Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-05-24
EsuRlEp WHILE ALIVE.
A Cruel Rite That Was Resorted to In
Indis-In Underground Cells.

Indi.-In Underground Cells.
The annals Of Eastern nations fur
nish abundant examples OF this GUS
tom, which has been resorted to
from variety Of motives and under
very different circumstances. The
practice may be employed for the
purpose of extinguishing life or
maintaining life for a prolonged
| is, therefore, fatal and non-fatal
kind OF living inhumation. says the
British Medical Journal The COM
mon description OF burial alive
(jamadh) is leper burial, which
used to be very frequently resorted
to in India, often at the request or
urgent entreaty OF the victims OF
this loathsome disease. A pit was
dug. by the relatives of the leper or
by other lepers. and the unfortunate
cast into it and smothered with
earth. In some cases the wreck was
burned to death before being thrown
into the pit. Opium water was free.
ly drunk by executioners and exc
cuted on such occasions. This cruel
rite fingered in Kashmir and some
parts OF Rajputana till within very
recent years. Indeed, it is question
able whether it is even now alto
gether extinct. Lepers have been
known in the extremity OF their dis
tress and misery to commit suicide
by jumping into the pits.
Burial alive has also in India "con-
stituted mode of suttee. or volun-
tary sacrifice of life. by widows who
have been cast by sympathizing and
obliging request, into the same
graves as their deceased husbands.
Homicidal burial alive has been used
as means OF punishment of crime.
torture. revenge or murder. and the
burial has been in such cases either
complete or incomplete. The nom
fatal form of living burial has
always excited more interest than
the fatal, which, however. supplies
material for strange and large
chapter in the history OF human
crime. The phenomenon of hiber-
nation yields some sort of counten-
ance to the idea that the animal
organism is capable, under certain
circumstances namely. conserva-
tion Of body. heat. perfect inaction,
and preservation from all external
stimuli-of living for weeks. If not
months, without food or drink; and
records OF prolonged fasting. with
or without sleep. are forthcoming
with tho regularity of the announce
mcnts OF gigantic gooseberries. sea-
serpents and eight-legged calves
The alleged proceedings of Indian
fakirs and Persian dervishes are
cited in support OF the possibility of
human Information In underground
cells. The proceedings OF these
gentry must, however. be very liber-
ally discounted. They certainly
achieve some very extraordinary
feats OF endurance and self-abnega-
tion. Their efforts to set at def
ance the laws and inclinations of the
body, and by contemplation, fasting
and neglect Of the ordinary usages
and requirements of life to mortify
the flesh and become absorbed into
the divine soul, which is. according
to the tenets of pedantism. the
spring and essence OF existence. sur
pass physiological possibility and
necessarily engender imposture,
which may be conscious or uncon-
scious. or both. This element Of
imposture, involuntary or designed,
enters into all their proceedings,
and is seldom either diligently look
ed for or detected. The love OF the
marvellous is strongly developed
among orientals, and fakir stories
must be taken with a liberal grain
OF salt Tales of prolonged living
burial are common enough in India,
but in no case has the proceeding
been subjected to scientific observa.
tion or systematic watching; and in
some instances the grave in which
the devotee has proposed to hiber-
nate has been uncovered after the
lapse OF few days and its occupant
found dead.
Tho Red hug OF Flori In.
W. r