An Indian fakir can lie with his head on his back. VI

For many centuries, European travelers brought back stories from India about the amazing tricks of local traveling magicians. And the first place among them, undoubtedly, was occupied by the number with the rope. The magician throws it into the air, it stretches vertically, and you can climb up it, like a pole. This trick is called the “Indian trick” or “Indian rope” - and its secret has not yet been fully solved.

Revived boy

In the evening, by the light of torches or lanterns, a fakir in a wide robe, muttering spells, takes out a thick rope from a wicker basket, bending and twisting it repeatedly. The audience sees that the rope is very ordinary. The magician throws it into the air several times - and at some point it becomes straight and hard, its lower end hangs several tens of centimeters from the ground.

The magician asks his boy assistant to climb the rope. He refuses, but in the end the magician manages to convince him. The boy climbs the rope until he disappears from the torch-lit space. After this, he is lost in the darkness of the Indian night and is no longer visible to the audience.

The fakir orders the young assistant to return, but receives no answer. The magician feigns anger, takes a huge knife and, clenching it in his teeth, climbs after the boy - until he also disappears into the darkness. The audience hears the magician's swearing and the boy's plaintive cries. Then pieces of the young assistant's body fall to the ground - including his turbaned head. The fakir descends to the ground alone, the blade clutched in his teeth is covered in blood.

The magician's other assistants collect the boy's body parts into a basket or bag. After this, the magician casts a spell - and the young assistant appears before the audience completely unharmed.

Buddha was the first

This trick echoes an ancient Indian legend. Once upon a time, Buddha wanted to show the people his amazing abilities, so that people would be convinced of his power and believe in his teachings. To do this, he rose into the air and cut his body into pieces, and then connected them and became himself again.

Such a miraculous repetition of the actions of the Buddha himself at all times spoke of the abilities of the fakir (translated from Arabic as “poor man,” usually a wandering monk) and allowed him to become an adviser to the ruler. The ancient Indian treatise “Arthashastra” (“Science of Politics”), compiled back in the 5th century BC, says that fakirs helping rulers received an annual salary of 1000 copper coins - the same as professional spies. The task of the magicians was to convince the people that the ruler communicated with the gods.

Another ancient Indian treatise describes a performance that a fakir gave for the son of the legendary queen Suruchi. First, the magician magically created a tree, then threw a ball of threads into the air so that the end of the thread caught on a branch. Climbing up the thread, the magician disappeared into the foliage of the tree. After some time, parts of his body fell to the ground, the magician’s assistants put them together - and the fakir came to life.

Maybe hypnosis?

In the scientific world, the “Indian rope” became known thanks to the famous Arab traveler and naturalist Ibn Battuta, who in the middle of the 14th century saw such a representation and described it in his treatise. True, other medieval scientists considered the hardened rope hanging in the air and the revival of a dismembered body not only a lie, but also blasphemy.

However, interest in the “Indian trick” has not diminished over the centuries. At the end of the 19th century, the secret of fakirs was explained by the then fashionable hypnosis.

It got to the point that the American newspaper Chicago Daily Tribune, which was experiencing difficulties with circulation, sent two correspondents to India - the writer S. Ellmore and the artist Lessing. They had to photograph and sketch the actions of the fakir while performing the “Indian trick” - and prove that mass hypnosis was taking place.

The Americans returned from a distant country with several sketches and photographs. In the photographs and drawings there was only a fakir surrounded by a crowd. There was no rope at all. Such photographs were supposed to prove that the whole trick was the result of collective suggestion.

But later it turned out that the works of Lessing and Ellmore were fakes. Americans didn't go to India at all. Moreover, journalists with such names were not listed in this newspaper. At the same time, it became clear why the newspaper cited Ellmore’s surname with an initial, but Lessing’s surname not. The owner of the newspaper apologized and explained that this was a joke designed to increase circulation. And the pseudonym S. Ellmore (English S. Ellmore, that is, sell more - “sell more”) was invented so that readers could guess about the hoax.

By the way, the version that the “Indian rope” trick is the result of mass hypnosis is still popular. In particular, this is stated by the famous English psychiatrist Alexander Canon in his book “Invisible Impact”. But opponents of this theory ask a natural question: why then is a rope needed? Why doesn't the magician convince the audience that he and his assistant are simply flying into the air? Moreover, Buddha once did exactly this.

£10,000 per show

There are numerous photographs showing a rope hanging from the sky and a boy or fakir climbing on it. The first such photograph was published by the English publishing house Strand in 1919 - with the caption that the photograph was taken by a certain Lieutenant F.V. Holmes near the Indian city of Pune.

The photo caused a mixed reaction in society. Many claimed that it was not a rope, but a long bamboo pole. A certain Colonel R. Elliott contacted the London “Circle of Magic” and promised a prize of 500 pounds sterling to anyone who would repeat the “Indian trick.” An advertisement about the generous offer was published in major newspapers in India, but no one responded to it.

A little later, the British illusionist and inventor John Maskelyne increased the reward to five thousand pounds, and the Viceroy (appointed ruler from England) of India, Lord Henry Lansdowne, to ten thousand pounds sterling. Alas, these calls were ignored by the fakirs. However, such authoritative figures as writers Rudyard Kipling, Maxim Gorky and Maurice Maeterlinck, as well as artist Nicholas Roerich, wrote about witnessing this miraculous phenomenon.

Has the trick been solved?

It was only in the mid-1930s that the American illusionist Horace Goldius unraveled the secret of the trick. To do this, he had to travel around India for eight years and communicate with pilgrims and fakirs!

First of all, magicians use an unusual rope. It is made of braid, inside of which there are small wooden blocks with rounded edges. A strong cord is threaded through these blocks - thus, if it is pulled and secured, the rope becomes “hardened”.

And, of course, it does not hover in the sky and rise on its own. First, the fakir's assistants pulled long, strong black cords over the place where the trick was demonstrated. That is why the trick was shown at dusk and by the light of lanterns or torches - then the black cords at the top were not noticeable. The rope was thrown into the air several times until a small hook at the end clung to a pre-tensioned cord, after which the magician's assistants pulled it tighter, and the rope rose as if by itself. Then the magician made the rope “hard” and forced the boy to climb up. The main task of the young (and light!) assistant was to secure the rope well on the cord.

