Matho Nagrang the festival of oracles in Ladakh

The Matho Nagrang Festival is among the many festivals that are celebrated in Ladakh like the Losar festival, the Saka Dawa festival, the Sindhu Darshan and such. Ladakh which is in Jammu and Kashmir is a place that is a huge tourist attraction is visited by people not just from outside of India but by the people living in India as well. One of the main attractions or highlights of Ladakh would be tremendous scenic beauty and also the colorful culture and the locals living there. It is also home to many of the ancient monasteries and also to a world heritage site which is the monastery of Alchi. The place is the most visited during the time of festivals and fairs. When you visit the place, you can bear witness to various colourful festivals of the Buddhists of the place. And the Matho Nagrang festival holds its place as one such festival in Ladakh.

The festival is celebrated in the Matho Monastery and is among the most colorful festivals that are celebrated in the monasteries. During the first two days of the celebrations of the festival, the monks of the monasteries give a grand performance of mask dances. They adorned themselves with colourful and vibrant silk robes and put on masks that are said to reflect the faces of many gods and goddesses. The festival is very significant to the people and holds a lot of importance. Before the festival commences, two entire months are dedicated in order to perform meditations which are done in absolute isolation, after which two oracles.

The two supposed oracles come to the courtyard of the monastery and accompany the two masked dancers. These oracles are also believed to predict the future and the various upcoming events. These oracles are held in high regard and are visited people from all around the place to know their future predictions and also to know if anything bad would occur or accidents that would happen, which is why this dance is such an important part of the festival. These oracles are said to come in contact with a spiritual trance after they conduct the two-month isolation in the monasteries. There is also a display of acrobatics In the courtyard where the performers jump from one balcony to another in addition to other acrobatics. These stunts are all performed as they are blindfolded.

The festival of Matho Nagrang in Ladakh is celebrated on the 15th day during the first month of the Tibetan calendar. This festival is celebrated on the Matho Monastery, which is the holy monastery that belongs to the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism.