Agartha
Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath,[1] Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a legendary kingdom that is said to be located on the inner surface of the Earth.[2] It is sometimes related to the belief in a hollow Earth[3] and is a popular subject in esotericism.[4]
History
[edit]The first published mention of 'Agartha' appears to have been by Louis Jacolliot in his book Les Fils du Dieu (1873), in which he claimed that Brahmin friends of his in Chandernagore had told him the story of 'Asgartha', an ancient city that had been destroyed about 5,000 years ago, shortly before the beginning of the Kali Yuga.[5]
The legend of Agartha remained mostly obscure in Europe until Gérard Encausse edited and re-published a detailed 1886 account by the nineteenth-century French occultist Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre (1842–1909), Mission de l'Inde en Europe,[6] in 1910.[7] Saint-Yves had been learning Sanskrit from a person called Haji Sharif, who told him about a mysterious place called 'Agarttha', where he said that the original language of mankind was preserved. In Mission de l'Inde en Europe Saint-Yves said that he had visited Agarttha through astral projection, and gave a detailed description of its marvels. Unlike Jacolliot, Saint-Yves claimed that Agarttha was still in existence underground, having moved there at the beginning of Kali Yuga.[5]
After World War I, German occultist groups such as the Thule Society took an interest in Agartha.[8]
In his 1922 book, Beasts, Men and Gods, the Polish explorer Ferdynand Ossendowski relates a story which was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom existing inside the Earth. This kingdom is known to a fictional Buddhist society as Agharti.[9]
Connections to mythology
[edit]Agartha is frequently associated or confused with Shambhala[10] which figures prominently in Vajrayana Buddhism and Tibetan Kalachakra teachings and revived in the West by Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. Theosophists in particular regard Agarthi as a vast complex of caves underneath Tibet inhabited by demi-gods, called asuras. Helena and Nicholas, whose teachings closely parallel theosophy, see Shambhala's existence as both spiritual and physical.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ossendowski, Ferdinand; Palen, Lewis Stanton (2003), Beasts, Men and Gods, Kessinger Publishing, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-7661-5765-1
- ^ Eco, Umberto (5 August 2006). "Commentary: Spheres of influence". The Observer.
- ^ Grundhauser, Eric (21 October 2015). "Is the Earth Actually Hollow?". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
This inner world is sometimes called or associated with Agartha, a legendary city at the Earth's core often tied to Eastern mysticism.
- ^ Tamas, Mircea Alexandru (2003), Agarttha, the invisible center, Rose-Cross Books, ISBN 978-0-9731191-1-4
- ^ a b Godwin, Joscelyn (1996). Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival. Adventures Unlimited. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
- ^ Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Alexandre (1910) [1886]. La mission de l'Inde en Europe (in French). Lahure. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ Guenon, Rene (1958), Le Roi du Monde, Gallimard, ISBN 9780900588587
- ^
de Lafayette, Maximillien (30 September 2018). Aldebaran Vril: 1917 (5 ed.). New York: Times Square Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780359129096. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
Thule Gesellschaft [...] members sought Agartha.
- ^ Ossendowski, Ferdynand (1922). Beasts, Men and Gods. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
- ^ Greer, John Michael (2003), The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN 1-56718-336-0
- ^ File:"About Shambala" N.Roerich.ogg
External links
[edit]- Map/diagram of Agharta and the Hollow Earth, based on writings of Raymond W. Bernard.
- On Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Agharta, Shambhala, Vril and the Occult Roots of Nazi Power, by Joseph George Caldwell.
- "An Algorithmic Agartha"—Essay-Contribution to Culture Machine 16, 2015 (the journal's Special-Issue on Drone Culture).Welcome to the Electrocene, An Algorithmic Agartha.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
