Posthumous Humanity: A Study of Phantoms/Appendix

The existence of nearly one hundred branches of the Theosophical Society throughout the Indian Peninsula induced me to try to collect the popular beliefs of the several races respecting the post-mortem vicissitudes of the human entity. To this end I addressed the following questions to a number of the more enlightened members of the Society:

I. What do the people of the District of your present residence, and those of your Native District, believe as to the nature and locality of Kama, or Vayu, Loka?

II. Do they think it a place with geographical limits and boundaries; or merely a condition, or state of existence, through which the soul must pass before entering a higher one?

III. Are the races inhabiting it human, sub-human, or super-human—lower in development to mankind, or higher than ourselves?

IV. Which of these beings are hostile and which friendly to us; and to what sorts of persons among us are they respectively hostile or kind?

V. How can they do us injury?

​VI. Is it considered a good or a bad thing for mankind to encourage intercourse with their deceased friends, or with any deceased persons—supposing such intercourse to be possible—whether for the purpose of deriving instruction or of keeping up former personal relations, or with any other object?

VII. It is alleged by many that a deceased person, upon whose mind there lingers some strong desire to complete some earthly business, is thereby earth-bound, and that he or she sometimes manifests his or her presence and wishes, by controlling a living member of the family and speaking by their mouth. In the West such chosen agents are called "mediums." Have you known of such instances? If so, kindly give particulars.

VIII. Is such an occurrence regarded with pleasure and as something to be proud of, or the reverse?

IX. In your District, or elsewhere to your knowledge, are there persons who practise so-called magical rites, such as ceremonies, the recitation of mantrams, spells or charms, to evoke the souls of the dead, or demons of any sort; to control the spirits of the elements; to cure diseases; to get knowledge of future events, the welfare of distant or lost friends, or buried treasures; or to injure an enemy, win the affections of persons of the opposite sex, favourably influence the minds of superiors, or for any other purpose?

​X. Have you knowledge of the dead making themselves visible to the living, either by day or by night? If so, at what hours, and under what circumstances, as regards the number, intelligence, and calmness of witnesses?

XI. Have you knowledge of any predictions made by such alleged phantoms, and were such predictions verified or not?

XII. Have you knowledge of living persons being persecuted, attacked, or injured by the Double, or phantom, of a living practitioner of sorcery or Black Magic? Give particulars.

XIII. If yes, please state how such victim was relieved of the persecution.

XIV. Have you actual knowledge of any temple, well, or other alleged holy place having cured any pilgrim or devotee of any disease or ghostly obsession?

XV. Do you know, or is it popularly believed in your District, that persons called sorcerers can make themselves seen at a distance from their physical bodies, either in their own or an animal shape? and if so, have they done any injury to person or property?

XVI. Can you report any case of a dying person showing himself to a friend, then far distant from him?

​While it is true that the replies which were received afford an instructive glimpse of Indian popular opinion in this direction, yet it is very meagre as compared with what we should have learned but for two factors the Asiatic loathing for all meddling with the dead, and their natural indifference to research that involves their taking trouble for matters not connected with daily routine. It would, however, be quite practicable for me to collect further data in the course of future official journeys, and these may be embodied in other editions of the present work, should such be called for. The correspondents to whom I am indebted for the particulars embraced in the following epitome are all gentlemen of position and credibility. If any one wishes to inquire further of them, I shall be happy to furnish the addresses. Their names and districts are as follows:

Madura.—S. Ramaswamier; Sackara Josiar; P Naraina Iyer, B.A., B.L.

Malabar Coast.—Naib Dewan A. Sankariah; N. Sankunni Wariyar.

Coromandel Coast.—M. V. Soobba Row.

Bangalore.—Andiuarainswamy Naidu; A. Krish-nappa Garu.

Hyderabad.—P. Iyaloo Naidu.

Baroda.—Rao Bahadur Janardhan S. Gadgil.

Bhavnagar.—Prof. J. N. Unwalla.

Calcutta.—Neel Comul Mukerji.

Berhampur (Murshidabad).—Kali Prasanna

Bareilly.—Prof. Gyanendra N. Chakravarti.

All irrelevant matter, and reports of ignorance as to matters asked about, have been omitted from the compilation.

The word "Elemental" means a non-human entity, a spirit of the elements. An "Elementary" means a human soul, a "posthumous phantom," in the sense of M. d'Assier.

There is a vast body of literature in India pertaining to our subject, one very erudite and enlightened Brahman gentleman estimating it for me at 10,000 separate volumes. I shall not assist my readers to experiment in sorcery by publishing the titles of such as have come to my notice; but the curious minuteness to which this kind of research has been pushed will be inferred by my enumerating a few of the subjects of books easily procurable, viz.:

1. How to cause instantaneous growth of a tree or plant [by forcing a current of vegetable life-principle to rush through the seed-germ]. How to compel a person of either sex to do your bidding and follow you like a dog [vide Calcutta case of the barber and the boy, reported by Dr. Esdaile, Presidency surgeon]. How to make savage animals dumb and ​harmless. How to eat harmlessly live coals, breathe fire, eat glass, &c.

2. Treats of the science of curing blindness, deafness, and other ailments, and of propitiating elemental spirits.

3. Ceremonial invocation and control of certain spirits; and description of what may be phenomenally done with their help.

4. How to attach them to you as wife, mother, or sister.

5. A variety of other methods for attracting and using elementals.

6. How to gain and keep control over female spirits.

7. How, by elemental agencies, to cure snakebites.

8. How to understand the voices of animals [the theory being that interested spirits can control them to give us every sort of warning and information respecting things which concern us, if we will only learn their telegraphic code]; how to interpret significant dreams; how to prolong life; and how to know the secret virtues of herbs and other medicinal remedies.

9. How to control the breath.

10. How to kill or inflict disease and madness upon selected victims.

It should be observed, moreover, that all these infernal arts are widely practised even at the present day throughout India, especially in Bengal, Behar, Kathiawar, and among various hill tribes not yet civilised into disbelieving the evidence of their senses. ​and the reality of man's latent psychical powers. The witnesses whom we are now to listen to are neither ignorant, obscene, nor vicious, but gentle-men of such standing as to give importance to their observed facts, and weight to their independent testimony.