- George Arundale
Dr. George Sidney Arundale (
1 December 1878 inSurrey ,England —12 August 1945 inAdyar ,India ) was a theosophist, freemason, president of theTheosophical Society Adyar and bishop of theLiberal Catholic Church .After his mother died, he was adopted by her aunt
Francesca Arundale . At first he was privately tutored byCharles Webster Leadbeater . Later, he moved with Francesca to Germany, where he went to school. Returning eventually to England, he received a Master's degree from St John's College inCambridge .In 1902 he moved to
Varanasi where he became a history teacher at theCentral Hindu College . He later became the head of the school. In 1917 he organized withAnnie Besant andRabindranath Tagore the "National University of India" inChennai .In June 1917 he was arrested together with Besant and Bahman Pestonji Wadia by British authorities, because he became involved in the
Indian Independence Movement .In 1920 he married Rukmini Devi, the sister of
Nilakanta Sri Ram . The marriage led to a scandal, because Rukmini Devi was a Brahmin who was marrying a foreigner.In 1926 he became bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church in India. In 1934 he became president of the Theosophical Society Adyar. Also in 1934 he founded the "Besant Memorial School". In 1936 Arundale and his wife founded the
Kalakshetra dance school of Indian classical dance. They also invitedMaria Montessori to India. She came to India in 1939 where she worked as a teacher and influenced the school greatly. He also worked for the "World Federation of Young Theosophists".He was also a
Freemason since 1902 inLe Droit Humain , also known asCo-Masonry .Works
* "Freedom and friendship". Theosophical Publishing House, Madras 1935
* "Mount Everest, its spiritual attainment". Theosophical Press, Wheaton 1933Literature
* Wood, Ernest: "Is this Theosophy". Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish 1999; ISBN 0-7661-0829-5
See also
*
Christian mythology External links
* [http://www.theosophicalsociety.gr/presidentsgallery/arundale.htm Biography]
* [http://www.theosophycardiff.care4free.net/arundalebiography.htm Biography]
* [http://kingsgarden.org/English/Organizations/lcc.gb/LCIS/Scriptures/Liberal/Arundale/ArundaleBio.html Short bio]
* [http://upasika.com/arundale.htm George Arundale in Upasika.com (spanish)]
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