FAKE BURIALS

Evening Star, Issue 20133, 25 March 1929, Page 2

FAKE BURIALS

AM INDIAN MYSTERY Oft TWO IVe have all read of the .Hindu fakirs who allow themselves to he buried alive, and who come to life again when dug up days or months later. Much wisdom has been devoted to the construction of a scientific, explanation of these doings. According to Paul Henze, who writes them in ‘Le .Journal,’ the answer is simple, though familiar—“ the boy lied.” He does not doubt the burial, nor the disinterment, but he has found no case where a responsible person watched the grave unde it was presumably occupied. Fven so, the fakir must have been shut up for a considerable time—half an hour, or an hour, perhaps—but Mr Henze has convinced himself by personal tests that a human being r ’y remain enclosed in an airtight coffin for as long a period as eighty-five minutes without serious discomfort. He writes:— “ Burial is one of the most important tests among those that constitute what L call the 1 first group ’ of phenomena of ‘ I'akirism ’ —action of the fakir cm himself. We may even say that in itself alone it would suffice as an exponent of the fakir legend, • for, many persons who are not at all impressed by the so-called catalepsies, or periods of insensibility, or by the puerile tricks of invulnerability nevertireless ask this question:'Are there not some Indians who have really remained buried for clays, months, or 0 ,17 7 a years? ■‘The answer is flatly, No! There ‘ ; are nob, and there never have been

■ fakirs who have actually been buried* - for any such periods. , “ Then what are the facts? “The myth of burial rests on inV numerable travellers’ tales, but if «c compare texts we shall find that wo -'C- must go back to 1838 to meet an m> ] count worth taking seriously. It is b f; that of the English officer Osborn, . who then witnessed the burial for njne months of the fakir Haridas, Now the crucial fact is that Osborn's cou- ■ elusions are entirely negative ; I. menu :> that his account is second-hand, llnvii- das having insisted on purely Hindu S 1 control and having always formally b', refused to perform his best under trio .■ eyes of the English. This, nevertheless, is the story which, completely . transformed, has given rise to a thou- ' sand such tales in later times.

y “It is certain that the burial test . is now no longer made. “ Moreover, it is sufficient to reflect ' only a moment to convince, oneself • ' that the suspension of the vital functions, as it has properly been called (for there is no question here, all ac- ■ ■ counts to the contrary notwithstand- - retarded life ’ j in that state

there is always respiration), is an impossible tiling. Particularly, it is impossible for a human being to live without breathing, for more than a few minutes.

“ Nevertheless—and here comes iu the interest of the problem—iu the experiment of Harkins, as in all those of Ins predecessors (as shown by serious observations), the fakir miliy remained in the coffin about forty-five minutes. What was bis secret? “ I have been making some researches and tests cm this matter, ami I have been astonished to find that it depends on a clever deceit, and that, in fact, anyone can perform this apparent miracle at the first trial. ” I first asked of scientific men—physiologists. physicians, alpinists, etc. —this plain question: ‘.During what time can a normal man remain shut up within about 10(1 gallons of ah', before be loses consciousness?” “ I. was told how I might make the calculation (I. will not inflict it on my readers here), but it was unfortunately impossible to perform it. Iu fact, although we might obtain data regarding the consumption of oxygen and the production of carbonic acid, we could not. on the other hand, determine anything exact regarding the progress of the respiratory rhythm. Thus, the answer varies between ten and forty minutes. “At the same time I had constructed a coffin so arranged that it could be sunk in a pond, giving an absolute guarantee of its tightness. “ I then made several official tests in the presence of physicians. And, to be brief, 1 could remain for six-five, severity-five, or even eighty-five minutes without any other discomfort than a slight feeling of suffocation at the end of the experiment, when the respiratory rhythm had risen to fortyfive. For success it was absolutely necessary that I should not make the slightest movement while in the box. “I have no special aptitude, nor any training, for such a, test. Anyone could do the same thing with at least equivalent results. “ The problem of fakir burials was then solved. We may add that the feat of being shut up in a badiy cor.constrncted box on the stage of a theatre for seven minutes becomes something of a joke!”