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The essays in
Imagining the East explore how Theosophists during the formative period imagined the religions and cultures of the East. The authors examine the relationship of such representations to orientalism, the history of ideas, politics, and culture at large and discuss how these esoteric or theosophical representations mirrored conditions and values current in nineteenth-century mainstream intellectual culture. The essays also look at how the early Theosophical Society's representations of the East differed from mainstream 'orientalism' and how the Theosophical Society's mission in India was distinct from that of British colonialism and Christian missionaries.
List of contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1: Approaches to the East
- 1. Christopher Partridge
- Adventures in "Wisdom-land": Orientalist Discourse in Early Theosophy
- 2. Donald Lopez
- Orientalist vs. Theosophist
- Part 2: Representations of the East
- 3. James A. Santucci
- H. P. Blavatsky's Acquaintance with the Language of the Gods
- 4. Tim Rudbøg
- Early debates in the reception of Buddhism: Theosophy and Esoteric Buddhism
- 5. Tim Rudbøg and Erik Reenberg Sand
- H. P. Blavatsky's early reception of Hindu Philosophy
- 6. Joscelyn Godwin
- The Mahatma Letters
- 7. Patrick D. Bowen
- "The real pure Yog": Yoga in the early Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor
- 8. Gillian McCann
- Emerging Representations of the East: The Role of Theosophical
- Periodicals 1879-1900
- 9. David Weir
- Theosophy and Modernism: A Shared but Secret History
- Part 3: Interactions with the East
- 10. K. Paul Johnson
- Theosophy in the Bengal Renaissance
- 11. Erik Reenberg Sand
- The Marriage between the Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj
- 12. Tim Rudbøg
- The West moves East, Blavatsky's discourse for Universal Brotherhood in India
- 13. Isaac Lubelsky
- Allan Octavian Hume, Madame Blavatsky, and the Foundation of the
- Indian National Congress
- 14. Mark Bevir
- Theosophy, Cultural Nationalism, and Home Rule
- 15. Michael Bergunder
- Experiments with Theosophical Truth: Gandhi, esotericism, and global religious history
About the author
Dr. Tim Rudbøg is Associate Professor and director of The Copenhagen Center for the Study of Theosophy and Esotericism at the University of Copenhagen. As a historian of religions, Rudbøg's previous publications have particularly focused on Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Theosophy, hermeticism, intellectual history, and the academic study of Western esotericism.
Erik Reenberg Sand is Associate Professor, emeritus, at the University of Copenhagen. His English publications include articles on Hindu ancestor rituals in the Puranas, the history and rituals of the Maharashtrian place of pilgrimage, Pandharpur, religion and the Indian constitution, and the history of the discipline of the phenomenology of religions.
Summary
The Theosophical Society (est. 1875 in New York by H. P. Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott and others) is increasingly becoming recognized for its influential role in shaping the alternative new religious and cultural landscape of the late nineteenth and the twentieth century, especially as an early promoter of interest in Indian and Tibetan religions and philosophies. Despite this increasing awareness, many of the central questions relating to the early Theosophical Society and the East remain largely unexplored. This book is the first scholarly anthology dedicated to this topic. It offers many new details about the study of Theosophy in the history of modern religions and Western esotericism.
The essays in Imagining the East explore how Theosophists during the formative period understood the East and those of its people with whom they came into contact. The authors examine the relationship of the theosophical approach with orientalism and aspects of the history of ideas, politics, and culture at large and discuss how these esoteric or theosophical representations mirrored conditions and values current in nineteenth-century mainstream intellectual culture. The essays also look at how the early Theosophical Society's imagining of the East differed from mainstream 'orientalism' and how the Theosophical Society's mission in India was distinct from that of British colonialism and Christian missionaries.
Additional text
The early years of the Theosophical Society were a crucial time with regard to the interaction between Euro-American occultism and colonial India. In this volume, leading experts open up new vistas on the formation of occult South Asia. It thus will serve as a veritable treasure trove of insights for anyone interested in South Asian society and religion, orientalism, and the history of occultism.
