A correspondent in India tells us that a military friend of his, on
returning to England, and finding all astir there about mesmerism,
writes to him that he had often had much cause to regret that, during
his long residence of more than twenty-eight years in India, he was
ignorant of the very name or existence of mesmerism; as he could
recall to mind many instances of what he then deemed to be native
superstitions, on which he now looked very differently, believing them
to be the direct effects of mesmeric influence. These instances are
daily and hourly exhibited in Indian dwellings, though either passing
without notice, or ascribed to other causes. Children in India,
especially European children, seldom go to sleep without being
subjected to some such influence, either by the ayahs or the attendant
bearers; and our military friend says, that he has himself repeatedly,
in a few seconds, been the means of tranquillising a fractious,
teething child, and throwing it into a profound sleep by the mere
exercise of the will, quite ignorant that he was thus using, though in
one of its simplest forms, a power at which he laughed heartily when
displayed around him in some of its more hidden ramifications. We give
the following in his own words:--
I shall now relate a circumstance, proving that the natives of India
apply mesmeric power to the removal of diseases with the utmost
success. I had in my establishment at Lucknow a _chuprassie_,[2] who
was a martyr to the most deplorable chronic rheumatism. His hands,
wrists, knees, and all his joints, were so greatly enlarged, and in a
state so painful, that his duties had gradually become merely nominal.
One day, he hobbled up, and begged my permission to remain at home for
a few days, for the purpose of being cured of his agonising disease. I
said: 'Certainly; get cured of your complaint, and let me see you when
you return.' In a very few days, perhaps in four or five, to my great
astonishment he returned, smiling and joyous, with his limbs as pliant
and supple as my own.
'What!' said I, 'are you come back already?'
'Yes, sir, by your favour, I am perfectly cured.'
'What! entirely cured?'
'Yes, sir; perfectly cured.'
'Well, then, tell me what medicine you took.'
'I took no medicine; I called in two women, _zadoo walees_ (dealers in
magic) from the bazaar, and gave them four pice apiece (about twopence
each), and they cured me.'
'But how--what did they do?'
'They put me on a _charpaee_ (a low bed), and one sat at each side of
me, and both passed their hands over my body so (describing long
mesmeric passes), and thus they set me to sleep, and I slept soundly:
when I awoke, I was free from rheumatism, and am now perfectly well.'
The master made no investigation of the matter; the man was laughed
at, and told to return to his duties, which he continued thenceforth
to perform with all his former zeal. Now, this was not regarded by the
patient or the other servants as a strange thing, for they took it
quite as a matter of course; and there is indeed no reason to doubt,
that the natives of India frequently have recourse to _jhar phoonk_,
or mesmerism, for the cure of rheumatism; but many interesting things
arc carefully concealed from the English, because we invariably
ridicule or sneer at native customs--a mode of treatment peculiarly
distasteful to the inhabitants of the East.
But though willing to make use of these mysterious powers in their
beneficent and curative forms, there exist all over Hindostan abundant
proofs of the dread of 'zadoo,' or witchcraft, among all classes,
Moslems as well as Hindoos, when it appears to threaten them with
evil. If a cultivator has transplanted his tobacco or other valuable
plant, he collects old cracked earthen cooking-pots, and places a spot
of limestone whiting on the well-blackened bottom of each. They are
then fixed on stakes driven into the ground, so that the white spots
may be seen by all passers-by. This ingenious process is meant to
neutralise the influence of the 'evil eye' of the envious. The
talismans worn by the natives, said to be always the same, consist of
an oblong cylinder, with a couple of rings for a string to pass
through to fasten them, and would appear to have been originally
impregnated with the electric fluid. Children are invariably provided
with such amulets to avert the 'evil eye;' and should any one praise
their beauty, the parent spits on the ground, and declares them to be
perfect frights.
The inhabitants of the mountainous regions east of Bengal--the
Bhooteeas, and others--accuse all those of Bengal of being great
sorcerers; and when seized with fever in the low malarious tracts,
which they must pass through on descending from the mountains and
entering that province, for the purpose of bathing in the holy Ganges,
or visiting one of the numerous shrines in the plains, the disease is
invariably imputed to the incantations of the Bengalees.
Nor tree, nor plant
Grows here, but what is fed with magic juice,
All full of human souls.
Our military friend gives two other instances in which the effects
produced were really and truly mesmeric, though of course ascribed to
magic. He vouches for the facts, but leaves every one to form his own
opinion:--
The wife of one of my grooms, a robust woman, and the mother of a
large family, all living within my grounds, was bitten by a poisonous
serpent, most probably a cobra, or coluber maja, and quickly felt the
deadly effects of its venom. When the woman's powers were rapidly
sinking, the servants came to my wife, to request that the civil
surgeon of the station might be called in to save her life. He
immediately attended, and exerted his utmost skill, but in vain. In
the usual time, the woman appeared to be lifeless, and he therefore
left her, acknowledging that he could not be of any further service.
