186 SKETCH OF THE 



adept,* whilst inferior faculties may be obtained by even a six month's 

 practice. 



There are few Jogis, however, who lay claim to perfection, and their 

 pretensions are usually confined to a partial command over their physical 

 and mental faculties. These are evinced in the performance of low mum- 

 meries, or juggling tricks, which cheat the vulgar into a belief of their 

 powers. A common mode of display is by waving a Cliowri, or bunch of 

 peacock's feathers, over a sick or new-born infant, to cure it of any morbid 

 affection, or guard it against the evil eye. A trick of loftier pretence 

 has, of late, attracted some notice in the person of a Brahman at Madras, 

 who, by some ingenious contrivance, appeared to sit in the air, and who 

 boasted of being able to remain for a considerable period under water. 

 He and his followers ascribed the possession of these faculties to his 

 successful practice of the observances of the Yoga.\ 



quitted it from having at last a figure resembling himself always before him, and knowing this to 

 be a deception, he wisely inferred the similar character of any other visionary creature of his con- 

 templation and the absurdity of the practice. Dubois has some amusing anecdotes on this subject, 

 (page 357, &c.) they are fully authenticated by the similar accounts which many Vairdgis, in Upper 

 India, will readily furnish. The worthy Abbe may indeed be generally trusted when he confines 

 himself to what he saw or knew : in much that he heard he was misled, and in almost every thing 

 connected with the language and literature, and the religion or philosophy, as taught by classical 

 authority, he commits egregious blunders. 



Leading a life of chastity and abstemiousness, and diligent in the practice of the Yoga, the 

 Yogi becomes perfect after a year : of this there is do doubt. Hatha Pradipa. 



+ " Sitting m the Air. — An exhibition at Madras has excited considerable curiosity. A Brah- 

 min, old and slightly made, represented to be of high caste, contrives to poise himself in a most 

 extraordinary manner in the air. He performs this feat at any gentleman's house, not for money, 

 but as an act of courtesy. The following is a description, from an eye-witness, given in a Calcutta 



