Ladakh is a land like no other. Bounded by two of
the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the
Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar
range. Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2750m)
at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram.
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.
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.
