Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath,
Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a
legendary kingdom that is said to be located in the
Earth's core.
It is related to the belief in a
hollow Earth and is a popular subject in
esotericism.
History
The legend of Agartha remained mostly obscure in Europe until
Gérard Encausse
Gérard Anaclet Vincent Encausse (July 13, 1865 – 25 October 1916), whose esoteric pseudonyms were Papus and Tau Vincent, was a French physician, hypnotist, and popularizer of occultism, who founded the modern Martinist Order.
Early li ...
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'',
in 1910.
After
World War I German occultist groups such as the
Thule Society took an interest in Agartha.
In his 1922 book ''Beasts, Men and Gods'', the Polish
explorer Ferdynand Ossendowski
Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski (27 May 1876 – 3 January 1945) was a Poles, Polish writer, explorer, university professor, and anticommunist political activist. He is known for his books about Lenin and the Russian Civil War in which he particip ...
relates a story which was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom existing inside the Earth. This kingdom was known to a fictional
Buddhist society as ''Agharti''.
Connections to mythology
Agartha is frequently associated or confused with
Shambhala which figures prominently in
Vajrayana Buddhism and Tibetan
Kalachakra teachings and revived in the West by
Madame Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 ...
and the
Theosophical Society. Theosophists in particular regard ''Agarthi'' as a vast complex of caves underneath
Tibet inhabited by demi-gods, called
asuras.
Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
*Helena, mother of Constantine I
Places
Greece
* Helena (island)
Guyana
* ...
and
Nicholas Roerich, whose teachings closely parallel
theosophy, see Shambhala's existence as both spiritual and physical.
[ :File:"About Shambala" N.Roerich.ogg]
See also
*
Dwarf (mythology)
A dwarf () is a type of supernatural being in Germanic folklore, including mythology. Accounts of dwarfs vary significantly throughout history however they are commonly, but not exclusively, presented as living in mountains or stones and being ski ...
*
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
*
Xibalba
References
External links
Map/diagram of Agharta and the Hollow Earth based on writings of
Raymond W. Bernard
Walter Isidor Siegmeister (October 5 or 6, 1903 – September 10, 1965),Brad Whitsel (2001)Walter Siegmeister's Inner-Earth Utopia ''Utopian Studies'' 12 (2): 82-102. later known as Raymond W. Bernard, was an early 20th-century American alternativ ...
.
On Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Agharta, Shambhala, Vril and the Occult Roots of Nazi Power by Joseph George Caldwell.
"An Algorithmic Agartha"Essay-Contribution to ''Culture Machine'' 16, 2015 (the journal's Special-Issue o
Drone CultureWelcome to the Electrocene, An Algorithmic Agartha.
{{Authority control
Mythological populated places
Hollow Earth