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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.
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. 
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.
