RATANPURI – The 15-year-old “Buddha boy” of Nepal, Ram Bomjon, has gone missing from the spot where he meditated, supposedly without food or water, for the last 10 months.

Devotees noticed his absence when they arrived for worship at 6 a.m. on Saturday and began to look for him.

Police began searching, but were called off after one day when foul play was ruled out.

Ram’s uncle, Bed Bahadur Lama, and president of the pilgrimage site committee, said: “I realized that we are human beings and the meditator is a god, and human beings cannot find him.”

The only person believed to have seen Ram since he disappeared is a 15-year-old from Ram’s village, Tanka Bahadur Thing, who was involved in the initial search.

He claims to have seen Ram dressed as a monk, in the jungle two miles away from his sacred grove an hour after his disappearance was noticed.

“He was walking slowly,” he said. “I didn’t call out but he turned and looked at me. He joined his hands in greeting because he knows me from the village, then walked off.”

Tanka said he was both happy and afraid to encounter the errant mystic in this way and set off to find help. By chance, he met Ram’s father.

“I told him what I had seen and he shouted: ‘Where’s my son? Where’s my son?”‘

Ram’s long vigil beneath a sacred pipal tree in the jungle of southern Nepal attracted thousands of pilgrims a day and has made him famous around the world because of the resemblance to an episode in the life of the original Buddha. His claim that he had neither eaten nor drunk throughout his meditation added to the fervor. But it worried his parents, who now long for his safe return.

Yesterday, Ram’s mother, Mayadevi Bomjon, was fasting and praying at the site, her face racked with anxiety.

One theory was that Ram had been driven away by the noisy crowds who flocked to see him. According to the boy monk who was Ram’s closest attendant, Prem Lama, Ram said he needed more peace.

In the eyes of many, this theory was confirmed by the arrival of a new mystic, 51-year-old Hira Maya Lama from Kathmandu, who is now known as “Guru Mother,” after the boy’s disappearance.

Mrs. Lama says the boy had to move “because it is unholy here and he is being disturbed.” She also said he intended to wash in a lake. Ten months without moving from his chosen spot had left Ram caked in dirt. Mrs. Lama has said that, if rituals are carried out to purify the site, he would return after three days.

Yesterday Hindu Brahmin priests and Buddhist monks prayed in front of Ram’s tree, burning lamps and incense, offering fruit and singing incantations. The once-thriving bazaar and bus park, which had sprung up were deserted. Bed Badahur Lama said Mrs. Lama’s predictions were a factor in deciding to call off the search. “I’m not holy, I’m a simple man,” he said. “If Guru Mother says that, I believe her.”

The only trace of Ram was a pile of discarded robes near where he had meditated. A simple fence had been erected and prayer flags were slung around them.