Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath, Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

ary kingdom that is said to be located in the

Earth's core The internal structure of Earth is the solid portion of the Earth, excluding its atmosphere and hydrosphere. The structure consists of an outer silicate solid crust, a highly viscous asthenosphere and solid mantle, a liquid outer core whose ...

. It is related to the belief in a

hollow Earth The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...

and is a popular subject in

esotericism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

History

The legend of Agartha remained mostly obscure in Europe until

Gérard Encausse Gérard Anaclet Vincent Encausse (July 13, 1865 – 25 October 1916), whose esotericism, esoteric pseudonyms were Papus and Tau Vincent, was a French people, French physician, hypnotist, and popularizer of occultism, who founded the modern mar ...

edited and re-published a detailed 1886 account by the nineteenth-century French

occultist The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre Joseph Alexandre Saint-Yves, Marquis d’Alveydre (26 March 1842 – 5 February 1909) was a French occultist who adapted the works of Fabre d'Olivet (1767–1825) and, in turn, had his ideas adapted by Gérard Encausse ''alias'' Papus. His work ...

(1842-1909), ''Mission de l'Inde en Europe'', in 1910. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

German occultist groups such as the

Thule Society The Thule Society (; german: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and '' Völkisch'' group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, n ...

took an interest in Agartha. In his 1922 book ''Beasts, Men and Gods'', the Polish

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Ferdynand Ossendowski relates a story which was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom existing inside the Earth. This kingdom was known to a fictional

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

society as ''Agharti''.

Connections to mythology

Agartha is frequently associated or confused with

Shambhala In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as ...

which figures prominently in

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Buddhism and Tibetan

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means " wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ...

teachings and revived in the West by Madame Blavatsky and the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

. Theosophists in particular regard ''Agarthi'' as a vast complex of caves underneath

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

inhabited by demi-gods, called

asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

s. Helena and

Nicholas Roerich Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophi ...

, whose teachings closely parallel

theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

, see Shambhala's existence as both spiritual and physical. :File:"About Shambala" N.Roerich.ogg

References

External links

Map/diagram of Agharta and the Hollow Earth
based on writings of Raymond W. Bernard.
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

History

Connections to mythology

See also

References

External links