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[citation needed] and is a popular subject in esotericism.[3]

History

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,[4] in 1910.[5]

After World War I, German occultist groups such as the Thule Society took an interest in Agartha.[6]

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.[7]

Connections to mythology

Agartha is frequently associated or confused with Shambhala[8] 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 Roerich, whose teachings closely parallel theosophy, see Shambhala's existence as both spiritual and physical.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ossendowski, Ferdinand; Palen, Lewis Stanton (2003), Beasts, Men and Gods, Kessinger Publishing, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-7661-5765-1
  2. ^ Eco, Umberto (5 August 2006). "Commentary: Spheres of influence". The Observer.
  3. ^ Tamas, Mircea Alexandru (2003), Agarttha, the invisible center, Rose-Cross Books, ISBN 978-0-9731191-1-4
  4. ^ Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Alexandre (1910) [1886]. La mission de l'Inde en Europe (in French). Lahure. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  5. ^ Guenon, Rene (1958), Le Roi du Monde, Gallimard, ISBN 9780900588587
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Ferdynand Ossendowski (1922). Beasts, Men and Gods. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.
  8. ^ Greer, John Michael (2003), The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN 1-56718-336-0
  9. ^ File:"About Shambala" N.Roerich.ogg

External links

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