1 (•tinted to me an occurrence which at first I could scarce 1 v
2 belitjve, thinking it u pure invention or a mere joke; hut 1 toon
3 became persuaded that lie was in earnest. I give it here nth the
4 remark onlv, that after having arrived at Lahore, I heard it
5 confirmed by other persona, in whose statements 1 could also
6 place confidence.
7 Jlunjcet Sing—thus runs the narrative—was told that a ’at,
8 or faqtiecr, living in the mountains, was able to keep himwif in
9 i; state resembling death, and would allow himself to be even
10 buried, without injuring or endangering his life, provided they
11 would remove or release him from the grave after the expiration
12 of a fixed time, he being in the possession of the- means of
13 resuscitating himself again. The maharajah thought it im¬
14 possible. To convince himself of tb^, truth of the ass-rfion,
15 he ordered the faqueer to be brought to court, and caused him
16 to undergo the experiment, ;> soring him that no precaution
17 should be omitted to discover whether it was a deception. In
18 consequence, the fuqueer, in tin; presence of the court, pine-d
19 himself in a complete state' bf osphytitUt, having all the appearance
20 of death,
21 In that slate he was wrapped in the linen on which he was
22 sitting, the seal of Iluojecl Sing w, s stamped thereon, and if.
23 was placet} in a chest, on which tile maharajah put a strong
24 lock. The chest was burnt! in a garden, outside of the city,
25 belonging to the minister, barley was sown on the ground, and
26 • he space enclosed with a wall and surrounded by sentinels. On
27 the fortieth day, which was the time fixed for his exhumation, n
28 great number of tin. authorities of the durbar, with Cerieral
29 Ventura, and several Englishmen from the vicinity, one of them a
30 medical man, went to the eucldsure. The chest was brought up
31 mid opened, and the faqueer was found in the same p,, it ion as
32 they had left him, cold and stiff. A friend of mine toid me,
33 that bad I been present when they endeavoured to bring him
34 to life, hv applying warmth to the head, injecting air into his
35 ears ai d mouth, fold rubbing the whole of liis body to promote
36 circulation, &c., I should certainly not have had tin slightest