Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-06-15
BISARA OF PURI.

Some natives say hat it came from
the other side of Kulu, where the IL
inch temple sapphire is; others that 1t
was made at the devil shrine of 40
Chung, in Tibet, was stolen by a KAT
fir, from him by a Gurkha, from him
again by a Lahouli, from him by a
Khitmatgar, and by this latter sold to
an Englishman, SO all its virtue was
lost, because, to work properly, the
Bisara of Puri must be stolen-With
bloodshed if possible, but at any rate
stolen.
These stories of the coming into In
dia are false. 1t was made at Puri
ages since-the manner of its making
would fill a small book-was stolen by
one of the temple dancing girls there
for her own purposes, and then pass
ed On from hand to hand, steadily
northward, till it reached Hanla, al
ways bearing the same name, the BIZ
sara of Puri. In shape it is a tiny
square box of silver, studded outside
with eight small balas rubies. Inside
the box, which opens with a spring, is
a little eyeless fish, carved FROM some
sort of dark, shiny u and wrapped
in a shred of faded gold cloth. That
is the Bisara of Puri, and it were bet
ter for a man to take a king copra in
his hand than to touch the Bisara of
Puri.
All kinds of magic are out of date.
and done away with except in India,
where nothing changes in spite of the
shiny, toy scum stuff that people call
"civilization." Any man who knows
about the Bisara of Puri will tell you
what it's powers are, always suppos-
ing that it has been honestly stolen.
1t is the only regularly working,
trustworthy love charm in the coun-
try, with one exception.
(The other charm i'll the hands of a
trooper of the Nizam's Horse, at a
place called Tuprani, due north of
Haidarabad.) This a be depended
upon for a fact. Some one else may
explain it.
If the Bisara be not stolen, but Civ
en- or bought or found, it turns
against its owner in three years, and
leads to ruin or death. This is an
other fact which you may explain
when you have time. Meanwhile you
can laugh at it.. At present the Biara
is safe on an ekka pony's neck, inside
tho h11n hoc6 pon1y1oon %hof 1yonnc off
the evil eye. If the ekka driver ever
finds it and wears it or gives it to his
wife, I am sorry for him..
A very dirty cody woman, with
goiter, owned it at Theog in 1884. It
came to Simla from the north before
Churton's khitmatgar bought it and
sold it for three times it's silver value
to Churton, who collected curiosities.
The servant knew no more what he
had bought than the master, but a
man looking over Churton's collect
ton of curiosities-Churton was an
assistant commissioner, by the way
saw and held his tongue. He vas an
Englishman, but knew how to believe
which shows that he was different
from most Englishmen. He knew that
it was dangerous to have any share in
the little box when working or DOR
mant, for unsought love is a terrible
gift.
Pack-"Grubby" Pack, as we used
to call him-was in every way a nasty
little man who must have crawled in
to the army by mistake. He was three
taller thar his sword, but not
half as strong. And the sword was a
so shilling, tailor made one. Nobody
liked him, and I suppose it was his
worthlessness hat made him fall SO
in love with Miss Hollis,
who was good and sweet, and five
foot eight in her tennis shoes. He
was not content with falling in love
quietly, but brought all the strength
of his miserable nature into the bust
ness. If he had not been SO objec-
tionable, one might have pitied him.
He vapored and fretted, and fumed
and trotted up and down and tried to
make himself pleasing in Miss Hollis
big, quiet gray eyes, and failed. 1t
was one Of b cases that you some
times meet, even in the country
where we marry by code, of a really
blind attachment all on one side, with
out the faintest possibility of return.
Miss Hollis looked on Pack as some
sort of vermin running about the
road. He had no prospects beyond
captains pay, and no wits to help
that out by one anna. In a large sized
man love like this would have been
touching. In a good man it would