Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-18
WONDERS OF HINDU JuocLERY.

Is 1t the Accumulated Cunning Of Centuries
Of Trickerys
| From the New York Times
| The admission of Prof. Ksllar that the mar
vicious feats of the hish-caste fakirs in India
have "bafled his deepest scrutiny" and ire
main the inexplicable subject" Of his Lasting
wonder and admiration" is testimony Of the
highest kind as to the great powers Of these
men, for tse professor is an eminent juggier,
who has exposed the tricks of many persons
who, unlike himself, have professei to exercise
supernatural powers. But we are not ready to
accept his explanation that these fakirs shave
| probably discovered natural laws Of which We
in the west are ignorant or his assertion that
they succeed in overcoming forces of nature
which to us seem insurmountable."
1t Is very interesting story that Prof.
| kellar tells in the North American Rerteo. He
found no difficulty. IL seems, in discovering the
| secret of the tricks Of the Ordinary low-caste
fakirs. The hig caste fakirs are patriarchal
men who are seen only at great public fetes
| and who profess to have spent almost q life
| time in conte mplation and study before their
admission to the higher circles of the esoteric
brotherhood in the monasteries Of Tibet and
the mountain recesses Of northern Hindustan.
The most marvellous of their exhibitions are
those In which tho attraction Of sravitation
| appears to be annihilated. He describes an
| exhibition Of this kind which took place In the
great plaza OF Calcutta in 1876 in 1.-THE presence
OF the Prince OF Wales and some 80 900 specta-
| tors"
After q salaam to the prince the old fakir
took three swords with straight cross-barred
hits and buried them hilt downward aboct six
inches in the ground. The points Of these
swords were very sharp, as I aiterward in
formed myself. A younger fakir whose black
bad in ph uan nnt fha Epc
lish fashion. although it originated in Hindu
stan. then appeared, and at a gesture from his
master stretched himself out upon the ground
| at full length, with his fee, together and his
hands close to his sides, and, after pass or two
made by the hands of the old man. appeared to
become rigid and lifeless. third fAkir now
came forward, and taking hold of the feet Of
his PROSTATE companion, whose head was
lifted by the master, the two laid the stiffened
body upon the points Of the swords which ap-
peared to support it without penetrating the
flesh. The point of one of the swords was i'm
mediately under the nape of the mans neck
that of the second rested midway between his
shoulders and that Of the third was at the base
of his spine, there being nothing under his
legs. After the body had been placed on the
| sword points the second fakir retired and the
old man, who was standing some distance from
it. turned and salaamed to the audience.
1.-The body tipped neither to the right nor to
the left, but seemed to be balanced with mathe.
dagger, with which he removed the soil round
the hit of the first sword and, releasing it from
the earth. after some exertion, quietly stuck il
into his girdle, the body meanwhile retaining
its position. The second and the third swords
were likewise taken from under the body which
there in broad daylight and under the eyes of
all the spectators, preserved its horizontal posi-
ton. without visible support, about two feet
from the ground. A murmur Of admiration
pervaded the sast throng, and, with a low salaam
60 hav Nrsn 4
ant and, lifting the suspended body from its
airy perch. they laid it gently upon the ground.
With a few passes Of the masters hand the in
animate youth was himself again"
In Zululaud he saw a witch DOCTOR levitate
young Zulu, who had been brought to a
| trance-like condition and was lying on the
ground. The time was evening and the exhibit
ton took place in the light of an open fire.
The witch doctor turned to the high grass a
| few feet behind us and gathered a handful of
| stalks about three feet long. Standing in the
shadow and away from the fire he waved with a
| swift motion, exactly similar to that of the
clubs few minutes before, the bunch of grass
around the head of the young Zulu, who lay as
dead in the freight. In moment or two the
grass seemed to ignite in is flight. although the
witch doctor was not standing within twenty
feet of the fire, aud burned slowly, cracking
| audlbly. Approaching more closely the form
OF the native in the trance the conjurer waved
the flaming grass gently over his figure, about
foot from the flesh. To my intense amazement
the recumbent body slowly rose from the ground
| and hoated upward in the air to q height Of
about three feet, remaining in suspension and
moving up and down. according as the passes
of the burning grass were slower or faster As
the grass burned out and dropped to the ground
the body returned to its petition on the ground,
and after few passes from the hands of the
witch doctor the Young Zulu lesped to his feet,
apparently none the worse for his wonderful
experience"
The professor has heard Of fakirs in India
walking in the air, but this feat he has not
| seen. He repeats q story told to him by Gen.
Medley about the voluntary interment of a
fakir in the earth for forty days and the return
OF the buried man to life at the end Of that time
but OF such exhibitions be has no personal knowl-
edge, although he was present when young
fakir became to all appearance dead" and re-
NAMED SO for thirty minutes, while he was sub
iected to very severe and painful tests BY
physician, who even thrust bodkin through
the palm OF his hand and burned his flesh with
live coal. At the end Of the half hour the
fakir was restored to his normal condition by
his companion.
These wonderful tales-not more wonder
full in themselves than many others that have
been told by Europeans who have lived in
India, but they appeal with greater force to the
critical reader, because Of the narrntors own
| attainmen.s as juggler and his exceptional
ability to discover the juggler's machinery and
to perceive what is hidden from the ordinary
witness of feats of sleight-of- hand But is Il
necessary to assume that these wonder workers
have discovered natural laws which are UNI
known in civilized lands, or that they really do
annihilate the force Of gravitation? These
fakirs belong to q class that has been engaged
for some 5000 years in perfecting fests Of this
kind. Before We resort to the explanation to
which Prof. Kellar has been driven is it not
reasonable to examine the theory that they
have discovered and perfected methods Of de-
ceiving observers which are unknown in west
ern countries? Il it not possible thst methods
of deception are the secret that has been handed
down from one generation Of these jugglers to
| another methods in which some variety OF hyp-
notism and the use Of ma rails whose properties
are still unknown outside Of the circle play
some part2 Their feats, wonderful q they are,
are not the only exhibitions Of the kind that
have seemed to thousands of intelligent per-
sons utterly inexplicabe except upon the sup
position that supernatural power was used,
and yet these other remarkable manifestations
have in the course Of time been explained and
exposed, until to the sober-mindsd they are no
more mysterious than some Of the simpler
feats of Prof. Kellar. In this work of exposi-
ton he has played no unimportAnt part, and
many will be surprised now, not at his ex-
preston OF despair - to the secrets OF the
Hindus, but at his hasty resort to the hypoth-
esis that the Hindu does not rely upon the art
of deception.
We do not question his sincerity or his inten-
A. l.