A young married woman, Sumitra, in a village of northern
India, apparently died and then revived. After a period of confusion she
stated that she was one Shiva who had been murdered in another village.
She gave enough details to permit verification of her statements, which
corresponded to facts in the life of another young married woman called
Shiva. Shiva had lived in a place about 100 km away, and she had died
violently there-either by suicide or murder-about two months before
Sumitra's apparent death and revival. Subsequently, Sumitra recognized
23 persons (in person or in photographs) known to Shiva. She also showed
in several respects new behavior that accorded with Shiva's personality and
attainments. For example, Shiva's family were Brahmins (high caste),
whereas Sumitra's were Thakurs (second caste); after the change in her
personality Sumitra showed Brahmin habits that were strange in her family. Extensive interviews with 53 informants satisfied the investigators that
the families concerned had been, as they claimed, completely unknown to
each other before the case developed and that Sumitra had had no normal
knowledge of the people and events in Shiva's life. The authors conclude
that the subject demonstrated knowledge of another person's life obtained
paranormally.