If one happens to visit Panaji he cannot miss seeing Abbe Faria’s statue created by the award winning sculptor Ramchandra Pandurang Kamat. In the statue a man can be seen with his raised hands trying to cast a spell on a woman. This is Abbe Faria the father of scientific hypnotism.
Abbe hailed from the village of Candolim, he was born on May 31 1756 . His parents Caetano Vitorino de Faria and Rosa Maria de Sousa separated when he was just 15 years old.
When Abbe was 25 year old he got the opportunity to go to portugal. When he reached there , King Joseph I of Portugal gave him the chance to travel to Rome for his higher education.
Today on the death anniversary of Faria it is important to recall the father of hypnosis. Faria died on September 20, 1819, after his book explaining the principles of hypnosis was published.
Faria argued that no person can be hypnotised without his or her consent. He followed the teachings of German Physician Franz Mesmer who believed hypnosis was a product of animal magnetism, but Faria on the other hand argued that it had more to do with the power of auto suggestion.
Faria was ahead of his time. Unfortunately even today he has not been duly credited in Goa and many are unaware of his achievements.
