Sadhu Haridas (fl. 1837) was a hatha yogi Hindu saint of nineteenth-century India, renowned for his reputed power to control his body completely using the power of his mind, employing the energies of kundalini. His most notable feat, carried out in 1837, was to survive burial underground, without food or water, for forty days. This feat was said to have taken place at the court of the Maharajah of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, at Lahore, India (now in Pakistan). [1]
In 1837, Haridas was allegedly buried in the presence of the Maharajah, his whole court, and French and British doctors. He adopted a sitting posture, and was covered over and sewn up in cerecloth. He was then placed inside a large wooden case, which was riveted closed and sealed with the Maharajah's own seal. The case was then lowered into a specially-constructed brick vault. Earth was piled upon the case, and a detachment of the Maharajah's guard was placed to keep watch over the vault; four sentries mounting guard over it by day, and eight by night. Forty days later, Haridas was disinterred in the presence of the Maharajah, his court, and the French and British doctors. His apparently lifeless body was washed with hot water, massaged, and ghee placed on his eyelids and tongue; in a short time, he had recovered. [1] [2]
According to Claude Wade, the British Resident at the Maharaja's court: "From the time of the box being opened to the recovery of the voice, not more than half an hour could have elapsed; and in another half-hour, the Fakir talked with myself and those about him freely, though feebly, like a sick person. Then we left him, convinced that there had been no fraud or collusion in the exhibition we had witnessed." [3]
The report suggests hibernation as explanation and "regretted that no exact weights of Haridâs were noted before and after the burial". After a thirty day burial in 1835, two English officers "were struck by his greatly sunken abdomen".
The Koh-i-Noor, also spelled Koh-e-Noor,Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory. The three goals of embalming are sanitization, presentation, and preservation, with restoration being an important additional factor in some instances. Performed successfully, embalming can help preserve the body for a duration of many years. Embalming has a very long and cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the embalming processes a greater religious meaning.
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The Treaty of Amritsar, executed by the British East India Company and Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu after the First Anglo-Sikh War, established the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the suzerainty of the British Indian Empire.
Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from the burial site itself. The term 'body snatching' most commonly refers to the removal and sale of corpses primarily for the purpose of dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools. The term was coined primarily in regard to cases in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. However, there have been cases of body snatching in many countries, with the first recorded case dating back to 1319 in Bologna, Italy.
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A burial vault is a container, formerly made of wood or brick but more often today made of metal or concrete, that encloses a coffin to help prevent a grave from sinking. Wooden coffins decompose, and often the weight of earth on top of the coffin, or the passage of heavy cemetery maintenance equipment over it, can cause the casket to collapse and the soil above it to settle.
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, a three-week series of events was held to mourn the death and memorialize the life of the 16th president of the United States. Funeral services, a procession, and a lying in state were first held in Washington, D.C., then a funeral train transported Lincoln's remains 1,654 miles (2,662 km) through seven states for burial in Springfield, Illinois. Never exceeding 20 mph, the train made several stops in principal cities and state capitals for processions, orations, and additional lyings in state. Millions of Americans viewed the train along the route and participated in associated ceremonies.
Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive.
A burial vault is a structural stone or brick-lined underground tomb or 'burial chamber' for the interment of a single body or multiple bodies underground. The main difference between entombment in a subterranean vault and a traditional in-ground burial is, that the coffin is not placed directly in the earth, but is placed in a burial chamber, specially built for this purpose. A burial vault refers to an underground chamber, in contrast to an above-ground, freestanding mausoleum. These underground burial tombs were originally and are still often vaulted and usually have stone slab entrances. They are often privately owned and used for specific family or other groups, but usually stand beneath a public religious building, such as a church, or in a churchyard or cemetery. A crypt may be used as a burial vault and a freestanding mausoleum may contain a burial vault beneath the ground.
The Treaty of Lahore of 9 March 1846 was a peace-treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War. The treaty was concluded, for the British, by the Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and two officers of the East India Company and, for the Sikhs, by the seven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh and seven members of Hazara, the territory to the south of the river Sutlej and the forts and territory in the Jalandhar Doab between the rivers Sutlej and Beas. In addition, controls were placed on the size of the Lahore army and thirty-six field guns were confiscated. The control of the rivers Sutlej and Beas and part of the Indus passed to the British, with the Provision that this was not to interfere with the passage of passenger boats owned by the Lahore Government. Also, provision was made for the separate sale of all the hilly regions between River Beas and Indus, including Kashmir, by the East India Company at a later date to Gulab Singh, the Raja of Jammu.
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A burial artist is a person who intentionally endures premature burial by being voluntarily buried for extended periods as a form of human endurance contests, endurance art, escapology, or magic (illusion).