Damodar K. Mavalankar (born September 1857 in Ahmedabad - departed for the Himalayas 1885) [1] [2] was an Indian Theosophist.
Damodar K. Mavalankar (born September 1857 in Ahmedabad - departed for the Himalayas 1885) [1] [2] was an Indian Theosophist.
He was born in the family of the Karhâda Mahârashtra caste of Brâhmanas, [3] a wealthy Indian family. Apart from learning the tenets of his religion by his father from an early age, he also received a very good English education. [3]
In 1879 he met Henry Steel Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky in Bombay, after they had just established the Theosophical Society's temporary Indian headquarters there. Damodar joined the Society in 1879, giving up his caste, and in 1880, he officially became a Buddhist while in Sri Lanka, along with Henry Steel Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky. [2] [4] His actions displeased his family and led to conflict, due to them desiring him to return home and live with his wife who was betrothen to him in his childhood, or face the consequences of being cut out of his will. In response to this, Damodar gave up an income of 50,000 Indian rupees to provide for the future of his wife, and continued to live and work with the Theosophical founders. [4]
He continued his work in this way until 1885, when he went to Tibet. [5]
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a Russian author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy.
The Theosophy Society was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. The designation 'Adyar' is sometimes added to the name to make it clear that this is the Theosophical Society headquartered there, after the American section and some other lodges separated from it in 1895, under William Quan Judge. In 1882, its headquarters moved with Blavatsky and president Henry Steel Olcott from New York to Adyar, an area of Chennai, India.
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer, Freemason and the co-founder and first president of the Theosophical Society.
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE. It also encompasses wider religious philosophies like Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Qabbalah, and Sufism. The Theosophical Society functions as a bridge between East and West, emphasizing the commonality of human culture.
Charles Webster Leadbeater was a member of the Theosophical Society, Co-Freemasonry, author on occult subjects and co-initiator with J. I. Wedgwood of the Liberal Catholic Church.
Anagārika Dharmapāla was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and a writer.
Alfred Percy Sinnett was an English author and theosophist.
The Theosophical Society in America (TSA) is a member-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of Theosophy and affiliated with the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. The name "Theosophical Society in America" was legally adopted by the American Theosophical Society in 1934. Previously, other organizations had used the same name during the years 1895–98 and 1898–1908.
Tallapragada Subba Row(తల్లాప్రగడ సుబ్బారావు) was a Theosophist from a Hindu background and originally worked as a Vakil (Pleader) within the Indian justice system. His primary instructors in this field were Messrs. Grant and Laing, who saw to his establishment as a Vakil, a profession which became highly profitable for the time that he held it.
Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese author, occultist, freemason and theosophist. The fourth president of the Theosophical Society, Jinarajadasa was one of the world's foremost Theosophical authors, having published more than 50 books and more than 1600 articles in periodicals during his life. His interests and writings included religion, philosophy, literature, art, science and occult chemistry. He was also a rare linguist, who had the ability to work in many European languages.
The Theosophist is the monthly journal of the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, India. It was founded in India in 1879 by Helena Blavatsky, who was also its editor. The journal is still being published till date. For the year 1930, the journal was published in Hollywood, California by Annie Besant and Marie Russak Hotchener, but it returned to Adyar in 1931. The journal features articles about philosophy, art, literature and occultism.
Theosophical teachings have borrowed some concepts and terms from Buddhism. Some theosophists like Helena Blavatsky, Helena Roerich and Henry Steel Olcott also became Buddhists. Henry Steel Olcott helped shape the design of the Buddhist flag. Tibetan Buddhism was popularised in the West at first mainly by Theosophists including Evans-Wentz and Alexandra David-Neel.
Neo-Theosophy is a term, originally derogatory, used by the followers of Helena Blavatsky to denominate the system of Theosophical ideas expounded by Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater following the death of Madame Blavatsky in 1891. This material differed in major respects from Blavatsky's original presentation, but it is accepted as genuinely Theosophical by many Theosophists around the world.
The Theosophical Society of Aryavarta, also sometimes called Theosophical Society of India, and abbreviated as Theosophical Society was a Theosophical Society from May 22, 1878 until March 1882.
Bulathgama was a vast area in the highlands of Sri Lanka which, due to its fertile lands and high income, was directly kept under the King.
Theosophy is an esoteric movement established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded by the Russian immigrant Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others, and draws its teachings from Blavatsky's writings and a wide range of other, mainly esoteric literature. Categorized by scholars of religion as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism, it draws upon both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Mohini Mohun Chatterji was a Bengali attorney and scholar who belonged to a prominent family that for several generations had mediated between Hindu religious traditions and Christianity. He joined the Theosophical Society in 1882 and became Assistant Secretary of the Bengal branch. Later that year, he claimed he became a "chela" in probation of the Mahātmā Koot Hoomi, and saw apparitions of Mahatmas on five or six occasions. According to Theosophists, he eventually failed as a chela, and resigned from the Theosophical Society in 1887, after only five years of membership.
Christianity and Theosophy, for more than a hundred years, have had a "complex and sometimes troubled" relationship. The Christian faith was the native religion of the great majority of Western Theosophists, but many came to Theosophy through a process of opposition to Christianity. According to professor Robert S. Ellwood, "the whole matter has been a divisive issue within Theosophy."
"What Are The Theosophists?" is an editorial published in October 1879 in the theosophical magazine The Theosophist. It was compiled by Helena Blavatsky and it was included the second volume of the Blavatsky Collected Writings.
Hinduism is regarded by modern Theosophy as one of the main sources of "esoteric wisdom" of the East. The Theosophical Society was created in a hope that Asian philosophical-religious ideas "could be integrated into a grand religious synthesis." Prof. Antoine Faivre wrote that "by its content and its inspiration" the Theosophical Society is greatly dependent on Eastern traditions, "especially Hindu; in this, it well reflects the cultural climate in which it was born." A Russian Indologist Alexander Senkevich noted that the concept of Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy was based on Hinduism. According to Encyclopedia of Hinduism, "Theosophy is basically a Western esoteric teaching, but it resonated with Hinduism at a variety of points."
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