| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines first-person narratives of a hysteria-like illness, referred to locally as ‘clenched teeth (daant lag gaya)’. In Varanasi, India, the distinguishing sign of ‘clenched teeth’ is a tightly closed mouth, and symptoms involve seizure-like or fainting behaviours. I show how North Indian women improvised upon expressive genres of love-in-separation (viraha) to narrate their experiences of this illness. Drawing upon the symbolic structure of viraha to explain bodily signs and symptoms, patients of ‘clenched teeth’ asserted they were women who loved so deeply and steadfastly that they could not help but experience distress when separated from the person they adore. Simultaneously, these ad-hoc narratives concealed a traumatic kernel—an unbridgeable asymmetry between the sufferer and her beloved—that rendered the emotion conveyed not only that of love, but also of anger and resentment.
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