Mummy of Sangha Tenzin - Well Preserved Mummy of Buddhist Monk

A Buddhist monk, Sangha Tenzin,  was mummifying himself in Gue,  a remote village in Indian state Himachal Pradesh, to save his village from a plague of scorpions. The monk is probably the only mummy in India to have undergone natural mummification.

Image Credit: coolinterestingstuff.com

Though the mummy is dated to be almost 500 years old, it has a certain air of freshness. The lama seems lost in contemplation as he looks over the valley. Chances are it’s the clean air and cold that contributed to the excellent state the mummy is in — with hair and teeth well preserved. The silk robes on him seem to conceal the tremendous power and will that he must have had to undergo the mummification process.

Natural mummification is an extremely difficult process in which the body is made to react in such a way that body fats and fluids reduce at a constant rate and the organs that can decay are reduced in size. A special diet is given towards the end to preserve the meat on the bone. The body is kept in a posture where the monk can continue to meditate, by using a restrainer around the neck. 

It is believed that when Sangha Tenzin's soul finally left his body, a rainbow appeared across the sky and the village was rid forever from scorpions. 

Source: thehindu.com