On his reaching my bungalow, some of my servants stated, that in the
neighbourhood a fakir, or wandering mendicant, resided, who could
charm away the bites of snakes; and begged, if the doctor had no
objection, that they might be permitted to send for him. He answered:
'Yes, of course: if the poor people would feel any consolation by his
coming, they could bring him; but the woman is dead.'
After a considerable lapse of time, the magician arrived, and began
his magical incantations. I was not present at the scene, but it
occurred in my park, within a couple of hundred yards of my bungalow;
and I am quite confident that any attempt to use medicines would have
been quite useless, as the woman's powers were utterly exhausted,
though her body was still warm. The fakir sat down at her side, and
began to wave his arm over her body, at the same time muttering a
charm; and he continued this process until she awoke from her
insensibility, which was within a quarter of an hour.
The last instance we shall give occurred at Bombay. The writer says:
On visiting Bombay in 1822, I was greatly diverted by a circumstance
told to me by an old friend in the artillery there. He stated that he
had had a _kulashee_, or tent-pitcher, in his service for many years;
that he was a most faithful and active man; but that he had all of a
sudden, and without any visible cause, become very greatly emaciated,
feeble, and ghastly. His master had sent him to the hospital, to have
the benefit of the skill of the regimental surgeon; but after the
lapse of some time, he was sent back, with the intimation that the
surgeon could not discover any specific disease, and that he,
therefore, could make nothing of his case. On bringing back this
information, my friend began to cross-question his servant, who would
not at first acknowledge the cause of his disease; but at last, after
much persuasion, he candidly avowed to his master, in confidence, that
he was labouring under the effect of witchcraft. 'And do you know,'
said my friend, 'that the fellow actually believed it himself.' And we
both laughed most heartily. His master continued his examination,
until the kulashee confessed that a certain Brahmin, officiating at a
large tank close to the fortress of Bombay, had threatened him with
his revenge, and was now actually eating up his liver, by which
process he would shortly be destroyed. 'I will tell you what I did: I
no sooner got the Brahmin's name, than I ordered my buggy, and quickly
drove down to the tank. On reaching it, I inquired for the magician;
and on his arrival, I leaped down, seized him by the arm, and
horsewhipped him within an inch of his life, now and then roaring out:
"I'll teach you to bewitch my kulashee, you villain!" "How dare you
injure my servant, you rascal?" and so forth. In a very few minutes,
the liver-eating Brahmin declared that he would instantly release the
kulashee from the spell; that, on reaching home, I would find him
recovered; and ultimately he was perfectly released. And, believe me,'
said my friend laughing, 'that the fellow mended from that hour, and
is now a capital servant.'
In a series of interesting papers in the _Dublin University Magazine_,
called 'Waren, or the Divine Afflatus of the Hindoos,' the writer
gives a lengthened description of that strange possession (which he
calls _daimoniac_, preferring that word to _demoniac_--the latter
being exclusively evil or devilish, while the former implies a
superhuman power for good as well as evil), with all its varied
manifestations. This faith, if it may be so called, prevails over the
whole of Western India, its greatest stronghold being the province of
Concan, not far from Bombay. There are three kinds of waren: the
hereditary or family waren; the transmitted or tribe waren; and that
which is summoned by a variety of spells and incantations, called the
village waren; the last being, of course, the most widely spread, as
almost every village has a temple dedicated to Devee, the frightful
goddess who presides over and is consulted on every calamity, giving
her responses in the person of some waren selected for the purpose. In
the hereditary and tribe waren, the visitation continues at intervals
through life in the person once influenced, and it is always regarded
as a proof of divine favour, being seldom exercised but for beneficent
purposes. Its approach is made known by sundry sudden changes and
tremblings, _and always_ by a nodding of the head. After heavings,
pantings, gurglings, and moanings, composure returns, and the
possessed begins his utterances, and always in the name of some
divinity or other waren, speaking of himself as a distinct person, by
the name of _Majhen Jhad_, _my tree_, whom he reproves, admonishes,
and advises, in such terms as '_My tree_ has broken such a vow'--'If
_my tree_ acts thus,' &c. This phrase has been variously explained, as
the spirit of the root-man or family ancestor, speaking of his
descendant waren as _my tree_, or as a simple allusion to his
motionless condition.
The hereditary waren is the oracle of the household, as the village
waren is of the entire neighbourhood, often usurping the functions of
judge and jury, causing sometimes the innocent to suffer for the
guilty, but also, by his prophecies, being the means of recovering
stolen property. There are many other kinds of waren: a cholera waren,
a sanitary waren, a necromantic waren; and so forth. The last named
not only discovers the state of affairs of those who die suddenly, or
disappear mysteriously, but pretends to raise the dead; and a story is
recorded of an impudent impostor, taking advantage of the belief of
the people in the identity of the persons thus raised, and personating
so well a prince slain in battle some years before, that not only did
his brother swear to his identity, but the widow actually threw off
her weeds, and went to live with him!
