Renowned filmmaker and artist Anu Malhotra’s work bears testimony to her abiding interest in India’s indigenous cultures and unexplored territories of knowledge and living traditions. She was the first to travel the length and breadth of India filming her legendary travel programmes, Namaste India and Indian Holiday, showcasing India’s soulful beauty and vibrant heritage. Her work has seminally documented some unique cultures, like in her series Tribal Wisdom, wherein she personally directed the award-winning docufilms The Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh and The Konyaks of Nagaland. In keeping with her lifelong commitment to documenting India’s hidden treasures, Anu embarked on a journey to understand and document the mythic imagination and practices of the Kullu Valley, a realm largely unknown and inaccessible to outsiders.
Shamans of the Himalayas, which explores the mystical world of Shamans (Goors) of the Kullu Valley, is based on the critically acclaimed docuseries of the same title that has been broadcast on Discovery, Gaia, and other international channels and is presently being screened on Amazon World. This series stands as the only work of its kind in the history of documentary cinema. Through immersive story-telling and years of on-ground research, the book delves into the vibrant Devta culture, sacred traditional rituals, spirit healing, and indigenous practices of the Kullu Valley. It is a testament to Anu’s exceptional abilities that she managed to penetrate this secluded valley culture which is fiercely protective of its sacred practices and remains impenetrable to outside influences. Beyond merely gaining entry, Anu skilfully overcomes significant language and cultural barriers—a remarkable achievement requiring a rare combination of patience, cultural sensitivity, and determination that few can match.
Acting as a masterful cultural interpreter, Malhotra unveils the extraordinary realm of the Kullu Valley’s shamanic practitioners, locally called Goors. The author enters the world of divinations, divine possessions, mass exorcisms, nature spirits, and community celebrations in the Kullu region with the help of local guides and divine permissions. She witnesses and records these ancient living traditions, and as her journey continues, she evolves from a place of intellectual scepticism to immersive learning. She reveals how revered spiritual intermediaries enter into trance, embodying celestial energies to connect the divine and the material worlds. Along with inherited wisdom passed on generationally, they perform healing rituals, resolve community conflicts, and guide villagers through life’s most significant transitions. These practices represent an unbroken spiritual tradition that has endured for centuries. Interestingly, she notes that the Valley’s ancestral ecological wisdom forms an invaluable living archive in the Goors, who, as mediums, have supported environmental conservation practices.
The book’s four meticulously structured sections elucidate the central dimensions of the Kullu region’s shamanic traditions and their critical community purposes. The experiential narrative is followed by extensive research on that particular aspect of shamanism across multiple disciplines that allow the reader a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
Apart from introducing readers to this ubiquitous yet largely undiscovered realm, Anu’s writerly quest explores cultures offering worldviews grounded in reflective reverence for nature and community bonds, where challenges are addressed collaboratively and through collective wisdom. This perspective stands in striking contrast to the anthropocentric paradigm dominating modern society—one fixated on consumption and individualism, which have led us to the precipice of climate and moral crises globally. Anu has been a lifelong crusader for sustainable living. In her extensive and monumental body of work, she has consistently revealed the magnificence of India’s diversity. She contends that there remains insufficient recognition of how indigenous communities and ancient traditions provide exemplary models for social cohesion, environmental sustainability, and holistic living. Shamans of the Himalayas invites us to explore one such extraordinary cultural landscape where ancient wisdom fosters profound connection with the sacred, community and nature.