The fakir himself climbed up in a robe, under which parts of the body of a large monkey were hidden. It was them that the magician threw down. And when he came down, there was a boy under the robe. What happened next was a matter of technique: the assistants collected parts of the supposed boy’s body, the magician shouted out spells - and the young assistant, safe and sound, appeared before the public.

The main thing is the fakir's magic

It would seem that the mystery has been solved. Many illusionists repeated the “Indian trick” (in particular, Emil Keogh did it in the USSR). The monkeys no longer suffered during its performance, since the artists used dummies of body parts.

And, despite this, some professional magicians and art researchers are still convinced that the “Indian rope” was by no means a deception of the audience and actually existed. In particular, this is stated by the famous Indian illusionist Pratul Chandra Sorkar, who collected a lot of evidence of the performance of this trick - including in an open space where it was impossible to pull the cords.

In the magazine of the International Brotherhood of Magicians Linking Ring in 1998, a publication appeared by Ed Morris, who was then the president of the largest computer company IBM. He talked about how, together with his wife, he saw a trick with an “Indian rope” - and the fakir demonstrated it on the beach, where it was not possible to pull the cord at the top. Anyone could touch the rope - there were no blocks in it. At the same time, the rope straightened and froze in the air, and the boy climbed up and down it.

The Indians themselves claim that the secret of the rope trick lies in the magic of the fakir and his ability to communicate with heavenly powers. The people who performed it at all times could be counted on one hand, and by the end of the 20th century the last of them died. And the real “Indian trick” was replaced by a circus act by Western illusionists.

It is curious that the tallest monument in the world (at the time of creation), erected in 1979 near the city of Hyskvarna (Sweden), is dedicated to this focus. The monument depicts a fakir throwing a rope upward, along which a boy is climbing. The height of the composition is 103 meters, the total weight is 300 tons.

The Indian fakirs, especially their highest group or sect, the so-called Yogis, have long enjoyed great fame throughout the world as magicians.

They can do many wonderful things and are familiar with some psychological processes that have become known to Western science only recently. Fakirs know how to put themselves into a state of artificial sleep, similar to that which is a natural phenomenon in many animals. Fakirs can live without food and almost without breathing for weeks or even months.

The fantastic skill of Indian fakirs is closely related to the teachings of yogis. An integral part of the teaching is the idea of ​​an omnipotent hidden psychic force - “prana”, which allows yogis who have trained their will to work miracles. Naturally, this cannot be done without illusionary tricks. Fakirs - wandering Indian magicians - masterfully pretend that their illusionary tricks are nothing more than the result of mysterious psychic powers. The range of traditional fakir tricks is large. At the request of the public, the pulse of one hand of the fakir slows down, and then stops completely and is restored in the other hand. The fakir hides two hard balls under his arms. It is enough to press them so that the pulse slows down and then recovers.

Two handfuls of dry sand of different colors are poured into a vessel with water, and everything is thoroughly mixed. After this, the fakir takes out dry sand of each color separately from the vessel. Of course, the sand is preliminarily subjected to special treatment.

In front of the audience, the fakir plants a seed of a mango tree in the ground, covers it with sand and covers it with a scarf. Raising his handkerchief from time to time, he shows that a young shoot is sprouting from the sand with fabulous speed. After half an hour, the fakir takes off his scarf. Beneath it is a real tree with buds and leaves about a meter high. While the tree is “sprouting,” the fakir casts spells, pretends to cut his hand and sprinkles the sand with his blood. All this has nothing to do with the essence of the matter. The “miracle” is achieved through the use of the so-called “Indian rubber tree”. Coiled into a spiral to the size of a child's fist, it then gradually straightens out like a spring.

The fakir allows the audience to examine a small duck made of tin, then lets it swim in a basin of water, and he sits down with his legs tucked under him, two meters from the basin. At the fakir's command, the duck dives and emerges to the right and left. The audience does not notice that the magician, taking the duck from their hands, attaches a thread to it. Pulling the thread with his foot, the fakir seems motionless. The thread that passes through the bottom of the basin controls the toy, and the water seeping through the tiny thread hole collects inside the double bottom.

An interesting fact is that fakirs represented a significant force in the political intrigues of the rulers. This is the story of the ancient Indian treatise “Arthashastra” (“Science of Politics”), compiled back in the 5th century. BC e.

“A sovereign who wishes to win, intending to take possession of a populated area belonging to the enemy, must declare that he is omniscient and has communication with the gods. By doing this, he can motivate his supporters to action and intimidate his opponents.

Omniscience should be shown in the following way: after the spies have discovered all the secret (lawless) actions taking place in individual houses, the connection with the deity should be made known in this way: the given sovereign should conduct conversations with secret agents who have the appearance of a fire deity or a given sanctuary - these agents penetrate through an underground passage into the images of these deities - must pay them honor. He can also conduct conversations and read other agents who appear from the water in the form of dragons or water deities; at night you can lower a lamp with sea sand into the water and, having lit it, show a fiery crown; you can stand on a boat submerged in water and secured (held) on both sides with a stone weight, creating the impression that you are standing on the water; You can cover your head with a waterproof cloth or skin from the fetus so that only one nose remains open; last you should suck in sesame oil, boiled a hundred times along with the insides of spotted antelopes and with the fat of crayfish, crocodiles, dolphins, otters and others, and thus move along water. Then the rumor will spread that water deities and night spirits are making their way. With the help of such witchcraft on the water, one can supposedly make the daughters of dragons and Varuna speak and enter into conversation with them. At the moment of anger, such a sovereign, who has communication with the deities, can arrange for smoke and fire to come from his mouth.”

A fakir who helped the ruler received the same salary as a professional spy (satri). His annual salary was 1000 pana (a pana is a copper coin weighing 9.0 g).

And in subsequent times, various forms of fakir magic were used for deception.

Rice. 51. Fakir trick

The English Major Bancroft, who served in India, spoke about the illusion performed by the fakir Palavar: “He lay down on the carpet between four bamboo sticks driven into the ground. The assistant hung pieces of fabric on sticks so that it turned out to be a kind of tent. For twelve minutes the Indian remained hidden. The assistant then removed the veil and we saw the fakir Subbaiah Palavar floating in the air about three feet above the ground. Some skeptical English officers present at the performance used long sticks to feel the space around the fakir's body. But he really was floating in the air. The right hand supported the head, as before. The left hand was slightly moved to the side and rested lightly on the tip of one of the sticks stuck in the ground.

