Celestial India

Isaac Lubelsky [+–]

Haifa University

saac Lubelsky is Lecturer in the Comparative Religion Program at Tel Aviv University and in the Dept of Asian Studies at Haifa University, and is co-editor of Racism and Genocide.

Celestial India deals with the contribution of the Theosophical Society to the rise of Indian nationalism and seeks to restore it to its proper place in the history of ideas, both with regard to its spiritual doctrine and the sources on which it drew, as well as its role in giving rise to the New Age movement of the twentieth century.

Prelims

List of Illustrations [+–] xii – xii

In 1917 Annie Besant, a white Englishwoman, was elected president of the Indian National Congress, the body which, under the guidance of Gandhi, would later lead India to independence. Besant – in her earlier career an active atheist and a socialist journalist – was from 1907 till her death the president of the Theosophical Society, an international spiritual movement whose headquarters’ location in Madras symbolized its belief in India as the world’s spiritual heart. Celestial India deals with the contribution of the Theosophical Society to the rise of Indian nationalism and seeks to restore it to its proper place in the history of ideas, both with regard to its spiritual doctrine and the sources on which it drew, as well as its role in giving rise to the New Age movement of the twentieth century.

Introduction and Author’s Acknowledgements [+–] xiii – xvi

Following the Steps of the Orientalists – The Quest for the Linguistic Origins [+–] 1 – 38

In this chapter, the author introduces how the study of Indian languages and culture started to be taken seriously by Western society. With the arrival of Annie Besant to lead the Indian Congress and her joining the Teosophical Society were events that contributed to this achievement.

Friedrich Max Müller – Orientalism at the Zenith [+–] 39 – 76

This chapter deals with the best-known Orientalist in the second half of the nineteenth century – Friedrich Max Müller, heir to England’s Jones, Wilson and Colebrooke, and Germany’s Schlegel and Bopp. Max Müller developed his predecessors’ ideas into a coherent whole, which called for East and West to collaborate and learn from each other. Perhaps more than any other contemporary factor, it was his thought which gave rise to the new spiritual image of India. In this sense, he was the inadvertent link between the seemingly disparate spheres –the academic and the esoteric – and also had a direct effect on the Theosophical Society. As we shall see, this movement became the outstanding practitioner of the ideas he had originated. The following is a summary of his biography and his Orientalist ideology, which reached its peak in his Aryan vision.

The Theosophical Society – The Quest for the Spiritual Source [+–] 77 – 117

In this chapter, the author explains the origin of the Theosophical Society and how it was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,

The Theosophical Doctrine [+–] 118 – 146

This chapter presents the Theosophical doctrine as created and elaborated between 1877, when Blavatsky published Isis Unveiled, and the second decade of the twentieth century, in which Annie Besant developed her spiritual-national platform.

The Sources of the Theosophical Doctrine [+–] 147 – 189

The present chapter will examine the degree of the Theosophical doctrine’s uniqueness and originality. The author seeks to show that many of the Theosophical ideas were borrowed from diverse Western sources, and were worked by the theologians of the Society into a single doctrine. The author tries to answer the question under investigation by isolating and analysing these sources, while locating Theosophy on the map of the history of ideas, and show that it was part of an intellectual current that began long before Blavatsky.

Annie Besant: Her Pre-Theosophical Career [+–] 190 – 213

This chapter is dedicated to study Annie Besant’s biography and her doings before she entered the Theosophical Society.

The Struggle Over the Leadership of the Theosophical Society, 1889–1907 [+–] 214 – 246

In this chapter, the author explains how Helena Blavatsky ran the Theosophical Society, controlling everyone that would participate of this group.

The Struggle for the Leadership of the Indian National Movement, 1907–1919 [+–] 247 – 284

The present chapter examines some significant issues involved in the relations between Besant, the Theosophical Society and the Indian national movement. I shall try to shed light on the historical process which culminated in a white woman, a member of the colonial nation and president of an esoteric society, becoming one of India’s central national leaders.

Theosophy and the World Teacher: The Esoteric Alternative [+–] 285 – 318

The final chapter of this book deals with the World Teacher, who became the focus of the Theosophical activity after the First World War. It will also suggest that there was another important, non-political, reason for the waning of the Theosophical Society’s influence.

Postscript

Postscript [+–] 319 – 322

Bibliography

Bibliography [+–] 323 – 340

Index

Index [+–] 341 – 345

Reviews

An ambitious overview of the rise, character, influence, and decline of Theosophy.
American Historical Review Vol 118, No 2

Lubelsky tell the story ably… [his] judgements are well founded.
English Historical Review, Vol. 129, No. 536 February 2014

The Theosophical Society’s worldwide legacy in both politics and religion are a testament to the reach and impact it once had. Celestial India transports us to this time and reveals the way particular events and individuals shaped the history of tens of thousands of people. I am confident that this volume will become a standard text for those interested in reading about the first six decades of Theosophy.
Novo Religio, May 2014

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Madame Blavatsky and the Birth of Indian Nationalism

Isaac Lubelsky [+–]

Haifa University

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