Disease and hardships are common to mankind. To overcome these bodily ailments or social crises people have an inventory of remedies.
Premises for the secular practice of medicine, unencumbered by super- naturalism are, therefore, found among all societies. Such knowledge, which of course was empirical and not analyzed in a scientific fashion, was usually available to and utilized by all the people.
There were, however, innumerable afflictions which people in primitive societies supposed were caused by factors of a non-material kind. The treatment of such ailments required magical procedures, such as returning a poisonous power injected by an evil shaman or magic man into his victim.
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Individuals who had acquired or inherited or purchased supernatural power and procedures based thereon were asked to help persons supposed to be ill from these non-material causes.
In all societies shamans were only part-time workers engaged in curing people or at some ceremonies for which their power also fitted them.
The practice of medicine among the peoples in primitive societies is thus everywhere characterized by a few actually useful devices and drugs, but incorrect theories as to causation of more deadly ailments and by resort to the supernatural for treatment of the latter.
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Each society has its specialists who treat the diseases by their skills. These are called witch doctor, shaman, ozha or bhopa. The shamans or ozhas are those who have the power to detect witches and cure a bewitched person. They profess to be able to look into the future, escape harm, transform themselves and accomplish superhuman tasks.
Evans-Pritchard, who has worked among the Azandes of the southern Sudan during 1926-36, has given elaborate information about witchcraft and oracles. In Azande tribe, any misfortune can be, and generally is, attributed to witchcraft. Azandes consider it to be real. The witch dispatches what he calls the soul, or spirit, of his witchcraft to cause damage to others.
The sufferer consults oracles or a diviner to discover who is injuring him. This may be quite a lengthy and complicated procedure. When the culprit is revealed, he is requested to withdraw his malign influence.
If, in a case of sickness, he does not do so and the person dies, the kinsmen of the dead man could, in future, take the affair to the chief and exact vengeance, or they could make, as they do today, a counter magic to destroy the witch.
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Among Indian tribals to the practice of witchcraft is found. A witch can injure anyone by a psychic act and gradually bring about his death. This power arises from a certain substance in the body of the witch.
Witchcraft can explain all unfortunate events. It plays its part is fishing, agricultural pursuits, in the domestic life of the village as well as in communal life.
Thus witchcraft plays a prominent role in the total life of the tribal community and forms the background of oracles, magic and counters magic. If, for instance, the maize crop is diseased, it is attributed to witchcraft. If the milch cow dries, it is due to witchcraft.
The occurrence of witchcraft is explained by various causes. Though, there is natural causation, but why did the accident happen just when it did and to that particular man? A man is injured by a bullock.
Why this man? And why this bullock? Witchcraft is a causative factor in the production of harmful phenomena in particular places at particular times, and in relation to particular persons. If a tree falls and kills a man, that is natural but why did it fall just as he was passing.
An oracle is consulted to determine whether some individual is bewitching another individual. One of the most popular kinds of oracle is the poison oracle. Fowls are taken into the bush and a small amount of poison is administered to them. If the fowl lives, the man is adjudged to be a witch.
The witch doctors are not those magicians who cure the ailments. There are other kinds of specialists who counteract magic. The witch doctor is a diviner who exposes witches and a magician who thwarts them. He also acts as a leech, or doctor.