George Arundale

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Dr. George Sidney Arundale (1 December 1878 in Surrey, England — 12 August 1945 in Adyar, India) was a theosophist, freemason, president of the Theosophical Society Adyar and bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church.

After his mother died, he was adopted by her aunt Francesca Arundale. At first he was privately tutored by Charles 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 in Cambridge.

In 1902 he moved to Varanasi where he became a history teacher at the Central Hindu College. He later became the head of the school. Since 1917 he organized with Annie Besant and Rabindranath Tagore the "National University of India" in Chennai.

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 daughter 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". They also invited Maria Montessori to India. She came to India where she worked as a teacher and influenced the school greatly. In 1936 Arundale and his wife founded the Kalakshetra dance school of Indian classical dance. He also worked for the World Federation of Young Theosophists.

He was also a Freemason since 1902 in Le Droit Humain, also known as Co-Masonry.

[edit] Works

  • Freedom and friendship. Theosophical Publishing House, Madras 1935
  • Mount Everest, its spiritual attainment. Theosophical Press, Wheaton 1933

[edit] Literature

[edit] External links

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