By P. Sreeneevas Row.
READING IN
A SEALED ENVELOPE
Some years ago, a Brahman astrologer named Vencata Narasimla Josi, a native
of the village of Periasamudram in the Mysore Provinces, came to the little town
in the Bellary District where I was then employed. He was a good
Sanskrit, Telugu and Canarese poet, and an excellent master of Vedic rituals; knew
the Hindu system of astronomy, and professed to be an astrologer. Besides all this, he possessed the power of reading what was contained in
any sealed envelope.
The process adopted for this purpose was simply this:
We wrote whatever we chose on a piece of paper; enclosed it in one, two
or three envelopes, each properly gummed and sealed, and handed the cover to
the astrologer. He asked us to name a figure between I and 9, and on its being
named, he retired with the envelope to some secluded place for some time; and
then he returned with a paper full of figures, and another paper containing a copy
of what was on the sealed paper — exactly, letter for letter and word for word.
I tried him often and many others did the same; and we were all
satisfied that he was invariably accurate, and that there was no deception
whatsoever in the matter.
About this time, one Mr. Theyagaraja Mudalyar, a supervisor in the Public
Works Department, an English scholar and a good Sanskrit and Telugu poet,
arrived at our place on his periodical tour of inspection. Having heard about the
aforesaid astrologer, he wanted to test him in a manner, most satisfactory to himself.
One morning handing to the astrologer a very indifferently gummed
envelope, he said, “Here, Sir, take this letter home with you and come back to
me with your copy in the afternoon.”
This loose way of closing the envelope, and the permission given to the
astrologer to take it home for several hours, surprised the Brahman, who said,
“I don’t want to go home. Seal the cover better, and give me the use of some room
here. I shall be ready with my copy very soon.”
“No,” said the Mudalyar, “take it as it is, and come back whenever you
like. I
have the means of finding out the deception, if any be practised.”
So then the astrologer went with the envelope; and returned to the Mudalyar’s
place in the afternoon. Myself and about twenty others were present there by appointment.
The astrologer then carefully handed the cover to the Mudalyar, desiring
him to see if it was all right. “Don’t mind that,” the Mudalyar answered; “I
can find out the trick, if there be any. Produce your copy.”
The astrologer thereupon presented to the Mudalyar a paper on which four
lines were written in Telugu; and stated that this was a copy of the paper
enclosed in the Mudalyar’s envelope. Those four lines formed a portion of an antiquated
poem.
The Mudalyar read the paper once, then read it over again. Extreme satisfaction
beamed over his countenance, and he sat mute for some seconds seemingly in
utter astonishment. But
soon after, the expression of his face changing, he opened the envelope and threw
the enclosure down, jocularly saying to the astrologer, “Here, Sir, is the
original of which you have produced the copy.”
The paper lay upon
the carpet, and was quite blank! not a word, nor a letter on its clean surface.
This was a sad disappointment to all his admirers; but to the astrologer
himself, it was a real thunderbolt. He picked up the paper pensively, examined
it on both sides, then dashed it on the ground in a fury; and suddenly arising,
exclaimed, “My Vidya (paranormal ability) is a delusion, and I am a liar!”
The subsequent behaviour of the poor man made us fear lest this great disappointment
should drive him to commit some desperate act. In fact he seemed determined to drown
himself in the well, saying that he was dishonoured. While we were trying to
console him, the Mudalyar came forward, caught hold of his hands, and besought
him to sit down and calmly listen to his explanation, assuring him that he was not
a liar, and that his copy was perfectly accurate. But the astrologer would not
be satisfied; he supposed that all this was said simply to console him; and
cursed himself and his fate most horribly. However, in a few minutes he became calmer and listened to the Mudalyar’s
explanation, which was in substance as follows:
The only way for the sceptic to account for this phenomenon, is to suppose
that the astrologer opened the covers dexterously and read their contents. “So,” he said, “I
wrote four lines of old poetry on the paper with nitrate of silver, which would
be invisible until exposed to the light; and this would have disclosed the
astrologer’s fraud, if he had tried to find out the contents of the enclosed paper,
by opening the cover, however ingeniously. For, if he opened it and looked at
the paper, he would have seen that it was blank, resealed the cover, and
declared that the paper enveloped therein bore no writing whatever; or if he had,
by design or accident, exposed the paper to light, the writing would have
become black; and he would have produced a copy of it as if it were the result
of his own Vidya; but in either case and the writing remaining, his deception
would have been clear, and it would have been patent to all that he did open
the envelope. But in the present case, the result proved conclusively that the
cover was not opened at all.”
(The Theosophist, May 1883, p.192)
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