Theosophy in Bengal

Abstract

Chapter 2 details the entrance of Theosophy into the Indian intellectual landscape. Core ideas of Theosophists and Bengali reformers were shaped by a shared global background, which structured this exchange. This background was marked by social reformism and the notion of “Aryan” in relation to the search for the origin of religion. Focusing on diverse engagements between Theosophy and members of the Ārya and Brāhma Samaj, the chapter provides examples of disagreement and skepticism but also of the widespread opinion that Theosophists differed from other Westerners because of their self-proclaimed willingness to learn from Indians about “Aryan wisdom.”