This stick could not bear the weight of the fakir... He hovered like this for four minutes. Then the fabric lowered again, but this time so that the inside of the tent was visible. And here the most amazing thing happened: the Indian, without moving, continued to fly in the air, and his body slowly descended. It took thirty-two minutes to lower the body to the ground from a height of three feet.”

Many tricks of fakirs are now known, but the so-called “Indian rope” remains a mystery. The most popular magician and magician of illusionary art, David Copperfield, says that the beginning of his artistic activity passed under the sign of the “Indian rope”.

Indian legend tells that Buddha decided to demonstrate his supernatural abilities to the people in order to convince them of his power and prepare them for conversion to the true faith. For this miracle, Buddha rose into the air, cut his body into pieces, and then put them together under the surprised looks of the spectators. This miracle, interpreted later, became the crowning number of fakirs and spellcasters under the name “Indian rope”.

One ancient treatise preserves a description of the performance given to the son of King Suruchi. The fakir magically created a mango tree and threw a ball of thread high into the air so that the end of the thread caught on a branch. Climbing up the thread, the magician disappeared at the top of the tree. After some time, parts of his body fell to the ground, but his assistant put them together, sprinkled them with water, and the fakir returned to life.

The West would not have known about the miracle rope if not for the notes of the great Moroccan naturalist and writer of the Middle Ages, Ibn Batutta. In 1360, among other noble guests, he received an invitation from Akbakh Khan to dinner at the royal palace in Han Chu in China. After a hearty meal, Akbakh Khan invited the guests to follow him to the palace garden, where an amazing performance was prepared.

In his diary, Ibn Batutta wrote: “After the feast, one of the artists took a wooden ball in which there were several holes. I threaded a rope through them. Then he threw the ball up in such a way that it disappeared from view and remained there, although there was no visible support. When only a small end of the rope remained in his hand, the artist ordered one of the assistant boys to grab onto the rope and climb up it, which he did. He climbed higher and higher until he too disappeared from sight. The artist called him three times - there was no answer. Angry, he took a knife, grabbed the rope and also disappeared into the heights.

The artist then descended to the ground, bringing with him the hand of his assistant, who was the first to ascend the rope; then he brought a leg, a second arm, a second leg, a torso and, finally, a head. The assistant was obviously dead. The clothes of the artist and the boy were covered in blood. The fakir placed the bloody body parts on the ground one next to the other in their original order. Then he stood up and lightly kicked the pieced body, which again turned out to be a child - completely normal, safe and sound.”

Over the centuries, the history of the “Indian rope” has caused many rumors and rumors, since it was not possible to find a person who saw the amazing trick with his own eyes. The Indian miracle rope caused heated debate, with some considering it a myth.

...At the end of the 19th century. The Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck returned from his Indian trip. His story amazed enlightened Europe.

“The Indian magician, swinging his hand, threw upward, towards the blinding sun, a rolled-up circle of hemp rope, and it unfolded, rushing into the heights, and then froze, stretched out in the superheated air, and remained standing vertically. A thin, tanned boy, the magician's assistant, climbed up it with acrobatic dexterity, like a monkey, and disappeared from sight. The magician looked after him for a while, and then began to call him back, ordering him to return. Not a sound was heard in response - silence, deathly silence. In anger, the magician clamped his sharp knife, rose after the boy - and also disappeared into the heights. The frozen spectators heard the sound of a distant struggle and someone's screams. Bloody pieces of the body, arms, legs fell to the ground, jumping, and the sultry dust rose in rare fountain clouds. The magician went down - red drops flowed from his knife. After wiping the blade, the magician put the remains into a nearby wicker basket, after which he performed several magical passes, and a smiling boy jumped out of the basket, alive and unharmed. The beats of a tinkling tambourine were heard, and the magician collected the mat, and then left with the boy along the road, leaving an indelible trace of magic behind him.” This is how Maeterlinck described it. “It was extraordinary,” he repeated. “I saw a miracle.”

People believed his story and did not believe it. Little did they know that the Indian Rope trick was over a thousand years old. This became known later when Doctor of Philosophy Sankarasarya came across the following words in the Sutrakhveda - the ancient sacred Sanskrit texts: “... The illusory image of a young man climbing a rope is created by a fakir sitting on the ground...”. Researchers began to look for the answer to this phenomenon, each in their own way...

The American newspaper Chicago Daily Tribune, which covered various psychological tricks and mysterious miracles, announced the sending of its correspondents - the writer S. Elmore and the artist Lessing - to mysterious India on a bold mission. They had to take photographs, make sketches, sketches and prove that the Indian Rope trick was just a trick.

Many people knew that this act was rarely performed, but the Americans returned to Chicago with several sketches and photographs that proved that the famous trick, as expected, turned out to be a “mass hallucination.” When the films were developed, the picture showed a Hindu man in baggy trousers, surrounded by a hypnotized crowd. There was no hardened rope by which the boy could climb up. The conclusion was that what was “seen” was the fruit of a collective suggestion. The newspaper published an article from which it was clear that the efforts of the astute correspondents of the Chicago Daily Tribune had ended in a triumphant exposure of the Indian Rope trick.

Several months passed, and the works of Lessing and Elmore were exposed as fakes. Lessing never set foot on Indian soil and could not see the much-maligned "Indian rope" trick. There was no journalist named S. Elmore. The publisher issued a refutation, declaring the incident a joke played out to increase demand for the newspaper.

Thirty years have passed, and the newspapers are again full of articles about the miracle rope. The President of the Occult Committee of the Magical Society of London, Colonel R. Elliott, stated categorically and unequivocally: “The Indian rope” is nothing more than a myth; no one has ever shown it and no one will show it.” Elliot convened a representative meeting to which professional illusionists, hypnotists, and famous English officials were invited. As a result, victory was on the side of the skeptics. And yet, the meeting participants did not want to remain in the annals of history as short-sighted people and agreed to leave “permission to a miracle.” In March 1919, Colonel Elliot offered a prize of five hundred pounds sterling to anyone who could perform the trick under closely controlled conditions. Due to the complete absence of fakirs in London, an advertisement was published in the Times of India, promising a large reward for any Indian who could reproduce the Indian Rope trick. However, the tempting offer remained unanswered.

