The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-13
Lord Weeks. in Harper

Edwin Lord Weeks, in Harper.
Fakirs almost invariably pose we'll. and
are singularly docile and accommodating
as models, the inexhaustible stock Of pa
titnce required in their vocation making
1t easy for them to keep the same position.
Every one knows the oft-told tale of the
arm appraised until ii stiffened in that po-
sition like the dead limb of a tree and
the nails grew into the palm Of his hand;
and the other. who placed a pinch OF earth
on the end of his outstretched tongue,
planted a seed therein and sat until the
seed sproIted and the leaves appeared. In
spite of the fact that their vows forbid
them to touch the coin of the realm. they
are not averse TO receiving Ii in the gourds
or little buckets which they usually carry.
one who belonged TO a sect distinguished
above all others for saintliness was draped
and turbaned with yellow. and carried a
slender wand which he never laid down.
Having consented to pose, he took up a
position in the sunlight. and was carefully
lips moved incessantly, and he never
ceased TO repeat prayers or charms; but
one of his hands having got out of posi-
place it. At my approach he shrank
with an expression of horror,
but. fortunately before 1 had touched him.
it was explained TO me that the contact
of an unsanctifed land would put ages of
penance between him and the happy goal
which was now SO near.
An ascetic with whom we had the honor
of a personal interview had invented an
original method of attaining that eleva-
tiCn of spirit, through maceration of the
flesh, which all must compass before they
on the road from Ajmeer to the sacred
lake of Poscha, dwelling alone in the
wilderness. The fine. road by which we de-
seconded a steep declivity among the hills
made an abrupt turn at the bottom of
the slope, and the driver had to rein in
ms horses, which were rearing and plung-
white tent and a silent figure squatting
at the entrance. With three broad white
stripes chalked across his forehead and
hair toned to the deep and streaky bronze
nue. so prevalent at the ConcOurs Hip
pique, ne was like a Japanese monster
carved from a knot of wood. Just inside
the tent stood an elaborate iron bedstead.
ana there was neither mattress nor sheet
to conseal the frame work of the struc-
ture, with traverse bars thickly planted
with long iron spikes, on which, for eight
accustomed to stretch his emaciated body.
At that moment he was taking a rest,
and his eyes, the only signs of life in his
T Toe'1 heds e ! nan ies were co nxea on us s,
AJmeer at the expense of one of his dis
ciples. a wealthy Hindoo merchant. This
valley was the play ground of divers
striped and spotted brutes Of the cat FAM
lily to such an extent that iron-barred
refugees for goats and goat herds had been
built at intervals along the road, and re
uneasiness. Of the lonely fakir. whose only
defense was his sanctity, and wondered
whether he Ind been rewarded with the
martyrs crown.
When the hot wind of April was at its
neigh In Benares a few weeks later and
the mercury daily stood at 100 or 10 de-
grees Fahrenheit. with an upward ten
dencys while 1t marked 80 degrees In the
sun according to the Pioneer), we could
not but admire the fortitude OF another de-
votee whom We daily saw at the boat
landing on the Gauges. His idea of self
abasement was imaginative and Dantesque.
From a sort of gallows on the bank of
me river. in a spot at once exposed to the
IuH power of the sun, the reflected heat
from the calcined bank and the burning
wind which swept the dust and parched
leaves into whfrling eddies, he hung sus-
pended by his heels, with his face covered
by a figured prayer cloth. With each oscil-
lation OF the dangling figure, as it slowly
swayed to and fro. its head passed within
q foot of a hot fire made of the pungent
fapjacks with which the Hindoo cooks his
rice. Another. whose aspect denoted the
highest degree of self-immolation, gall
loped down the road. mounted on a fright
ened COW, past the ~verandas of Clark's
Hotel. A shred Of yellow cloth concealed
but little of his dusty anatomy, wasted
by vigils and long fasting, and he waved
a tattered umbrella as he tore past, yell
ing at the top of his voice. For the dar-
ing simplicity and originality of his
"make-up" he deserved the academic
palms of his order.