, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



265 



SELF-INHUMATION. 



A CONTRIBUTION TO HUMAN HIBERNATION. 

 By Dr. "W. Ccrran. 



(Continued frw 

 ^ESCRIBING a Scmya.-i (ar 



0. 217.) 



DESCRIBING a Sa7iiia.-i (an ascetic) uamcd Cliandi 

 Churn, wlio " was in the habit of burying 

 liimself alive for tliree days each week " at one 

 time a Lahore journal — Pullic Opinion — intimates 

 that " the art of prolonging life to an incredible 

 degree without air or nourishment* was not un- 

 known to the ancients " ; and Bancroft ascribes many 

 of the wild adventures in which the early Spanish 

 colonisers of Florida engaged to their desire of regain- 

 ing the vigour of youth in old age through tlie waters of 

 some fabled well of which they had heard in the 

 interior. However that may have been, expectations of 

 the kind here contemplated were widely entertained in 

 India and elsewhere ; and Colonel Steiubaoh informs us 

 that a certain individual of this (Yogi) class " was covered 

 over and sewn up in waxcloth, like an Egyptian mummy 

 (in the reign of Runjeet Sing). He was then " placed 

 inside a large wooden case, which was stnmgly riveted 

 down, and sealed in several places with the Maharajah's 

 own seal. This was lowered into a previously made 

 brick vault, and the whole was covered with earth after 

 the manner of an ordinary grave. Corn was sown in 

 this earth, which sprang up during the period of his (the 

 Yogi's) interment ; an entire battalion was placed in 

 charge of it (the grave), four sentries mounting guard 

 over it during the day and eight in the night." 



At the expiration of forty days he was disinterred, the 

 whole Court being, as before, present ; everything was 

 found in precisely the same state as it was left. " On 

 the case being opened, the Sunyasi was found in the 

 same sitting position, apparently lifeless. He was 

 speedily extricated from his covering, and hot bread was 

 applied to his head and feet. His body was also bathed 

 in hot water. After a couple of hours, incredible as it 

 must appear, the Sunyasi not only gave symptoms of re- 

 turning life, but, in the course of the day, though very 

 feeble, he was perfectly restored." Ho further adds that 

 "similar experiments were made upon the same indivi- 

 dual by two oificers in the Bengal Army, and with the 

 like result ; " and there exists still in that city a strong 

 belief in the reality of these experiments and in the 

 practicability of this kind of self-imposed sepulture. 



This story, or one so like as to be indistinguishable 

 from it, is vouched for or related in almost identical 

 terms by such different writers as old Martin Ilonigh- 

 biiger. Lieutenant Boileau, and Cuiitain Oslmriic. The 

 first of these, who, it maj' be hIimi-vciI, liail iicnillai- 



opportunities of knowing the tnitli fi i Ins |i(isilii.n as 



a physician at the Court of Lahore, tells us exia-essly 

 that " a faquier, named Haridasa, was put into a eliest 

 in presence of old Runjeet Sing, and buried in a garden 

 outside the city .... barley was sown on the ground, 

 and the place was enclosed with n wall and surrounded 

 by sentinels. On the foriirili .liy, wliieh was the time 

 fixed for his exhumation, a u' real imnilierof the authori- 

 ties, with General Ventura aii.l several Kuglishmcn . . . . 

 one of them a medical man, went, to tlie enclosure. The 

 chest was brought lip and openeil, and the fa(|nier was 

 found in the same position as they leel left liim, eold and 



» Describing a race of Indians, evidently the Brahujiiis, whom he 

 lia<l heard of, Aulus Gellins speaks of them, " Noct. /" " =•■ ' -- 

 " jjentuni apiul cxtrema'lTidiic nnllo cibatu ' — " 



stiff." He was, however, resuscitated in due time, and 

 the Minister, Kajih Dliyan Sing, assured me (he con- 

 tinues) tliat he iiiinself kept this faquier four months 

 under the gr<niiid when he was at Jummoo, in the 



Of Lieutenant Boileau's " Personal Narrative," which 



treats of tlie same toi)ic, I know no more than is .said of 



it ill ]'i-..fr,,M,r l)..w-,n],-s e.liii.in of .Sir H. L, Elliot's 



W. G. ( 



li<- Hon. 



ly other 

 liter his 



I ma; 



ed to reproduce the following by 



;„.l .A MLdie.l Jiirisiu-u- 

 -.irded us an authority on 

 1 practice in the courts of 

 ed for its erudite author- 



auddis 



y hav, 

 3Sing t] 



poor fanatics, he says 

 that "in IsOs in the l'iirnc;ili district (near Calcutta), a 

 weaver undertook tu remain buried during the whole 

 period of a Mahomedan fast. A hole was du- in which 

 he seated himself; a bamboo ro(4' was neele over his 

 he.id, on which earth was piled lo the hei-litof abouti 

 ,") ft. When taken out he was, of course, dead." 



•At Bangalore, in 1781, a Yogee, considered by his. 

 a leirers to be 135 years old, annoimced that he w.oul,d 

 1.- either buried alive, or die in public on a certain day. 

 The l.oliee interfered, hut he died (all the sanuO, "with 

 strict ouncl ualit V." 'I'liis I'r.u-I ice i> iai\'.. 1 understand, 

 iliscounlellaliced'i.v the inliee :.1| .\er India, U istO 



this iuterferenci-, 'doul.lless. r.iilier tli.in lo any educa- 

 tional improvement or missionary , N,r;ne. that we owe 

 the comparative infrequency of tln> olvei \ aiu e in these 

 our days, and I notice that the latest i-erl'enner in this 



from lo- !■•■- ' ! ■ r ■ le. 



• Ai > ; I iitinues Dr. Chevers, "a Mahom- 



inedan | r; i in iei liimself in a Cavity in the ground, 



covered with boards and earth, but with a hollow 



* ■• Thirty-five Years in the East," pp. 127-8. 



