Be wary of what you find between the stars. Demons have breached the gates where once only angels dared.
Definition/Summary:
Indian rope trick
The main story for the audience was a boy would climb to heaven using a simple rope to retrieve goods or favors from God
- Magic trick said to have been performed in and around India during the 19th century. Sometimes described as “the world’s greatest illusion”
- Legend says it involved a magician, a length of rope, and one or more boy assistants.
- Said by some historians to be a hoax
- There are old accounts from the 9th century (by Adi Shankara), the 14th century (by Ibn Battuta) these described are different from the “classic” Indian rope trick
Expanded info:
Three variants of the trick
- In the simplest version, a long piece of rope is left in a basket and placed in an open field, usually by a fakir. The rope levitates, with no external support. A boy assistant, a jamoora, climbs the rope and then descends
- A more elaborate version has the magician (or his assistant) disappearing after reaching the top of the rope, then reappearing at ground level
- The “classic” version was much more detailed: the rope seems to rise high into the sky, disappearing from view. The boy climbs the rope and is lost to view. The magician calls to the boy, and feigns anger upon receiving no response. The magician arms himself with a knife or sword, climbs the rope, and vanishes as well. An argument is heard, and then human limbs fall, presumably cut from the assistant’s body by the magician. When all the parts of the body, including the torso, land on the ground, the magician climbs down the rope. He collects the limbs and puts them in a basket or covers them with a cape or blanket. The boy reappears, uninjured.