Case file · High strangeness
The Nechung oracle orders flight
On 17 March 1959, during the Lhasa uprising, the Dalai Lama consulted the State Oracle of Nechung, who in trance told him to leave at once and sketched his escape route.
1959 CE · 29.67, 91.05 · status: account
The account
The medium, possessed by the protector deity Dorje Drakden, is consulted on major decisions of state; the Fifth Dalai Lama made the office official in the 17th century. The Dalai Lama describes the session in his memoirs. He left that night, and the oracle followed him into exile in India.
The sceptical view
Political circumstances alone made flight urgent; the account comes from the participants.