The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 123

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

123

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The incident troubled the woman for a while,
but other things soon drove it from her mind. The
native nurse, however, did not forget the curse.
Not long after, the child began to sicken. The doc-
tors at the hospital could not help it; all they
could make out was that the child was stricken with
some form of palsy.

Then the native ayah (nurse) told the mother
that, if she were to regain the good will of the
insulted fakir by means of a liberal gift, the child
could be cured. The heartbroken mother gave the
nurse a large sum of money and bade her seek the
“holy man.” After an extended search the servant

third he takes some fruit. As a reward the fakir
impresses the sacred imprint of his thumb upon
the forehead of each shopkeeper.

“Holy Parasites.”

Many fakirs are attached to temples and seem
to spend their time in sitting under a fig-tree, as
Buddha is supposed to have done. It is self-evident
that these fakirs receive many a gift, great and
small, from the worshipers in these temples. But
not a few “holy men” have no fixed place of abode,
and these spend their time going from village to
village and staying once in this home and then in

Lying on a Bed of

found the fakir and begged him to remove the
curse. Upon receipt of the peace-offering the fakir
did so, and the child began to improve at once!

An Object of Fear.

It goes without saying that the common people
stand in great fear of the fakir and his curse. There
seems to be nothing on earth that they dread more
than the supposed or real supernatural power of the
fakir. Because of this fear-of the people the fakirs
have little trouble in levying their tribute, whether
the victim be rich or poor. It is a quite common
sight to see a fakir, dressed in his saffron garment,
going along a street from shop to shop gathering
his toll. In one shop he takes a handful of sweets,
in another he helps himself to some rice, and in a

Spikes.

(Left panel.)

that. But whatever household the fakir chooses for
his temporary home, there the men have to pay their
respect to the “holy parasite” who has lodged him-
self upon them, while the women folk of that house-
hold are obliged to attend to his every beck and call,
cook his meals, and provide him with such other
comforts as he may desire. We may well under-
stand that there is great relief when the fakir de-
cides to move on. The stay of these wandering
fakirs is of uncertain length, all depending upon
their whim.
Self-Inflicted Tortures.

Some fakirs seek to gain Nirvana (extinction)
by inflicting tortures upon their bodies. All over
India fakirs may be found practising self-torture.
Some hold up an arm so long that it at last withers

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