The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-09-24
Buried for Forty Days.

We are not told whether the Seven
Sleepers who retired to cave in Ephe-
sus during the reign of the Christian
killing Emperor Decius, and only woke
up 155 years afterward, when Theodo-
sius III was on the throne, made any
special preparation, but probably they
did not. Perhaps it was not necessary.
Those were stirring times for members
of the new faith; and they had little op-
portunity to grow obese. But as rule,
to fast successfully it is said to be neces-
sary for a man to abstain beforehand,
and reduce himself most carefully to the
required condition by long course of
preparation. Pre- eminent at this art of
suspending animation-for an art it be-
cemes-are the Easterns, and most won
derful stories are told of tine natives of
India, which, whether their powers are
due to narcotics or any other process, the
seem to open up-if true-a wide field of
medical study. One of these Indian
stories, not easily accessible, but of con-
siderable interest on account of the
known veracity of the witnesses, will
probably be read with interest at the
present time, and is inserted here. The
author of it was one Hon. Capt. Osborn,
and the notes made of his statement, here
subjoined, come from an almost unique
copy printed for private circulation.
''Runjeet Singh had heard from seyd
or fakir, who lived in the mountains,
that the latter could allow himself to be
buried when in condition of apparent
death, without really ceasing to live,
seeing that he understood the art of be-
ing brought back to life on being ex-
humed after several months had passed.
To the mahafajah this appeared to be
a rank impossibility In order, however,
that he should be convinced one way or
the other, he ordered the fakir to be
summoned to the court, and caused him
to undertake the singular experiment,
under threat that no means of precau-
ton would be wanting toward the dis
covery of fraud. The fakir consequent
ly caused himself to appear in a state of
apparent death. When every spark of
lite had seemingly vanished, he was, in
the presence of the maharajah and the
mobiles who surrounded him, wrapped up
in the linen on which he had been sitting
and on which the seal of Runjeet Singh
was placed. The body was then depos.
tied in a. chest, on which Runjeet Singh,
with his on hand, fixed heavy paddock.
The chest was carried outside the town
and buried in garden belonging to the
minister; barley was sown over the spot,
wall was erected around it and senti-
nels posted. On the tortieth day, when
the chest containing the fakir was dug up
and opened the man was found cold and
stark in precisely the same condition
as that in which he had been left.
With much trouble he was restored to
life by means of heat applied to the head,
ax,1 III
the body, etc. The minister, Rajah
Dhyan Singh, assured friend that he
had this fakir, whose name was Haridas,
for period of four months under the
earth at Jummeo in the mountains. On
the day of bis burial he had caused his
beard to be shaved off, and when he was
taken up again his chin was just as
smooth as on the day when he was con-
signed to the earth-a proof, as would
seem, of suspended animation. It is re-
lated that the fakir in question took
purgative some time before the burial
display, and for several days afterward
lived only on scanty milk diet. On
the day of the interment it is said that
instead of taking any nourishment, he
swallowed 30 yards OF strip of linen of
the breadth of three fingers, which he
Immediately drew up again, his object
being to clean the stomach. However
wonderful and perhaps laughable these
operations appear to many, it is plain
that these people must have a singular
control over the different organs of their
bodies, and more especially over their
muscular contractions. When all the
necessary preparations have been accom-
plished, the fakir closes all the openings
of his body with shoppers made of aro-
matte wax, lays his tongue far back
in his throat, crosses his hands
on his breast, and suspends ami
nation by means of holding his breath.
On his being brought back to life one of
the first operations is, by means of the
fingers, to draw the tongue away from
the back of the throat; warm and aro-
matte paste made of meal is then placed
on his head, and air is blown into his
lungs and into the ear-holes, from which
the wax shoppers have been removed,
the shoppers in the nostrils being pres
emily forced out with an explosive noise.
This is said to be the first sign of re-
turn to life. He then gradually COM
mences to breathe, opens the eyes, and
recovers consciousness, continuous fric-
ton of the body being carried on all of
the time.
"Here Is further curious statement
of opinion on the subject of Indian sto-
ries from an equally rare source, the lit
tie pamphlet of Sir Claude Wade, pub
lished in 1887. 'sI was present. he
writes, at the Court of Rnnjeet Singh
when the fakir, mentioned by the Hon.
Capt. Osborn, was buried alive for six
weeks; and, although I arrived few
hours after his actual interment, and did
not, consequently, witness that part of
the phenomenon, I had the testimony of
Runjeet Singh himself, and others of the
most credible witnesses of the court, to
the truth of the fakir having been buried
before them; and, from my having been
myself present when he was disinterred
and restored to state of perfect vitality
in position so close to him as to
render any deception impossible, it is
my firm belief that there was no collu-
sion in producing the extraordinary
sight which I have to relate. I win
briefly state what saw, to enable others
to indge of the weight due to my evil
dence, and whether my proof Of collu-
sion can, in their opinion, be detected.
On the approach of the appointed time,
according to invitation, accompanied
Runieet Singh to the spot where the
fakir had been buried. It was in a
square building, called a ba,vd durra, in
the middle of one of the gardens adioin-