The Physics of the Dancing \emph{Deity}: Coupled Oscillators in Himalayan Processions

TL;DR

This paper models the collective movement of Himalayan village deities' palanquins as coupled oscillators, combining physics and philosophy to explain how music and social interactions produce synchronized yet dynamic motion.

Contribution

It introduces a mechanistic coupled oscillator model for palanquin movement and analyzes how musical and social couplings create distributed agency in Himalayan procession rituals.

Findings

Model demonstrates phase-locking conditions for synchronization.

Music entrainment increases synchrony but causes roll instability.

Simulations show plausible dynamics consistent with observed behaviors.

Abstract

In parts of Himachal Pradesh (Kullu and Mandi) and the Western Himalaya, village deities (\emph{devt\=a}) are carried through the landscape on shoulder-borne palanquins or ``raths.'' Participants often describe these raths as agents: they \emph{choose} routes, signal assent or refusal, and sometimes ``move on their own'' as if people are not moving them but are instead being moved. This paper offers : (i) a mechanistic model in which a palanquin interacts with human carriers modeled as coupled limit-cycle oscillators, and (ii) a philosophical analysis of how music and gurus/oracular specialists (\emph{g\=ur}/``guru'' in local English) function as couplings that stabilize collective interpretation, producing what we call \emph{distributed agency}. On the physics side we build a six-degree-of-freedom rigid-body model with unilateral handle contacts, base excitation from walking, and a Kuramoto-Adler phase description for interpersonal coupling and musical entrainment. We prove standard phase-locking conditions (Adler-type capture range) and show how unilateral contact can rectify periodic forcing and inject harmonics, creating parameter regimes in which near-perfect synchrony produces large-amplitude roll. On the simulation side we report an ensemble study (30 seeds per condition) from an archived ``Palanquin Simulator'' package: a ``baseline'' condition produces small roll (\(\mathrm{RMS}\approx 0.15^{\circ}\)) and moderate synchrony, whereas a ``music'' entrainment condition produces near-unity synchrony (\(\approx 0.99\)) but also robust roll instability (\(\mathrm{RMS}\approx 18^{\circ}\)) and frequent contact loss. We do \emph{not} claim to have validated the model against field data; we treat the simulations as a \emph{proof of plausibility} and as a generator of falsifiable predictions.