Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-08-16
TIE JUGGLERS OF INDIA.
WONDERFUL TRICKS PERFORMED BY
THE HINDOo WIZARDS.

1t is here that the esoteric Buddhists look for |
their instruction, and many of the theosophi- |
cal societies of America have Indian teachers, |
with whom they correspond and from whom |
they expect to get some of that wonderful |
sweetness and light which is supposed to exist |
in its purest form in this land of mystical |
thought Through them they would learn |
how to annihilate space, to disembody their !
souls for the moment and send them on |
aerial errands to other parts of the world. |
They would master that wonderful concen- |
tration of soul which enables its possessor to |
dissolve matter into the elements from which |
it was made by a word, and by another
word "Prestor' to turn it back into the solid
or liquid form, from which they have decom- |
posed it.
One of them, who is now travelling in India |
and searching for the masters tells me he has
heard of Indian theosophists who, by waive
of the hand, can change glass of water into
the oxygen and hydrogen of which it is
formed, and by the same motion dissolve the
glass particles into their original elements
Another waive and the glass containing the
water reappears before your eyes, just as full
and in exactly the same condition as it was
before. | asked this man whether he had
seen such miracle performed. He replied,
NO." and upon further conversation found
that he had as yet seen nothing which could
be called supernatural.
II have had several talks with the masters"
said he land have been told that | would
receive manifestation. 1t may come within
d few days, and it may not come for week,
and hope there will be no natural law that
will prevent it. | will wait in India until
receive it."
This was three weeks ago, and at last &C
counts the man was waiting yet.
THE GENUINE BASKET TRICK.
Let me give you a picture of an Indian
jugglerl One stands outside my hotel win
dow as l write He is performing his tricks
in the dusty road without table, cabinet,
patent boxes, or any of the Accomplishments
of the American wizard His sole possessions
consist of three small baskets ranging in size
from half peck to a bushel, a couple of
cloths and tripod made of three sticks, each
two feet long and held together by string
at the top Three little wooden dolls with
red cloths tied around their necks and each
not over a foot long, are the gods which en-
able him to do wonderful things. He has q
flute in his mouth and a little drum in his
hand He is black faced and black bearded,
and his shirt sleeves are pulled up above his
elbows His only assistant is a little turbaned
boy, who sits beside him, whom he will shortly
put into basket not more than two feet
square, and with him will perform the noted
basket trick of India
This trick is one of the wonderful juggling
tricks of the world The boys hands are
tied and he is put into a net, which is tied
over his head alA which incloses his whole
body so that he apparently cannot move
II 10 oxr-Ja into ic hack
is put down and tight straps are buckled
over it. The juggler now takes sword and
with few passes of these little Hindoo doll
babies over it and the muttering of incanta-
tions as a preliminary, thrusts the sword
again and again into the basket. There is a
crying as though some one was in terrible
pain. 1t is the voice of a child and the
sword comes out bloody. You hold your
breath, and did you not know it to be
trick you would feel like bouncing upon the
man. After a moment the basket becomes
still, the juggler makes a few more passes,
unbuckles the straps and shows you that
there is nothing within it. He calls "Babal
babal" and in the distance you hear the
| childs voice. How the boy got out of the
basket or escaped being killed by the sword
and where the blood came from do not know.
| only know it was sleight-of-hand per-
Torrance and wonderfully well DONE
THREE DEADLY SNAKES
He has a dozen other sleight-of-hand per-
formances equally as wonderful He puts q
little shell into his mouth and appears to
choke as he draws out coin after coin and
balls of stone almost as big around as your
fist. He spits fire, as does the American
wizard, pulls miles of string from his stomach,
sticks pins through his tongue without hurt
ing himself, and ends the performance with a
snake trick, which is to me the most wonder
full of all
In doing this snake trick he asks for piece
Of paper and asks you to hold out your hand.
You do SO and he places the paper upon it.
He then begins to play upon his pipe and to
dart out his eyes as though he saw something
near your hand His whole frame becomes
transformed and he dances around you like a
wizard, playing all the time and keeping his
eyes ON your hand. Now he starts back and
points at it. You look and see nothing and
he begins to play louder and dance wilder
than ever. Remember his arms are bare to
the elbow and both of his hands are upon his
pipe. Suddenly he drops the pipe and con-
tinues his dance with incantations. Hepoints
to the paper again and while you look and
see nothing he claps his hand down upon it
and pulls up three great cobras, which raise
their hooded heads and dart out their fangs
in different directions, and squirm and wriggle
as he holds them up before you. You jump
back, for the bite of the cobra is deadly and
| am told that the snakes used have in some
cases not had their fangs drawn.
A jugger was killed in Benares by the bite
of cobra which he was using in this way,
and they are the most terrible snakes have
ever seem At another performance of this
same kind l was present with party of four,
and we all decided to ascertain, if we could,
how this trick was done. stood upon chair
and overlooked the man as he snatched up
the snakes, but l could not see where they
came from and only know that be had them
and that they were so big that he crowded
them with difficulty into little round basket
the size of peck measure.-Frank G. Car
penter's Bombay Letter.