THE MESSENGER OF DEATH

We have often been told how some of us receive in an unlooked-for manner an

intimation of death some time before that incident does actually occur.

The late Mr. W.T. Stead, for instance, before he sailed for America in the Titanic

had made his will and given his friends clearly to understand that he would see

England no more.

Others have also had such occult premonitions, so to say, a few days, and

sometimes weeks, before their death.

We also know a number of cases in which people have received similar

intimation of the approaching death of a near relation or a dear friend who, in

most cases, lives at a distance.

There is a well-known family in England (one of the peers of the realm) in

whose case previous intimation of death comes in a peculiar form. Generally

when the family is at dinner a carriage is heard to drive up to the portico.

Everybody thinks it is some absent guest who has arrived late and my lord or my

lady gets up to see who it is. Then when the hall door is opened it is seen that

there is no carriage at all. This is a sure indication of an impending death in the

family.

I know another very peculiar instance. A certain gentleman in Bengal died

leaving four sons and a widow. The youngest was about 5 years old. These

children used to live with their mother in the family residence under the

guardianship of their uncle.

One night the widow had a peculiar dream. It seemed to her that her husband had

returned from a long journey for an hour or so and was going away again. Of

course, in her dream the lady forgot all about her widowhood.

Before his departure the husband proposed that she should allow him to take one

of the sons with him and she might keep the rest.

The widow readily agreed and it was settled that the youngest but one should go

with the husband. The boy was called, and he very willingly agreed to go with

his father. The mother gave him a last hug and kiss and passed him on to the father who carried him away.

The next moment the widow woke. She remembered every particular of the

dream. A cold sweat stood on her forehead when she comprehended what she

had done.

The boy died the next morning. When she told me the story she said that the

only consolation that she had was that the child was safe with his father. A very

poor consolation indeed!

Now this is a peculiar story told in a peculiar fashion; but I know one or two

wonderful stories which are more peculiar still.

It is a custom in certain families in Bengal that in connection with the Durga

pooja black-male goats are offered as a sacrifice.

In certain other families strictly vegetarian offerings are made.

The mode of sacrificing the goat is well known to some readers, and will not

interest those who do not know the custom. The fact remains that millions of

goats are sacrificed all over Bengal during the three days of the Durga pooja and

on the Shyama pooja night, (i.e. Diwali or Dipavali).

There is however nothing ominous in all this, except when the "sacrificial

sword" fails to sever the head of the goat from the trunk at one deadly stroke. As

this bodes ill the householder to appease the deity, to whose wrath such failure is

imputed, sacrifices another goat then and there and further offers to do penance

by sacrificing double the number of goats next year.

But what is more pertinent to the subject I am dealing with is the sacrificing of

goats under peculiar circumstances. Thus when an epidemic (such as cholera,

small pox and now probably plague) breaks out in a village in Bengal all the

principal residents of the place in order to propitiate the deity to whose curse or

ire the visitation is supposed to be due, raise a sufficient amount by subscription

for worshipping the irate Goddess. The black he-goat that is offered as a

sacrifice on such an occasion is not actually slain, but being besmeared with

"Sindur" (red oxide of mercury) and generally having one of the ears cropped or

bored is let loose, i.e. allowed to roam about until clandestinely passed on to

some neighbouring village to which, the goat is credited with the virtue of

transferring the epidemic from the village originally infected. The goats thus marked are not looked upon with particular favour in the villages. They are

generally not ill-treated by the villagers, and when they eat up the cabbages, etc.

all that the poor villagers can do is to curse them and drive them away—but they

return as soon as the poor owner of the garden has moved away. Such goats

become, in consequence, very bold and give a lot of trouble.

When, therefore, such a billy-goat appears in a village what the villagers

generally do is to hire a boat, carry the goat a long distance along the river, say

20 or 25 miles and leave him there. Now the villagers of the place where such a

goat is left play the same trick, so it sometimes happens that the goat comes back

after a week or so.

Once it so happened that a dedicated goat made his unwelcome appearance in a

certain village in Bengal.

The villagers hired a boat and carried him about 20 miles up the river and left

him there. The goat came back after a week. Then they left him at a place 20

miles down the river and he came back again. Afterwards they took the goat 50

miles up and down the river but each time the goat returned like the proverbial

bad penny.

After trying all kinds of tricks in their attempt to get rid of the goat the villagers

became desperate. So a few hot-headed young men of the village in an evil hour

decided to kill the goat. Instead of killing the goat quietly (as probably they

should have done) and throwing the body into the river, they organised a grand

feast and ate the flesh of the dedicated goat.

Within 24 hours of the dinner each one of them who had taken part in it was

attacked with cholera of a most virulent type and within another 24 hours every

one of them was dead. Medical and scientific experts were called in from

Calcutta to explain the cause of the calamity, but no definite results were

obtained from these investigations. One thing, however, was certain. There was

no poison of any kind in the food.

The cause of the death of about 30 young men remains a mystery.