< The Brothers (continued from page 11-251) >
Mr. Sinnett alludes to events being known in the Bazaar at the time of the mutiny long before the intelligence could have arrived by the ordinary channels. But this sort of thing was not new at the time of the mutiny. I remember such things ever since I first knew India in 1837, and it was then a familiar fact to the then old Indians that the Bazaar news (which was always supposed, in fact was said to come from the Brahmins) often anticipated the regular news. I used to put it down to the utilising of somnambulism by the Brahmins.
Bath. September 27th, 1881.
Mesmeric Healing in the West Indies
Mr. C. E. Taylor, of St. Thomas, Danish West Indies, sends us the following account of a cure recently effected by him, by the use of mesmerism:—
“An inhabitant of this town had been long afflicted with the thrush. Reduced to a skeleton—-abandoned by the regular faculty as incurable, and only visited now and then by two kind-hearted ministers of the gospel, who hardly expected, each time they called upon him, to cast eyes on him in this world again— he had given up hope and had resigned himself to die. It so chanced that I was treating a young Jady of the same family for nervous headaches, and he, beholding my success in relieving her from pain, asked me in piteous accents if I could not do something for him. Great as my faith is in the curative power of the agent I use, I must confess my heart sank when I looked upon the unfortunate being, propped up on two chairs before me. Something within me nevertheless urged me to try. Calling for a basin of water, which I placed on a chair beside me, I put my left hand within it and placed my right on the pit of his stomach, retaining it there for the space of half an hour, during which time my whole system experienced the most curious sensations. Removing my hand, I, in a loud tone, lade him recover, and left him somewhat revived. To make a long story short, I continued this treatment for two or three weeks, when a great amelioration took place; his appetite improved, he gathered strength, gained in flesh, and was soon walking the streets, which he had not beheld for thirteen months, and which I am sure he never expected to see again. Had he only adhered strictly to the regimen prescribed for him, there is not the slightest doubt but what his recovery would have been more rapid and the cure more complete.”
Maroti Bawa's Wonders
With reference to Mr. G. S. Khaparde’s article on this subject, published in No. 13 of our magazine, the Honourable Rao Bahadur Gopalrao Hari Deshmukh, Vice-President of our Society, has kindly forwarded to us for publication the translations of the following two letters received by him in the vernacular from his trustworthy correspondent, Mr. Venkaji Jayawant Khot, of Umrawati, the place where the Bawa is still said to be residing:
I received your letter through Mr. Krishnarow Khot, asking me to report upon the facts and circumstances connected with the supernatural feats of the well-known Maroti Bawa of Umrawati, and the occasion of his having appeared at Karanji to give evidence in a certain case while he was at Umrawati, and, in reply, I beg to state as follows: —
One day while driving with Maroti Bawa in a country cart to a garden, the Bawa asked us if we wanted anything. We replied in the affirmative. “What would you like, a dry or a wet thing?” enquired the Bawa. We replied “we want the latter.” He thereupon desired the cartman to fetch a stone from the roadside. This the cartman did; but the stone fetched being too small, the Bawa throw it away, and asked for a larger one which, when put into his hands, the Bawa offered us, saying that that was a “prasad” (a sacred favor) for us, the handled stone having turned itself into a cocoanut. At this we were, of course, greatly astonished, but we cheerfully broke the cocoa nut and distributed it among all the persons riding with us, and to the members of my family.
Another time we happened to walk along with the Bawa to a garden, when the Bawa espied some cotton lying on the road, which he took up, dipped into water and handed over to us. The cotton then began to yield such a sweet fragrance as to please us all. Upon this a Nagpuri orange (Santra) was offered by us to the Bawa, who broke it and distributed it in portions among those who stood near him, via., a certain gentleman, myself and two lads.
The Bawa desired us to hold these portions of the orange in our fists. The Bawa held his portion in the same way, uttering a sacred hymn. Five minutes after, when we opened our fists at the desire of the Bawa who did the same, we found the orange pieces in our hands just as they were, but the one in Maroti Bawa’s land disappeared. In the same way, I ap-<... continues on page 11-252.1 >
Editor's notes
Sources
-
London Spiritualist, No. 475, September 30, 1881, p. 163
-
London Spiritualist, No. 474, September 23, 1881, pp. 153-54
Inlay
< Maroti Bawa's Wonders (continued from page 11-252) >
proached the Bawa with a stone in hand and was about to present it to him to ask for a “prasad” when the stone itself disappeared!
On the 1st March last, I invited the Bawa to a dinner at my house. At about 8 a. m. while the Bawa was approaching my house he picked up some small stones and distributed them among some boys and persons standing on the road; these small stones were turned into sugarcandy pieces. Of such strange and wonderful phenomena performed by Maroti Bawa, I have heard many a time, but of those I have related above, I always was a personal witness, and have inspected them closely each time.
Mr. Krishnarow Narhar Bappo Saheb, in my interviews with him on one or two occasions, marvelled at Maroti Bawa’s spiritual power as exhibited in his presence for eleven days successively and simultaneously at both places, viz., Karanji and Umrawati, on the occasion of his being summoned to give evidence at the latter town. He added also that he witnessed Maroti Bawa’s phenomena of such a wonderful nature many a time, which he attributed to his having attained the state called Siddhi.
