 Cover of the 1979 edition | |
| Author | Savitri Devi |
|---|---|
| Country | United Arab Republic |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Philosophy of history Esoteric Nazism |
| Published | 1958 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 432 |
The Lightning and the Sun is a 1958 book by Savitri Devi, in which the author outlines her philosophy of history along with her critique of the modern world. The book is known for the author's claim that Adolf Hitler was an avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. It was the first book to espouse esoteric Nazism.
Begun in 1948, completed in 1956, and first published in 1958 in Calcutta, she said it "could be described as a personal answer to the events of 1945 and of the following years." It is dedicated "To the godlike Individual of our times; the Man against Time; the greatest European of all times; both Sun and Lightning: Adolf Hitler, as a tribute of unfailing love and loyalty, for ever and ever." [1] It opens with quotations from The Bhagavad Gita and Rudolf Hess.
In The Lightning and the Sun, Devi attempts to weave Nazism with a cyclic view of history, [2] arguing that time begins with a Golden Age and gradually decays through a Silver Age and Bronze Age into a final Kali Yuga, or Dark Age. She elucidates her concept of "Men in Time," "Men above Time," and "Men against Time" using the lives of Genghis Khan, Akhnaton, and Adolf Hitler respectively. Genghis Khan is used as an example of a "Man in Time" who exhibits Lightning (destructive) qualities and furthers historical decay. Akhnaton is used to illustrate a "Man above Time" who exhibits Sun (creative/life-affirming) qualities and seeks to transcend the process of historical decay. The book claims that Adolf Hitler was an avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. [3]
Hitler is used to illustrate a "Man against Time" who exhibits both Lightning and Sun qualities (destructive power harnessed for a life-affirming purpose) and seek to fight historical decay by using violence, Dark-Age methods to achieve a Golden Age state of existence. [4] In the final chapter of the book, Savitri Devi expands further upon her cyclic view of history and argues that at the end of the Dark Age, Kalki will appear and usher in a new Golden Age.
Originally published in 1958 as a self-published samisdat, an abridged version was published by the far-right National Vanguard Books. Resistance Records, a neo-Nazi and white separatist record label, released an audio recording of readings from the book. An unabridged version was also made available online by the Savitri Devi archive. Most recently, an unabridged version was published by the white nationalist Counter-Currents Publishing. [5] The cost of producing the book (as well as Pilgrimage) was covered by Devi's job as an interpreter. [5]
The response among readers of National Socialist World (a periodical of the neo-Nazi World Union of National Socialists group) to the book was enthusiastic, resulting in William L. Pierce including more of her writings later. [5]
Alexandra Minna Stern described the book as Devi's "most well known and far-fetched work", and as "more a mystical treatise than a narrative interpretation of the rise and fall of the Third Reich". [6] It was the first book to espouse esoteric Nazism.[ citation needed ]
According to Benjamin Teitelbaum, when he was in discussion with Steve Bannon, Bannon used the term that originates in this book, "Man in Time", to describe Donald Trump. [7]
Kalki, also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of existence (Krita) in Vaishnava cosmology. The end of the Kali Yuga states this will usher in the new epoch of Satya Yuga in the cycle of existence, until the Mahapralaya.
Avatar is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means 'descent'. It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being.
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists (WUFENS), a name to denote opposition to state ownership of property, the same year—it was renamed the American Nazi Party in order to attract 'maximum media attention'. Since the late 1960s, a number of small groups have used the name "American Nazi Party" with most being independent of each other and disbanding before the 21st century. The party is based largely upon the ideals and policies of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany during the Nazi era, and embraced its uniforms and iconography.
Savitri Devi Mukherji was a French-born Greek fascist, Nazi sympathizer, and spy who served the Axis powers by committing acts of espionage against the Allied forces in India. She was later a leading member of the Neo-Nazi underground during the 1960s.
Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano, was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he later became a prominent figure in the neo-Nazi movement as an exponent of Esoteric Hitlerism.
Otto Ernst Remer was a German Wehrmacht officer in World War II who played a major role in stopping the 20 July plot in 1944 against Adolf Hitler. In his later years, he became a politician and far-right activist. He co-founded the Socialist Reich Party in West Germany in the 1950s and is considered an influential figure in postwar neo-fascist politics in Germany.
