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In Isis Unveiled she calls the Bhagavad Gita the “ Bagaved- gitta,” and says that “ Maha Maya or Maha s Deva was the mother of Bhudda.” Moral Character. A professed admirer of truth; but a consummate hypocrite ; irascible, given to outrageous abuse ; a trickster, plagiarist, forger, liar; privately treating her dupes with contempt as imbeciles,” “muffs,’ “babies”; proved, on “irresistible evidence” to be an “ impostor.” The Wisdom; Religion. Virtually atheistic; discourages prayer; asserts that for sin there is no expiation and for the sinner no pardon; that man must be his own saviour; a “mystical jumble” of baseless speculations, derived from comparatively modern European works, though professed to be obtained from Mahatmas. “ A corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” CHARACTER OF MRS. BESANT, WHO ASPIRES TO BE MADAME BLAVATSKY’S SUCCESSOR. “Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Everything by starts, and nothing long.” For proofs of the above assertions, see Madame Blavatsky , her Tricks and her Dupes; Who is Mrs. Besant ?; and other papers advertised on the last page of the wrapper. MADAME BLAYATSKY: HER TRICKS AND HER DUPES. MADAME BLAVATSKY. From a Photo by Resta, Coburg Place, Bayswater. FIRST EDITION, 3,000 COPIES. MADRAS: THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY, S. P. C. K. PRESS, VEPERY. 1894. CONTENTS. +* > • ■ ■ Page Introduction ... ... ... ... 1 Early Life of Madame Blayatsky ... . 1 Madame Blavatsky in America ... ... 2 Establishment op the Theosophical Society . 5 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN INDIA ... 7 Preparedness op India for Theosophy . 7 History of the Society, 1879-1884 ... ... 8 Exposure op the “ Phenomena” in 1884 . 14 EXPLANATIONS OF MADAME BL AYAT SKY'S THICKS. Discovery of a Brooch, 16; Cup and Saucer, 17; Doubling of a Ring, 17 ; Repairing a broken China Tray, 18; Bell Sounds in the Air, 19; Sending Cigarettes, 19 ; The Sassoon Telegram, 20. MAHATMAS ... ... ... ... 22 The meaning of the term, 22 ; their alleged Appear¬ ances, 23; their Letters, 25; Alleged assistance in writing Isis Unveiled , 33. ADDITIONAL PROOFS THAT MADAME BLA¬ YATSKY WAS AN IMPOSTOR. 1. Her Contempt for her Dupes ... ... 37 2. Her Irascibility and Outrageous Abuse ... 38 3. The Doctrines op Theosophy ... ... 39 MADAME BLAYATSKY'S DUPES ..41 THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD ... 42 MADAME BLAVATSKY: HEE TRICKS AND HER DUPES. Introduction. In every age of the world there have been impostors and their dupes. There is no lack of them in India. The following is a case that occurred in Calcutta: A man represented himself to a Hindu as a Mahatma who could, by his mantras, double bank notes. This was done with notes of small value, as an encouragement; but when the Mahatma got five notes, each of a thousand rupees, he decamped. Another trick is pretending to be able to turn brass into gold. A family on the West Coast of India intrusted their brass vessels to a Mahatma, under the promise that they were to be changed into the precious metal; but he dis¬ appeared as soon as he received them ! There have been impostors among all ranks, from the prince to the peasant. Some have aspired to personate royalty. Smerdis succeeded in making himself for a short time Emperor of Persia. Some pretend to be prophets sent to proclaim a new religion. Others are quack doctors, claiming to cure all diseases. Among impostors of recent times one of the most noto¬ rious is Madame Blavatsky, —a Russian lady of whom an account is given in the following pages. Early Life of Madame Blavatsky. Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was born at Eka- terinoslav, in the south of Russia in 1831. Her father was Colonel Peter Hahn. She says, “ For over six years, from the time I was eight or nine years old until I grew 2 MADAME BLAVATSKY. to the age of fifteen, I had an old spirit who came every night to write through me ... In those days this was not called spiritualism, but possession.” “ I was weak and sickly. As I grew up and gained health and strength, all these phenomena ceased.” At the age of 17 she was married to General Blavatsky, for many years Governor of Erivan in America. He was 60 years of age, and she had no affection for him, but married him in a fit of girlish ill humour. She “ bolted speedily, after a succession of stormy scenes, from his household never to return.” Subsequently Madame Blavatsky spent many years in travelling. She led Mr. Sinnett, one of her dupes, to believe that she had displayed her courage by fighting in man’s dress, at the battle of Mentana in Italy. Another fiction is that she was several years in Tibet, studying under men of supernatural knowledge, called Mahatmas, or “ Great Souls.” In 1872 she was in Cairo in Egypt. She was known there as the Russian Spiritist, who called the dead and made them answer questions. A lady, who afterwards married a person named Coulomb, had recently lost a brother. She went to Madame Blavatsky and tried to get some informa¬ tion about him ; but she neither saw nor heard anything except a few raps. When she mentioned her disappoint¬ ment to the Secretary of the Society, he said that the spirits did not like to appear in a room which had not been purified; but if she came back in a few days, she would see wonders. A room was being prepared to be used solely for consulting spirits. When Madame Coulomb returned one day, she found the place filled with people abusing Madame Blavatsky for cheating them of their money, and showing them only a long glove stuffed with cotton, said to represent the hand and arm of some spirit. Madame Blavatsky in America. From Egypt Madame Blavatsky returned to Russia. After spending some time there, she went to America, where she became a naturalized American. MADAME BLAVATSKY IN AMERICA. 3 On October 14, 1874, Colonel Olcott first met Madame Blavatsky at Chittenden, in the house of the Eddy brothers, two farmers. The brothers were supposed to be able to communicate with spirits, and people wrote to them asking what lottery tickets they should buy, whether a certain enterprise would be successful, when some one would get married, and other questions like those put to astrologers in this country. By means probably of a magic lantern, they professed to show ghosts or spirits from another world. Madame Blavatsky wished to start a Society. For this purpose she needed the help of a gentleman in good position to act as its President. For this purpose she selected Colonel Olcott. He had been a lawyer, an officer in the Army, Secretary of the National Insurance Con¬ ventions, Agricultural Editor of The Tribune , &c. Although, he says, “ I always took an active part in all that concerned my country and fellow-countrymen, and an especially active one during our late civil war, yet my heart was not set on worldly affairs.” Before he met Madame Blavatsky in 1874, he had “ ideas that had been the growth of 22 years’ experiences, with mediums and circles.” He also makes the following candid acknowledgment: “ I was in 1874—a man of clubs, drinking parties, mistresses, a man absorbed in all sorts of worldly public and private undertakings and speculations.”