They are the only shamans in their village. The ceremony he demonstrated to us lasts from 6 pm to 3 o`clock in the morning. All the time he plays on his kokkara (see below) and calls 101 Gods to assist him, starting with village Gods and ending with Lord Shiva. In the end he is in a trance and the Gods appear to him and tell him the solution to the people´s problems.
We found the last fortune teller by accident. He sat outside Sri Nagarajar Temple in Nagercoil that we had just visited. For INR 20 he made his parrot pick three cards out of a pile for Anne. On them were the pictures of Ganesh (God of wisdom, success and courage), Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth and beauty) and Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge, music and creative arts). We do not know, whether there were other cards in the pile. But at least these were all positive aspects. Then he offered to read in Anne`s (left) palm for INR 30. What he now said was very much out of the ordinary (no clichés, but facts about her present situation) and astonishingly they were all true.
Have a full preview of my book (120 pages) in English: Christa Neuenhofer, AYYANAR AND MARIAMMAN, FOLK DEITIES IN SOUTH INDIA (see below) and in German: