ORACLES

ORACLES AND ASTROLOGERS

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 rites necessary to propitiate 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 harvest, arranging a marriage or going on a journey- and advise as to the auspicious way of going about it.

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.

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.