* Madame Blavatsky, in collusion with the Eddy brothers, played tricks upon Colonel Olcott. He thus describes the first of the Russian lady’s spirit visitors :— “ He was a person of middle height, well-shaped, dressed in a Georgian (Caucasian) jacket, with loose sleeves and long point¬ ed over sleeves, an outer long coat, baggy trousers, leggings of yellow leather and white skull-cap or fez, with tassel. She recognis¬ ed him at once as Michalko Guiegidze, late of Kutais.” f But on the evening of October 24th, there was a much more remarkable manifestation. When the light was * Esoteric Philosophy , pp. 77, 78. + People from the other World , p. 298. 4 MADAME BLAVATSKY. extinguished, the ghost of George Dix, a sailor who had been drowned, thus spoke to Madame Blavatsky: “ Madame, I am now about to give you a test of the genuineness of the manifestations in this circle, which, I think, will satisfy not only you, but a sceptical world beside. I shall place in your hands the buckle of a medal of honour worn in life by your brave father, and buried with his body in Russia. This has been brought to you by your uncle, whom you have seen materialised this evening.” Colonel Olcott says : “ Presently I heard the lady utter an exclamation, and, a light being struck, we all saw Mme. de B. holding in her hand a silver buckle of a most curious shape which she regarded with speechless wonder. “Was there ever a ‘manifestation’ more wonderful than this? A token dug by unknown means from a father’s grave, and laid in his daughter’s hand, 5,000 miles away, across an ocean ! a jewel from the breast of a warrior sleeping in his last sleep in Russian ground, sparkling in the candle light in a gloomy apartment of a Vermont farm-house !”* The explanation is that the buckle was never in the grave. It had been given by Madame Blavatsky to the Eddy brothers to deceive Colonel Olcott. Colonel Olcott saw another wonderful “ manifestation “ Hands of various sizes were shown. Among them one was too peculiar to be passed over. It was a left hand, and upon the lower bone of the thumb a bony excrescence was growing, which Madame de Blavatsky recognised and said was caused by a gun shot wound in one of Garibaldi’s battles.”t Colonel Olcott candidly admits that when he saw the i( spirits, or what purported to be such, in every imagin¬ able variety of costume, the light has been dim—very dim —and I have not been able to recognise the lineaments of a single face. I could not even swear to the lineaments of certain of my personal friends who presented them¬ selves.^ “ One cannot, with untrained eye, distinguish accurately between forms varying as much as six inches in height.”;); Madame Blavatsky must have been gifted with acute sight to recognise the “ bony excrescence on the lower bone of the thumb.” * People from the other World, p. 355. f Ibid, p. 317. % Ibid, pp. 163, 164 ESTABLISHMENT OP THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 5 Servant girls personated spirits, and Colonel Olcott was fool enough to get one of “ Howe’s Best Standard Platform Scales” to weigh them! His experiments elicited the remarkable fact that spirits can vary their weight. “ Honto” weighed successively, 88, 58, 58 and 65 lbs. ; “ Kati Brink,” 77, 59, 52 lbs * Madame Blavatsky led Colonel Olcott to believe that she held intercourse with Mahatmas or “ Brothers,” Masters in magical art. One of them had been induced to accept Colonel Olcott as a pupil, and letters received through Madame Blavatsky were alleged to have been written by them. One day a woman, strangely dressed and veiled, brought a letter from the “ Brothers,” and handed it to Madame Blavatsky. It was discovered afterwards that this supposed Spirit Messenger was an Irish servant girl, to whom Madame Blavatsky had promised 5 dollars (about Rs. 10) for personating the Messenger. Having failed to get the money, she confessed the fraud. On another occasion a person was dressed up as a Mahatma, and came to the room where the Colonel was sitting. As a proof of his visit, he left his turban, which the Colonel retains to this day. Madame Blavatsky acquired such an influence over Colonel Olcott, that she wrote of him as a " psychologised baby,” “ who did not know his head from his heels.” Establishment op the Theosophical Society. Colonel Olcott, the “ President-Founder” of the Society, says: “ On the 17th November, 1875, I had the honor of delivering in the City of New York, my inaugural address as President of the Theosophical Society.” Theosophists have been sailing under false colours. The name theosophy is a misnomer. The word is derived from theos, God, and sophos } wise. The proper meaning is divine wisdom. It was originally used to express a more intimate knowledge of the relation of the soul with God. As will hereafter be shown, the Founders are avowed atheists. * People from the other Worlds p. 487. 6 MADAME BLAYATSKT. Their Theosophy is therefore Atheosophy, godless wisdom. But the Chicago Beligio-Philosojphical Journal suggests a still better name, Blavatskosophy, Blavatsky Wisdom! Theosophy is now explained to mean the Wisdom Religion. Its effects are just the reverse. The course of the Society in America was by no means smooth. In his first Indian lecture, Colonel Olcott admits that during the Society’s four years of activity in America, there were “foes all about, public sentiment hostile, the press scornful and relentless“ the press has lampooned us in writing and pictorial caricature.” (p. 1), Colonel Olcott was ridiculed as the “Hierophant;” Madame Bla¬ vatsky was called “ the champion impostor of the age.”* The New York Sun thus “chaffed” the “President- Founder” :— “ While the ‘ Hierophant’ was still a resident of the Eighth Avenue, he had full faith in the capacity of an industrious Theoso- phist to attain through contemplation, initiation, and a strictly vir¬ tuous life the power of defying and overcoming what are generally accepted as the laws of nature. He believed in levitation, for ex¬ ample, but when we invited him to illustrate his faith by stepping out of an upper window of the Tribune tall tower, he was fain to admit that this was a height of adept science which he had not yet attained and to master which a journey to the Himalayas was necessary.” The Americans were too sharp for Theosophy to succeed. Colonel Olcott, at the anniversary address in Bombay, in November, 1879, says, “ of the thirteen officers and councillors elected at the meeting (17th November 1875), only three remain ; the rest having dropped off for one reason or another and left us to carry on our work with new associates who replaced them.” (p. 18). When a person plunges head foremost into the water and comes up again at a little distance, he is said to “ take a header.” Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, as one of their associates expresses it, wisely “ took a header,” and turned up in Bombay on the 16th February, 1879. * The Occult World , p. 152. PREPABEDNESS OF INDIA FOR THEOSOPHY. 7 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN INDIA. Preparedness of India for Theosophy. “ Ghosts/' it has been said, “ are almost the first guess of the savage, almost the last infirmity of the civilised imagination."* But India is one oh the countries where “ occult phenomena" are likely to find most ready credence. The Hindus claim to have 64 arts and sciences. The following are some of them :— 12. The science of prognosticating by omens and augury. 14. Science of healing, which may include restoration to life of the dead, the reunion of severed limbs, &c. 15. Physiognomy, chiromancy, &c. 36. The art of summoning by enchantment. 37. Exorcism. 38. Exciting hatred between persons by magical spells. 41. The art of bringing one over to another’s side by enchant¬ ment. 42. Alchemy and chemistry. 44. The language of brute creatures from ants upwards. 47. Charms against poison. 48. Information respecting any lost thing obtained by astrono¬ mical calculations. 50. The art of becoming invisible. 51. The art of walking in the air. 52. The power of leaving one’s own body and entering another lifeless body or substance at pleasure. 56. Restraining the action of fire. 57. The art of walking upon water. 58. The art of restraining the power of wind. 62. The art of preventing the discovery of things concealed. 63. The art by which the power of the sword or any other weapon is nullified. 64. The power of stationing the soul at pleasure, in any of the five stages.* The so-called “ pandits" of India accept the above “ sciences" as true : what, then, may be expected of the masses ? Lyall says, “ It is probable that in no other time or country has witchcraft ever been so comfortably practised as it is now in India under British rule."t * Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. II. f Asiatic Studies , p. 96. 8 MADAME BLAVATSKY. The intellect of the people has been so dwarfed by Hinduism, that they believe the grossest absurdities. The wild fictions of the Ramayana are generally accepted as true. To obtain medicine, the monkey god Hanuman brought through the air a great mountain from the Himalayas; the sun was hidden by him in one of his armpits. The field chosen was therefore peculiarly favourable to the growth of Theosophy. History op the Society, 1879—1884. Bombay.— The first Theosophist party landed at Bombay on the 16th February, 1879. It consisted of Colonel Olcott, Madame Blavatsky, Miss Bates and Mr. Wimbridge. The two latter were English by birth, who had become members only a few weeks before the party left America for India. Some time during the year, they were joined by M. and Madame Coulomb, old Egyptian acquaintances of Madame Blavatsky. The Theosophists took up their abode in the part of Bombay called Girgaum, and apparently had not much in¬ tercourse with the European community. It was about the time of the “ Russian scare.” The police, ignorant of the new doctrine of Theosophy, supposed that the objects of its propagators were political, and for a time their move¬ ments were watched. When information was afforded, this surveillance ceased. Colonel Olcott’s first address, giving an account of the u Theosophical Society and its Aims,” was delivered at the Framji Cowasji Hall on March 23. The first year seems to have been spent in Western India. “ The Fourth Anniver¬ sary Address was delivered in November 1879.” The Society’s Monthly Periodical, The Theosophist, was started the previous month. In concluding his second address, Colonel Olcott said :*<— “ There is one regret that comes to mar the pleasure of this even¬ ing, and somewhat dim the lustre of all these lamps—our Buddhist brothers of Ceylon are absent. And absent too, is that most beloved 9 BISTORY OP THE SOCIETY, 1879 - 1884. Teacher of ours, that elder brother, so good, so erudite, so good, so courageous—Swamiji Dayanand Sarasvati.” (p. 28.) First Visit to Ceylon. —The Theosophists paid their first visit to Ceylon in May, 1880. Colonel Olcott thus describes his welcome, and contrasts it with Indian experience :— “ During our visit of 1880, the Sinhalese people en masse gave us a princely reception. We moved through the Island from Galle to Kandy and back again, in almost a ‘ royal progress/ They exhaust¬ ed their ingenuity to do us honour, as in the ancient days they had done to their kings. Triumphal arches, flags flying in every town, village and hamlet, roads lined with olla fringes for miles together; monster audiences gathered together to hear and see us. These evidences of exuberant joy and warm affection astounded us. In India we had been so reviled by Christians, so frowned upon by the authorities with chilling disdain, and so given the cold shoulder by the Natives, to stay with whom and work for whose welfare we had come so far, that this greeting of the Sinhalese profoundly moved us to gratitude.” (p. 121.) There is no doubt that a white gentleman, and still more a white lady, avowing themselves Buddhists, created a great sensation among the Sinhalese. North India-—Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, after their return from Ceylon, went, about August, 1880, to North India. The former delivered a lecture on “ Spiri¬ tualism and Theosophy” at Simla, on October 7th, and one on “ India, Past, Present and Future” at Amritsar, on the 29th of the same month. They did not return to Bombay till the last day of the year. During this visit the famous “ brooch incident” happen¬ ed, which will afterwards be described. Their reception seems to have been almost as enthusiastic as in Ceylon. Colonel Olcott, in a letter published in America, and dated Umballa, Punjab, Nov. 26th, writes : “I am going to spend a week with the Maharajah of Benares and will then return to Bombay.Things are booming along splendidly. It is a rare thing for us to be able to travel around as we do for nothing. It is a good thing that it is so, as I have not got a cent. Neither has Blavatsky.” Mr. Judge gives further details in the New York World :— “ Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky have travelled from Bombay to Ceylon and to many parts of Northern India without its 10 MADAME BLAVATSKY. costing them a cent. How they do it is one of the mysteries. There are no congregations of Theosophists and no collections are taken up. Nor is the deputation supported in any way by the American Society. When they want to go anywhere tickets for the railways are at once provided. They find conveyances waiting at their door or at stations ready to take them where they will, although they have sent no word, nor given any intimation to any one of their in¬ tentions or wishes. If they want to send a message, a messenger appears without being sent for. One day Colonel Olcott started from Bombay to go to a distant city to deliver a message he did not understand to a man he did not know even by name, and when he arrived there the man stepped up to him at once and asked for the message. All their wants are supplied in this, to others apparently mysterious, way, so they have no need for money. Occult pheno¬ mena, black and white magic and all that ? Oh, yes ; I understand there have been many wonderful manifestations. The Government organ at Allahabad, the Pioneer, tells on the authority of ‘nine un¬ impeachable witnesses’ the story of Madame Blavatsky returning to a Mrs. Hume, a long-lost brooch. Madame Blavatsky while in a trance saw the brooch fall in a flower-bed in the garden, and the party went out and found it. Recent issues of the Theosophist contain several accounts of occult occurrences resembling the feats of the famous Hindu jugglers, one of whose great annual feasts Colonel Olcott recently attended. Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky do not expect to return to this country for five years at least.” The Times of India, after quoting the above, adds, “We should think not, so long as ‘ this, to others mysterious, way’ can be prolonged,” Feb. 11, 1881. Mr. Judge, him¬ self, was subsequently encouraged to come out to India to act as Treasurer. During the absence of Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, there had been dissensions at the Society’s head¬ quarters, Bombay. Miss Bates was expelled, and Mr. Wimbridge, who took her part, resigned. The former, a lady of some literary ability, maintained herself afterwards by her peii, while the latter, a skilled mechanician, esta¬ blished himself in business, and became the “ Deschamps of Bombay.’’ Bombay in 1881 . —On the 27th February, 1881, Colonel Olcott gave a lecture in Bombay on “ Theosophy: its Friends and Enemies.” On the 18th April, Madame Blavatsky, Acting Treasurer, presented a statement of the HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY, 1879—1884. 11 Society’s receipts from Dec. 1, 1878, to April 30, 1881. Initiation fees had been received from 108 persons in India, from 246 in Ceylon, and 30 in Europe, realising- Rs. 3,900; various other sources yielded Rs. 2,973-3-4. The total expenditure, including passages from New York to Bombay, amounted to Rs. 26,419-6-5. The difference between the receipts and expenditure, amounting to Rs. 19,546-3-1, was “ advanced as a loan without interest or security,” by Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky.* Second Visit to Ceylon. —Colonel Olcott proceeded to Ceylon in April, where he remained till mid-December, in¬ cluding a visit to Tinnevelly in October. He thus describes the results:— “ During these 212 days I gave sixty public addresses at temples, school houses, colleges and in the open air; held two conventions, or councils of Buddhist priests, travelled hundreds of miles, within the Western Province; largely increased the membership of our Society ; wrote, published, and distributed 12,000 copies of Buddhist Catechism; had translated into the Sinhalese language several free- thought tracts; and raised by national subscription the sum of about Rs. 17,000 as the nucleus of a National Buddhistic Fund, for the promotion of the Buddhist religion, and the establishment of schools.” (pp-121-2). Colonel Olcott and four Sinhalese members came over to Tinnevelly in October, where they met with a grand- welcome. The Sinhalese planted a cocoa-nut in a Hindu temple as a mark of respect. The temple was subsequently purified, as usual after visits by Europeans. Sixth Anniversary. —Colonel Olcott’s Sixth Anniversary Address was delivered at Bombay, on January 12th, 1882. He spoke thus plainly :— “ We have got beyond the preliminary stage of polite phrases on both sides. You know just how we keep our promises, and we know what yours are worth. The scented garlands Bombay brought us in February 1879, withered long ago, its complimentary speeches of welcome long since died away the air.” (p. 116). The initiation fees from 1st May to 31st December 1881, amounted to Rs. 1,838, and a donation of Rs. 100 was received. The expenditure amounted to Rs. 6,529. # Supplement to The Theosophist , May 1881. 12 MADAME BLAVATSKY. The following month Colonel Olcott gave a lecture in the Bombay Town Hall, on “ The Spirit of the Zoroastrian Religion.” Visit to Calcutta. —The late Babu Peary Chand Mittra, of Calcutta, had been a spiritualist for many years. Partly through his influence, Colonel Olcott, when he visited that city in March, 1882, met with a warm reception. At a soiree given by the Hon. Maharajah Jotendro Mohun Tagore, C. S. I., Babu Peary Chand Mittra thus addressed Colonel Olcott:— “ I welcome you most heartily and cordially as a brother. Al¬ though you are of American extraction, yet, in thought and feeling, in sympathy, aspirations, and spiritual conception, you are a Hindu ; and we, therefore, look upon you as a brother in the true sense of the word .... It is for the promotion of the truly religious end that you, brother, and that most exalted lady, Madame Blavatsky, at whose feet I feel inclined to kneel down with grateful tears, have been working in the most saint-like manner, and your reward is from the God of all perfection.”