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 and is a popular subject in esotericism.[3]

For other uses, see Agartha (disambiguation).

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
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