Theos-Talk Archives (August 2003 Message tt00169)

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME “KOOT HOOMI”
 

Concerning Master KH, Mr. Sinnett said in The Occult World (first publishedJune 1881):  

 

A.P. Sinnett THE OCCULT WORLD:

 

“My correspondent is known to me as the Mahatma Koot Hoomi.[See Appendix "C"] .This is his " Tibetan Mystic name " -occultists, it would seem, taking new names on initiation- a practice which has no doubt given rise to similar customs which we find perpetuated here and there in ceremonies of the Roman Catholic church.”

 

H.P. Blavatsky in Lucifer (October1888) wrote:

 

“the personage known to the public under the pseudonym of "Koot Hoomi," is called by a totally different name among his acquaintance.(…) The real names of Master Adepts and Occult Schools are never, under any circumstances, revealed to the profane; and the names of the personages who have been talked about in connection with modem Theosophy, are in the possession only of the two chief founders of the Theosophical Society.” (Article Lodges of Magic by Blavatsky.)

 

Society for Psychical Research (First S.P.R. Report on H.P.B.):

“According to Theosophical statements, Koot Hoomi is a Brahmin, whose full name has not been given; Koot Hoomi, alleged to be an ancient Brahmin family name, (1) forming a part only of the designation to which he is entitled. He is said to have been partly educated in Europe, and to have attendedProfessor Fechner’s lectures; after which, as we are informed, he becamewhat is called an Adept, and took up his residence in 

Thibet

.

Endnote 

 

(1) “The name Koothoomi is mentioned as belonging to a Rishi, in Vishnu Puran. The precise reference I shall be able to give you later on. The book is translated into English by H. H. Wilson. There is, I believe, also aFrench translation by Burnouf. About the name, see also Monier Williams’ Indian Wisdom, p. 305. There is a school of Sama Veda students foundedby Koothoomi, and called after him Kauthoomi. The text of the Sama Veda according to this school is published by the Asiatic Society, in Calcutta. All Brahmans who belong to this school (and everything being hereditary, many Brahmans of the present day are supposed to belong to it by right of descent, even though ignorant of Sanskrit) may call themselves Kauthoomis.” --- From a letter by Mr. Mohini M. Chatterji to Mr. F. W. H. Myers, who hasverified the reference to Monier Williams. 

 

In The Theosophist of December, 1883, a writer called attention to the factthat, "In Chapter VI, Book III of Vishnu Purana, a Rishi called Koothumi is mentioned"-and Mme Blavatsky, as Editor, responded with notice that, "Thename of Rishi Koothumi is mentioned in more than one Purana; and his Code is among the 18 Codes written by the various Rishis and preserved at Calcutta in the library of the Asiatic Society. But we have not been told whetherthere is any connection between our Mahatma of that name and the Rishi, and we do not feel justified in speculating upon the subject. All we know is,that both are Northern Brahmans......” (COLLECTED WRITINGS, vi, pp. 40-1).

 

Damodar K. Mavalankar (chela of Master KH) wrote in a note of his article “A Great Riddle Solved” (From The Theosophist, April, 1884):

“We know of only one MAHATMA bearing the name of my venerated GURU DEVA who holds a well-known public office in Thibet, under the TESHU LAMA. For aught we know there may be another bearing the same name; but at any rate he is not known to us, nor have any of those, we are acquainted with in Thibet, heard of him.(. . .) Perhaps the clairvoyants are confounding the sect ofKhadampas with the Kauthumpas? The former, although not regular Dougpas, are great magicians and indulge in practices an Adept of the good Law would feel disgusted with -- such as the well known phenomenon of ripping open the abdomen, exposing the intestines, and then restoring them to their normalplace and condition, &c. &c. The latter, the Kauthumpas, are the disciplesof my MASTER.”

 

Charles Jinarajadasa in his book “THE "K. H." LETTERS TO C. W. LEADBEATER

WITH A COMMENTARY BY C. JINARAJADASA” give us another version about the origin of name “Koot Hoomi” o Kûthûmi:

 

“the initials "K.H." of the name Koot Hoomi, which is not the Master's personal name, but the title of his office as a high dignitary of the Koothoompa1 sect of Tibetan Buddhism. 

1But pronounced Kethoomba, the Master informs Mohini Chatterjee in Letter 59, The Letters from the Master of the Wisdom, Second Series .”

 



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