The commonplace and vulgar exhibition of such exploits as blowing fire, cutting
off heads, and swallowing knives, is formally repudiated by the orthodox Yellow
Lamas; but as the crowd cannot be satisfied without them, each of the great
Yellow Lama monasteries in Tibet maintains a conjuror, as of old each European
sovereign kept his jester. This conjuror is not a member of the monastic
fraternity, and lives in a particular part of the convent, out of the atmosphere of
their sanctity. He is called Choicong, or protector of religion, and is free to
marry. The Choicong hand down their magic lore from generation to generation
orally, and by their cries and howls, and their frenzied gestures, and their
fantastic dress, are connected with the Shamanist devil dancers.
Magic seems to have always borne the same character in every country. The
marvels accomplished by the Indian mystic charms, or Dhárani, are exactly
those which the Mediæval magicians of Europe professed to achieve. To make
water flow backwards, to resuscitate the dead, to fly through the air, to read a
man’s inmost thoughts, these were the wonders done by Simon Magus in his
day, and by Albertus Magnus and his followers in their day; and form what may
be called the ordinary stock-in-trade of the old necromancers. The Bakhshis
included them in their series of performances. “There are certain men,” says
Ricold, “whom the Tartars honour above all in the world, viz., the Baxitæ, (or
Bakhshis), who are a kind of idol priests. These are men from India, persons of
deep wisdom, well conducted, and of the gravest morals. They are usually
acquainted with magic arts, and depend on the counsel and aid of demons; they
exhibit many illusions, and predict some future events. For instance, one of
eminence among them was said to fly; the truth however was (as it proved) that
he did not fly, but did walk close to the surface of the ground without touching
it; and would seem to sit down without having any substance to support him.”
Ibn Batuta describes a performance of this kind as witnessed by him at Delhi, in
the presence of Sultan Mahomed Tughlak. Francis Valentyn, at a later date,
speaks of it as common in India. He was told, he says, that a man would first go
and sit upon three sticks which had been so put together as to form a tripod, after
which, first one stick, then a second, then a third would be removed from under
him, and yet the man would not fall, but would remain suspended in the air. He
could not bring himself to believe it, so manifestly contrary was it to reason, yet
he had spoken with two friends who had both seen it done on the same occasion,
and one of them mistrusting his own eyes, had felt about with a long stick to
ascertain if there were not something on which the body rested, but could
discover nought.