Grounds for Belief
The purported economic linkages between the sky-world and earth rested as much on quasi-empirical demonstration as on faith. The efficacy of prestige feasting was superficially palpable; those couples who held the grandest feasts possessed the greatest wealth, which implied ancestral favor—itself derived from gifts offered in ritual. But this tautology did not suffice. Rather, the Buguias people called for direct evidence tying past performances with present conditions. This was the province of the mankotom. It was his duty to keep track of many individuals' supernatural messages (dreams, sangbos ), their subsequent ritual actions or omissions, and their resulting economic successes and failures. It was on the basis of this body of narrative evidence that the mankotom gave advice and offered prophesies.
If an advisee followed the recommended course but garnered no
luck, he could always question the skill of the mankotom rather than the verity of his own beliefs. Those mankotoms with poor records found their careers abbreviated, but successful forecasters enjoyed ever increasing renown. Of course, even an ascendant prophet occasionally blundered, but then he could always accuse the celebrant of neglecting some minor but essential duty. As a person of considerable ritual power, the mankotom could be tempted to serve himself. One adviser was suspected of having intentionally staged an inappropriate and incomplete ritual so as to offend the ancestors and bring down a disliked advisee. But such a ploy was perilous, since it could destroy a mankotom's reputation, the very stuff of his power.