* A Society was established, with Babu Peary Chand Mittra as President. Tirst Visit to Madras. —Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky landed at Madras from Calcutta on the 23rd April, 1882. An address of :c Welcome” signed by several hundred influential native gentlemen was read, and the Hon. Humayun Jah Bahadoor, C. S. I., placed wreaths of flowers around their necks. A large villa at Mylapore, a suburb of Madras, was placed at their disposal. After visiting different parts of the Presidency, Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky left in June for Bombay. In his farewell address Colonel Olcott thus spoke of their recep¬ tion :— “ We have learnt by experience what a Madras welcome means, and how much generous cordiality is included in the Madrassee’s notion of hospitality to the stranger. I make no invidious com¬ parisons when I say, that we, whom you have entertained like blood relations rather than like guests, will remember your attentions and your politeness as among the highest features of not only our Indian, but even of our whole experiences.” (p. 205). * Supplement to The Theosophist, May, 1882. HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY, 1879-1884. 13 Third Visit to Ceylon. —Colonel Olcott landed in Ceylon for the third time, in July 1882. During his visit he deliver¬ ed 64 lectures, and collected for the Sinhalese National Buddhistic Fund Rs. 6,807, for whose management a Board of Trustees was appointed. During his visit he is said to have “ healed more than fifty paralytics, in each case using the name of Lord Buddha.”* He returned to Bombay about the end of October. Seventh Anniversary. —This was celebrated at Bombay on the 7th December, 1882. “ An unusual dignity was given to the occasion by the presence in the chair of Mr. A. P. Sinnett, author of ‘ The Occult World/ Around the Hall were suspended 39 metal shields, painted blue, upon which were inscribed the names of the branches of our Society, which have been founded in Asia. Behind the President-founder a sepoy held the beautiful banner which has just been worked for the Society by Madame Cou¬ lomb.”!' The Treasurer’s Report from 1st January to 4th Decem¬ ber, 1882, was submitted. The Admission Fees realised Rs. 4,163 ; Donations, Rs. 190. The chief items of Expen^- diture were Headquarter’s. Maintenance, Rs. 4,571, Travel¬ ling Expenses, Rs. 3,417. The total Expenditure amounted to Rs. 8,906. The cash advanced by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, was Rs. 4,553. Removal of Headquarters to Madras —From Colonel Olcott’s reference to the “ withered garlands” of Bombay, it would appear that the progress of the Society in Western India had not been very satisfactory. The Southern Presidency seemed to present a more hopeful field, and towards the close of 1882 a change was made. A house was selected in the 'Southern suburb, called Adyar, and it was hoped that sufficient funds would be raised to enable it to be purchased for the Society. How far this expec¬ tation was eventually realised, the writer does not know. In October the following appeared :— “ The Founders headed the list with a cash donation of Rs. 500, * The Theosophist, April, 1883, p. 159. f Supplement to The Theosophist, January, 1883. 14 MADAME BLAVATSKY. highly approving of the project—although they expect to have to advance about Es. 5,000 this year besides. Well, out of Es. 8,520 (all necessary repairs excluded) hitherto only Es. 3,200 are paid. The sacred fire of devotion and enthusiasm that burned so brightly at the beginning has flickered away, and the probable consequences are that we will have to pay the rest ourselves.”* Bengal Tour. —This seems to have lasted from 23rd February to 19th May, 1883. It is remarkable for its “ astounding cures.” Col. Olcott’s Acting Private Secre¬ tary reports 2,812 cases treated. Some details of them are given. Other incidents during 1883 were the i( Open Letter” of Colonel Olcott to the Bishop of Madras, the sc peremptory orders ” from the ‘ Paramaguru’ stopping Colonel Olcott’s healing ; the doubling of a lady’s ring at Ootacamund, and the restoration by the “ Brothers” of a broken China tray at Madras. Exposure op the Phenomena in 1884. Leading Events during 1884. —The Theosophist party had been joined by Di*. Hartmann, from California, and Mr. W. Q. Judge, of New York. Colonel Olcott, after appointing a Special Executive Committee to transact business during his absence, left Bombay for Marseilles, with Madame Blavatsky, on the 20th February, for the benefit of their health and to further the objects of the Society. Meetings were held in London and in different parts of the Continent of Europe. While Madame Blavatsky was in Europe, the Theoso- phists at the Madras head-quarters quarrelled among themselves, and turned out two of their number, M. Coulomb and his wife. There is a proverb, “ When rogues quarrel their knaveries come to light,” and so it happened in this case. Madame Coulomb had for several years been a great friend of Madame Blavatsky, and had a large number of letters written to her, some of them explaining how she was to assist Madame Blavatsky in her tricks. Madame Coulomb gave all these letters to the Rev. Oeorge Patterson, Editor of the Madras Christian College * Supplement to The Theosophist, October, 1883. EXPOSURE OF THE PHENOMENA IN 1884. 15 Magazine. As they proved unmistakably that Madame Blavatsky was a trickster, plagiarist,* forger, and liar, trying to deceive ignorant people in India, the Editor, after careful examination, published an account of the fraud. Dr. Miller and the other Professors of the Madras Christian College agreed with him. Madame Blavatsky asserted that the letters were, in whole or in part, forgeries; but when challenged to prove this in a court of law, she pru¬ dently declined. There is a Society in England, called the “ Psychical Research Society.” Psychical comes from the Greek word psyche, the soul. It is intended to investigate questions connected with the mind, including mesmerism, &c. The President is Professor Sidgwick of Cambridge, author of the well known treatise, The Method of Ethics. The Society had heard of the wonders attributed to Madame Blavatsky and of their exposure by the Christian College Magazine . To ascertain the truth, Mr. R. Hodgson, a Cambridge graduate, was sent out to India, where he spent three months in investigating the evidence for the so-called “ phenomena” or wonders. Mr. Hodgson carefully examined Madame Blavatsky's letters, which were also subsequently submitted to experts in London who considered them undoubtedly genuine. He questioned a number of witnesses. Among them was Mr. A. 0. Hume, “ Father of the National Congress,” in whose house Madame Blavatsky had lived some months. Mr. Hume had found out Madame Blavatsky’s trickery, and had given up all dealings with her. Mr. Hodgson took Madame Blavatskys* letters to Europe, and wrote out a long account of his investigations. All were submitted to the Committee of the Society, and, after careful consideration, Professor Sidgwick wrote the Report in which the “ phenomena” were said to be fraudulent, and Madame Blavatsky was characterised as a clever u impostor” or cheat.t * One who claims other people’s writings as his own. f This Report is given in Theosophy Exposed. 