Elliott and his colleagues concluded that the trick must be recognized as a rumor, that is, a myth. It never occurred to the gentleman magicians that the fakirs were not among the idle snobs who spent the day at the gentlemen's club reading newspapers published in English. Most fakirs of those times were not even taught to read their native language and could neither speak nor read English.

Soon the conclusions of the prim gentlemen from the occult committee were refuted. The London newspaper Morning Post published a story by Lieutenant Ralph Parson about a mysterious phenomenon he personally saw at the small Dondashi railway station. Person's attention was attracted by the screams of a traveling magician who was entertaining passengers with a traditional snake charm. “After the obligatory exclamations and beating of his chest, he threw a rope about three meters into the air, and the boy climbed almost to the very end,” Pearson wrote. He turned out to be an attentive person and noticed that the rope was frayed at the end, and during the effect it seemed to be stretched very tightly.

Parson's testimony came as a surprise. Queen Victoria offered a thousand pounds sterling to anyone who could perform this trick. English illusionist John Maskelyne increased the reward to five thousand. The Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne, promised a prize of ten thousand pounds sterling. Time passed, but no one responded to the tempting offer.

For technical reasons, the illusionists were in no hurry. They did not consider newspaper and magazine publications to be exhaustive. Details were extremely important to them. Being high-class professionals who had studied the principles of illusion techniques, they perfectly understood that “looking” does not mean “seeing.”

In the case of Indian Rope, only a general outline of the effect could be gleaned from press reports. The American illusionist Horace Goldin (1873–1939), a man of extraordinary perseverance, decided to turn to primary sources and went to India.

He climbed high into the mountains, walked along dusty hot paths, visited sacred places, and wandered with pilgrims. Goldin had gone where no white man had gone before. His journey lasted eight years. During this time, he never met a single fakir or dervish who would throw a rope up and turn it to stone.

“When I visited Rangoon in 1919,” Goldin recalled, “I met a yogi there, standing on his head near a tree at sunset. I heard rumors that this yogi knows the secret of the “Indian rope”. It was Rangoon that became the place where Goldin came to the solution to this trick. “None of the yogis began to talk to me about the sacrament, but one remark led me on the right path to unraveling the secret. From that memorable day I began to experiment.”

Goldin prepared the trick. According to the Daily Sketch of October 21, 1936, it was a “stunning success.” The secret of the trick that was first shown ceased to exist. After some time, the Indian Rope trick (sometimes called the Fakir Rope) found its way into the repertoire of many illusionists. In modern execution the trick is as follows.

The magician shows the audience a rope about one and a half meters long, wraps it around his hand, goes to the middle of the stage and invites one of the spectators. Invites him to hold the rope by one end and place it vertically on his hand. The viewer tries very hard, but the rope does not want to stay straight, but hangs down. After making several unsuccessful attempts, the viewer gives up. Then the performer takes the rope in his right hand and ties a knot at one end that hangs down. Then he takes the second end of the rope with his right hand and, supporting the knot with his left, lifts it up. The rope is held straight and vertical on the right hand. Spectators are convinced that the rope is held with the knot facing upwards without outside help. Then the magician slightly tilts his right hand, in which he holds the rope. The rope tilts in the same direction, keeping it straight all the time, in a tense state. Then the illusionist makes a subtle pass with his left hand. The rope again, as at the beginning of the trick, hangs helplessly on the hand with both ends down.

The secret of the trick lies in the prepared rope. She only appears ordinary on the outside. In fact, the rope is made from the braid of curtain lace and is slightly “made up” (tinted to look like a twisted rope). Inside the braid there are small wooden dot muffs with rounded edges. A strong plastic cord (fishing line with a cross-section of 1 mm) is threaded through the muffs. One end of the cord is attached with a small metal circle to the upper edge of the muff. About 50 similar muffs, carved from wood, are attached to this cord. As many muffs are strung on a fishing cord as needed along the length of the rope. A small copper circle with a soldered strong eye is tied to the end of the cord.

Rice. 52. "Fakir's Rope"

All muffs strung on a lace are placed inside the braid (Fig. 52). All internal lobe threads are first pulled out of the braid: B - muff with a drilled hole, shown in dotted lines; B - the top two muffs, put on a cord that is firmly tied to a metal mug; G - muffs with a cord threaded through them; on the right are two muffs with a slightly elongated cord, to which a strong metal circle is also attached.

All muffs passed inside the braid bend freely. Thus, the complete impression of an ordinary rope is created. But as soon as you tie a knot at the end of the cord and pull the line tightly by the bottom button, the entire rope becomes rigid and is held freely in a vertical position. The lower circle is released - and the entire rope immediately becomes soft. This is the secret of focus. The end at which the knot is tied is completely filled with threads pulled from the curtain lace. They are firmly attached to the braid so as not to arouse suspicion among the public.

To make the rope look more natural, it is better to use not a ready-made braid from a curtain cord, but to braid muffs with thick cord threads, strung on a fishing cord and fastened with circles. Muffs are made from 25 to 35 mm long and 10–20 mm thick.

The illusionary “rope” was not the legendary and mythical one that excited people’s imagination for several centuries. First of all, because it could not be allowed to be touched by spectators: inside the rope there were many metal cylinders through which a strong cord passed. As soon as it was pulled with a powerful force (for this purpose, an electric motor was hidden under the stage), the cylinders pressed against each other and the “rope” hardened, becoming like a pole. Indian fakirs performed the trick outdoors, while Goldin and his colleagues worked indoors and needed to prepare the halls in advance for the show.

There were some incidents.

Marlburn Christopher, former president of the Society of American Illusionists, wrote: “Several years ago a Canadian illusionist announced that he would perform the Indian Rope in its classical form. The assistant climbed up the rope, and the performer rushed after him. A few moments later, pieces of the dissected body began to fall onto the stage. The magician climbed down the rope, wiped the blood from his sword, and collected the pieces of the body into a large basket. A magical pass - and the unharmed young man jumped out of the basket. But instead of being frozen in surprise, the audience burst into loud laughter. The illusionist could not understand anything until he saw a forgotten severed hand in the corner of the stage...”

Finally it was time for the outdoor trick. The Englishman Banker, the owner of a small circus, drew attention to the environment in which a real demonstration of the Indian Rope trick often took place. He paid special attention to the information about the strong smoke that accompanied the magician's actions, as well as the obligatory presence of dense tree crowns. From this, Banker created his version of the Indian Rope.

