FASTING FAKIRS

Hokitika Guardian, 8 January 1921, Page 1

FASTING FAKIRS

(By a medical correspondent.) Marvellous stories are told about the lasting powers of the fakirs of India, coin pa red with which long abstinence ol the Lord Mayor of Cork is not at all wonderful.

These strange lii'eh, wiio arc found only in India—and even tliere are very lew in number—have a peculiar faculty ior throwing themselves into a trance, suspending all the activities of life, and remaining for many weeks not only without food, but also without water, and with a very scanty supply, if any, of air. Dr Harle, writing in the .Medical Times- in 1881, said that they begin their performance by taking a large dose of bhang, a powerful stupefying drug. They are then lowered into a cool, quiet. tomb ) where they remain in a profound trance for from six to eight weeks. When resurrected they are wan, liaggaid, weak, and wasted, but they gradually return to consciousness.

A German physician, icsident in India, given an account of a fakir who

"as buried in a vault for such a long unit that grain sov u above i; sprouted ,uto *eaf before lie was released. Hill alive. This cos t . was investigated by Sir Henry Lawrence, who found the account correct.

Dr Braid tells of a fakir wiio was buried in a deep grave for six weeks. When exhumed he had the appearance of a Bead man. The heart had apparnily ceased to heat, but, under proper Drentment the man recovered. There could be no fraud in this case, for Jay and night the grave was guarded by soldiers. Another of these abnormal men was known to have been buried in a grave in the mountains for four months, after which he recovered and lived many years. ***** No explanation of this extraordinary power voluntarily to enter a state resembling death is forthcoming. Investigations prove that the pulse cannot be felt and there is no evidence that ihe heart continues to beat. The performer of the apparent miracle does not appear to breathe and he makes no movement whatever.

The power resembles that of hibernating animals. A marmot can live six months without food or water, and Bir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) told of a wonderful Egyptian snail which was brought from Egypt, apparently dead, in 1815 and placed in the British Museum. Five years later a growth was noticed jin its mouth and on being taken from the card to which it was gummed and placed in water it soon become active and ate cabbage leaves.