8vo. 120 pp. 2£ As. Post- free, 3 As. Sold by Mr. A . T. Scott, Book Depot, Madras. 16 MADAME BLAVATSKY. Madame Blavatsky claimed to have lived several years in Tibet as the Chela, or disciple of a Mahatma, and to have partly acquired some of his magical powers. Careful inquiry showed that her pretended “ phenomena 5 ’ were mere tricks. An explanation of the manner in which they were performed will now be given. EXPLANATION OF MADAME BL A VAT SKY’S TRICKS. Discovery of a Brooch. A brooch is an ornamental pin, worn by ladies, generally to fasten some article of dress. At a dinner party at Simla in the house of Mr. A. 0. Hume, Madame Blavatsky asked Mrs. Hume whether there was anything she parti¬ cularly wished for. She mentioned an old family brooch which had been lost. In the course of the evening Madame Blavatsky said that she had, by her occult power, seen the brooch fall into a bed of flowers in the garden. On search being made, the brooch was found, the fact being attested by nine witnesses. The explanation of this is the following; Mrs. Hume gave the brooch to her daughter, who gave it to a young gentleman whom she expected to marry. This gentleman resided for some time in Bombay in the same house with Madame Blavatsky. Needing money, he sold the brooch; Madame Blavatsky obtained it, took it with her to Simla, and hid it in the flower-bed where it was found. The natives of India have long been familiar with feats akin to the “ Brooch Incident.” When an ingenious Brahman wishes to earn an easy livelihood, one expedient is to bury beforehand an image in the ground. He does not profess to be “ clairvoyant,” like Madame Blavatsky, but uses the more commonplace device of a dream. The god appears to him in a vision of the night, informs him that an image, miraculously produced, is to be found buried in such and such a field, and that a temple should DOUBLING OF A RING. 17 be built upon the spot. In the morning, he makes known the revelation he has received, and the principal men of the village are asked to go to the place. On digging, the image is found, of which a declaration might be made before any notary public. The temple is built, and the Brahman is installed as its officiating priest, entitled to the offerings made at the shrine. Cup and Saucer. One morning Madame Blavatsky accompanied a few friends on a picnic among the hills. There were origi¬ nally to have been only six persons, but a seventh joined the party before starting. When they came to the place for breakfast, there were only six cups and saucers for seven people. One of the party suggested that Madame Blavatsky should create another cup. She said that it would be very difficult, but she would try. After wander¬ ing about a little, and pretending to speak to her Ma¬ hatma, she pointed out a place where they would be found. On digging, first a cup and then a saucer was found. The cup and saucer both corresponded exactly in pattern with those brought for the picnic. The explanation is the same as the foregoing. Madame Blavatsky was living in the house with the party giving the picnic. It was easy for her to obtain a cup and saucer of the same pattern. These were previ¬ ously buried, and found when she pointed out the place. Doubling of a Ring. “ Doubling,” or producing another thing of the same kind, is one of the phenomena” which those skilled in occult science claim to perform. It has been mentioned how a Calcutta Mahatma professed to double bank notes. One day a lady at Ootacamund and Madame Blavatsky, warm friends, were sitting together on a sofa. “ A sapphire ring was taken from the finger of the lady and almost immediately—two minutes after—restored to her with another, the duplicate of the former, only a great 2 18 MADAME BLAVATSKY. deal larger, and set with a sapphire of greater value than the original.” It should be observed that the cup and saucer corres¬ ponded exactly, while the ring did not, being larger and set with a stone of greater value than the original. Why should there be this difference ? The explanation is that the former belonged co the same set, while Madame Bla- vatsky had got the ring made in Ceylon, so that, although like, it was not a complete match. Repairing a broken China Tray. In the Occult Room* in the Madras head-quarters, there was what was called a Shrine. The Shrine was about 3 or 4 feet in width and height, and about a foot or 15 inches in depth, with a drawer below. The back was formed of three sliding pieces. This was placed against the wall of Madame Blavatsky’s bedroom. By means of a hole in the wall, concealed by the shrine, Madame Blavatsky was able to put letters or anything else into the shrine. The open¬ ing in her bedroom was concealed by an almirah which could easily be shifted. Madame Blavatsky wished wealthy people to join the Society that they might give money for its support. She sought to induce them to do so by the exhibition of some of her wonders. Among those whom she thus tried to influence was General Morgan. General Morgan was invited to see a portrait of the Ma¬ hatma Koot Hoomi, contained in the shrine. When the doors were opened, a China tray, leaning against them, fell on the hard chunam floor and was broken. The pieces were carefully collected, tied in a cloth, placed within the shrine, and the doors locked. General Morgan remark¬ ed that the Mahatmas if they chose, could easily restore the broken article. After five minutes, the doors were unlock¬ ed, and on opening the cloth, the China tray was found whole and perfect without a trace of the breakage ! Madame Blavatsky was at Ootacamund, but she had # Occult means hidden, secret. SENDING CIGARETTES. 