The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-14
BENARES ORDEAL BY FIRE.

| anu costS,. amounting IN all to $3I.3O.
BENAREs ORDEAL BY FIRE.
| Hindus Walk Unframed Over a Bed OF
Live Goals Before Mrs. Besant.
controversy having arisen in some
| Of the papers about the recent per-
| formance of the fire ceremony at Be-
| mares, an account of what actually
took place, by an English onlooker,
| may be Of interest to the readers of the
Civil and Military Gazette. 1t was dur
| ing the recent convention of the Theo-
sophlcal society that. a good many of
| US who are interested in the life Of In
dla below the surface being present,
! some Hindu friends arranged with a
certain sect of Shivaite Hindus, VINO
| claim the power of rendering fire harm
| less, to give an exhibition of their DOW
| ers. Accordingly a trench was dug in
the grounds of the Tagore Villa about
Is feet long by four, and this was filed
with logs of wood, which We're left to
blaze all day. In che evening the
trench was filled by a thick layer of
glowing Goals giving off a tremendous
heat At p. m. we repaired to the
scene of action. Our party consisted
of Mrs. Besant, Countess Wachtmeis-
ter, DR.. Richardson, late professor Of
chemistry at University college, Bris-
toll: DR.. Pascal, a French doctor of
medicine; Mr. Bertram Keightley. bar
rister at law; Miss Lillian Edger, NJ.
A: Colonel Olcott and others Chairs
were arranged for us on kind of tais
formed of the earth thrown out of the
trench and about eight feet from it.
This was the nearest point to the big
fire at which one could bear the scOrch-
ing heat. At our back and surround
ing the trench was a dense but orderly
crowd of hundreds of Hndus. All
waited with eager expectation. At last
hubbub approached from the gates of
the villa announced the arrival of the
procession.
1t consisted of a chief priest, who pre-
sided, carrying a sword, two others
who were going to pass through the
f1ames. and an image in a glass canopy
borne along by others. The leader inti-
mated that his two colleagues would
pass through the fiery furnace, and af-
terward anybody who liked of the male
persuasion might follow them through
unframed, but no women were permit
ted to go through Then ensued a most
extraordinary and in some respects
painful spectacle. 1t is a doctrine of
Hindustan that all the functions of ma
ture, fire, rain, etc, are presided over
by native spirits. This particular sect
of Hindus claims to have preserved the
secret Of being able to controlsthe Gre
spirits so that for the time they are
unable to burn. Whatever may be the
explanation, these are the facts.
Certain mystic ceremonies having
been performed, and cocoanuts having
been tossed into the flames, the two
Junior priests apparently became pos
sessed. With frantic shrieks and cries,
they passed twice around the blazing
trench, preceded by the chief priest
with his sword and followed by the
brilliantly illuminated canopy. Then,
still in frenzy painful to behold, they
plunged up to their ankles in the
scorching furnace and passed back
ward and forward several times, he
red-hot Goals and sparks scattering
about their feet. The crowd followed
in their wake, first one or two individ-
uals, until the others, gaining conf
dence and caught by enthusiasm, rush
ed through in hundreds, even little
children of and S years old running up
and down the trench over the burning
Goals exactly as if it had been a soft
carpet. All were unhurt Among those
who ventured was a brother of one of
our party. This gentleman, whose
name T am prepared to give privately,
walked through the trench twice very
slowly. and described the sensation af-
terward as having been like Walk 1g
over hot sand.
A skeptic among us having pro-
pounded the theory that the feet Of
natives were covered by an integum2nt
SO dense that it was proof against live
Goals, DR.. Pascal carefully examined
the feet of this witness Immediately af-
ter his performance. and found the skin
of the sples was of the normal thick
ness of European feet and that they
were untouched by the fire. I saw one
man deliberately pause in the middle of
the trench to pick up a handful of the
flaming embers, which he then carried
to the side. A linen turban which fell
from some ones head lay on the Goals
without igniting as did the cocoanuts.
The priests remained on the scene for
about 25 minutes. during which time
the two apparently possessed men were
held by the others. After they left the
crowd was advised to cease experiment.
ing with the fire, and no more passed
over. At this stage DR.. Richardson and
myself left our seats and attempted to
ito the brink of the fiery gulf.
but the heat was so great that we had
to turn back.-Lahore Civil and Mill
tary Gazette.