When calamity or pestilence visits a place, the village oracle is
consulted as to the cause of the anger of the goddess Devee, and the
responses are given forth by her inspired waren, amidst a cloud of
incense, strongly reminding us of the oracle of Delphi. When the sins
have been pointed out which have caused the particular scourge, some
sacrifice is prescribed, chiefly that of goats and cocks; sometimes
the inspired waren desires a certain number of goats to be let loose,
and driven beyond the boundary, and that he, the incarnation of the
evil, will go with them. Of course, the scourge diminishes from that
day. Several who have witnessed this practice in India, have been
struck with the remarkable analogy it bears to the scape-goat of the
Mosaic dispensation, sent into the wilderness burdened with the sins
of the congregation.
The word waren signifies a dual possession--the one beneficent, and
the other malignant. One curious instance is given of a man speaking
_in_ the person of Devee, and _of_ himself as a third person, saying
to a Brahmin: 'You are going to the Concan: take _this fellow_ with
you. _He_ was happy and pure, performing _my_ worship,' &c. Under the
influence of waren, mild persons have become so infuriated as to die
under the visitation; and it is related that, during a procession in
honour of the flagellating waren, the infection spread, the waren was
propagated through the whole multitude, who became so excited by the
beating of drums, tom-toms, horns, great brazen trumpets, and other
instruments, that, with dishevelled hair, and backs streaming with
blood from their own flagellations, they danced forward with a
measured convulsive motion, bellowing out and shaking their heads;
and so terrific was the excitement, that a Portuguese servant who was
passing began making the same frantic gestures, and could only be
recovered after repeated cuts with the horsewhip--the Hindoos,
meanwhile, exulting that their goddess had entered into a Christian!
That such powers are made a matter of merchandise follows of course;
and, like the woman who brought her master much gain by soothsaying,
so there are persons who make a trade of going about with some waren,
who is consulted on secret affairs, who foretells the future, and
whose utterances are sold for money. Extraordinary instances are also
recounted of warens of the necromantic class, especially when they
have worldly goods, becoming the dupes of those who foil them with
their own weapons, that they may be the more readily despoiled. In the
Mahratta country, except in the large towns, there are no physicians;
and when simple remedies fail, they say: 'Send for the god,' or
magician, just as in the case of our correspondent; and besides the
sacrifice of goats and cocks, there is, under the name of religious
fasts, a much more telling and significant prescription in the way of
regimen.
It were impossible, in a space like ours, to give even an outline of
the different species of waren and their strange practices, part of
which would seem to be akin to what we call mesmerism and
clairvoyance, with the addition of spells and sacrifices. We might
write volumes, and search every volume that has been written on the
subject, and we could expiscate nothing else than that from the
beginning of the world, and we may say in every country in the world,
there has been, under different names and forms, a very general belief
in some supernatural power walking abroad on the earth, by which, when
presuming on its possession, one man may rule over another to his own
hurt or benefit, as the case may be. We have as little sympathy with
those who pretend to account for everything, and would solve all
mysteries by natural causes, as with those who yield implicit belief,
and run after every new thing. If such powers are illusive--in their
operations they are certainly not always so--and the illusion be
mental; if faith be all that is needed, that strong faith which, if
able on the one hand to remove mountains, on the other, causes scales
to grow on the eyes of the mind, so that a man loses his identity, and
is blindly led about by the will of another; or if the result of
bodily disease, hysteria, or some other derangement of the nervous
system, there still remains enough of mystery to awaken the solemn
inquiry of the physician, the psychologist, the Christian, of every
thinking man. Contradictions will meet him at every turn. He will find
all theories more than usually fallacious. He will see a strictly
matter-of-fact person, in seeming health, and of strong mind, so
easily acted on as in a few seconds to present the appearance of a
doting idiot; and a highly imaginative person, or one driven about by
every wind of doctrine, who cannot be touched. He will see the healthy
taken, and the sickly left. If, then, it be disease, and whether
mental or bodily, such disease and its causes must be latent indeed;
and we confess we look for no 'coming man' who is to solve the
mystery.
That this power, which we call mesmerism, was also known to the
priests of ancient Egypt, is supposed to be proved by carvings on the
temples of priests making the passes with their hands, opposite other
figures, to produce the sleep; a circumstance which has been recounted
as proving a connection between the ancient religion in Egypt, and
some unknown faith formerly prevalent in India, at the time the
temples of Elephanta, Kennery, and others were built. We greatly
admire the philanthropic Major Ludlow, who devoted his energies to the
abolishing of the suttee; but whose labours met with very partial
success, until, by searching their own Shasters, he discovered that
there was a time at which the rite did not exist. A greater than he,
however, must arise before the other still more ancient and
wide-spread faith can either be explained or abolished.