Banker's illusionary version required dusk. A street (preferably a narrow one) was always chosen for the demonstration. Between two building facades facing each other, a strong wire was stretched parallel to the ground at a height of 10–15 m. Lighting flares were launched. The spectators thought that there were festive fireworks. In fact, the pyrotechnic effects created the necessary smoke to hide the horizontal wire - a kind of safety technique for the illusion. The magician came out and threw the rope up several times. After one of the casts, the end of the rope still clung to the wire: there were three metal hooks at the end of the rope. The acrobat boy quickly climbed up, and then, invisible in the thick clouds of bluish smoke, made his way along the wire into the window of one of the buildings. The elegance of the solution stunned seasoned professionals.

It seems that the mystery has ceased to exist. But this is not so... And the three-meter rope that Lieutenant Ralph Person carefully examined? Was it displayed in thick smoke?

And another important witness - the great Russian writer A. M. Gorky?

“We talked about yogis and various phenomena,” recalled the famous artist Nicholas Roerich. - Some of the guests glanced furtively at Gorky, who remained silent. Severe criticism was expected of him. But his attitude towards this surprised many. He said with his pleasant smile: “Indians are a great people. I'll tell you about my own impression. Once in the Caucasus I met an Indian about whom there were many amazing rumors. At that time I was distrustful of them. Finally we met, and everything that I will tell you, I saw with my own eyes. He took a long rope and threw it into the air. To my surprise, she remained standing upright.”

It should be noted that the “Indian rope” trick, according to the ideas of the peoples of the East, is a kind of heavenly staircase.

Legends about the existence of a heavenly staircase, used by gods and spirits of dead people, are found in all parts of the world. J. Frazer in his work “Folklore in the Old Testament” reports: “In all the legends of the aborigines there are stories about a time when there were direct relations between people and gods or spirits in the sky. According to all such legends, these relations ceased due to the fault of people. For example, on the island of Fernando Po there was a legend that once upon a time there was no unrest and strife on earth, because there was a ladder, exactly the same as the one they put on palm trees to pick nuts, “only a long, very long one,” which led from the ground to the sky, and along it the gods descended and ascended to take personal part in human affairs. But one day the crippled boy climbed the stairs and had already walked most of the way when his mother saw him and went up after him. Then the gods, fearing the invasion of boys and women into heaven, overturned the ladder, and since then the human race has remained on earth, left to its own devices.

The dream of people about ascending to heaven was brought to life in a unique way by Indian fakirs.

There is an interesting hypothesis that the “Indian rope” is hypnosis. Psychiatrist Alexander Canon in his book “Invisible Impact” writes: “One of the six stages of hypnosis is mastered by a sect that demonstrates the highest class of hypnotism - mass hypnosis during a demonstration of the “Indian rope.”

The fakir stands in the center of the square with a red rope in his hands and throws it over his head, clearly explaining that he climbs along it and disappears. This action has been observed over a thousand times. The photograph perfectly proves that in fact this is only a visual hallucination, since nothing is recorded on film. This effect is more difficult to achieve in the West because in hot climates the cerebral cortex is more inhibited and more easily suggestible.” What was actually shown in the photograph? According to the testimony of the German professor of psychology M. Desvar in his essay “On the Otherworldly in the Soul,” there is a gesturing magician and a crowd frozen in contemplation. On the developed English film there is a rope lying on the ground and a boy running away into the bushes. A fakir and a boy standing motionless on the ground. At their feet is a rope rolled into a ring (information taken from Andriža Puharich’s book “Beyond Telepathy”).

“The fakir had a hallucination,” Pukharich concludes. “It was telepathically excited and transmitted to several hundred spectators.”

There is much evidence in favor of hypnosis. And yet this version is ambiguous. Firstly, a photograph showing a standing rope and a boy climbing up it exists (it is shown in the Strand Magazine No. 4 of 1919 along with an article by its author F. Holmes). Secondly, a simple question is inevitable: if the performer of the trick is so masterful of the hypnotic gift, then why did he need the rope? Would it be more effective to impose on the audience the idea of ​​a free flight of a magician and his assistant in a cloudless and smokeless sky without a rope and of a kind of “aerial duel” between them?

Perhaps more than one version will appear that will be put forward for wide discussion.

Magicians keep their interpretations of the Indian Rope a secret. The famous illusionist Emil Emilievich Keogh says that Emil Keogh Sr., while in England, saw a demonstration of a trick in an illusion shop: the magician took a soft rope, threw it up, and the rope became a hard pole along which the gymnast climbed. “I remember my father was provoked by this,” says Emil, “he came home and decided to solve the trick at all costs. But I couldn’t figure out what material to make the rope out of so that it could support the gymnast’s weight. And at that time I was studying the strength of materials at the institute. Knowing the weight of the gymnast, he determined the loads that the pole experiences and advised making it from material “X”. The rope was made, and the performance went on!”

There are many imitations of the “Indian Rope,” but it itself still remains a mystery.

Fakirs pass on the amazing magic of the “Indian rope” from generation to generation as a family secret. The people who knew the secret of the trick can be counted on one hand.

It can be assumed that the secret is hidden in the rope itself, which is supported in a straight state by a mechanism of inserts or a device hidden in the ground. The main secret is that the rope literally hangs in the air.

When the trick was first performed, invisible wire did not yet exist, but skillfully crafted long, strong black cords were used. They were not known for their “invisibility”, and the trick was always demonstrated at dusk. Then the black cord became invisible against the background of the darkened sky. The number should be performed in a cramped area, avoiding a vacant lot or other open space. If he had to perform in a valley, then in order to avoid detection, it was enough to position himself between the trees so that he disappeared into the foliage. In order to hide everything from the eyes of skeptical spectators, the fakir began his performance in the gathering twilight. At first, he warmed up the crowd with banal tricks until the sky turned black.

Then the assistants brought out the lanterns and placed them on special stands around the magician sitting on the ground. The magician preceded the main trick with a boring, long preface to distract the audience's attention.