19 made tlie arrangements beforehand with Madame Coulomb, and had sent a note professedly from the Mahatma Koot Hoomi, in which it was said that “ the mischief is easily repaired. K. H.” Madame Coulomb was ordered to buy two China trays of the same pattern. The shopkeeper’s bill was produced and examined by Mr. Hodgson. One tray was placed from be¬ hind leaning against the door, so that it fell when opened. It could not have been so placed in front. When the broken pieces were placed inside the cloth, they were re¬ moved through the hole in the wall, and the whole China tray was substituted. Bell Sounds in the Air. Colonel Olcott refers to “ sweet music coming from afar.” A leading Madras Theosophist adduces “ bell sounds in the air ” as evidence of the truth of the system. The sound is produced by a contrivance which Madame Blavatsky concealed under her clothing. When pressed by her arm against her side, the sound was produced, louder or fainter according to the pressure. It may be bought at any good shop in London where conjuring apparatus is sold. Sending Cigarettes. Madame Blavatsky was a great smoker. The cigarette papers she which always carried about with her, were supposed to be “ impregnated with her personal magnet¬ ism.” “ The theory is that a current of what can only be called magnetism can be made to convey objects previously dissipated by the same force, to any distance, and in spite of the intervention of any amount of matter.”* One form of this “ phenomenon” was to tear a cigarette in two, and mark each end with pencil lines. One end would be given to a person to hold, and shortly after the other would be found inside a piano or in some other part of the room. Mr. Sinnett himself makes the following admission:— “ Of course any one familiar with conjuring will be aware that * Occult World , p. 62. 20 . MADAME BLAVATSKY, an imitation of this * trick’ can be arranged by a person gifted with a little sleight of hand. You take two pieces of papers, and tear off a corner of both together, so that the jags of both are the same. You make a cigarette with one piece, and put it in the place where you mean to have it ultimately found. You then hold the other piece underneath the one you tear in presence of the spectator, slip in one of the already torn corners into his hand instead of that he sees you tear, make your cigarette with the other part of the original piece, dispose of that anyhow you please and allow the prepared cigarette to be found.”* But sometimes cigarettes were sent to great distances. Madame Coulomb explains how this was arranged. She placed them as directed by Madame Blavatsky, and lo ! they were found in every case except one. The fiasco occurred at Bombay, where the former had been told to place a cigarette on the statue of the Prince of Wales, but failed. The explanation given was that the rain had washed away the cigarette.t The above is confirmed by extracts from Madame Bla- vatsky’s letters. She wrote thus to Madame Coulomb : “ I enclose an envelope with a cigarette paper in it. I will drop another half of a cigarette behind the Queen’s head where I dropped my hair the same day or Saturday. Is the hair still there P and a cigarette still under the cover?” Madame Blavatsky wrote on the fly-leaf of the letter from which this passage is taken : “ Make a half cigarette of this. TaJce care of the edges.” And on a slip of paper said by Madame Coulomb to have accompanied the cigarette paper referred to : “ Eoll a cigarette of this half and tie it with H. P. B.’s hair. Put it on the top of the cup-board made by Wimbridge to the farthest corner near the wall on the right. Do it quick.”! The Sassoon Telegram. Mr. Jacob Sassoon is a very wealthy citizen of Bombay,. On this account Madame Blavatsky was very desirous that * Occult World, p. 63. + Some Account, &c. p. 16. t Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society , p, 213. THE SASSOON TELEGRAM. 21 he should become a Theosophist. He was willing to do so if he could obtain some proof of the existence of Mahatmas. Madame Blavatsky thought that a telegram received from a Mahatma would afford sufficient evidence. She therefore, when at Poona, arranged with Madame Coulomb in Madras as follows : “ Now dear, lefc us change the programme. Whether something succeeds or not I must try. Jacob Sassoon, the happy proprietor of a crore of rupees, with whose family I dined last night, is anxious to become a Theosophist. He is ready to give 10,000 rupees to buy and repair the headquarters; he said to Colonel (Ezekiel, his cousin, arranged all this) if only he saw a little phenomenon, got the assurance that the Mahatmas could hear what was said, or give him some other sign of their existence ( ?!!) Well, this letter will reach you the 26th, Friday; will you go up to the Shrine and ask K. H. (or Christofolo) to send me a telegram that would reach me about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, same day, worded thus “Your conversation with Mr. Jacob Sassoon reached Master just now. Were the latter even to satisfy him, still the doubter would hardly find the moral courage to connect himself with the Society.” “Hamalinga Deb.” “ If this reaches me on the 26th, even in the evening, it will still produce a tremendous impression. Address, Care of N. Khandalla- valla, Judge, Poona. Je ferai le reste. Cela coutera quatre ou cing roupies. Gela nefait Hen.”* “The envelope which Madame Coulomb shows as belong¬ ing to this letter bears the postmarks, Poona, October 24th; Madras, October 26th; 2nd delivery, Adyar, October 26th; (as to which Madame Blavatsky has written in the margin of my copy of Madame Coulomb’s pamphlet) some Account of my Intercourse with Madame Blavatsky) : * cannot the cover have contained another letter ? Funny evidence !’) Madame Coulomb also shows in connection with this letter an official receipt for a telegram sent in the name of Ramalinga Deb from the St. Thome Office, at Madras, to Madame Blavatsky, at Poona, on October 26th, which contained the same number of words as above.” + • The words in French are: I will do the rest. It will cost 4 or 5 rupees. That is nothing .” f Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society, p. 211. 22 MADAME BLAVATSKY. The above letter shows Madame Blavatsky’s contempt for her dupes. “ Give him some other sign of their exis¬ tence {?!!”) MAHATMAS. THE MEANING OF THE TERM. Theosophy professes, not to have originated in Madame Blavatsky’s brain, as its enemies insinuate, but in the revelations of Mahatmas, “ great souls,” who found in her a fit channel for the propagation of f Truth/ Who are these beings ? A Mahatma , or adept, as one of themselves puts it, “is the efflorescence of his age, and comparatively few ever appear in a single century.”