Yesterday, while Maroti Bawa was sitting along with me at the house of a goldsmith named Rama, surrounded by four or five respectable gentlemen, pilgrims of Pandharpur came for alms. The goldsmith Rama offered a piece to them, but they refused and asked for three or four annas. Hearing this, Maroti Bawa picked some small broken pieces of betelnuts from the carpet seat and instantly made them over to Rama. But these betelnut pieces all the persons on the spot witnessed as pieces falling in the goldsmith’s hands amounting to two annas.
In continuation of my letter, dated 10th March, I beg to communicate more phenomena which I witnessed about two or three days ago at the house of Maroti Bawa, where I had gone at his dinner time.
In a copper vessel called “Waishwadeva kund” he (Maroti Bawa) put in my presence small pieces of cowdung cakes, of wood, and a little grass in order to offer daily sacrifices to “Agni” (fire) and after reciting some mantras, sprinkled some water over it, which ignited of itself and produced fire in the vessel in which sacrifices were then offered. He also put his hand over an entirely empty copper cup, but no sooner had he recited some mantras than the cup was filled up with water.
Another striking instance is that in order to offer his daily food as usual to the deva, he served a dish with all the articles of dressed food, as rice, toor-pulse, vegetables and wheat flour cakes, &o., and put the same in an empty room, sprinkling some water over it. The food in the dish disappeared! On being questioned as to where the food had gone, Maroti Bawa pointed to a girl residing in the premises, who pointed to a male child with a bright yellow silken cloth, called “Pitamber,” as dining in the room, but the child was invisible to us. All these things we have witnessed ourselves and— they are facts.
Casting out Devils
In the evening they proceeded to the palace, where the girl was still moaning in her heavy sleep. All those around her could distinguish were the words, “He must not come! I will not depart!” The old man had prepared an earthen pot with a cover, which contained some fruits and seeds, and placed some silver pieces of money in it, and smeared the inside with ground sandal-wood paste. Then he passed his hand over the child several times from head to foot; and as the earthen lamp placed on the top of the vessel was lighted, three kinds of oil being used, those sitting around observed the girl become restless, flinging about her arms and sighing deeply. Her mattress, which had been laid on the floor, was now removed, and the place washed with liquid red clay and cow-dung, and she was taken up and laid upon it; then the exorcist passed his hands over her again, and incense and perfumes were lighted, which cast up volumes of smoke, so that the old man’s face, as he sat at the girl’s feet, could hardly be seen. When this had subsided a little, he told Zora to be ready, and she, taking up the pen that had been provided, rapidly drew the out line of the charm large enough to admit of her writing the incantation. The group formed a strange and solemn picture. The girl, lying restless and insensible, extended on the floor, with the venerable old Syud, with his anxious yet benevolent face and long white beard, sitting at her feet, with Zora by his side. At the patient’s head were her mother and several other ladies and servants, weeping bitterly, while the Rajah himself, with the secretary, who was a privileged person, watched the result with intense interest. The room was dark, except where the lamp cast a dim yellow light upon the group, and wreaths of smoke still eddied about the ceiling and walls, seeking egress. The only sounds were the sobs of the women, the occasional low moans of the patient, and the grating sound of Zora’s pen as it passed over the paper. At last the old man, with the usual invocation, “In the name of God, most clement and merciful,” began the incantation, “Whoever ye are;” while Zora plied her pen as fast as she could, copying from the book before her. Every name pronounced was cried with a loud voice, and a considerable pause made, so that Zora was not hurried, and the whole ceremony being repeated three times, her grandfather took the pen, and directed his hand to the place, he wrote the concluding words, and breathed over the whole. Then the paper was sprinkled with some scented powder, and rolled up tightly, a thread of fine cotton being passed round it; then it was lighted, and as the old man recited passages from the Koran, green and red-colored flames issued from the burning roll, which all could see; but the girl opened her eyes, shuddered, and tried to hide her face in the floor. As the paper burned out, she was convulsed for a short time, and then lay still; finally she sat up, opened and rubbed her oyes, and, stretching out her arms, said quietly to them all, “Where am I? What has he done to me? There was something sitting on my chest,” and continued innocently, “and it is gone!’’ “Shookr! Hazar Shookr! Thanks, a thousand thanks!” exclaimed the Dervish. “Lord, Thou hast heard my prayer. Friends, he that possessed the child is gone, but he is hero among us!” At this announcement every one shuddered, and the old exorcist called to the spirit to reply, but there was no answer. He then asked the girl whether anything had boon said or whispered to her, and she replied innocently, “Bassuppa told me he was going away for ever, and would never return; he could not remain, because someone was too powerful, and he cried very much, and I saw him no more. Then I awoke and saw you all;” and she arose, went to Dervish, and, prostrating herself, kissed his feet, and then laid her head against them, and then kissed Zora's feet, and then her father’s, and mother’s, and sisters’ all round; and all of them wept tears of joy, while her mother became so excited and hysterical, that she was led away for a while, and the old man gave directions as to where a strong charm was to be pasted up over every door and window; and, calling the girl, he placed another amulet in a handkerchief, and bound it round her arm, until a proper silver case could be made for it; also one to be worn round her neck, attached to her necklace. And he put his hands on her head, and wished her joy and peace in her life, and children to cheer it.—From “A Noble Queen,” by Col. Meadows Taylor.
Editor's notes
- ↑ Casting out Devils by unknown author, London Spiritualist, No. 474, September 23, 1881, pp. 154-55
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 474, September 23, 1881, pp. 154-55