Shamans and Oracles of Tawang and Nafra Circle (Arunachal Pradesh, India)

The area stretching from Tawang to the Nafra Circle in India, through the high mountain passes of the eastern Himalayan ridge, is a territory with a high density of tribal population. At this cultural crossroads, the authority and charisma of religious figures such as brahmins, p¯uj¯ar¯i, lamas, oracles and shamans is mutually acknowledged within their communities. This paper seeks to offer a study of the local shamanistic and animistic tradition, which possesses a complex hierarchical grid of magico-religious ritualism, with particular reference to the Monpa ethnic group. In particular, I will also refer to a lineage of kutens, or Himalayan oracles, well known in the nyingmapa monasteries of western Khameng and the Tawang district, apparently first instituted by the tulku (sprul sku) Tijin Rinpoche at the end of the seventeenth century within the ethnic subgroup of the Tawang Monpas. Despite the fact that this tradition clearly has its origins and contemporary practice within the shamanic substrate of the area and continues to communicate with it, on the other hand it was formally recognized as an official lineage by the sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso, who was himself a member of the same ethnic group.