* The Theosophist gives a fuller description of them :— “ A Mahatma is a personage, who, by special training and edu¬ cation, has evolved those higher faculties and has attained that spiritual knowledge which ordinary humanity will acquire after passing through numberless series of re-incarnations during the process of cosmic evolution, provided, of course, that they do not go, in the meanwhile, against the purposes of Nature, and thus bring on their own annihilation.” July, 1884. Mrs. Besant, in her Kumbakonum lecture on Mahatmas, thus describes their work : “ They keep guard over 4 Truth’; treasured up in sacred lore, giving it to the world when it is ripe for it and withdrawing it when it would likely be misused. She said that they kept watch on the world, waiting for an opportunity to redeem it from ruin and fall* if persons who would subject themselves to their guidance, make their appearance in this world.” In Why I became a Theosophist, Mrs. Besant volunteers a remark which shows the state of her own mind : “ ‘ The Masters,’ as the students in Theosophy call them, are not anxious for an introduction, and they are not, like the orthodox God, angry with any who deny their existence.” p. 21. Mr. Sinnett thus dedicates his “ Occult World” to the best known of them :— * The Occult World, p. 92. MAHATMAS. 28 “ To one whose comprehension of Nature and Humanity ranges so far beyond the science and philosophy of Europe, that only the broadest minded representatives of either will be able to realise the existence of such powers in Man, as those he constantly exercises, —to THE MAHATMA KOOT HOOMI, whose gracious friendship has given the present writer his title to claim the attention of the European world, this little volume, with permission sought and obtained, is affectionately dedicated.” It has been well said that the alleged existence of Mahat¬ mas, or ‘‘Tibetan Brothers,” is the most “inexplicable phenomenon ” connected with Theosophy. An ex-Theoso- phist remarked : “ If the Brothers are a myth, the Society for me is moonshine.” The proofs of their existence are threefold : I. Their Alleged Appearance. Colonel Olcott claims to have made the acquaintance of no fewer than fifteen Mahatmas. He says in his Ad¬ dresses :— “ Within the three years when I was waiting to come to India, I had other visits from the Mahatmas , and they were not all Hindus or Cashmeris. I know some fifteen in all, and among them Copts, Tibetans, Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, a Hungarian, and a Cypriote. But whatever they are, however much they may differ externally as to races, religion, and caste, they are in perfect agreement as to the fundamentals of occult science, and as to the scientific basis of religion.” p. 165. Mrs. Besant claims to have seen at least one. When in¬ terviewed by the Madras Mail’s correspondent at Tanjore, she was asked : “ Have you seen a Mahatma ?” To which the reply was, “ I have.”* No details are available of the above “Brothers :” even their names are not given. Some particulars, however, are afforded regarding two who favoured India with their manifestations. Mr. Sinnett thus describes how M—, one of the Brothers, showed himself : * Madras Mail, Dec. 2. 1893. 24 MADAME BLAVATSKY. “ But M—, as it happened, was enabled to show himself to one member of the Simla Eclectic Society, who happened to be at Bombay a day or two before my visit. The figure was clearly visi¬ ble for a few moments, and the face distinctly recognized by my friend who had previously seen a portrait of M—. Then it passed across the open door of an inner room in which it had appeared in a direction where there was no exit: and when my friend, who had started forward in its pursuit, entered the inner room, it was n© longer to be seen. On two or three occasions previously, M—had made his astral figure visible to other persons about the head¬ quarters of the Society, where the constant presence of Madame Blavatsky and one or two other persons of highly sympathetic mag¬ netism, the purity of life of all habitually resident there, and the constant influences poured in by the Brothers themselves, render the production of phenomena immeasurably easier than elsewhere.”* A eight of one of the “ Brothers ” was ardently desired by some influential members of the Society. It was con¬ sidered the one thing necessary to shut the mouths of gainsayers. Madame Blavatsky therefore tried to meet their wishes. Madame Coulomb gives the following account of the manner in which this was effected :— “ She cut a paper-pattern of the face I was to make, which I still have; on this I cut the precious lineaments of the beloved Master, but to my shame I must say that after all my trouble of cutting, sewing and stuffing, Madame said that it looked like an old Jew—I suppose she meant Shylock. Madame with a graceful touch here and there of her painting brush gave it a little better appearance, but this was only a head without bust and could not very well be used, so I made a jacket which I doubled and between the two cloths I placed stuffing to form the shoulders and chest. The arms were only up to the elbow, because when the thing was tried on we found the long arm would be in the way of him who had to carry it.”f M. Coulomb, one moonlight night, appeared on the balcony of the house, wearing this mask, and leaning against the balustrade. At the same time he dropped a letter. Colonel Olcott and Damodar signed a certificate, testifying to the appearance of the “ Illustrious” in his astral body. At an “ entertainment,” given in the Old College Hall, Madras, Madame Coulomb produced the mask, which corresponded fairly well with Colonel Olcott’s account. * Occult World , p. 126, t Some Account, p. 31. MAHATMAS. 25 Colonel Olcott confesses to “a multitude of sickening exposures of the rascality of mediums :” “ Little by little a body of enthusiasts is forming, who would throw a halo of sanctity around the medium, and by doing away with test conditions, invite to the perpetration of gross frauds. Mediums actually caught red-handed in trickery, with their paraphernalia of traps, false panels, wigs and puppets about them, have been able to make their dupes, regard them as martyrs to the rage of sceptics, and the damning proofs of their guilt as having been secretly sup¬ plied by the unbelievers themselves to strike a blow at their holy cause ! The voracious credulity of a large body of Spiritualists has begotten nine-tenths of the dishonest tricks of mediums.”* Colonel Olcott acknowledges that American mediums make use of “ puppets.” The thing is conceivable that they might be employed by Madame Blavatsky. The manifesta¬ tions of the “ Brothers” were usually so fleeting, that those who saw them might very easily have been mistaken. They were not seen under “ test conditions.” Damodar, indeed, claims to have conversed with one for hours, but from a statement made to the writer on good authority, his me¬ mory also seems to be so “ impaired” that he sometimes forgets his own identity. The Theosophists, like the Spiritualists mentioned by Colonel Olcott, consider that the mask was prepared