page_title: Hinduism and Theosophy
section_title: Hinduists and Theosophists
hierarchical_section_title: Hinduism and Theosophy / Hinduists and Theosophists
caption_attribution_description: English: Srijut Krishnaravji took this photograph of Dayananda Saraswati in Jabalpur in 1874 when he accepted an invitation to come to his house
context_page_description: 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."
context_section_description: According to John Driscoll, an author of The Catholic Encyclopedia, "India is the home of all theosophic speculation", because the main "idea of Hindu civilization is theosophic." Its evolution, reflected in Indian religious literature, has shaped "the basic principles of theosophy." Prof. Mark Bevir noted that Blavatsky identified India as the "source of the ancient wisdom." She wrote about India the following:
  "None is older than she in esoteric wisdom and civilization, however fallen may be her poor shadow—modern India. Holding this country, as we do, for the fruitful hot-bed whence proceeded all subsequent philosophical systems, to this source of all psychology and philosophy a portion of our Society has come to learn its ancient wisdom and ask for the impartation of its weird secrets."
  In 1877, first president of the Theosophical Society Henry Olcott accidentally found out about a movement recently organized in India, whose "aims and ideals, he was given to believe, were identical with those of his own Society." It was the Arya Samaj, founded by one Swami Dayananda, who, as the Theosophists believed, was a member of the same occult Brotherhood, to which their own Masters belonged. Olcott set up "through intermediaries" contact with Arya Samaj and offered to unite.
  In May 1878, the union of the two societies was formalized, and the Theosophical Society "changed its name to the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj of Aryavarta." But soon Olcott received a translation of the statute and the doctrines of Arya Samaj, which led the Theosophists to some confusion. The views of Swami Dayananda had either "radically changed" or were initially misunderstood. His organization was in fact "merely a new sect of Hinduism", and several years after the arrival of Blavatsky and Olcott in India, the connection between the two societies finally ceased. Dayananda Saraswati's disappointment was expressed in a form of warning to the members of Arya Samaj on contacts with the Theosophists, whom he called atheists, liars, and egoists. Prof. Lopez noted that the relations that Blavatsky and Olcott established with "South Asians tended to be short-lived." They went to India, believing that Swami Dayananda was, in fact, "an adept of the Himalayan Brotherhood". But in 1882, when he declared that the beliefs of Ceylon Buddhists and Bombay Parsis "both were false religions," Olcott concluded that "the swami was just a swami," but he was not an adept.
  Goodrick-Clarke wrote that "educated Indians" were particularly impressed by the Theosophists' defense of their ancient religion and philosophy in the context of the growing self-consciousness of the people, directed against the "values and beliefs of the European colonial powers." Ranbir Singh, the "Maharajah of Kashmir" and a "Vedanta scholar", sponsored Blavatsky and Olcott's travels in India. Sirdar Thakar Singh Sandhanwalia, "founder of the Singh Sabha," became a master ally of the Theosophists. Prof. Stuckrad noted the wave of solidarity which covered the Theosophists in India had powerful "political implications." He wrote, citing in Cranston's book, that, according to Prof. Radhakrishnan, the philosopher and President of India, the Theosophists "rendered great service" by defending the Hindu "values and ideas"; the "influence of the Theosophical Movement on general Indian society is incalculable."
  Bevir wrote that in India Theosophy "became an integral part of a wider movement of neo-Hinduism", which gave Indian nationalists a "legitimating ideology, a new-found confidence, and experience of organisation." He stated Blavatsky, like Dayananda Sarasvati, Swami Vivekananda, and Sri Aurobindo, "eulogised the Hindu tradition", however simultaneously calling forth to deliverance from the vestiges of the past. The Theosophical advocacy of Hinduism contributed to an "idealisation of a golden age in Indian history." The Theosophists viewed traditional Indian society as the bearer of an "ideal religion and ethic."
  In Prof. Olav Hammer's opinion, Blavatsky, trying to ascribe the origin of the "perenn
caption: Dayananda Saraswati.
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