...Having positioned himself three to four meters from the audience, the fakir, constantly talking, takes a rope out of a wicker basket, repeatedly bends and twists it, throws it into the air, showing that it is a completely ordinary rope. Magicians do not risk attaching a weighting wooden ball under the gaze of spectators and weave it into the end of the rope in advance. Continuing to joke, the fakir waves his raised arms and throws the rope up once again... The tired spectators did not notice how the fakir, with a deft movement, inserted a metal hook into a special hole in the wooden ball. The hook is tied to a thin and strong hair cord, invisible against the background of the black sky. The cord rises to a height of approximately eighteen meters, where it is thrown over the main horizontal cord. Spectators, blinded by the light of the lanterns, see that the rope rises into the air, obeying some magical force. The sharp contrast between the lighting of the site and the blackness of the sky creates the impression that the rope is floating in the air, rising to a height of 60–80 m. Spectators do not see that the rope is being pulled upward by the fakir’s assistants hidden in the shelter.

The magician orders his boy assistant to climb the rope. The audience understands perfectly well the stubbornness of a child who does not want to follow into the frightening darkness. Eventually the boy gives in, climbs higher and higher, and eventually disappears from sight. At a height of about 10 m it turns out to be inaccessible to the light of lanterns. Having reached the main cord, the boy clings to it and checks the reliability of the rope.

At this time, the fakir unsuccessfully calls the boy - he does not honor him with an answer. The angry magician grabs a huge knife, clenches it with his teeth and climbs up after his assistant. A few moments later he disappears into the darkness. The audience can hear his angry swearing and the boy’s death cries. And suddenly - oh horror! - body parts of the unfortunate victim begin to fall to the ground. In reality, these are parts of the body of a large monkey, wrapped in bloody rags, similar to the boy’s clothes. They were hidden under the fakir's spacious robe. The last to fall is the severed head, wrapped in a turban. Of course, the spectators show no desire to examine it.

Four assistants rush to the remains of their comrade with loud, sorrowful cries. At this time, upstairs, the boy is hiding in the empty, spacious robes of the fakir. The magician goes down with him. The audience's attention is drawn to the terrible-looking "bloody" blade in his teeth. At the sight of the dismembered body, the fakir “realizes” what happened, begins to “repent” and falls to the ground in grief along with the remains. Helpers, wanting to console the owner, surround them with a tight ring. Taking advantage of the moment, the boy slips out, and parts of the monkey’s body again disappear under the magician’s clothes. The assistants leave, and the audience sees the fakir bending over the pieces of the victim’s body put together. Having gathered his strength, the fakir stands up and says a few magic words. Then the magician delivers a sensitive sharp blow, and - lo and behold! - the boy comes to life.

This is how they believe the demonstration of the “Indian rope” trick could take place. But no one knows what happened in reality.

In his autobiographical book, the famous Indian illusionist Pratul Chandra Sorcar (1913–1971) writes: “I have found many testimonies and descriptions of the performance of the Indian Rope made by various illusionists around the world. My research has led me to believe that this rope trick is not a myth. It was performed outdoors by street magicians. This was a great achievement in those days. That's why he received such legendary fame. The facts are long forgotten, but the legend lives on. Over time, this trick simply fell out of the repertoire.” The great Pratul Chandra Sorcar Sr. is wrong.

Linking Ring magazine (1998, No. 2) featured an article by former IBM President Ed Morris entitled “I Saw the Indian Rope Trick.” A professionally competent article, without the slightest mystical touch. And what kind of otherworldliness can there be if Ed Morris snapped an entire film and several photographs illustrate his story. There is, however, a nuance: for some reason Ed Morris published photographs of other tricks, and photographic materials on individual phases of the “Indian rope” were reproduced from the original photographs of reporter Astro Mohan from the Indian town of Udupi, near which the legendary trick was demonstrated.

“My wife Betty and I witnessed this miracle on the afternoon of November 23, 1997, on the Arabian coast of South India near the rural town of Udupi, while another 25 thousand spectators admired it with us,” wrote Ed Morris. And then he gave details.

Ishamuddin, a 28-year-old street magician, showed the crowd an empty basket, which he then placed directly on the beach sand. He then took out a 24-foot long rope (1 foot is 0.3048 m) and handed it to the public for inspection. Then he put the rope in the basket.

Playing the flute and lightly tapping the drum, he filled the air with sounds familiar to every Indian - hearing them, the cobra, hiding in the bag of wandering fakirs, usually begins to raise its head and, shaking it, slowly grows upward, intriguing those around him. The same thing began to happen with the rope. Stealingly and inevitably, she straightened up and began to rise from the basket. When she reached six feet tall, her growth stopped. Ishamuddin, putting his flute aside, went to the basket and lifted it. The audience saw that there was nothing between the beach sand and the wicker bottom of the basket. Magnificent, incredibly impressive detail!

Having put the basket in place, the magician stepped aside and the rope continued to rise. When its end rose 18 or 20 feet above the ground, a boy approached and began to climb up it. Having climbed two-thirds of the way to the top, he waved to the spectators, received his well-deserved applause and began to descend. And then the rope, smoothly shortening in height, returned to the basket.

The spectators made an extraordinary noise, discussing the trick they had seen. It seemed like everyone in the huge crowd was screaming. The next day, all newspapers published a report about the remarkable trick, and Indian television showed a video of it. “Ishamuddin has accomplished the impossible” was the main motive of all the messages.

Who knows, perhaps a new round in the history of this illusory mystery has begun, which has interested humanity for centuries?

The art of spectacular magic has a unique, inherent feature. Without it, the world of imagination would be a much poorer place. It consists of this.

Albert Einstein, of whom the French poet Paul Valéry said that “he is the only artist among all these scientists,” viewing the history of science as part of the entire history of mankind, identified a number of “invariant ideas” that he appreciated in the broadest humanistic context. He put the harmony of the world and the drama of knowledge in first place. And third in the list of “invariant ideas” is the sublime and mysterious as a stimulus for the knowing mind and the feeling thirsting for knowledge. One of the Russian specialists, exploring the category of the mysterious, wrote: “The feeling of the mysterious can give the consciousness of modern man the opportunity to be in a world where there is much more unknown than known, and, moreover, to overcome the rudimentary craving for the “spiritualization of causal relationships.”

The problem of the rope trick remains unresolved to this day. There is only no doubt that this trick has its roots in hoary antiquity and testifies to some “magical” properties of the objects used in the trick.

In the Middle Ages, people believed that magicians not only bewitched their victims using knots, but could fly into the air or disappear into the sky using a rope. Many legends tell of witches escaping from prison or even from a fire with the help of a thread or rope thrown by someone.

Nowadays, the owners of “magical power” are Indian fakirs and Australian shamans. According to them, with the help of a rope you can freely climb into the sky and travel in space.

