تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 17.2
The Travels of Ibn Batūta 17.2
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17.2.1
Many of them will dig houses for themselves under ground, over which any one may build, leaving them only a place for the air to pass through. Jogees are a well known class of people. The word yog they use in the Sanscrit (language) to signify joining, adhering. This people suppose themselves to be united with God, whom they believe to be One. The select, or rather the person himself, of God, they hold to be Kurkhanat. Majhandarnat and Hirankunat are also great saints or perfect beings. With them, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahish, are angels, but also pupils or disciples of Kurkhanat, and some of them do now name themselves after one or other of these. Now this class of people consists of In this the Jogee will reside for months without eating or drinking any thing. I heard, that one of them remained thus for a whole year. I saw twelve Pantas, as follows, &c., and Pant signifies a class or tribe. According to their persuasion, the authors of every religion, sect, and belief, whether prophets or saints, were disciples of Kurkhanat; and that whatever these persons might have known, they must have known from him. It is also their belief, that Mohammed was brought up by a disciple of Kurkhanat. Many of them will, when with the Mohammedans, attend to prayer and fasting, which they also do with the Hindoos. None of the things forbidden for food, are considered so among them;
17.2.2
for they will eat swine’s flesh after the manner of the Hindoos and Christians, as well as beef, as the Mohammedans and others do. They will also kill and eat a man ...... and will drink wine like the Guebres. There are too among them, those who will mix their urine and dung together, which they will then pass through a cloth and drink. The person who does this, they say, will be able to perform great feats, and to know wonderful things. Such persons they term Anila. In the belief of this people, although they hold all to be derived from Kurkhanat, and that those of every religion may finally be united with Kurk, still they proceed in the path of one of those persons, who have been united by one or other of the twelve links of Jogeeism. In their belief it is considered of great importance to be able to hold the breath; just as it is among the Parsees of Adhar Hoshenk: for the kings among them would constantly hold their breath When one draws (his breath), he will picture the moon towards the left, i. e. he will consider the moon’s disk as visible on his left side, and that of the sun on his right. Some of the Sanas! in each of the seven stages, will thus picture one or other of the planets, which, with the Hindoos, exceeds every other species of worship or alms;
17.2.3
for they say, that he who does this will be able to fly, never to be sick, to free himself from death, and never to be subject to either hunger, or thirst Those who have been thoroughly initiated, say, that when this work is perfectly performed, the fear of death is no more felt; and that as long as such an one is in the body, he will be able to put it off, and again to put it on, never to be sick, and to have power to do all things Among the Jogees, it is constant, that when disease runs high, they bury themselves alive. It is also one of their practices, to open the eyes, and fix them in a direction between the eyebrows, until they see a figure. If the image appear without a hand or foot, or any other member, for each one of these they lay it down, that he has now a sign how many years, months, or days, he shall live. But if it appear without a head, they have no doubt, that but little of life remains: and on the strength of this, they will bury themselves alive,” &c These Jogees will, according to some, commit themselves occasionally to the flames, for no other end, perhaps, than to gratify the strongest of all passions, vanity. The following statement is taken from the Heft Iklim, a very interesting collection of geographical and biographical notices in the Persic. This extract is taken from the notice of Hindustan, and is there given on the authority of one Mohammed Yusuf of Herat.
17.2.4
too, in the city of Sanjarur, one of the Moslems who had been taught by them, and who had set up for himself a lofty cell like an obelisk. Upon the top of this he stood for five and twenty days, during which time he neither ate nor drank. In this situation I left him, nor do I know how long he continued there after I had left the place. People say, that they mix certain seeds, one of which is destined for a certain number of days or months, and that they stand in need of no other support during all this time. They also foretel events. The Emperor of Hindustan very much respects them, and occasionally sits in their company. Some of them will eat nothing but herbs; and it is clear from their circumstances, that they accustom themselves to abstinence, and feel no desire either for the world or its show. Some of them will kill a man with a look: but this is most frequently done by the women. The woman who can do so is termed a Goftar. It happened when I was Judge of Dehli, and the Emperor was upon one of his journies, that a famine took place. On this occasion, the Emperor ordered, that the poor should be divided among the nobles for support, until the famine should cease. My portion, as affixed by the Vizier, amounted to five hundred. These I sustained in a house which I built for the purpose. On a certain day, during this time, a number of them came to me, bringing a woman with them, who, as they said, was a Goftar, and had killed a child, which happened to be near her.
17.2.5
I sent her, however, to the Vizier, who ordered four large water vessels to be filled with water, and tied to her. She was then thrown into the great river (the Jumna). She did not sink in the water, but remained unhurt: so they knew that she was a Goftar. The Vizier then ordered her to be burnt, which was done; and the people distributed her ashes among themselves, believing that if any one would fumigate himself with them, he would be secure from the fascinations of a Goftar for that year. But if she had sunk, they would have taken her out of the water; for then they would have known that she was not a Goftar. I was once in the presence of the Emperor of Hindustan, when two of these Jogees, wrapt up in cloaks, with their heads covered (for they take out all their hairs, both of their heads and arm-pits, with powder), came in.
17.2.6
The Emperor caressed them and said, pointing to me, This is a stranger, shew him what he has never yet seen. They said, we will. One of them then assumed the form of a cube and arose from the earth, and in this cubic shape he occupied a place in the air over our heads. I was so much astonished and terrified at this, that I fainted and fell to the earth. The Emperor then ordered me some medicine which he had with him, and upon taking this I recovered and sat up : this cubic figure still remaining in the air just as it had been. His companion then took a sandal belonging to one of those who had come out with him, and struck it upon the ground, as if he had been angry. The sandal then ascended, until it became opposite in situation with the cube. It then struck it upon the neck, and the cube descended gradually to the earth, and at last rested in the place which it had left. The Emperor then told me, that the man who took the form of a cube was a disciple to the owner of the sandal : and, continued he, had I not entertained fears for the safety of thy intellect, I should have ordered them to show thee greater things than these. From this, however, I took a palpitation at the heart, until the Emperor ordered me a medicine which restored me.
17.2.7
We then proceeded from the city of Barun to the stage of Kajwara, at which there is a lake about a mile in length ; and round this are temples, in which there are idols. At this place resides a tribe of Jogees, with long and clotted hair. Their colour inclines to yellow, which arises from their fasting. Many of the Moslems of these parts attend on them, and learn (magic) from them.