Blavatsky & Annie Besant 2

This is our final post covering 2017. In 2017, Annie Besant received a lot of attention, and so ironically Blavatsky received a lot of press in relation to both Nazism and Indian Independence. The year also saw a new publication concerning the Coulomb/Hodgson affair by Daniel Caldwell and many interesting academic publications. There was also the return of the Theosophical History journal, notably featuring a long letter by Blavatsky to Ralston Skinner. Another eventful year.

This is also most likely the final dense thematic post that I'll be doing. I've covered three years of news and it's clear that interest in Blavatsky remains strong and seems to be growing. I'm most impressed by the diversity of subjects that have been assembled, but I'd like to get away from the regular, systematic format. In the future, I'd like to focus more on original writing, with occasional posts on various topics.

Annie Besant And Her Dauntless Legacy Of Resistance

Ruchira Ghosh - April 6, 2018

Annie Besant was a noted philosopher, social reformer, women’s rights activist, besides being a prolific writer and orator. Her name remains inextricably linked with India’s struggle for freedom. She figures among world famous personalities who made India their home for good.

https://feminisminindia.com/2018/04/06/annie-besant-freedom-fighter/

Annie Besant: An inconvenient woman

Manu S. Pillai Oct 06 2017

One of the founders of Banares Hindu University, the scene of a woman’s agitation today, Annie Besant lived unconventionally, defiant of social norms, well before she came to India

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/dgXf29xjFPwLz9gYAJotDN/Annie-Besant-An-inconvenient-woman.html

Gandhi Learned Hinduism From Blavatsky’s Occult Theosophy

Feb. 1st, 2018

Though the extent to which the occult Theosophical movement influenced Gandhi and Indian independence is not commonly known, it is well documented. It could also be said that the widespread influence of Eastern spirituality on Western culture that is so prominent today can be attributed largely to Blavatsky and Theosophy. Had she and her followers not taken the steps to influence Indian independence and the revivification of Hinduism, Indian history may have been different.

https://www.gaia.com/lp/content/blavatsky-theosophy-gandhi/

Blavatsky & Annie Besant

Annie Besant: Theosophist who inspired Indian nationalism
DECCAN CHRONICLE. | M R VENKATESH - Aug 15, 2017
And this year, as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence, it will be special for another reason too. It brings home memories of the confluence of another centenary of the first Woman President the Indian National Congress saw in Mrs Annie Besant in 1917.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/150817/theosophist-who-inspired-indian-nationalism.html
　
70 Years of Independence: Remembering Annie Besant, a 'Diamond Soul'
2017-08-09
A Diamond Soul' who played a crucial role in shaping independent India, Annie Besant was a famous Theosophist, orator, author as well as the supporter of the Irish and Indian self-rule.
http://www.newsnation.in/india-news/70-years-of-independence-remembering-annie-besant-a-diamond-soul-article-179070.html
　
Take a walk to reconnect with reformers who changed Mumbai's social landscape
Apr 18, 2017 - Krutika Behrawala
Fondekar says, "We will cover roughly 15 spots, including Blavatsky Lodge that is associated with social activist Dr Annie Besant, along with certain roads named after social reformers." Post its debut this week, the walking experience will be held every Sunday at 8 am.
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/lifestyle-news-take-a-walk-to-reconnect-with-reformers-who-changed-mumbais-social-landscape/18173188
　
She’s number one, but only because it’s in alphabetical order:
10 Important Women in Goddess Spirituality
May 21, 2014 by Jason Mankey
Besant is best known as the President of the Theosophical Society, one of the most influential groups ever in the history of the occult and the New Age movements.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2014/05/10-important-figures-in-goddess-spirituality/
　
English version of Besant biography
Muriel Pécastaing-Boissière – Annie Besant Struggles and Quest
https://www.facebook.com/pecastaingboissiere/posts/1692719254128847
https://www.facebook.com/vilevictorians/posts/1901924720118558?pnref=story

