Theos-Talk Archives (June 2001 Message tt00048)

Tuesday, June 12, 2001


Dear Jerome:


Yes, OOTACAMUND is the way in which the British spelled
OOTACAMUNDALA - the original designation of the little town on
top of the Nilgiri Mountains. I spent many a happy month there
in my youth. Mr. B. P. Wadia had a lovely estate (bought by him
around 1915 or so) It was about 4 miles out of town on the "Old
Mysore Road." It was named "GURUMANDIR," and, a far as I know, it
is still kept in use by Theosophical students and visitors. It
had a fine library.

H.P.B.'s THE PEOPLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS was (I believe) put
into an English translation, as when I first read it was only
then in French [ AU PAYS DES MONTAIGNES BLEUS.].

I recall seeing an English translation back in the 1930-1940
period. I checked through the more recent TPH publication (1975)
of: FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN but could not
locate this particular series of H.P.B.'s travel accounts and
history to be reprinted there.

She gave valuable information about the 3 tribes that lived
there: the TODAS which were limited to about 550 men and women
(never any children). Very Noble and quite Remote in appearance,
and demeanor, yet, always living very simply. 2nd. Tribe are
named the BADAGAS. These were their (the Todas) devoted and most
willing servants, a condition, and responsibility, that they
valued as a privilege. And finally, 3rd. the dwarfish and most
evil looking MOOLA-KURUMBAS.

The history of these three main tribes (there were other also)
was intertwined since the days of the RAMAYANA war with Lanka
(reputed in Indian lore to be over 560,000 years ago).

The Todas were a class or group of spiritual devotes who had made
it their continuing duty to supervise and control or suppress the
evil that the Moola-Kurumbas did by natural inclination.

Best wishes,

Dallas

===================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerome Wheeler [mailto:ultinla@juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001 2:07 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Some info about "Mysterious Tribes on The Blue
Mountains"

What you sent is exceedingly helpful. Learned more about the
various
editions of this book and their probable quality from one e-mail
than I
have learned in the last 30 years!!


Tell your friend thanks!! I am indebted to him for the
exceedingly fine
twist he has given our project. If I had a "mole" at Kessinger,
I would
determine where he got that copy from which he works.


I wish Vera Zelikhovsky's version was still available. If you
were able
to work from that it would probably be excellent spot as she was,
I
think, HPB's sister --- at any rate they were pretty close ---
and she
later married Charles Johnston.

The spellings your friend gives are the right ones. Ootacamund
I think
is right for that but I will need to ask Dallas. He lived there
for a
while.
thanks again,
jerome

p.s. So far as I know, nothing but Kessinger is currently in
print,
despite the fact that the T.S. has done it in the past.

====You & I both have the Boris de Zirkoff Collected Works===
Dara
Eklund did volume 13 & 14 after his death, but there have never
been any
plans to include Blue Hills that I know about. The set has an
excellent
Index-- Volume XV. Boris did have the bad habit of "improving"
HPB's
scholarship, so while it's the best collection available---there
are
reasons to be cautious with it. At one point he stuck in an
article by
Prurucker!! and Vol XII is only partially correct.

Dara and her partner subscribe to The Aquarian Theosophist. The
only
thing not finished is the "volumes of Letters" which are in a
court-battle at present!!

============================================



On Sun, 10 Jun 2001 23:30:53 +0400 Vladimir Sova
<sova7777@chat.ru>
writes:
> Dear Jerome,
>
> Here are some data about the book from a friend. Just for your
info.
> __________________________________________________
>
> Do you have access to Blavatsky's Collected Writings published
by the
> Theosophical Publishing House? It may be available at the
> Theosophical
> Society in Moscow (perhaps Kay Ziatz knows about it). It's the
most
> complete
> and authoritative edition of her works. Unfortunately, it
remains
> unfinished, since the man who had initiated the project (Boris
de
> Zirkoff)
> has passed away. He, however, has managed to publish From the
Caves
> and
> Jungles of Hindostan in his translation as a part of the
series,
> which
> includes a very helpful article entitled "The Writings of H. P.
> Blavatsky in
> Russian" (pp. xxiii-xliii). Please find below an appropriate
excerpt
> (pp.
> xxxvii, xxxviii; I drop information on non-English
translations;
> _..._ means
> italics) and a few relevant bibliographic records.
>
> Max
>
> -------------------
>
> "During the period from December, 1884, to April, 1885,
inclusive,
> ...
> H.P.B., having lived for some time in the Nilgiri Hills,
published
> in that
> [Russian] Journal in five monthly installments her series
called 'The
> Enigmatical Tribes of the Blue Hills of India'."
>
> "A rather faulty and incomplete English translation of the
> 'Enigmatical
> Tribes' appeared in _The Theosophist_ (April, 1909--November,
1910)
> under
> the title of 'Mysterious Tribes.' It is supoposed to have been
a
> translation
> from a German version published by Arthur Weber at Leipzig in
12908.
> It was
> published in book form by The Theosophical Press, Wheaton,
Ill.,
> under the
> title of _The People of the Blue Mountains_.
>
> "A better, but still somewhat faulty, translation by Vera
Johnston,
> entitled
> _The Magicians of the Blue Hills_, exists in the form of
> page-proofs; it
> bears the date of New York, 1897, but does not seem to have
actually
> appeared in print.
>
> "A French translation by Mark Semenoff entitled _Au Pays des
> Montagnes
> Bleues_ (255 pages), was published at Paris in 1926 by the
Editions
> du Monde
> Moderne. There is some indication that this French rendering
was
> re-translated into English at a later date."
>
> ------------------
>
> Author: Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891.
> Title: The people of the Blue Mountains / H.P. Blavatsky.
> Publisher: [Kila, MT] : Kessinger Pub., [19--]
> Description: 227 p. ; 28 cm.
> Subjects: Ethnology--India--Nilgiri Hills.
> Toda (Indic people)
> Kurumba (Indic people)
> Witchcraft--India--Nilgiri Hills.
> Nilgiri Hills (India)
>
> Author: Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891.
> Title: The people of the Blue Mountains, by H.P. Blavatsky.
> Publisher: Wheaton, Ill., Theosophical Press [c1930]
> Description: 227 p. 19 cm.
> Subjects: Ethnology--India--Nilgiri Hills.
> Toda (Indic people)
> Kurumba (Indic people)
> Witchcraft--India--Nilgiri Hills.
> Nilgiri Hills (India)
>
> Author: Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891.
> Title: Au pays des montagnes bleues / H.P. Blavatsky ; traduit
du
> Russe par
> Marc Semenoff ; prĘface d'Albert de Pouvourville.
> Publisher: Paris : Les ęditions du Monde Moderne, 1926.
> Description: 255 p. ; 19 cm.
> Notes: Imprint covered by label: Les ęditions Adyar, Paris.
> Subjects: Magic--India--Nilgiri Hills.
> Nilgiri Hills (India)--Religion.
>
> --------------------
> __________________________________________________
>
>
> Maybe it will help somehow.
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Vladimir Sova mailto:sova7777@chat.ru
>
>