Sorcerer's Apprentice: An Incredible Journey into the World of India's Godmen

Sorcerer's Apprentice: An Incredible Journey into the World of India's Godmen
ISBN-10
1628721316
ISBN-13
9781628721317
Series
Sorcerer's Apprentice
Category
Biography & Autobiography
Pages
533
Language
English
Published
2011-07-01
Publisher
Skyhorse + ORM
Author
Tahir Shah

Description

An apprentice to one of India’s greatest illusionists shares the tricks of the trade in this extraordinary travelogue through modern India. Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the amazing story of Tahir Shah’s improbable apprenticeship to one of India’s master conjurers, Hakim Feroze, and his initiation into the brotherhood of Indian godmen. Told with self-deprecating wit and an eye for the outlandish, it is a surprising account of a magical journey across India. Feroze teaches Shah the basics of his craft, such as sleights of hand, immersing his hands in boiling oil and lead, and—Aaron’s old trick from the Bible—turning a rod into a serpent. To complete his training and prove himself, Shah is sent on a quest to discover the ways illusion is manifested in every corner of the subcontinent. Saddled with a hilarious sidekick and guide he calls the Trickster, Shah travels from Calcutta to Madras, from Bangalore to Bombay. Even as he recounts the most miraculous and bizarre feats of the sadhus, sages, sorcerers, avatars, fortune-tellers, healers, hypnotists, and humbugs he encounters, he reveals—and admires—the imagination and resourcefulness ordinary Indians deploy in order to survive. In this incredible book, Tahir Shah lifts the veil on the East’s most puzzling miracles and exposes a side of India that most never imagine exists. “By turns enrapturing and disquieting, droll and poignant.” —Booklist (starred review) “Vivid, lurid and amusing.” —Publishers Weekly

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