Who was associated with theosophical society

Rukmini Devi Arundale, (born February 29, 1904, Madura, Madras Presidency, British bharata natyam bharata natyam and other Indian traditions as well as to spread the ideals of theosophy. Born to South Indian Sanskrit scholar and historian K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and his wife Seshammal, Arundale was reared in an upper-class Arundale traveled extensively with her husband and Besant on various theosophical missions, all the while absorbing the Arundale took Pavlova’s advice to heart and subsequently embarked on a campaign to study and promote bharata natyam, a type of South Indian classical dance that was traditionally performed in devadasis, whose obligations to the temple deity involved prostitution. Arundale formally trained under Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, a respected nattuvanar (male bharata natyam director), and gave her first public performance, at the Theosophical Society, in 1935. That event was remarkable not only on account of Arundale’s artistry but also because it was a staged, public performance (as opposed to a temple event), and it set a precedent for upper-class women to practice an art form traditionally associated with a widely maligned lower-class Meanwhile, in 1934, the year after Besant’s death, Arundale established the Besant Theosophical High School and the Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School to impart education based on both theosophist and traditional Hindu values. In 1936 she added Kalakshetra, an Indian arts academy that was especiall...

Extract THE PURPOSE of the present roundtable is to assess Theosophy’s complicated relationship with the academic study of religion, from the late nineteenth century to the present. 1 For our purposes, “Theosophy,” with a capital “T,” here refers first and foremost to the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875—associated with such figures as H. P. Blavatsky (1831–1891), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), Annie Besant (1847–1933), Charles Leadbeater (1854–1934), and many more besides—a movement that rose to prominence, fragmented amidst controversy and internal competition, and fell into relative obsolescence over the course of a century—whereas “theosophy,” with a small “t,” refers to the broader Western esoteric streams that fed into, and in some cases issued out from, that movement. The distinction between “Theosophy” and “theosophy” is an imperfect one, but it gets at a fundamental difference: almost all “Theosophists” are “theosophists,” but plenty of “theosophists” are not “Theosophists.” We understood this inquiry as part of a broader effort to reassess and re-narrate the history of the discipline. 2 We pose such questions as: How did Theosophy help shape the study of religion in North America, Europe, India, and elsewhere, including the very conceptualization of religion itself, the methods of comparative religion and comparative theology, and its interpretations of specific religious texts, traditions, and terms? How and why did the study of religion opt to obscure or ...

Notes of the meeting proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8 September 1875 The Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, on 17 November 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others. It was self-described as “an unsectarian body of seekers after Truth, who endeavour to promote Brotherhood and strive to serve humanity.” Olcott was its first president, and remained president until his death in 1907. In the early months of 1875, Olcott and Judge had come to realize that, if Blavatsky was a spiritualist, she was no ordinary one. The society’s initial objective was the “study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc.” After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar, in Madras (now Chennai). They were also interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society’s agenda. After several iterations the Society’s objectives evolved to be: • To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. • To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science. • To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man. Sympathy with the above objects was the sole condition of admission to the society. The Society was organized as a non-sectarian entity. The following was stated in the Constituti...

• العربية • Azərbaycanca • Български • Català • Čeština • Cymraeg • Dansk • Deutsch • Eesti • Ελληνικά • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Galego • 한국어 • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Bahasa Indonesia • Interlingua • Íslenska • Italiano • עברית • ქართული • Latviešu • Lietuvių • Magyar • Македонски • مصرى • Nederlands • 日本語 • Norsk bokmål • Norsk nynorsk • پښتو • Polski • Português • Română • Русский • Simple English • Slovenčina • Српски / srpski • Suomi • Svenska • தமிழ் • Татарча / tatarça • తెలుగు • Türkçe • Українська • Tiếng Việt • Winaray • 中文 • v • t • e Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Hahn von Rottenstern; 12 August[ Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian Born into an aristocratic family of Both contemporary critics and later biographers have argued that some or all of these foreign visits were fictitious, and that she spent this period in Europe. By the early 1870s, Blavatsky was involved in the In 1875, New York City, Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society with Olcott and Although opposed by the British colonial administration, Theosophy spread rapidly in India but experienced internal problems after Blavatsky was a controversial figure during her lifetime, championed by supporters as an enlightened Sage and derided as a charlatan by critics. Her Theosophical doctrines influenced the spread of Hindu and Buddhist ideas in the West as well as the development of Western esoteric currents like Early life [ ] Developing a reliable account of Blavatsky's lif...

THEOSOPHY AND THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES By Dr. James Santucci Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies California State University Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 Eight elephant heads, Headquarters Building, Adyar Famous H.P.B. photo taken in 1875 The United Lodge of Theosophists is “a voluntary association of students of Theosophy” founded in 1909 by Robert Crosbie and others, having as its main purpose the study of Theosophy using the writings of Blavatsky and Judge as their guide. Because personality or ego is considered to have negative effects, “associates” pursue anonymity in their Theosophical work. Regarding this work, the U.L.T. Declaration, the only document that unites associates, states that its purpose “is the dissemination of the Fundamental Principles of the philosophy of Theosophy and the exemplification in practice of those principles, through a truer realization of the SELF; a profounder conviction of Universal Brotherhood.” It regards as Theosophists all “who are engaged in the true service of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, condition or organization.” Building U.L.T in Los Angeles The work of the U.L.T. is mainly practical and educational, conducting meetings and classes on various Theosophical subjects, and publishing books, pamphlets, and magazines. Lodges and study groups exist, with lodges typically consisting of between twenty and one hundred associates, and study groups from five to thirty associates. Associates can voluntarily partici...

Famous People and the impact of the Theosophical Society Inventory of the influence of the Theosophical Society This list is a tentative inventory of the impact of the Theosophical Society on the world. It owes a lot to I realize that this is a problematic field of study: what exactly constitutes influence? Still I think it is possible to give some sort of answer to the question of the influence of the Theosophical Society by doing an inventory of prominent cultural innovators who were members of the Theosophical Society. If one can find a significant number, it is plausible that the relatively small organization did have a relatively high influence on East and West. As the list shows it isn't always easy to show how the Theosophical Society or its ideals and teachings made a difference in a certain persons perspective or method. Still, I think it is useful to cultural historians to be aware of memberships of the Theosophical Society. For Theosophical Society-members it may be interesting to know the contributions Theosophical Society-members have made in the world. Some people who made it on this list were never members of the Theosophical Society, in those cases a note has been added. They are on here because of their spiritual interests, or their contact with theosophists even if they never joined. This list has become partly unnecessary because the Theosophical Encyclopedia also gives a decent inventory. WRITERS Lyman Frank Baum , American author of The Wizard of Oz an...