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vol. title: vol. period: 1882 pages in vol.: 231 |
< The Jealousies of Indian Thaumaturgists (continued from page 12-27) >
“That your petitioner being by profession Jagatguru is ger ally looked up to as the sole protector of the Hindu religion, and as such is bound in duty to see that that religion is preserved intact.
“2. That obedient to the call of this duty, he approaches you with this petition, setting forth certain events which have of late been and are ever now occurring every day, which he considers to be indirect encroachment upon the Hindu religion.
“3. That your Worship’s petitioner has come to learn that a certain Mahomedan Moulvi Moulava (son of Karamut Ali) of Jaunpore, is now on a visit to the city, intent on making converts of the Hindus and that this his intention he is carrying out by certain means which to your petitioner appear to be extremely foul.
“4. That the unlettered masses of this vast city are deluded into the belief that great sanctity is attached to his personality, and that a vessel of water containing a quantity of jira (a kind of spice) when blown over by him, becomes an infallible remedy for all sorts of diseases, however dangerous.
“5. That your petitioner is informed....that this process of blowing over is accompanied by certain incantations peculiar to the Moslems, and your petitioner makes no hesitation to affirm that a person drinking this water unconsciously becomes a Mahomedan.
“6. That your petitioner further states that the educated members of the Hindu community may well take care of themselves and their religion, but he cannot say the same thing of the untutored mass who are likely to be led away by a designing person..........
“7. That your petitioner submits that if the Moulvi is really possessed of any supernatural powers which he feigns, he may be asked to cross the river with wooden sandals, or he may be required to fly in the air, or to drink a quantity of molten lead, or in the event of his not undertaking to perform any of these feats, he may be asked to cure a blind man and a leper, that the public, the uneducated portion of the Hindu society specially, may be able to see through the veil and to judge of the truth or falsity of his pretensions.
‘‘For these reasons your petitioner humbly prays that an order to this effect be issued under your seal, and your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.”
“We are told,” remarks the Brahmo Public Opinion “that Swami Brahmananda Saraswati Sankarachari is himself prepared to undertake the performance of the miracles he would have his antagonist exhibit before the public.”
Were the two thaumaturgists allowed to give a public exhibition of their a supernatural” powers, both with the avowedly laudable object of proving the truth and efficacy of their respective faiths, India would become the scene of a rare spectacle indeed. What with the advent of Mr. Eglinton, the first genuine medium in a country where hitherto Yogis and astrologers have reigned supreme, and the two “miracle”-working saints, what would become of the scientific Materialism of the young Hindu and Mahomedan graduates? The fatal year 1881 would end by witnessing a scene which would carry the public back to the first century of the Christian era, to those days when Simon Magus wrestled for supremacy of magic powers with the Apostle Peter. Which of the two—the Mahomedan Moulvi or the Hindu Jagatgura who, in the act of flying in the air, would cause his rival to fall and “break his leg,” as the Christian legend shows Peter to have done? The contest between them might become one of absorbing interest to the believers in Allah and Trimurti, and no doubt would give rise to most ingenious theories among our missionary friends.—The Theosophist.
Et Verbum Caro Factum Est.
As it willeth, here and there, |
Editor's notes
- ↑ Et Verbum Caro Factum Est. by Campbell, J.A., B.A. (Cantab), London Spiritualist, No. 489, January 6, 1882, p. 10
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 489, January 6, 1882, p. 10