Oracles & Astrologers
in Leh Ladakh
The most famous monk-oracles are those of Matho Gompa. Chosen every three years
by a traditional procedure, two monks spend several months in a rigorous regimen
of prayer and fasting to prepare and purify themselves for their arduous role.
When the time comes they are possessed by the deity, whose spirit enables them
to perform feats that would be impossible to anyone in a normal state such as
cutting themselves with knives, or sprinting along the gompa's topmost parapet.
In this condition, they will answer questions put to them concerning individual
and public welfare. However, the spirit is said to be able to detect questions
asked by sceptical observers with the intention of testing him, and to react
with frenzied anger.
The Ladakhis believe implicitly in the influence of gods and spirits on the
material world, and undertake no major enterprise without taking this influence
into consideration. The lamas are the vital intermediaries between the human
and the spirit worlds. Not only do they perform the irtes necessary topropitiate
the gods - in private houses as well as in the gompa temples ; they also often
take on the role of astrologers and oracles who can predict the auspicious time
for starting any enterprise, whether ploughing the fields, or taking in the
harves, arranging a marriage or going on a journey- and advise as to the auspicious
way of going about it.
There are also in some villages lay people, men and women, who have special
powers as oracles and healers. Some of them belong to families in which there
have been several such receptacles of spirit forces. Others are diagnosed as
such without any hereditary back ground. The spirits possessing these lay persons
are believed to be capricious, and not always entirely benevolent, and some
people resist being possessed by them. Once they have accepted, however, they
undergo a process of initiation and training by monks and senior oracles, and
only after this is completed may they start practising. The effectiveness of
their spirit- healing is an article of faith with the Ladakhis.
