Wayside Jottings in Theosophical India – B.K., 5/1891

Republished from the occult journal Lucifer

While recently visiting some of our South Indian Branches, I had two rather curious experiences, which I think may
interest the readers of LUCIFER. During my stay at Tanjore, I happened to learn, in the course of some conversation
that ensued after my lecture on the evening of March 6th, that an exceptionally good exemplar of the Hatha Yoga
School was then staying in Tanjore and had exhibited some very curious feats to the complete satisfaction of the
gentleman I was talking with—one of the leading members of the Hindu community. As I expressed considerable
interest in this Yogi and his doings, this gentleman most kindly offered to arrange for an exhibition by the Yogi at
his own house early the following morning. This offer was of course gladly accepted, and accordingly at 7 a.m.
on the following day, March 7th, I drove with Mr. K. Narayanswami Iyer, the able and energetic secretary of our
Kumbakonam Branch, to the house where the performance was to take place. The room chosen was a large hall
-like one on the ground floor, capable of holding at least 150 people and delightfully cool and airy. Other visitors
kept coming in, and at last the party must have numbered fifty people at least. The Yogi himself, dressed in the
usual brownish cloth, was a man of medium height, with clear, elastic and very healthy-looking skin, good features,
bright, clear, intelligent eyes and pleasant unassuming manners. From those present I learnt that he is a very good
Sanskrit scholar, and has proved himself a clever as well as a learned man in various discussions. He accepts no
remuneration or recompense whatever for his exhibitions, only requiring a certificate to be given by the leading
persons present, stating what has been done. The reason he assigns for wandering, as he is doing, all over India
giving these performances, is that his Guru, a well-known Yogi at Benares, has requested him to do so in order to
demonstrate to this sceptical generation the reality of the science of Hatha Yoga. Having laid aside both his cloths,
he seated himself on his heels, with a narrow strip of cloth (langoti) as his only covering. I noticed that his muscular
development was good and the skin clear, firm, elastic and thoroughly healthy. It should be remarked that he eats
only once a day and then only certain definite things. His first feat was as follows.

He handed to me a dry rope measuring about three quarters of an inch in diameter in the middle, but tapering off
to about one quarter of an inch at each end, where it was “moused”, as sailors say, with fine twine. The rope was,
I think, made of flax or cotton thread and hard, not soft in texture. This rope he first soaked in a brass bowl of water
which stood in front of him, and then, after taking two or three deep breaths, he introduced one end up his right
nostril, gradually pushed it on and at last brought out the end through his mouth. He then did the same with the
other end, passing that up the left nostril and out through the mouth. Next he inspired and expired his breath
once or twice forcibly, then entirely emptied the lungs so that the stomach collapsed through the elevation of
the diaphragm, and, holding his body quite steady, “wriggled” (this is the nearest word I can find to express the
motion) his insides about, up and down and from side to side, for about a minute. After that he took hold of the
ends of the rope and ran it backwards and forwards from end to end about twenty times—the rope being 2 feet
long—and at last, letting go of one end, pulled it out altogether, bringing with it a good deal of mucus, but no
trace of blood. Having sat in conversation with us for a minute or two, he then proceeded to his second feat.
He handed me for inspection an ordinary pinkish brown cotton cloth, about the texture of a cotton sheet, which
I measured and found to be 21 feet (seven yards) long and 3 feet (one yard) wide. This he proceeded to soak
in the brass vessel already described, and then “gathered” the end lengthways into pleats about two inches wide,
one over the other, making a thick, flat mass just small enough to enter his mouth. Then he breathed rapidly and
forcibly a number of times, filled his lungs full of air and putting the end of the cloth into his mouth, commenced
to swallow it. After swallowing three or four feet, he paused, his whole body quivered and air escaped from the
stomach, after which he resumed the swallowing. He went on thus, swallowing by fits and starts, and breathing
in the intervals, till he got about half of the whole 21 feet down.

He then seemed, as our American brothers would say, a trifle crowded, for holding his body perfectly steady, he
set to work to make his stomach and intestines “revolve” (so at least it appeared) from right to left and then from
left to right. This process seemed to “settle” the cloth, for after it he went on and swallowed another quarter of the
whole, repeated the “revolving” and finished off the remainder, the last two or three feet, however, with evident
struggle and effort. Remark that he swallowed the end right down and opened his mouth wide to show that it was
really “down below”. While getting down the last two or three feet he also drank several cups of water and having
finished proceeded to drink, one after the other, twelve large goblets full. He then stood up, and talked to us for
several minutes, after which stooping down, he rubbed the ankle-joint of his right foot with the right hand. Instantly
the stomach ejected its cotton contents into the brass basin, but the water swallowed was retained for some time
longer, till the Yogi again provoked its expulsion. After a rest, he went on to show some minor feats, of which
the following may be mentioned. He first dislocated his left wrist entirely and restored it. Then he dislocated the
hip-joint, knee-joint and ankle-joint of his right leg, and restored them. These were verified and attested as real
dislocations by two medical men who were present. After that he expelled all the air from his lungs and caused
the walls of the stomach to collapse till the body seemed barely 2 inches thick. Besides the above, this Yogi also
performs several other even more remarkable “physiological” feats; but a description of them would be suitable
only to the pages of a medical journal. Suffice it to say that one of them involves the reversing at will of the peristaltic
movements throughout the whole length of the alimentary canal. I mention this specially, because this peristaltic
action is considered to be the most absolutely involuntary and automatic of the whole series of muscular movements;
and the fact established by this case that the direction of these movements can be reversed at will and controlled
by the will, seems to furnish a powerful argument against the materialistic automatism now growing so popular.
After leaving Tanjore, I went to Kumbakonam to visit our Branch there, and was fortunate enough, through the
kindness of some of our members and a mutual friend, to be able to pay a visit to a certain Govind Chetty, a
well-known wonder-worker who resides at Valangaman, about four or five miles from Kumbakonam.

