FACHIRI (French, English, Spanish: fakir; German: Fakir). — From the Arabic *fakir* = poor, the name is practically attributed in India to ascetic beggars of all sects who seek to acquire holiness through penances and contemplation, generally following the method of yoga. Known since the 18th century through the accounts of travelers and missionaries, the phenomenon of the fakir assumed a certain importance in the last 80 years, especially through the theosophical movement; welcomed favorably in spiritualist-occultist circles, it studies (v.).
According to the accounts of eyewitnesses, the phenomena produced by the fakir may be classified into four categories: a) Actions upon himself: insensibility and invulnerability. The fakir is capable of lying on beds of sharp points, or walking on broken glass or on fire, without manifesting painful sensations or corresponding injuries (P. Joire, pp. 66 ff.; H. Price, pp. 401 ff.); levitation (O. Leroy, p. 19; P. Joire, pp. 76 ff.; C. Godard, p. 41); suspension of life, going so far as to be buried for a considerable time in a state of apparent death, with heartbeat and breathing arrested (P. Joire, pp. 63, 65; C. Godard, pp. 41 ff.). — b) Actions upon other living beings: acceleration of the growth of animals (experiment with fish eggs) and plants (C. Godard, pp. 41–42). — c) Actions upon matter: telekinesis, i.e., movement impressed at a distance upon an object (C. Godard, p. 40 ff.; P. Joire, pp. 73 ff.); rope-tricks or "game of the rope," a feat often described by Anglo-Indian folklorists, in which the spectator sees the fakir, who has climbed toward the entrance of a body of water, mysteriously vanish into space without any visible support or suspension point (R. Schmidt, pp. 167–68; L. Massignon, I, p. 82; C. Godard, p. 43; H. Price, pp. 368 ff.). — d) Actions within the psychic realm: clairvoyance (C. Godard, p. 41; P. Joire, pp. 74, 76, 77); ghostly apparitions and evocations of the dead (C. Godard, p. 40; P. Joire, p. 74).
These wonders, besides being attributed to Indian ascetics, would, at least in part, be common to Buddhist contemplatives in China (L. Wieger, pp. 90, 426, 482, 632; O. Leroy, p. 21 ff.); to Muslim mystics (O. Leroy, p. 22; M. Asín Palacios, p. 40; J. P. Brown, pp. 250, 255; L. Massignon, I, p. 263; C. Godard, p. 52); to the "magic" of primitive peoples (E. Bozzano, passim; P. Joire, p. 77 ff.; C. Godard, p. 54 ff.; V. HEBER, pp. 349–50); and to modern "mediumship" (v. MATRASCHICA).
The importance of these phenomena and of the theories advanced to explain their intimate cause would be great if the existence of the phenomena themselves, at least of the most extraordinary ones, were scientifically established. It is not prudent to dismiss everything outright: convictions that have persisted for a long time and are shared by many must have some foundation. But precisely for those facts that would be the most prodigious in fakirism, every scientific certainty is lacking. The documents that might seem the best are of little value because they are too few, insufficiently described, lacking essential data for verifying the testimonies, and often collected by discredited authors (e.g., Jacolliot). A serious symptom against the authenticity of the most extraordinary facts is that, under the scrutiny of modern travelers, they have proved either persistent or due to fraud; the simpler phenomena do not appear beyond natural forces and can be reproduced, as indeed they have been, by anyone possessing cool blood and sufficient practice. In particular, the "rope trick" seems to be a trick (L. Rourc, op. cit. in bibl., III, cols. 163–64; H. Price, pp. 371 ff.); the "fire prodigy," on the other hand, seems authentic. It certainly occurs among the primitives of Oceania (v. HEBER), but in the present state of knowledge it cannot be explained by natural causes: the phenomenon of "caléfaction" is insufficient, for the magnitude of the facts would require such a production of sweat from the body as to far exceed even exaggerated human possibilities; nor during the phenomena does any vapor emanate from the bodies of the performers. Rather, the circumstance that the facts occur only during magical rituals would incline one to admit a preternatural cause, observing the fact as an action of the devil. The "apparent death," with its attendant burial, is probably a trick: the related accounts are in fact contradictory (C. Godard, p. 46; J. De Bonniot, pp. 172–74); however, if true, the fact could, according to some, be attributed to the same or similar causes capable of producing lethargy and other forms of latent life in many invertebrate and vertebrate animals. Cases of apparent death seem to have been observed even in man (J. B. Ferreres).
In conclusion, the phenomena of fakirism, considered in their generality and essence, are still sub judice; they can become the object of scientific investigation only when it becomes possible, finally, to have sufficiently extensive, reliable, and well-described material.