The Canton mail., 1876-02-05
BURIED ALIVE.
How the Heather Hindoo can SUSPEND
Animation,

Captaln Osborne, in his work entitled
The Court and Camp of Runieet
sing, gives an account of Fakir who
PROCESSES to have an extraordinary
power of suspending animation in his
body for a great length of time, dur
ing which he allowed himself to be
Kept IN burial vault, apart from any
supply OF ar and food. The monotony
OF our camp life, he saws, was broken
this morning by the arrival of a verv
celebrated character in the Punjaub. a
person we had all expressed great
anxiety to see, and whom the Maha-
HaJah had ordered over from Umrut-
ser on purpose. He is a fakir bv
name, and is held in extraordinary
respect by the Sikhs, from his alleged
capacity of being able to bury himself
alive for any period Of time. So
many stories were current on the sub
Ject, and so many respectable indi.
vlduals maintained the truth of these
stories, that we all felt curious to see
hin. He professes TO have been fol-
lowing this trade, if so it NAV be
called, for some years, and consider
able time am several EXTRACTS from the
letters OF individuals who had seen
the man in the Upper Provinces, ap-
Peared IN the Calcutta papers, giving
some account of his extraordinary
powers, which were at the time. nat
uraily enough, looked upon as mere
attempts at hoax upon the inbabi-
tants of Calcutta. Captain Wade
political agent at Ludhiana, told me
that he was present at his resurrection
aiter an Interment of some months;
General Ventura having buried him
In the presence of the Maha-Rajah
ana many of his principal sirdars; and,
as far 81 l can recol1ect, these were
the particulars as witnessed by Cen
eral Ventura:
After going through regular
course OF preparation, which occupied
seven days, and the details of which
are too disgusting to dilate upon, the
fakir reported himself
READY FOR INrERMMENr
In vault which had been prepared
for the purpose by order of the Maha-
haJah- On the appearance of Run
leet a2d his court, he proceeded to the
hna1 preparations that were necessary
III their presence, and after stoppinp
with wax his ears and nostrils, he was
stripped and placed in linen bag; and
the last preparation concluded by
turning his tongue forwards, and thus
closing the gullet, he Immediately died
away in kind of lethargy. The bag
was then closed, and sealed with the
Runjeets seal, and afterwards placed
IN small deal box, which was also
locked and sealed. The box was then
placed in q vault, the earth thrown i.
and trod down, and a crop of barley
sown over the spot, and sentries
placed round it.
The Maha-Rajah was, however, very
skepticaf on the subject, and twice in
the course of the ten months he re-
manned under ground, sent people to
dig him up, when he was found to he
In exactly the same position, and in a
state of perfectly suspended anima.
At the termination of the ton
months, Captain Wade accompanied
the Maha-Rajah to see him disinterred.
and states that he examined him per.
sonally and minutely, and was con-
vinced that all animation was perfectly
He saw the locks opened
nd the seals broken by the Maha-
RNlah, and the box brought into the
OPEN air. The man was then taken
out, and on feeling his wrist and heart,
~or THE SLIGHTEST PULsATIoN wAsI
PERCEPTIBLE.
The first thing towards restoring
HIM to life was the forcing his tongue
back to its proper position, which was
done with some little difficulty by a
person inserting his finger and forcibIy
pulling it back, and continuing to hold |
1T until it gradually resumed its nat
ural place. Captain Wade described |
the top of his head to have been con-
siderably heated; but all other parts |
of the body cool and healthy in appear
ance. Pouring quantity of warm
water upon him constitutes the only
further measure for his restoration.
and in two hours time he is as well as |
ever
On my return to SimIa, accident
placed in my hands the appendix to a
medical topography of Lndhiana by
DR.. Macgrcgor of the Horse Artil-
lery, by whose permission I have ex-
tracted the following account of the
former interments and resurrections of |
the fakir:
A fakir who arrived at Lahore
engaged to bury himself for any
length of time, shut up in box,
and without either food or drink,
RunJeet naturally disbelieved the
mans assertions, and was determined
to put them to