Review of Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas by Holly Walters

Vineet Gairola (vineetworkz@gmail.com, la21resch01001@iith.ac.in) is a Ph.D. Scholar in Psychology at the Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. He has been researching ritual practices and worship in the Garhwal Himalayas for more than four years. He is primarily interested in documenting spiritual and mystical experiences, including divine possession seen at various temple sites and places of spiritual significance. For his Ph.D., he examines various ritual practices involving gods and goddesses (devī-devtās) and how the spiritual and divine element is entwined in the daily lives of communities. His regional expertise is Uttarakhand, escpecially the Garhwal Himalayas and disciplinary expertise is psychology and psychoanalysis. His research interests are analytical psychology, understanding possession in the religious practices of Uttarakhand, understanding about devi-devtas, and how deities are entwined in the daily lives of the entire community. He is a recipient of the Stephen Mitchell Award by the American Psychological Association (Division 39), the Psychoanalytic Research Exceptional Contribution Award by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), the Student Research Award 2021 from the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (Division 36 of the APA), Asian Student Membership Scholarship from the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS), and Excellence in research Award 2022 from IIT Hyderabad.