The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-23
DECEIT AS A PROFESSION.

was Durka Kamboh, and went about
 Bournemouth with head half bowed,
 as if he were lost in abstract eontem-
 plation of holy things; but observed
 him often when he was unconscious of
 it and had seen the keen, discerning,
 crafty light in his jetty, evasive eyes.
 SWam though he might be, as he an-
 nounced himself when he first appeared at the resort in his long black European coat contrasting strangely with his white turban, felt convinced that he
 was merely one of the charlatans who seek the centers where wealth and
 fashion congregate.
 An old ordnance major said:
 T have known his kind all my life, for I was born in Benares, and no mat ter what the caste of the man, it is the
 profession of deceit, by love, the pro-
 fessionI of deceit, and there are 5000 ,OOO
 of his ilk in India"
 This is literally true. The census re-
 ports of the Empire of India show | that there are more than that number | of fakirs in the country, and these | figures do not include the vast army of wanderers who are scattered through the East Indies, Afghanistan, Tibet, ] China and Siam.
 The popular impression in this coun-
 try is that a fakir is always some sort
 of nlountebank, merely juggler and
 magician in fact, and the misapprehen- sion has been caused by all that has
 been written and said concerning the
 marvellous Hindu magic, which is en- tirely the work of fakirs and so the 1 name has become current and even fair
 to become adopted to serve as nicely definitive term for certain classes of persons among our own people. The truth is that only a minor portion of the fakirs of India are trained in
 magic and conjuring, and the others follow the practices of deceit for their
 own gain ill ways that I hope to set forth
 Primarily they are supposed to be poor, for the very word comes from the
 Arabic faqura, which signifies ito be
 poor" and poverty in India signifies labor or mendicity. So remote that the origin is mythical, custom demanded that any man of any caste who was
 desirous of reaching the state of Sanyassis, the condition of those "who
 have felt all things'' and are supposed
 to have no further direct or personal interest in this life any more, should
 become a wanderer, a mediator, and
 should forsake his former life and all
 his property. .--: .... ,. At the beginning of this century there were eminentlyk holy men in large numbers among the fakirs, men who were students and benefactors; but each new injection of Occidental in-
 fiuence has seemed to lessen that pro- portion, until now competent Ango- Indian authorities admit that fakirism
 has become just what the old ordnace
 major called it--the profession of de- Eceit ~ s9 2
 Some few years ago a gentleman
 whom I know bought an estate near a
 town of some size, and immediately on
 his taking possession was surprised to
 find that he had taken on also a
 strange responsibility. At the side of
 the road before his place was gigan- tic peepul tree, such as the natives be- lieye become the residences of departed spirits in great numbers. This is a
 Mohammedan as well as a Rrahmin
 superstition. The tree was in charge
 of rascally old fakir who was system atically extorting a fine revenue from the people of the community by various
 devices, principally Ventriloquial con- versations of departed ones with their friends. He had a hut at the base of 1fy,nhc sa1y
 blocked the roadway and were a great nuisance and the nightly noises about i the fakir's hut were a great annoyance to the new owner of the property. He
 stood it as long as he could, and when
 one day another fakir who was also a yentriloquist and had a highly trained monkey came by, he promised him 8 handsome fee to rid him of the fakir, of the tree. As long, as the fakir was there to prophecy what dreadful things
 would happen if one branch of the tree was cut or broken, any attempt to clear the roadway would mean native revolt.
 The second fakir secretly watched the operations of the first for day or two and discovered that the worshipers who came brought gifts of food, money and jewels to lay before the peer of the tree, the spirit in charge of their friends spirits. The worshipers were then sent to the river to wash in a cer- tain way, by the old fakir, and here
 turned to the seclusion of his hut.
 When the worshipers returned they found him still in the hut, but the gifts
 were all gone, consumed by the peer of the tree, the fakir said. As a matter
 of fact he had stolen out and got them
 meanwhile.
 The second fakir ascended into the tree the third day and posted the mon
 key, so that the instant the old fakir's
 back was turned the monkey could
 swing by his tail and gather up all the
 gifts. This was done many times, till
 the old fakir was completely mystified
 and nearly frantic over his losses.
 Having secured a large quantity of
 booty, the second fakir took the next
 step in his plan. He sent the monkey
 aloft on branch of the tree that was in plain sight, and when accompany of l wealthy and influential worshipers had gathered to converse with their dead,
 the second fakir by his ventriloquism made his monkey denounce the old ia
 kir, making him a laughing stock be-