Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1892 — DEAD FOR FORTY DAYS. [ARTICLE]

DEAD FOR FORTY DAYS.

A Krntarkabl* Crap of Suspended Aulluattou Is on Indie Court. My first acquaintance with the narrative dates from my boyhood. About the time of the occurrence I heard it related by my father; and his authority was the well-known Gen. Avitable, Runjcet Singh’s righthand man, who was present. Those facts are that a certain “joghee" (Hindoo anchorite), said to possess the possess the power of suspending at will and resuming the animation of his body, was sent for by Runjeet Singh, and. declining to obey, was brought by force into the tyrant’s presence and ordered to give, under pain of death, a practical proof of his supposed power. He submitted perforce. He was put by his disciples through certain processes, during which he became perfectly unconscious; the pulses ceased, his breath did not stain a polished mirror, and a European doctor, who was present, declared that the heart had ceased to beat. To all appearances lie was as dead as Queen Anne. In this state he was put into a carefully made box, the lid was closed and sealed with Runjeet Singh’s own signet ring. The box was buried in a vault prepared in an open plot of ground under the royal windows of Lahore, and the place was guarded day and night by Runjeet’s own guards under Gen. Avitable’s own supervision. Sun and rain came and grass sprang up, grew and withered on the surface over the grave, and the sentries went their rounds, and the joghee’s disciples and friends were all kept under careful surveillance, not to call it imprisonment. After forty days, in Runjeet Singh’s own presence, the vault was uncovered and the box extracted from it with its seals intact. It was opened and showed the joghee within precisely as he had been placed. He was taken out, dead still, to all appearances, but the body incorrupt. His disciples were now brought to manipulate the body in the manner in which he had taught them and which he had publicly explained before his burial. He revived, as he had said he would, and was soon in as perfect health as when he had suspended his life. He refused all gifts and retired to his former retreat, but shortly afterward he and his disciples disappeared. It was not safe for such a man to live in the jurisdiction of so inquisitive and

arbitrary a ruler.—Chambers’ Journal.