It is curious that the research of scientists conducted in the 40s. XX century, discovered sensational details regarding these incredible abilities. During initiation rites in Southeast Asia, the shaman casts spells, then takes out a rope and uses it to do amazing things, such as swallowing it and then shooting fire from his stomach through it, like an electric shock through a wire. Australian researcher Joe Deighan writes: “The shaman lay down under a tree. Soon, the tip of a rope appeared from his open mouth, which became longer and longer, and then began to rise to the heavens. When the rope rose high enough, the shaman climbed up it, with his head thrown back, his body moving, sliding freely along the rope, his legs spread, and his hands pressed to his sides. Having reached his goal - a bird's nest in a tree - the shaman waved his hands to the spectators standing below. He descended in the same way, lay down on his back under the tree, and the rope returned to his body.”

Illusionary art in its highest understanding and in its best manifestations personifies man's eternal craving for the sublime and mysterious.

An aesthetically correctly designed illusion is designed to cause not only surprise, but also to influence higher spheres - the mind, the heart, creating a feeling of mystery. After all, it is precisely this that, according to Einstein, underlies the most profound trends in science and art. This is the magic of magic tricks. It is not for nothing that the charter of the International Association of Magicians states: “The ability to perform tricks is by no means child’s play. This is, first of all, art for adults, refined art that captivates true connoisseurs, sharpening the mind and giving pleasure. It was born to awaken in people the wonder with which knowledge begins.”

In 1979, near the city of Hyskvarna (Sweden), the tallest monument in the world was erected and, perhaps, the only one erected in honor of a circus trick. The monument, authored by the Swedish sculptor Kalle Ernemark, is called “Indian Rope Trick.” It depicts a fakir throwing a rope upward and a boy climbing up it. The monument is striking in its size: its total height is 103 m, the figure of the fakir reaches 24 m and weighs 76 tons, 1,400 railway concrete sleepers were used to construct it. The total weight of the monument is 300 tons.

Kalle Ernemark believes that he managed to fulfill his long-time dream. Even as a child, he was greatly impressed by the story of the English writer Rudyard Kipling, a great expert on India, about how a fakir threw a rope into the air and ordered the boy to climb along it into the sky...

Indian miracle rope(or rope) is a spell trick that has captivated the imagination and generated countless speculations for centuries. Some argue that this is just a myth or an illusion that occurs under the influence of hypnosis.

For centuries, European travelers brought back stories from India about the incredible tricks performed by traveling Indian magicians. But the performances with the famous miracle rope were more impressive than others.

Such stories gave rise to many rumors and assumptions, including the version that this was just a myth, because it was not possible to find a person who saw the amazing trick with his own eyes. One thing is certain: the Indian miracle rope caused more heated discussions than any other type of spell. Did this really happen? If yes, how was it done?

Perhaps part of the answer is hidden in the special training of those who show an unusual number. Many Indian magicians (or "fakirs", which means "beggar" in Arabic) are capable of performing truly remarkable feats - such as controlling their nervous system through willpower, which is achieved by constant exercise according to yogic techniques.

In addition, fakirs are fluent in the artistic arts, the gift of instilling illusions and performing tricks with spells. In the West, many numbers in their repertoire are classified as “mass hallucinations” or “mass hypnosis.” Moreover, they say that there is not a single person who himself witnessed the trick or personally knew one.

Seemingly doomed to extinction, the Indian miracle rope will be remembered - if remembered at all - as a mass illusion or a colorful myth. And if someone disagrees with this, they can be forgiven, since this mystery has a very long and sensational history.

It is unlikely that the West would have heard about the miracle rope and at least one person would have taken these stories seriously if not for the notes of the great Moroccan naturalist and writer of the Middle Ages Ibn Battuta. In 1360, among other distinguished guests, he received an invitation from Akbakh Khan to dinner at the royal palace in Han Chu in China. After a hearty meal, Akbakh Khan invited the satiated guests to follow him to the garden, where everything was prepared for the start of the amazing entertainment. Here is what Ibn Battuta wrote about this in his diary:

“After the feast, one of the artists took a wooden ball that had several holes in it. He threaded a rope through them. Then he threw the ball up in such a way that it disappeared from view and remained there, although there was no visible support.

When only a small end of the rope remained in his hand, the artist ordered one of the assistant boys to grab onto the rope and climb up it, which he did. He climbed higher and higher until he too disappeared from view. The artist called him three times, but there was no answer. Angry, he took a knife, grabbed the rope and also disappeared into the heights.

The artist then descended to the ground, bringing with him the hand of his assistant, who was the first to ascend the rope; then he brought a leg, a second arm, a second leg, a torso and finally a head. The assistant, of course, died. The clothes of the artist and the boy were covered in blood.

The fakir placed the bloody body parts on the floor one next to the other in their original order. Then he stood up and lightly kicked the pieced body, which again turned out to be a child - completely normal, whole and unharmed.”

Since there is no rational explanation for such extremely unusual phenomena as levitating ropes and miraculous resurrections, subsequent generations considered the reports of Ibn Battuta and the like to be idle talk or hype designed to extract a few coins from the most gullible. Medieval scholars declared the rope trick a lie. In the 19th century it was explained in terms of the exciting new science of hypnosis.

The enterprising American newspaper Chicago Daily Tribune, which was experiencing difficulties with circulation in the 1890s, announced its entry into the discussion and sending its journalists - the writer S. Ellmore and the artist Lessing - to distant India on a bold mission. They were tasked with taking photographs, making sketches and sketches, and ultimately proving that the trick was just a trick.

Although the Indian miracle rope act was known to be performed very rarely, the Americans soon returned to Chicago with several sketches and photographs that seemed to deal a crushing blow to the stunt's fame, proving that it was, as expected, a "mass hallucination." " When the film was developed, the picture showed only a Hindu man in baggy pants, surrounded by a hypnotized crowd.

There was no hardened rope that could be used to climb up. Naturally, the conclusion suggested itself that what was “seen” was the fruit of a collective suggestion. The newspaper published the story, and it became clear that the efforts of the Tribune's astute journalists had resulted in a triumphant revelation.

Several months passed, and light was shed on another "daring trick" - the Chicago Tribune's luck had turned. Lessing-Ellmore's works were exposed as fakes, which they turned out to be. Lessing had never set foot on Asian soil, much less witnessed the much-maligned Indian rope trick.

