Note 9 — Chapter IX · The Weighing of the Emperor.

After the grave ceremonies of the day were over, the real festivities began, and every kind of diversion occupied the numberless visitors. Here the jugglers and conjurors displayed their foolish art, and performed feats of strength; there dancers to the sound of monotonous music, and with slow movements, performed their dances; and further on, horsemen at full gallop lifted rings from the ground at the end of their long lances. On one spot was a wonderful and horrible exhibition of two of those beings peculiar to India, who think they combine a religious act with self-torture. They were suspended twenty feet above the ground by means of an iron hook driven into their backs and hung by a rope to a cross-beam.9 Here, where such a sight was rare, it excited great attention, and Parviz stood gazing at it with interest, very different from Siddha’s indifference, who was well accustomed to such spectacles.