Maud MacCarthy (Omananda Puri)

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Maud MacCarthy (4 July 1882–1967), was an Irish-born violinist, singer, writer, poet, esoteric teacher and authority on Indian music.

MacCarthy was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. She studied the violin at the Royal College of Music, London as a pupil of Arbós and as a child performed in standard concertos at Crystal Palace and Queen's Hall; she also toured with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In 1905 she was forced to give up her ambitions as a concert soloist by the onset of neuritis and went to India as a companion of Annie Besant, where she studied Indian music, collecting manuscripts and instruments, learned Indian singing and also studied Indian mysticism. Her second husband was the composer John Foulds, whom she met and married in 1915. She compiled the text for his World Requiem. Whilst living in the East End of London they met a young man at a local social event to whom they were intensely drawn, referred to only as 'The Boy'; a quiet yet powerful figure who worked at the local gas works. 'The Boy' almost instantaneously began to channel a group of beings known as 'The Brothers' who gave profound spiritual teachings through him for the next 26 years. She returned to India with John Foulds and 'The Boy' in 1935 where 'The Brothers' continued their teachings through 'The Boy', making a profound impact on thousands of people in search of spiritual meaning. She founded an ashram and published poetry under the name 'Tandra Devi'; she took the name Swami Omananda Puri after her husband's death when she took sannyas (or renunciation of worldly life). It was under this name that she published her autobiography of her experiences with 'The Boy' in the The Boy and the Brothers (London: Gollancz, 1959); a second book was posthumously published as Towards the Mysteries (London: Neville Spearman, 1968) which further expanded on The Brothers' teachings and message.

She died on the Isle of Man.