Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-23
INDIA'S WONDERFUL WIZARDS
They Perform Feats Which Seem
Supernatural in Their Nature.
coBRAs FROM NOTHING.
The Basket Trick and the Mango
Trce-Chairs Lifted by the Eye
Lads = Caste Prejudices
of the Bindoos.
Indian JuCriers.

BoMBAY, May Is, 1Ss9-TSpcclal cores
pondence Of The BEE. India is the land Of
Madame Blavetsky, OF MIR. 1snacs and Of
the "Light Of Asia" 1t is here that the ESQ
teric Buddhists look for their instruction and
many of the theosophical societies Of Amer
lea 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 to anihilate
space, TO disembody their souls for the mo-
ment and send them on nrial errands to
other parts of the world. They would mas
ter that wonderful concentration of soul
which enables its possessor to dissolve mat
ter into the elements from which it is made
by word, and by another word "PrestoP'
to turn IL back into the solid or LIQUID form,
from which they decomposcd it. Ono Of
them, who is now travelling in India
md searching for the masters, tells
me he has heard Of Indian theosophists who,
by wave Of the hand, can change glass OF
water into the oxygen and hydrogen, OF
which 1t Is formed, and by tho same motion
dissolve the glass particles into their orlgt
nal elements. Another wave and the glass
containing the water re-appears 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 per-
formed. He replied ''uo," and upon further
conversation found that ho had as yet seen
nothing which could be called supernatural
'sI have had several talks with his mas
ters," said he, land l nave been told that
would receive manifestation. 1t may come
within few days and it may not come for
week, and / hope there will be no natural
law that will prevent it. l will wait in India
until receive it,"
This was three weeks ago and ut last ac-
counts the man was waiting yet.
/ have received several letters from Amer
ica asking me to look into
THIS WONDERFUL INDIAN PHILOSOPHY.
have looked, but it may be that 1 lack
faith. have talked with several of the mas
ters. They are bright, intellectual acrobats,
and some of the greater of them are more
gross than spirituelle. / have also discussed
Madame Blavetsky with the English resi-
dents OF India, among whom she has lived,
and have yet to find one who thinks her
anything else than o very clever fraud. 1t
may be the case of prophecies being not
without honor, save in her own country, but
give you her reputation as l find it here. l
hIl UUlu Gll SApUSC has ldtely Uceu
of her manifestations, and those tricks of
hers which she is reported as performing are
to me no more wonderful than the iugglery
which see here on the streets every day.
Might it not be that her study of Indian
philosophy was accompanied with the teach
ing of Indian iugglers9 l know not, but do
know that the street iugglers Of these Indian
Towns could, by mixing mystical philosophy
t,;tb ha;r ~
easily humbug the eyes of that large class of
people in America who are ever praying for
some new thing III religion ana in psycholog-
ical thought.
Let me give you picture of an Indian
juggler! One stands outside my hotel
window US l write. He is performing his
tricks in the dusty road without table,
cabinet, patent boxes, or any of the accom-
paniments of the American wizard His
sole possessions consist of three small baS-
kets ranging in size from half peck to
bushel, couple of cloths and Il tripod
made OF three sticks, each two feet long and
held together by string Mt the top. Three
little wooden dolls with red clothes tied
around their necks, and each not over foot
long are the gods which enable him to do
wonderful things He has q flute in his
mouth and 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 Il little turbaned boy
put into basket not more than two feet
square, and with him will perform the noted
basket trick of India. The trick is one of
the wonderful juggling tricks of the world.
The boys hands are tied and he is put into
D net, which is tied over his head and which
encloses his whole body so that he appar-
emily can not move. He is now crowded
into this basket. The lid is put down and
tight straps are buckled over it. The juggler
now takes a sword and with few passes of
the.e little Hindoo doll babies over it and
the muttering Of incantatons as q prelimi-
nary. thrusts the sword again and again into
the basket. There is q crying as though
someone was in terrible pain. It is the voice
Of child and the sword comes out bloody.
YOU HOLD YOUR BREATH,
and did you not know it to be trick you
would feel like pouncing upon the man.
After moment the basket becomes still, the
suggler makes a lew more passes, unbuckles
the straps and shows you that there is moth
lng within it. He cGlls, ''baba! babar' and
In the distance you hear the child's voice.
How the hoy got out of the basket or escaped
being killed by the sword and where the
blood came from / do not know l only
know it was u sleight-of-hand performance
and wonderfully well done.
The mango trick is performed with the
three sticks in the shape OF tripod. The
1uggler takes pot of water and pours it
over little pot of earth. He then holds up
o mango bulb about the size of a walnut, and
putting this into tho earth he throws q cloth
over the tripod, He now blows upon his
horn, makes mysterious passes, and after q
few moments raises tho cloth, and you see
the mango tree sprouting forth from the soil.
More passes and more music follow, and the
cloth is pulled down again. After few mo-
ments, during which the showing of minor
. tricks goes on, he pulls out the pot and
the plant has grown about a foot above
1t. There is more watering and more in
cantation, ana his final triumph comes in
showing you bush nearly yard high, con-
tanning great leaves. This he will pull up by
the root and show you the seed at the bot
tom. 1t is a wonderful trick and how the
man is able to manipulate the different
plants with nothing else but a thin cotton
cloth to help him, which, by the way, he
allows you 10 examine, is hard to conceive.
He has dozen other sleight' of-hand per.
formances equally as wonderful He puts
little shell into his mouth and appears TO
choke as he draws out coin otter cola aud
balls OF stone as big around as your fist He
Bpits fire, us does the American wizard;
pulls miles of string from his stomach,
Bticks pins through his tongue without hurt
Ing himself ana ends tho performance with
D snake trick, which is to inc the most Won
derful OF all.
In doing this snake trick he asks for a
piece Of paper and asks you TO hold out your
hand. You do SO ana he places the paper
upon IT,. He then begins TO play upon his