Raghunath Reincarnation Case

By Dr. K. S. Rawat

One nice day of July 1976, a woman, Mrs. Chitra Manphool, went to the localmarket accompanied by her husband’s second wife, and noticed a man who was carrying a child coming up the road in her direction, As he came close, the child suddenly leaped towards the two women when his father restrained his son, the boy shouted "Let me go. They are my wives."

Stunned, the women started at him unblinkingly. The boy’s father, Kathat Mithusingh, was taken by surpris, but less so because for several months the boy, Raghunath, had been behaving in a peculiar manner. The child, about three-and-a-half years of age, had claimed that he remembered a past life. And one after another, incidents recalled by the boy had been confirmed.

The story that unfolded as a result of Raghunath’s claims was a fascinating one, which I investigated. Here is what I learnt:

In the early hours of January 14,1973, the boy of a 40-year-old man, Chita Ahamad, was found badly mutilated along the road near Sendra, a village on the road between Beawar and Jodhpur. Ahamad was drunkard, and it was assumed that he had died in a brawl with a truck driver, the night before.

About nine months later, Raghunath was born in sendra. On one occasion, when the boy was- two- and –a- half, he became angry with his mother and cried, "I am going to my house," and ran towards the nearby Koshi River. When this happened several times, the mother grew curious and asked, "where is your house?"

"There, that side," said the child, pointing at the river."

Which village?’ she was asked.

"Kesarpura," the boy replied, referring to a village on the other side of the river."

"How can your house be over there?" his mother asked.

"Yes, I have, I do have (a house there)," the child said.

His mother dismissed Rathunath’s remarks, as childish musing. But a few days later, while going somewhere with his mother, the boy pointed at an old lady coming towards them and suddenly remarked, "Oh loom, my mother is coming." Raghunath’s mother looked at the old woman.

"She is my mother," the child repeated.

"What? I am your mother."

"No, she is," he insisted. "She is mymother, too."

"How is that?"

Previously she was my mother."

Previously she was my mother."

"Previously? When?"

"Before my death."

By this time the old lady had come close to them. "Mother, I am your Ahamadiya!" he called to her.

The elderly woman stopped and looked at the child, and then said she had a son named Ahamad who had died in an accident over three years before, She said they lived in the village of Kesarpura, where Ahamad had a house.

Returning home with Raghunath, his mother told her husband, and he asked bye mob: "What was the name of your Father?"

"Nasibji Subedar."

"Who else lived with you?"

My mother, two wives, and three children.

The father subsequently took the boy to kesarpura and asked him to find the house. Threading through a number of streets and lanes, He led Mr. Mithusingh to a section of the town in which he said he had lived and finally pointed toward a house. A man who had accompanied them pointed to a different house and said, "Is that the house you mean?"

"No no, not that, That is the house of Mr. Kalyan Singh. My house is that one," the child protested.

His father was told that the information was correct in very respect. Entering the house, the child is reported to have recognized the places where Ahamed liked to sit, lie down, and do other things.

On another occasion, Mr. Mithusingh was serving wine to guests at his own house. Every one but the boy was handed a glass of wine- Raghunath resented not being served.

"It’s not for you," someone said. "It’s very bitter."

"No, I shall also take it, I have been taking it," the boy insisted.

"O.k., give him a sip," his father said. Taking the tumbler, the child raised his hand high and shouted, "Jai Mataji ki" and emptied the contents without stopping.

Those who knew Ahamad remarked that he also used to take wine in the same manner.

On another visit to Kesarpura, he is said to have correctly recognized the grave of Ahamad’s brother Suwa.

"When Raghunath repeatedly recalled correctly, incidents and persons related to the deceased Ahamad, Mr. Mithusingh’s curiosity subsided, but he gradually felt more and more uncomfortable within. He felt as though the son born to him after four daughters was being lost in the recesses of some past life in another family. Consequently, he tried to dissuade the child from further talk of a previous incarnation by showing cold indifference, by bitter scolding, even thrashing the boy when he talked about being someone else.

But that day on the road, when the boy suddenly claimed that the women were his wives, Mr. Mithusingh could not contain his curiosity. At first, startled by the boy’s claim, the women became eager to interrogate him when they were told that he had been talking a lot about a past life,

"All right, tell us which one of us is your married wife?" he was asked.

The child immediately leaped toward on of the women named Manphool.

"No, not this one, it was that one." His father said.