This Govind Chetty is a kind of Hindu “medium”, at least he is said to perform his wonders through the aid of
a Yakshini, and many very remarkable things are told concerning him. One very well attested story relates to
Dewan Bahadur Raghoonath Row, a well-known and deservedly respected member of the Council of the T.S.;
and I might cite it as an example in point. Once, while on a visit to Kumbakonam, the Dewan asked Govind Chetty
to predict to him the incidents and doings of the next succeeding day. Govind acceded and wrote out his predictions
on paper, sealed it up and gave it to the Dewan, who promised not to open the packet till the next evening. It so
happened that an unexpected meeting of some society or other was held the next evening at which the Dewan
was present, and the sealed paper was opened at the conclusion of the proceedings. It was found to contain an
account of the day’s doings which the Dewan admitted to be perfectly correct, and in particular it mentioned that
the Dewan would take his mid-day meal in the company of a little girl, whose name was given. This was also
correct, though the child came from a distant village, and had only arrived in Kumbakonam quite unexpectedly
on the morning of the day in question, while the Dewan had not previously had the smallest thought about her
or expectation of seeing her. The paper concluded with the statement that it would be opened and read at the
conclusion of the meeting of such and such a society, giving correctly the name of the very society whose meeting
the Dewan was then attending! I pass on now to give an account of my own interview with this same Govind
Chetty. Starting early, we reached Valangaman at about 8.30, and though it is often impossible to get hold of
Govind, we were fortunate enough to do so after a very short delay. He speaks only Tamil and the conversation
was translated for me by one of our members, checked by my two other companions, both of whom are excellent
English scholars, one being as sceptical regarding all such phenomena as any “Psychic Researcher” himself.

The first thing Govind did was to show some feats of mental arithmetic, i.e., having asked us to name and write
down seven figures and then five, he mentally multiplied them and gave out the correct result before one of us
could get through the first line of the sum on paper. I then told him, through my companions, that I had come to
ask him about a certain matter, and begged he would give me an answer. After performing calculations for a
minute or two, in the course of which he asked for numbers to be given him by myself and the others present,
he wrote out about a page and a half of note paper in Tamil, got me to sign it for identification and handed it over
to my companion to hold. After this he did some more calculating and then asked me to give the name of some
place, person or thing. I said “Violola”, purposely choosing as unusual and un-Hindu a word as I could find.
Govind next asked me what I had come to question him about. Now I had told no one what I intended to ask
about, and therefore objected to this question, saying I had heard that he would tell me himself what it was I
had come to ask about. He then said that he had written the matter down in the paper I had marked, and now
wished me to state what I came to ask about, before that paper was opened or read for the fuller satisfaction
of himself and the others present. I then told him that I had come to ask him about my mother’s health. Thereupon
the paper, of which I give below a translation made by my assistant here at Adyar, was then read out. I must
premise, however, that I have never talked to any one in India about my mother, her being ill, or indeed any
details of my home-life, neither is there to my knowledge any one in India except myself who knows the two
first members of her maiden name, by which I never even address letters to her.

The paper written by Govind Chetty runs as follows:—”Mother’s name is Jane Hodgkinson, and her sickness
is incurable; she longs greatly to see you. You were born in April. You have no comfort from your relatives. As
proof of this I say Violola.” All this is absolutely accurate. The remainder of the paper refers to the future and
is therefore of no value in this connection.After acknowledging the perfect correctness of the above, I asked
Govind to give me more details. First asking me to name several numbers at random, he performed certain
calculations and then told me that my mother was suffering from asthma (correct), that the doctors could not
do her any good, and that my presence would benefit her more than all the doctors, which I myself believe to
be the case. At my request he also predicted in writing the exact date upon which I shall sail from India on
my next trip to England. But this I have got sealed up and am myself ignorant of the date named, so as to
provide a perfectly fair test of his prophetic power. In addition to the above, Govind did one other thing worth
recording. My sceptical friend had brought with him a sealed paper of whose contents he was ignorant,
in which he had got a friend (not present at the séance with Govind) to write something. After the usual
calculations Govind wrote a paper in which he gave correctly a number of details regarding the querent’s
life and family, &c., stating that inside the sealed paper was the “Negapatam”. On opening the paper this
was found to be actually the case, though the contents had been entirely unknown to us all. I have given
the above accounts not so much for their intrinsic importance or value, but as illustrating the actual
existence and practice of “occult arts” in India at the present time. Whether or not they will prove of
interest to the readers of LUCIFER is a matter I must leave to the future to determine.