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Shamans, Mystics, And Doctors: A Psychological inquiry into India and its Healing Traditions. (New York: A.Knopf, 1982)

Indian Edition (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982)

British Edition (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984)

Paperback (Boston: Beacon Press, 1983 & Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991)

German Translation, Schamanen, Heilige und Aerzte (Munich: Biederstein Verlag, 1984; Beck Verlag 2006)

Spanish Translation, Chamanes, Misticos y Doctores (Mexico:Fondo de Cultura, 1990)

Marathi translation, Aushadh, Utare, ani Aashirwad (Bombay: Majestic, 1993)

Italian translation, Sciamani, Mistici E Dottori (Parma: Pratiche Editrice, 1993). 2nd edition, 1995

French translation,Chamans,Mystiques et Medecins (Paris: du Seuil, 1997)

Hindi translation, Sadhu, Ojha, Sant (Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan,2005)

Turkish translation (Istanbul: Paradigma Yayiniari, in Press)


From Reviews

With extraordinary sympathy, open-mindedness, and insight Sudhir Kakar has drawn from both his Eastern and Western backgrounds to show how the gulf that divides native healer from Western psychiatrist can be spanned.
New York Review of Books

Kakar insightfully draws cross-cultural analogies and points out, where appropriate, how western and Indian practice vary and the areas of common ground in perception and practice. Highly recommended for psychology, anthropology, and religion collections.
Library Journal

Kakar describes all these encounters with verve and a novelist’s eye for detail…. he’s a uniquely privileged observer, with a fine English style and a droll, ingratiating presence. An extraordinary cross-cultural “field report.”
Kirkus Reviews

Fascinating are the rich observations and insights that Sudhir Kakar gives the reader, and his capacity to understand the techniques and ideas of each healing tradition from its cultural background.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Offering ethnographic portraits of fifteen different healing systems, ranging from those of Dravidian shamans to Ayurvedic doctors, Kakar combines vivid novelistic descriptions of particular curers and their clients with insightful “inside” accounts of the conceptual system underlying each tradition.
Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Ce double regard donne son extreme saveur a ce livre passionnant. Son experience du terrain, sa prise de conscience de la relativite medicale font de lui un heraut du dialogue des cultures.
Le Nouvel Observateur