Matthias Koehl Jr. was an American marine, neo-Nazi politician and writer. He succeeded George Lincoln Rockwell as the longest serving leader of the American Nazi Party, from 1967 to 2014.
Asit Krishna Mukherji was a Bengali from Naryanganj, East Bengal with Nazi convictions who published pro-Axis journals. He married Savitri Devi in 1940 in order to protect her from deportation or internment.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the World Wars and Western esotericism.
Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism is a book by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. It is a biography of Savitri Devi.
Hindu eschatology is linked to the figure of Kalki, or the tenth and last avatar of Vishnu before the age draws to a close, and Harihara simultaneously dissolves and regenerates the universe.
Marie Françoise Suzanne Dior was a French socialite and neo-Nazi underground financier. She was the niece of French fashion designer Christian Dior and Resistance fighter Catherine Dior, who publicly distanced herself from her niece after she married British neo-Nazi activist Colin Jordan in 1963. She was a close friend of Savitri Devi.
A Warning to the Hindus is a 1939 booklet by Savitri Devi. It was written to further Indian nationalism by way of Nazi ethics and spirituality. Savitri believed the Indian people to be of Aryan descent, and thus sought to promote explicitly Nazi ideals, such as ethnic purity and xenophobia, within India. Within the text, emphasis is focused on many supposed horrors the future could hold should India choose to accept diversity and reject Nazi Aryanism. The author projected Hindu India as the last surviving remnant of ancient Aryan spirituality, and issued this work as a warning to what she perceived as the threat of submergence through ‘alien,’ meaning non-Aryan, influences, such as Islam. Nazism, which must be condemned, was an ideology that both Savitri Devi and Savarkar deemed appropriate. It is a fascist book, that teaches violence as a way to restore only Hindus in India.
The following list consists of notable concepts that are derived from Hindu culture and associated cultures’ traditions, which are expressed as words in Sanskrit or other Indic languages and Dravidian languages. The main purpose of this list is to disambiguate multiple spellings, to make note of spellings no longer in use for these concepts, to define the concept in one or two lines, to make it easy for one to find and pin down specific concepts, and to provide a guide to unique concepts of Hinduism all in one place.
Esoteric Nazism, also known as Esoteric Fascism or Esoteric Hitlerism, refers to a range of mystical interpretations and adaptations of Nazism. After the Second World War, esoteric interpretations of the Third Reich were adapted into new religious movements of white nationalism and neo-Nazism. Theories suggest that high ranking Nazis believed in the use of Qabalah magic. They included beliefs in finding a mythical Hyperborea.
Christian Bouchet is a French far-right journalist and politician.
Jason Reza Jorjani is an American philosopher, writer, former New Jersey Institute of Technology lecturer, former editor-in-chief of the European New Right publishing company Arktos Media, and co-founder of the AltRight Corporation with Richard Spencer.
Gregory Johnson is an American white nationalist and advocate for a white ethnostate. He is known for his role as editor-in-chief of the white nationalist imprint Counter-Currents Publishing, which he founded in 2010 with Michael Polignano.
Triarii is a one-man music project from the genre of martial industrial, whose name derives from the elite soldiers of the Roman battle order, the Triarians. Christian Erdmann is responsible for the music. The recordings of Triarii are published by the label Eternal Soul Records. Characteristic for the style of the project is the pathetic and sublime sound of the music and the use of samples. Erdmann himself contributes only sporadic vocals; according to his own statement, his goal is to "at some point dissolve into complete megalomania".
'The Lightning and the Sun' (1958) synthesizes National Socialism and the Aryan cyclical theory of history and claims that Adolf Hitler was an avatar -- a human incarnation -- of the Hindu god Vishnu
It isn't hard these days to find discussions of Savitri Devi's books on neo-Nazi web forums, especially The Lightning and the Sun, which expounds the theory that Hitler was an avatar - an incarnation - of the Hindu god Vishnu
"The Lightning and the Sun," which argues that Hitler's genocidal and tyrannical actions were necessary to bring forth a new "golden age."