The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-12
THE FEATs OF INDIAN FAKIRs.
Explanation of the Mango and the
boy and Ladder Trick.

New York Sun.
ITO certain class of western minds tha
cccultism of theosOphy appeals in roman
tic and fascinating way and such men agow
themselves Theosophists" said DR.. j. NJ.
Chalmers, who has travelled widely in the
western and eastern hemisphere But
theSe western professors OF theoSOphic be-
lief stand merely on the margin of the
fountain of occult truth. They have little
conception of the power and insight OF the
Oriental adopts who have devoted their
lives TO the study and practice of the an
Client falth IN its early home in India. In
that land II has been my privilege to see
the mango tree trick and the aerial boy and
ladder trick performed by true fakir-ona
or the class OF Indian holy men who
through asceticiSm and contemplation at
tain powers that to the ordinary mind seem
miraculous
These tricks have often been described
by travellers from the days of Marco Polo,
who brought back an account of them from
India four centuries ago, up to the globe
trotters of the present times. But most
visitors in India come away having wit
messed only cheap limitations, by common
JugglerS, of the true performance. One
except in the Buddhist monasteries or at
the courts of the rajahs who are patrons
OF the holy men. In the performance of
both tricks the fakir sits on a mat spread
on the ground, under the open sky his sole
apparatus being a basket, which at the end
of the proceedings is found to be empty. In
the first trick he plants a mango seed in
full view of the spectators gathered around
him. From this seed springs a shoot which
becomes a mango tree that blossoms, bears
green fruit that passes through every stage
of growth and change to the complete
ripening-al these transformations taking
place during the fraction of an hours time.
In the boy and ladder trick the fakir
throws u rope ladder up into the air, which,
unwinding, goes aloft until the end is out
of sight. Then the fakir begins CONVERSE
ton with a boy whose voice is heard from
somewhere above in the air. and presently
tiie boy appears, climbing down the ladder.
The fakir stops him before he gets to the
ground and sends him back for fruit. The
boy disappears in the sky, and presently
oranges, mangoes and cocoaputs come tum-
bling down about the magician. The fakir
finds fault with the boy, and, Selling a
sword, starts up the ladder threatening ven-
geance. He goes up until he disappears
from view and soon the boy comes tumbng
to the ground in sections-dissevered arms,
head and the trunk Strew the ground at the
foot of the ladder. The magician deScendS
to the ground, gathers the fragments of the
boy into the basket and covers it with a
cloth; the ladder vanishes, the basket IS
shown empty to the spectators, and the
performance is at an end.
These tricks, startling in their verisimili-
tude, are not to be explained by hypnotism,
Tor they have been performed under condi-
lions In which it would be absurd to ascribe
duence by the fakir. In famous expert
ment in India, several years ago, the takir
performed the boy and ladder trick sitting
on mat In the center of hollow square
formed by a regiment of British soldiers.
with other spectators around, some iii
houses, concealed from the sight of the fax
paper to sketch the performance in its diff
ferent stages, and others with cameras were
stationed in good positions to make snap
shots. The faldr went through the tri TX sue
cessfully, every detail being fully witnessed
6y the entire crowd of spectators. The
drawings of the sketch artists depicted the
performance as the spectators had seen it.
the ladder, the boy, the climbing fakir, and
the the falling of the discovered limbs. and
head and trunk; but the work of the cam
eras revealed at every stage only one pio-
ture-the fal1ir seated on his mat on the
nothing else.
1T was my privilege some time after my
return from India to meet the only Theos-
ophist of Western birth that ever impressed
me as having the faith and practice Of the
indian SageS. DIR. Eric David Even, born
in Scotland while surgeon in the British
Indian army, in which he attained high
rank, became interested in theosophy. He
had retired from the army under half pay
and at the time of our meeting he had come
TO America. He made and 1 believe still
makes his home mainly in the West Indian
islands, Of the Windward or British group,
but was passing some months in New York
city, residing in one of the East Side streets
that lead from Union square, He was a
SMALL wiry man, with iron gray hair. He
ate no meat and drank no wine; his food
was principally rice, and he drank black
coffee, and smoked tobacco in a hookah in
moderation.
DR. Even rarely could be persuaded even
by his closest friends, to manifest the won
derful psychical powers that he possessed.
He could perform both the mango tree and
the boy and ladder tricks after the man
ner of the adopts, and his explanation of
the way these seemingly miraculous effects
were produced is interesting. They were
not done through the mesmeric or hypnotic
influence of the magician upon the specta-
tors, he said, but through the occult power
of actually projecting into visibility the inn
age conceived in his mind. Thus in the
experiment already referred to, the success
sive apparitions, which were plainly seen
by the spectators and faithfully drawn by
the artists, were too intangible to impress
themselves on the film Of the photographers
plates.
1.-The opinion by DR.. Even of the late
Nine Blavatsky is worth. mentioning. Be-
lieving her 5e Theosophist of the true
faith, he said of her that the soul of a man
was incarnated in woman's body"