Fakir

FAKIR (Franc., Ingl., Spagn.: Jakir; Ted.: Fakir). - From the Arabic faqir, "poor"; the name is practically attributed in India to mendicant ascetics of all sects, who seek to acquire holiness through penances and contemplations, generally following the yoga method. Known since the 18th century through the accounts of travelers and missionaries, fakirism assumed a certain importance in the last 80 years, especially through the work of the "theological movement"; favorably received in spiritualist-occultist circles, it had some echo in metapsychic studies (v.).

According to the reports of eyewitnesses, the phenomena produced by the fakir could be classified into four categories. a) Actions on himself: insensibility and imperviousness. The fakir is capable of lying down on beds of sharp points, or of walking on cutting debris or on fire, without manifesting painful sensations, or corresponding lesions (P. Joire, p. 66 ff.; H. Price, p. 401 ff.); levitation (O. Leroy, p. 19; P. Joire, p. 76 ff.; C. Godard, p. 41); suspension of life, going so far as to have himself buried for a considerable time in a state of apparent death, with the motions of the heart and breath arrested (P. Joire, pp. 63, 65; C. Godard, p. 44 ff.). - b) Actions on other living beings: acceleration of the growth of animals (experiment with fish eggs) and plants (C. Godard, pp. 41-42). - c) Actions on matter: telekinesis, that is, motion imparted at a distance to an object (C. Godard, p. 40 ff.; P. Joire, p. 73 ff.); rope-trick or "rope game," a feat described very often by Anglo-Indian folklorists, whereby the spectator sees the fakir, who has climbed up a rope stretched upward, mysteriously vanish into space, with no point of support or suspension (R. Schmidt, pp. 167-68; L. Massignon, I, p. 82; C. Godard, p. 43; H. Price, p. 362 ff.). - d) Actions within the sphere of the psychic world: clairvoyance (C. Godard, p. 41; P. Joire, pp. 74, 76, 77); phantom apparitions and evocations of the dead (C. Godard, p. 40; P. Joire, p. 74).

These prodigies, besides being attributed to Indian ascetics, would be, at least in part, common to the "Buddhist contemplatives" of China (L. Wieger, pp. 90, 426, 482, 632; O. Leroy, p. 21 ff.); to the "Muslim mystics" (O. Leroy, p. 22; M. Asin Palacios, p. 40; J. P. Brown, pp. 250, 255; L. Massignon, I, p. 263; C. Godard, p. 52); to the "magism" of primitive peoples (E. Bozzano, passim; P. Joire, p. 77 ff.; C. Godard, p. 54 ff.; V. Heiser, pp. 349-50); to modern "mediumism" (V. METAPSICHICA).

The importance of these phenomena and of the theories devised to clarify their intimate cause would be great if the existence of the phenomena themselves, at least of the most notable and extraordinary ones, were scientifically established. It is not prudent to doubt everything wholesale: convictions maintained for a long time and shared by so many must surely have some foundation. But precisely for those facts that would be the most prodigious in fakirism, scientific certainty is lacking today. The documents that might seem the best are not worth much, because they are too few, insufficiently described, lacking essential data for the verification of the testimonies, often collected by authors of dubious credit (e.g., Jacolliot). There is serious ground for doubt against the authenticity of the most extraordinary facts, and in the judgment of modern travelers they have proved to be either nonexistent or due to fraud; the simpler phenomena do not appear superior to natural forces, and can be reproduced, as they actually were, by anyone who possesses coolness and sufficient practice. In particular, the rope-trick appears to be established as a trick (L. Roure, op. cit. in bibl., III, coll. 163-64; H. Price, p. 371 ff.); the "fire prodigy" seems instead authentic. It certainly occurs among the primitives of Oceania (V. Heiser), but in the present state of science it is not explicable by natural causes: recourse to the phenomenon of "calefaction" is not enough, since the impotence of the facts would require such a production of sweat from the body as to far exceed even the exaggerated possibilities of human nature; nor during the phenomena does any vapor develop from the bodies of the performers. Rather, the circumstance that the facts occur only during magical rites would incline one to admit the preternatural character of the cause, ascribing the fact to the action of the devil. The "apparent death," with the related burial, is probably a trick: the related narratives, in fact, are contradictory (C. Godard, p. 46; J. De Bonniot, pp. 172-74); in any case, if true, the fact could, according to some, be attributed to those same causes, or analogous ones, capable of giving rise to lethargy and other forms of latent life in several invertebrate and vertebrate animals. Thus cases of apparent death seem to have been observed also in man (J. B. Ferreres).

In conclusion, the phenomena of fakirism, considered in their generality and substance, are still sub iudice; they will be able to become the object of scientific investigation only when it will finally be possible to have at one's disposal sufficiently ample material, worthy of belief, and well described.

Alighiero Tondi