The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-09-10
An Hysterical Fair,
From All the Year Round.

4Adb uNbbSI1h q L4O4O buA4V
part in many ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
and spiritual than is generally
will not be denied, at any
rate, by medical men. Those indeti-
mite distances to which human nature,
is more or less subjected, and which
have borne at different times, such as
the vapors, the spleen, the megrims,
the nerves-and e1lTtIG should perhaps,
be added to the ist-are nothing but
varied forms of hysteria. So, again,
great emotional excitements, whether
produced by alarms, eagerness, or even
religion, may be often traced TO the
same source. The wild frenEies of
Bacchantes on Theban mountain the
restless dancing of italian girls, said to
have been bitten by the tarantula;
the fervent jumping of some orders
of Methodists the weeping and con
triton at revivals-though we do not
deny for a moment that other better or
worse causes may be at work simulta-
neously-have all physical element of
hysteria in them. Hysteria is decidedly
common in India not unfrequently
amongst men, and very frequently
amongst women. With the latter sex,
the wearing climate may be accredited
with part of the mischief, but other
causes doubtless exist in early mar
rage, early child bearing, secIusion,
and want of air and exercise or in the
case of women in the humblest walks of
life, opposite evils may operate to-
wares the same results-over. work, in
sufficient nutriment, exposure to heat,
etc. The somewhat violent measures
occasionally resorted to may not do
much harm in simply hysterical cases !;
but it is painful to think that, with
wholly imperfect diagnosis, remedies
may be applied to actual insanity which
can only tend to greatly aggravate the
disease. The belief that persons i'll a
hysterical condition are possessed by
evil spirits is universal, and supersti-
tiOus cures are sought after, though in
different ways, by professors of both
the great religions of the land-many
of the lower Hindoos resorting to magic,
which may be considered as applying to
the devil, while the Mussulman would
seek by charms and sacred exortations
to drive out the evil spirit.
Generations ago, two fakirs of the
Mohammedan order of Kadiree started
on pilgrimage to Baghdad from their
own village in northwest India, stu
ated in the district of Jounpore, which
lies between Benares and the territory
of Oudh. The founder of their sect,
Abdul Kadir, is buried at Baghdad, and
around his mausoleum the tombs of SO
many mystical sheikhs have been
placed, that Baghdad itself has some
times being called the Getty of the
Saints" On their return journey from
the shrine, which they are said to have
performed backwards, the fakirs
brought with them two bricks which
had formed part of it, as sacred me-
MORALS, and perhaps also as testimony
that they had reached the place of their
destination. There was a propriety in
bringing bricks, because they are asso-
ciatei with Abdul Kadir's fame as a
saint ; for one occasion when he was
praying the devil appeared to him dis
gHised as an angel of light, and told
him that, on account Of his great piety,
God would henceforth absolve him
from the necessity of prayer; but
Abdul Kadir was not to be deceived,
and without hesitation began hurting
bricks at the deceitful visitant, under
which treatment he presently disap-
peared, and the temptation was thus
got rid of.
The fakirs deposited the bricks near
their own village, and built a cupola
over them. The shrine is called GhOus-
pore, and the bricks are shown to this
day, and are objects of veneration.
An annual fair is held at the place,
on the day of the death of Abdul Ka-
dir, but as it is fixed by the Moham-
medan calendar, and the Mohammedan
year is lunar one, the com incarceration
goes round through all Ghe seasons. 4
large concourse of people always as,
sembles, and the speciality of the occa-
sion Is the exorcism of evil spirits in
other words, the empirical cure of hys.
terical persons. Sacrifices are per-
formed before the shrine by Mohamme-
dams and the Hindoos, who have an
Athenian catholicity in their respect for
all gods, known or unknown, cast flow
ers there or offer swG etmeats and fruits
A recent visitor relates as follows ::
Around the tomb l saw some hun.
bred women, and perhaps thirty men,
with a few children, sitting on the
ground, wagging their heads, shivering,
weeping, and screaming. Their reia-
tlves were waiting on them. Some
women had thrown off their ornaments,
or had broken them. The friends of
other of the women held them by the
hair of the head, and called upon them
to disclose the name of the demon who
possessed them. The afflicted them
selves would shout out as if addressing
their tOrmentors, and would ask for
what sacrifcial inducement, or at what
price, they would depart. It was a
very wild scene. The custodians of
the shrine, who may rightly be called
priests, though they do not represent
any district sacerdOtal order, moved
about, fumigating the posse ssed with
incense, and accompanied by musicians
beating loIdly on drums. Sacred ex-
OTcisms were pronounced, papers with
efficacious formulse written on them
were burnt under the noses of the
afflicted, their hair was pulled, or, in
obstinate CAGES, their bodies were we'll
belabored with drumsticks. The fer
var with which one man assisted the
exorcists with his private cane, in their
endeavors to relieve a female, seemed
to indicate the concealed payment of
an old domestic score. Such viltue as
belonged to the locality itself was said
to extend as far as the point to which
the beating of the drums could be
heard"
A girl named Dulhir, who had recov-
cred IRON her affection, thus related
her experience. "Her demon" she
said, "came from lake named Dial, in
Kashmeer, and was travelling south
ward when he was luckily enough to
meet a person wearing an armlet, on
which was inscribed the Holy Name.
Fire issued out of the center, and
would have consumed the evil spirit,
but he adroitly jumped down a well.
The unfortunate girl Dulhir happened
to be drawing water at the very time );
the demon saw her, and remaining
quiet all the day, tracked her nome at
night. From that moment she was
possessed. Her visit to the shrine was,
however, quite successful. 1t was
lighted at the time, and the effulgenco
gradually overcame her tyrannical in
cumbent, and in the end he left her
perfectly free from ailment and distress.
whilst he was departing, however, she
lay on the ground, writhing her body,
aud striking the dusty road with her
hands,"
A story was told at the place of
woman who had been brought there,
whose malady was displayed by her
CHI Of k1,r