Karmic Astrology, Kingship, and the Democratization of Merit-Making in Ladakh

Karma is often depicted as a highly individualized force produced by a person’s moral choices. Yet, when examining ideologies pertaining to karma in Buddhist societies throughout Asia, one finds the significance karma plays in shaping broader cultural views on ritual efficacy, social order, and political stability. Karma in these contexts constitutes a collective force for organizing communities and legitimating social hierarchies. Such has traditionally been the case during an annual ceremony in Leh, Ladakh called Dosmoche, an occasion when the Ladakhi king and his vassals orchestrate a royal pageant through the streets of Leh. A giant thread-cross (mdos) served as the focal point of these past spectacles. This device was constructed based on karmic astrological calculations associated with the king’s horoscope. Locals believed the king’s karma determined the future and stability of the Ladakhi kingdom. Now, although Dosmoche continues, royal presence and sponsorship have ceased. The king is not present nor do locals expect or necessarily welcome his arrival. Instead, the festival presents an occasion for individual Buddhists to increase their own karmic merit and partake in the protective blessings of the thread-cross.

In my paper, I first draw on historical data and my own ethnographic data to explore the connection between karma, astrology, and kingship in Ladakh. Focusing on tantric rituals conducted during the Royal New Year ceremony of Dosmoche, such as the production of thread-crosses and ransom effigies (glud) based on principles of karmic astrology, I explore on how a public ceremony in Ladakh has traditionally affirmed views of sacred kingship, royal authority, and aristocracy. I argue that public ceremonies, such as Dosmoche, symbolically supported traditional hierarchies by constructing a vision of social and cosmic order the stability of which remained contingent upon the ritual removal of karmically generated obstacles facing the king as determined by his annual horoscope. Next, drawing on ethnographic data, I examine how and why Ladakhis increasingly reject royal authority in modern contexts. As citizens of India, Ladakhis no longer identify as royal subjects. Further, Buddhist reform movements in the region often criticize traditional social hierarchies, emphasizing instead how local Buddhists should exert individual effort to better their karmic conditions independent of traditional power structures. I argue that shifting views on kingship reflect broader shifts in how Ladakhis articulate Buddhist moral agency in relation to karma.

Using Dosmoche as a focal point, this paper will first address two central questions: 1) How has the institution of kingship in Ladakh been tied to religious views of royal power tracing itself back to the Tibetan empire? 2) How do tantric rituals intersect with astrology when determining how and when to perform rituals to protect the king during times of unfavorable karmic conditions? To engage this first inquiry, I will draw the audience’s attention to aspects of Dosmoche that Clifford Geertz would likely characterize as a “Theatre State”, in which state power is constructed and maintained through spectacle. During Dosmoche, the king and his vassals marched through the streets, while the king, donning attire resembling Songtsen Gampo, led the way. Various rituals and spectacles featuring royal and aristocratic families ensued in Leh’s royal palace. These performances presented the king as a deified royal figure descending from the mythic rulers of the Yarlung Dynasty. These attractions likely intended to reinforce the divine-like status of the king and his entourage in the eyes of Ladakhis. Spectators thereby became invested in the health and longevity of the king, whose stable rule relied on the successful performance of the thread-cross rituals.

To unpack my second line of inquiry, I explore how karmic astrology was used for the king’s benefit. Astrologers and monks collaborated in the construction of the thread-cross. They consulted astrological almanacs, bringing together element of Indic and Chinese astrology to determine design, time of construction, and timing of specific ritual acts. The thread-cross traditions of Dosmoche assumed the king’s horoscope presented specific karmic conditions that would be favorable or unfavorable to life-force (srog), the health of the body (lus), power for achieving goals (dbang thang), the amount of good fortune (rlung rta) he had in a given year, and the status of his vital essence (bla). Astrology factored into how the king’s date, time, and place of birth created karmic conditions tying aspects of his horoscope to cycles of time and the movements of astral bodies, creating auspicious or inauspicious dynamics for the king and his sovereignty over his people. The thread-cross ritual intended to mitigate harm to the king, his rule, and connections to his subjects.

In the final sections of my paper, I explore significant changes to the Dosmoche ceremonies that began around the 1960s, when  Ladakh’s royal family stopped sponsoring the ceremony and the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) took over management of the event. After Ladakh joined independent India, Ladakhis came to view themselves as Indian citizens, not royal subjects. Further, political parties and grass-roots movements have mobilized Buddhists against the perceived abuses of power and monopolizing of wealth by the old regimes, especially royal and aristocratic families. Most rituals and ceremonies honoring these groups have ceased. Most Buddhists in Ladakh do not see their prosperity as connected to the king’s karmic astrology. Karma increasingly reflects an understanding of a Buddhist individuality in which moral choices shape karma as a personal force.

This case study raises a variety of questions for broader consideration: How do ritual, karma, and power intersect? How does karma shape intersecting beliefs about political, moral, and cosmological order? How does the study of changing beliefs about karma provide insights into social transformations in Buddhist communities?