ABSTRACT
The Burmese call the supernatural practitioner with which this chapter is concerned an ahtelan hsaya (“Master of the Upper Path”), Among the many components which comprise the role-set of this practitioner, we are concerned here primarily with its exorcistic component. Among other things, the ahtelan hsaya possesses the power to expel harmful supernaturals from those whom they have possessed (see Chapters 9 and 11). Here, then, is a salient difference between the exorcist and the shaman. The shaman propitiates the harmful supernaturals, the exorcist (in principle, if not always in practice) controls them. The ahtelan hsaya, however, is not the only practitioner who possesses power to control harmful supernaturals. The same power is exercised by the aulan hsaya (“Master of the Lower Path”). The latter, it will be recalled (see Chapter 2), is a master witch who achieves his malevolent ends by compelling harmful spirits to execute his intentions.
