Accelerating Human Evolution by Theosophical Initiation : Annie Besant’s Pedagogy and the Creation of Benares Hindu University / Yves Mühlematter.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Mühlematter, Yves, Author.

Contributor:

Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), Funder.

Series:

Okkulte Moderne Series

Okkulte Moderne : Beiträge zur Nichthegemonialen Innovation , 2366-9179 ; 6

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XII, 423 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

München ; Wien : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The main subjects of analysis in the present book are the stages of initiation in the grand scheme of Theosophical evolution. These initiatory steps are connected to an idea of evolutionary self-development by means of a set of virtues that are relative to the individual’s position on the path of evolution. The central thesis is that these stages were translated from the “Hindu” tradition to the “Theosophical” tradition through multifaceted “hybridization processes” in which several Indian members of the Theosophical Society partook. Starting with Annie Besant’s early Theosophy, the stages of initiation are traced through Blavatsky’s work to Manilal Dvivedi and T. Subba Row, both Indian members of the Theosophical Society, and then on to the Sanâtana Dharma Text Books. In 1898, the English Theosophist Annie Besant and the Indian Theosophist Bhagavan Das together founded the Central Hindu College, Benares, which became the nucleus around which the Benares Hindu University was instituted in 1915. In this context the Sanâtana Dharma Text Books were published. Mühlematter shows that the stages of initiation were the blueprint for Annie Besant’s pedagogy, which she implemented in the Central Hindu College in Benares. In doing so, he succeeds in making intelligible how “esoteric” knowledge was transferred to public institutions and how a broader public could be reached as a result. The dissertation has been awarded the ESSWE PhD Thesis prize 2022 by the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

1 Introduction

2 The Problem of the “Western” in “Western Esotericism” and in Research on the Theosophical Society

I Encounters in the Global Colonial Discursive Continuum: A Theoretical Framework

Introduction

3 Postcolonial Studies, Hybridization, and the Global History Approach

4 Towards the Conceptualization of an Analytical Tool

II The Theosophical Society in the “Indian Middle Class,” (Theosophical) Evolutionism, and the Narrative of the Theosophical Masters: Three Essential Contexts

5 The Indian Middle Class as a Field of Colonial Encounters

6 Theosophical Evolutionism, or the Narrative of Progress

7 Masters and Disciples, or: How to Transfer Knowledge

III The “Quickening of Evolution” 1: The Stages of Initiation in Annie Besant’s Early Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence

8 The “Quickening of Evolution”: The Stages of Initiation as the Cornerstone of Besant’s Early Theosophy

9 Following the Traces of Hybridization: The Stages of Initiation in Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence

IV The Stages of Initiation In-between “Hinduism” and Theosophical Evolutionism

10 The Reception of “Hinduism” in the Theosophical Society: Encounters in the Indian Middle Class

11 Manilal Dvivedi, the Forgotten “Expert” on “Hinduism”

12 T. Subba Row, the “Expert” on “Hinduism”

V The “Quickening of Evolution” 2: The Pedagogy of Morality Based on the Stages of Initiation

13 The “Quickening of Evolution”: Education for Initiation in the Central Hindu College and the Sanâtana Dharma Text Books

14 Conclusion

Bibliography

List of Figures

List of Tables

Historical Persons Index

Person Index

Publications Index

Subjects Index

Notes:

Diss. Universität Freiburg, Schweiz 2021.

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 05. Dez 2022)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

3-11-079469-1

OCLC:

1369649013