Moreover, a journalist named “S. Ellmore" did not exist at all. Yielding to pressure, the publisher himself issued a refutation, declaring the act a joke played out in order to increase demand for the newspaper.

Thirty years later, the newspapers were again full of articles about the miracle rope, as a certain Colonel Elliott approached the London “Circle of Magic” with a proposal to solve the problem once and for all.

In March 1919, the colonel offered a prize of five hundred pounds sterling to anyone who could demonstrate the trick under strict scientific control. Due to the complete absence of fakirs in London itself, an advertisement was published in the Times of India, promising a fabulous reward for any Indian capable of performing the feat with an Indian rope. However, the tempting offer remained unanswered.

The prim gentlemen from the Circle of Magic had to agree with the supporters of the parapsychological version that the Indian miracle rope was the result of a “collective hallucination.” It did not even occur to them that the fakirs were not at all among the idle rich who spent the day in a gentlemen's club reading newspapers published in English. Most fakirs of that time could not even read their native language, much less speak and read English.

However, a few years after the mentioned Circle of Magic event, several Irish and English soldiers serving in India witnessed a performance that almost exactly coincided with the miracles described by Ibn Battuta in the 14th century.

The rope trick is often interpreted as a form of hypnotic suggestion. However, imagine yourself in the place of a hypnotist, traveling around India and giving performances to any assembled audience. It is logical to assume the following. Your audience consists of, say, fifty Hindus from New Delhi (who almost always speak English) and fifty Lamaist Buddhists from Sikkim (few of them speak English), a northern province of India.

Unable to speak either Hindi or Tibetan, you begin your hypnosis session in English, and soon your skill begins to take effect. You cause them to enter a state of deep sleep and "see" a dragon with golden wings. And then you notice that English-speaking Delhiites are contemplating a mythical creature, and fifty Buddhists are sitting opposite you, waiting for the show to start.

The principle is quite clear. As far as we know, hypnotic suggestion has always been accompanied by speech; if the subject does not understand the language in which the suggestion is made, he will not enter a state of hypnosis. Since mass hypnosis is not the answer to the question that interests us, then we should look for another explanation for the trick.

The amazing property of the rope is carefully kept secret and passed from father to son as a family heirloom. At all times, people who knew the secret of the trick could be counted on the fingers of one hand - besides, they say that this trick is very risky and with the slightest mistake you can break your neck. It is believed that by the 1940s, the fakirs who demonstrated this amazing act became too old to perform with the miracle rope. But if this trick is not a myth, then how was it done?

Let us assume that the secret is hidden in the rope itself and that in its straight state it is supported by a mechanism of inserts (metal or wood) or a device hidden in the ground. The main secret is literally hanging in the air.

When this act was first performed - long before the advent of the invisible wire often used by modern illusionists - the elaborate, long, strong cords were black.

Since they were by no means “stealth”, the trick was always demonstrated at dusk, when the black cord became invisible against the darkened sky. In addition, the act should have been performed in a fairly cramped area and under no circumstances in the middle of a vacant lot or other open space.

However, in order to avoid detection when performing in a valley, it was enough to position oneself between two mounds or mounds. The cord was pulled between them so that it was hidden in the foliage of the trees. To be sure to hide him from the inquisitive eyes of skeptical spectators, the fakir began his performance in the gathering dusk and first “warmed up” the crowd with jokes and banal tricks until the sky finally turned black.

Then the assistants brought out the lanterns and placed them on special stands around the magician sitting on the ground, who preceded the main trick with a rather boring and long traditional preface in order to distract the attention of the audience.

Imagine this scene: positioned at a distance of only three to four meters from the audience, the fakir constantly tells something, takes a rope out of a wicker basket, repeatedly bends and twists it, throws it into the air, showing everyone that the rope is completely ordinary.

Usually magicians do not risk attaching a weighting wooden ball under the gaze of spectators and weave it into the end of the rope in advance. And so, continuing to joke, he waves his raised arms and throws her up once again...

The spectators are already tired and do not notice how the fakir, with a deft movement, inserts a metal hook into a special hole in the wooden ball. This hook is tied to a very thin and strong hair cord, invisible against the black sky. The cord rises to a height of approximately eighteen meters, where it is thrown over the main horizontal cord.

The spectators, blinded by the light of the lanterns, see that the rope rises into the air, obeying an unknown magical force. Given the sharp contrast between the lighting of the site and the blackness of the sky, it seems to them that she is floating in the air, rising to a height of 60-90 meters. The audience simply does not see that she is being pulled up by the fakir’s assistants, who are hiding in the shelter.

When the magician orders his assistant - a boy aged eight or nine - to climb the rope, the audience understands well the child who stubbornly refuses to follow into the frightening unknown. Of course, in the end the boy gives in, climbs higher and higher and eventually disappears from view - at a height of about ten meters he finds himself out of reach of the light of the lanterns. Having reached the main cord, he clings to it with a hook and checks the reliability of the rope.

Meanwhile, the fakir unsuccessfully calls the boy - he does not deign to answer him. The enraged magician grabs a huge knife, clenches it with his teeth and rushes upstairs after his assistant. A few moments later, he also disappears into the darkness, and the audience hears only his angry swearing and the boy’s dying screams. Then - oh horror! — body parts of the unfortunate victim begin to fall to the ground.

In fact, these are parts of the body of a large monkey, wrapped in bloody rags similar to the boy’s clothes. They were hidden under the spacious robe of the fakir himself. The last to fall is the severed head, wrapped in a turban. Naturally, spectators show no desire to examine it.

Four assistants rush to the remains of their comrade with loud lamentations. Meanwhile, upstairs, the boy is hiding in the empty, spacious robes of the fakir. The magician goes down with him, and the attention of the audience is focused primarily on the “bloody” blade in his teeth. At the sight of the dismembered body, the fakir “realizes” what happened, begins to “repent” and falls to the ground next to the remains.

The assistants, trying to console the owner, surround them with a tight ring. At this time, the boy slips out, and parts of the monkey’s body again disappear under the magician’s clothes.

The assistants leave, and the audience sees the fakir bending over the pieces of the victim’s body put together. Finally he gets up and says a few magic words, after which he delivers a sharp, sensitive blow, and suddenly, lo and behold! - the boy comes to life.

From the book "The Greatest Mysteries of Anomalous Phenomena"