The Ottawa Free Trader

The Religious Jugglers of India.

The Jogees, usually met with in the large towns of India, support themselves and entertain the credulous by affecting powers of necromancy, command over physical and mental faculties, with tricks and jugglery of all kinds. Being exceedingly expert in performing sleights of hand, feats of strength, and mummeries of every description, these men often so completely cheat the senses of the lookers-on that even most intelligent persons among Europeans fail to discover the means whereby the cunning imposters effect results which, depending of course on physical causes, are yet made by them to appear as if produced by the miraculous interference of the gods. Thus, at Madras, for instance, a Jogee pretended to sit on the air for a very considerable period, with no support but a slight crutch on which he leaned his hand, and many European gentlemen testified to the fact. It would appear, from the description of the apparatus carried with the man, that he produced the effect of resting on a baseless seat by means of inflated bladders; but the true secret remained unknown, although the Governor himself certified to the fact, that the exhibitor remained so poised for forty minutes. Other men effect the power of continuing under water for a very considerable period, perhaps by means of the air-tube commonly used by divers at present. But the most remarkable feat probably ever known was that performed at the court of Runjeet Singh, where a Jogee was buried within a sealed box under-ground, without food, in a garden surrounded by a high and guarded wall, for thirty days, and, when exhumed, speedily recovered his natural powers. In most of these cases money is not so much an object with these religious jugglers as influence, and generally, I believe, a Jogee would rather risk life in the performance of his tricks than hazard his reputation; of course, he must admit his chelas (disciples) into his secrets, as assistants, but they walk too truly in the steps of their honored master to betray him.—Asiatic Magazine.