But the child insisted, and leaped into Manphool’s arms and embraced her tightly with tears in his eyes. When he refused to let go the woman, his father took hold of the boy, who caught hold of a silver ornament around the woman’s neck and cried bitterly.

Manphool was impressed but uncertain, so she later met Raghunath in order to talk with him alone. One of her questions had to do with the death of her husband, Ahamad. The boy told a different story from the one everyone had accepted. He said that on that fateful night, five thieves had overpowered him to steal his money. He fought back and was killed in the struggle. I contacted the officer-in-charge, of the local Thana (Police Station) But could get no information bearing on this question.

After talking with the boy, Manphool put a garland around Raghunath’s neck and offered him a coconut, convinced that he was the reincarnation of her dead husband. "I am completely confident that is my master," she declared.

The other woman, whom the boy claimed to have been his wife, had been taken in exchange, which is a type of marriage in which two men exchange their sisters who become their wives. When I asked whether they both thought Raghunath to have been their husband, they replied emphatically " Of course, yes."

Are there any doubts about Raghunath’s claim?

The close proximity of the villages made communication about Ahamad’s life quite probable. Yet the manner in which the child is reported to have spotted different people and recalled past events makes it improbable that this was a prearranged drama. What benefit would anyone receive from such an elaborate enactment? Moreover, the parents of the boy in this case were very apprehensive and worried. No responsible parent would put an only son into such a hazardous drama deliberately, and it is unlikely that a child that young could be trained so as to act with the appropriate dialogue and emotions.

Also, there is a superstitious belief prevalent in the villages of India that those who remember a past life do not live long. Parents deliberately tried in 12 cases we know of to make child forget such memories by threats or even beatings. Sometimes the child is put on a revolving wheel of a potmaker, that goes around counterclockwise. How many cases are thus hushed up, no on can say.

Finally, no lady would ever take a person as her husband unless completely satisfied about the truth of his claim. Although Raghunath was a stranger to her before they met that day on the road, Manphool now says emphatically and unambiguously, "I am absolutely confident, he is my master."

This case illustrates two factors that are repeated in many cases suggestive of reincarnation.

1. Firstly, 88 percent of the subjects in our cases started talking about a past life at a very early age. In only 3 percent of the cases did the subject, after reaching the age of 10, first mention a past life, such memories tend to fade within three to four years, and they rarely persist into adoles cence or adulthood. On woman (Mrs. Swarna Lata Tiwari) who was over 35 told me that she had only vague memories of a past life, but when in the presence of the personalities related to her in a previous incarnation, she still experienced emotional attachment.
2. Secondly, in 78 cases in which the cause of death or the age at death or the age at death of the previous personality was reported, all about two had died prematurely, 31 percent by murder, 28 percent by accident, 5 percent by suicide.

In about 60 percent of these cases the interval between the death of the previous personality and the birth of the subject was less than two years. Only about 19 percent were "reborn" within nine months. In one case the interval was only a few days, in another only a few hours.

In two cases the subject was born prior to the death of the previous personality, yet the subsequent features of these cases relate more closely to the rebirth narration than to the possession syndrome. In these cases the subjects fell seriously ill of even were dead but regained consciousness.

Six subject accounted for a long interval between incarnations by describing some other world or by claiming to have lived as a ‘prait". Obviously, such claims are beyond the realm of scientific investigation. /

In my opinion, the tow most important features lending credibility to cases suggestive of rebirth are:

1. The intense emotional reaction sown by some subject toward relatives of previous personality; Raghunath was one such subject but we had 14 other cases in which strong emotional reactions were visible.
2. Some physical or psychological characteristics that seem related to incidents in the past life, such as inordinate dread of water in a child who had been drowned in his previous life. We had 22 such cases including one of a girl born to a Punjabi family, who spoke only Marathi when she began talking. One object who recalled having a hand chopped off in an attempt on his life in a previous incarnation had a stabbed hand in his present life. We have a dozen such cases of birth-marks or physical deformities which seem related to experiences in a past life.

While most subjects recall one life, several recalled tow or three or even four previous lives. In at least 13 cases, the subject who recalled a past life remembered hiding money or ornaments that were actually found, and thus enriched the survivors of the previous personality.

While each case has different special features, these are some of the salient features that are highly suggestive of reincarnation. We have not yet found a foolproof case that proves reincarnation beyond any shadow of doubt. But Raghunath and Manphool undeniably offer strong testimonials in its behalf.