Blavatsky and Indian Politics: A. O. Hume, Besant

A.O. Hume father of Indian National Congress : Madras Miscelany:
The Father of the Congress – S. Muthia
 “Leading India into this new age was the Indian National Congress founded 130 years ago after the seeds for it were sown at a Theosophical Society Convention in Madras in 1884 when Col. Olcott and A.O. Hume called for the founding of an Indian political party to speak for the people of India. With Hume travelling throughout India to champion this suggestion and helping organize the first Indian National Congress convention in Bombay on December 28-30, 1885, he became known as the ‘Father of the Indian National Congress.’”
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/madras-miscellany/article6818726.ece
see also Hume on Blavatsky: http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/hume1884.htm

Article on Annie Besant’s entrepreurial activities in India:
From Besant to Vasantha - Sriram V.
“The foundation stone for the Vasantha Press was laid in 1908, and it became functional a short while later. In 1914, Mrs Besant acquired the Madras Standard, a daily, and renamed it New India. The paper, which electrified the freedom movement with its demand for Home Rule, was initially brought out from the Vasantha Press.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/hidden-histories-from-besant-to-vasantha/article8916950.ece

Article on long-standing Bengaluru lodge and charitable organisation founded in 1909 : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/date-with-history-bengaluru-has-a-hidden-history-of-universal-brotherhood/articleshow/51437441.cms

Article on Indian anthropological history notes Blavatsky's influence:
Muller postulated the migration of the Aryans from the north-west into India while Olcott and Blavatsky asserted that the Aryans were indigenous to India. In their view the Aryan culture was the cradle of civilisation, and had spread from India to the West and other parts of the world. Like them, Dayanand Saraswati, who founded the Arya Samaj in 1875, also considered the Aryans as indigenous to India, and the Vedas as the repository of all knowledge and wisdom. Incidentally, the Arya Samaj merged with the Theosophical Society, which also was founded in 1875. Although this merger did not last long, the two parties never seem to have differed on the Aryan question.
http://thewire.in/21359/how-hindutva-historiography-is-rooted-in-the-colonial-view-of-indian-history/

 

Prof. Gauri Viswanathan, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University gave a lecture at McGill University on March 24, 2016 entitled Theosophy, Translation, and the Mediation of Hinduism. It was about Blavatsky and Ghandi’s influence on India. Overall, it was a positive outlook of Blavatsky and she is working on a book about Blavatsky.

https://www.mcgill.ca/channels/event/theosophy-translation-and-mediation-hinduism-258338

Her last article on Blavatsky was “Anna Kingsford: The Release of the Suffering Soul" in  Monism: Science, Philosophy, Religion, and the History of a Worldview, 2012.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=LWXIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=Viswanathan+anna+kingsford&source=bl&ots=j5vKZQG0C3&sig=ZG_61dDQmkZtsmvwqLoE-BQ6wug&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwign8v5mIHPAhWF2B4KHeLRAJcQ6AEIITAC#v=onepage&q=Viswanathan%20anna%20kingsford&f=false

She is also part of a major academic research project The Enchanted Modernities International Network:
“The Enchanted Modernities International Network will bring together scholars who are experts in the visual arts, music and sound, and literature from all over the world to explore what the visual, material and performing arts can tell us about the relationships between theosophy, modernity and mysticism c. 1875-1960.”
https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/awards-made/awards-focus/enchanted-modernities-theosophy-modernism-and-arts-c-1875-1960\

A recent piece from The Hindu by Elina Abakarova:
August 12 was the 185th birth anniversary of one of the most extraordinary women of the 19th Century, Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya, better known across the world as Madame Blavatsky. The founder of the Theosophical Society this writer, poet, philosopher and traveller was also a brilliant pianist, a fine artist and a linguist. Due to her incomprehensible nature, activities and knowledge, she was called a sphinx. The mix of legend and fact that shrouds her life does not detract from her powerful influence over modern spiritual thought.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-messenger-of-light/article9002691.ece