The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02
ALIVE IN THE GRAVE.
Strange Stories about Performances
OF Indian Fakirs

| rocks. Or much greater interest, now
ever, is the fact that human beings can
also lie for months buried underground,
and then be brought to life again. Such
| phenomenal beings are not, of course,
found on this continent or in Europe,
but in India, that vcritable realm OF
wonder working. A German writer, DR..
du Prel, has recently written q very in
teresting easay on the capacity, often
proved, of Indian fakirs to allow them
selves to be buried for longer or shorter
periods, and to come to life again smil-
| ing after the ordeal. In Persian work,
the "Dabistan," on the religious sccts of
| India, the statement was made that there
were individuals who possessed the
power to separate the soul from the body
and to bring them together again at
will, and that such persons could exist
without breathing for weeks at time.
European scientists refused for long
time to believe this, but actual expert
ments have proved the marvel. DR.. du
Prel, in his curious essay. says:
"The first trustworthy information re-
ceived in Europe about the Indian
fakirs was from DR.. Johann Martin Hon
igberger, who spent many years as court
| physician at various Indian capitals, and
who wrote book entitled 'Fruchtc aus
dem Morgenlande,' published in Vienna
in 1851. DR.. Honigberger, after paying
flying visit to Germany, returned to
Lahore in company with General Ven
ttlrs, who told him what had happened
with the Indian Fakir Haridas during
his absence. An Indian prince had heard
that this fakir possessed the miraculous
power of allowing himself to sink into
apparent death, to be buried and to be
kept in his grave for number of months
| before being exhumed and again brought
to life. The Maharajah summoned the
the celebrated fakir to his court and
bade him make the experiment. The
fakir did not hesitate. He sank into
condition resembling death, and his
body. in the presence of the prince
and grandees, was wrapped in linen and
placed in box, on which the prince
himself hung the lock. The box was
then buried in the garden of one of the
ministers outside the city. Over the
grave barley was sown and round about
It high wall was built,
and sentinels. who were re-
lieved every few hours, were placed
on watch. Forty days afterward the
prince, accompanied by his ministers of
state, General Ventura, an Englishman
and physician, went to the garden.
The box was exhumed and in it lay the
fakir. cold and stif. By the application
of warmth to the head, the blowing of
air through the mouth and energetic
rubbing Of the body, the man was quick
" resuscitated. One of the ministers
then said that he had known the same
fakir to have been buried for four
months. On the day of the burial the
chin had been smoothly shaved, and on
the day of the exhumation it was found
to be perfectly smooth. The Calcutta
Journal of Medicine (1835) reported that
the same fakir had frequently been sub
jected to similar experiments by English
men, though, with them, he had always
insisted on having the box hung up in
the air instead of buried, as he feared
the ravages of ants. DR.. Houigberger
says that the way the fakirs 60 to work
to produce this peculiar condition is to
have the little ligature under the tongue
cut, whereby they are enabled to stretch
this organ out to q great length. Then
they turn it back, inserting the end in
the throat, and closing up at the same
time the inner nasal apertures. The ex-
ternal apertures of the nose and the ears,
ne says, are closed with wax, and the
eyes covered to exclude the light. Long
preliminary practice is, however, needed
in holding the breath, and long course
of tasting before burial. There are stories
current of fakirs who have existed not
for months but for years in comatose
state"
In another case o fakir was buried
without first being placed in a box. The
experiment was made at military sta
ton, and the officer in charge became so
frightened that he ordered the disinter-
ment after only few days. Though the
process of reviviication occupied more
than an hour, it was successful. Profes-
sor Preyer, in his work "Erforschung
des Lebcns," says that number of cases
of this kind have been verified, and re.
ports at length on the preparations which
the fakir must observe. Preyer, indeed,
comes to the conclusion, from study of
cases of suspended animation of men and
animals that between life and death there
is another condition which he styles an
! aboise or lifelcss. The winter sleep of
animals. which, without breaking, and
with minimal movement of the heart,
lie in state of torpidity, during which
they can be placed under water or land, in
the midst of dangerous gases, can evi.
dently not be called life, nor can it be
termed death, since decomposition does
not set in. The German savant comes to
the belief. therefore, that there is state
in which conscience and the functions Of
life are brought to a standstlll, but in
which the capability of existence re-
mains. Life is extinguished, but death
has not begun its work. To bring
on this condition at will is, there
fore, the fakir's art and secret. Braid
goes into long discussion as to how the
fakirs came to discover their mysterious
art, sometimes called jugglery., He cites
o passage in the Dabistan, which says
that the Fogins had the custom, when
afflicted with any disease from which
there was no hope OF relief, to put them
selves in condition resembling the win
ter sleep of animals, and then allow them
selves to be buried in order to be spared
the terrors of gradual dissolution and
suffering. He believes that the acci-
dental disinterment of such an individ-
ual led to the fakirs' discovery, and that
fresh air brought the patient to life
again. DR.. du Prel, however, does not