Then alone will the people appreciate the
privilege of wearing it.
There are many examples of the highest distinctive insignia being worn
by the unworthy. The aristocracies of Europe and Asia teem with such.
--A. Sarman
Reading in a Sealed Envelope
Some years ago, a Brahman astrologer named Vencata Narasimla Josi, a
native of the village of Periasamudram in the Mysore Provinces, came to
the little town in the Bellary District where I was then employed. He
was a good Sanskrit, Telugu and Canarese poet, and an excellent master
of Vedic rituals; knew the Hindu system of astronomy, and professed to
be an astrologer. Besides all this, he possessed the power of reading
what was contained in any sealed envelope. The process adopted for this
purpose was simply this:--We wrote whatever we chose on a piece of
paper; enclosed it in one, two or three envelopes, each properly gummed
and sealed, and handed the cover to the astrologer. He asked us to name
a figure between 1 and 9, and on its being named, he retired with the
envelope to some secluded place for some time; and then he returned with
a paper full of figures, and another paper containing a copy of what was
on the sealed paper--exactly, letter for letter and word for word.
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