Introduction

Comparison of the la rtse and obo (ovoo, obuγ-a, oboo) rituals reveals very strong similarities. The cairns of stones with their Wind Horse flags themselves look almost identical; both rites are traditionally attended by adult males and are followed by horse races and archery contests. Similar offerings and prayers are employed, and both aims to propitiate spirit masters/owners or deities of a local territory. In the Tibetan case the local entities concerned might be gzhi bdag, yul lha or sa bdag. The equivalent Mongolian local spirits were gajarun ejed [gazryn ezed] (masters of the land), and spirits were classed as sa bdag and the eight classes of lords of land and water by the monastic establishment (Heissig 1980: 103-105). The spirits associated with a given obo [ovoo] and locality have different characters and preferences with respect to offerings. The prayers made at these ceremonies typically call upon the local spirits for protection from illness, plague, drought, storms or other adverse weather, cattle-pest, thieves, wolves and other dangers, and request long life, increased herds and good fortune (Heissig 1980: 105-106, Bawden 1958: 38-39, Tatar 1976: 26-33).

In both cases the practices had and continue to have important political aspects. In the Tibetan case Karmay (1998: 423-450) argues that the concept of gzhi bdag/yul lha local deities reflects the territorial divisions of the polity of the early Tibetan clanic society, and may have originally resembled the muster of warriors by local leaders. In Qing times the Mongolian rites expressed the administrative divisions and subdivisions of the state and reflected the relations of political subjects to district authorities (Sneath 2000: 235-250). Bulag (2002: 37-41) has described the use by the Qing of the ceremonies for the Xining local deity to legitimate and regulate the use of land between Tibetan and Mongolian groups in the Khökhnuur region. In Mongolia the obo ceremony has become expressive of the political order once more, after decades of Soviet-inspired disapproval and marginalization. A ceremony for Otgon Tenger Mountain was carried out in 2003 by President Bagabandi in his home province of Zavkhan, with rites performed by monks brought in from the central monastery of Gandan in Ulaanbaatar.