AGARTTHA (I) by Mircea A.

Tamas Ossendowskis travel journal presented a good opportunity for Gunon to publish, in 1927, his jewel-book Le Roi du Monde, trying to put order in this for too long distorted and mystified myth about the subterranean center Agarttha and its Lord of the World. 1 Gunon preferred to combine dAlveydres name Agarttha and Ossendowskis title the Lord of the World. Curiously, after Le Roi du Monde appeared, the information about Agarttha stopped; no serious author heard, from reliable sources, about Agarttha anymore.2 It was said that the representatives of the Hindu (and Tibetan) tradition were unhappy with Gunon publishing the book and unveiling the secrets of Agarttha; they broke any connections with Gunon. In fact, Gunon did not unveil any new information, but presented the already known data in a purely traditional and intellectual manner; very cautiously, he used names and elements already published by others. Sure, there have been attempts to discover the mysterious realm, and we may mention Nicholas Roerichs expedition. Roerich, a Russian, traveled at the beginning of the Twentieth Century to India, Mongolia and Tibet, in search of Agarttha, pushed by his theosophist wife. At the time Ossendowskis book appeared in France, Roerich started his adventure in the heart of Asia.3 He mentions, in Ossendowskis orthography, the legend of the mysterious subterranean realm Agharti ( Altai, p. 37), identifying it with Shambhala. Csoma already wrote about Shambhala in his Analysis, more than once,4 but Roerich was the one who promoted the mysterious center in three books, two of which are only a remake of the first one. His stories are of no great interest, and the theosophist influence is plainly visible; Roerich tried to connect Shambhala to the theosophists Mahtms, in order to prove the validity of the theosophist theories. 5 The
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The publishing of Le Roi du Monde has an exceptional importance that regards not only the Occident but the whole traditional world. It is a true signe des temps of providential and merciful nature, and it proves Gunons function (Gilis 13). Modern authors used though Agarttha, but usually in a very suspect and denigrator manner. R. P. Martin uses Gunons name in a dubious novel, where he writes about Asgrd, the Black Order, Hitler and de Gaulle (R. P. Martin, Le renversement ou La Boucane contre lOrdre Noire , Guy Trdaniel, 1984). Jean Parvulesco discusses Martins novel, fantasizing that Asgrd of the Black Order is the supreme transcendental center (Jean Parvulesco, La spirale prophtique, Guy Trdaniel, 1986, pp. 133-137; Que vous a apport Ren Gunon?, Dualpha, Paris, 2002, p. 130 ff.). We should mention that Ossendowski was a geologist and mines prospector, the same way Baron Ignaz von Born was; Roerich had archeology as his passion. The attraction to the subterranean levels is a sign of our Age, and sometimes it resembles to the violation of the graves. For Gunon, Roerich was an agent of the counterinitiation; on the other hand, Roerich was Julius Evolas favorite painter. Csoma writes about the fabulous Shambhala (and its king, Dava Zang-Po), locating it in northern Asia (Csoma 184, 260, 280). See about Shambhala, Altai, pp. 15, 35, 256; Nicholas Roerich, Heart of Asia, Inner Traditions, 1990, pp. 88, 132. See about Mahtmas, Altai, pp. 381, 384 (Roerich even mentions William Crooks, the spiritualist, to prove the existence of the mysterious Mahtmas), Heart, p. 90. Roerich writes about the Lord of the World (Altai, p. 62), about the black stone (Altai, p. 343), but it seems that everything is borrowed from his predecessors, being unclear how much information he gathered himself during his voyage. Curiously, he writes about the Tower of Shambhala (Altai, p. 391, Nicholas Roerich, Shambhala, Inner Traditions, 1990, p. 3). Roerich advances a very suspect idea, stating that the Mongolians, seeing a picture of New York City, considered it the perfection of Shambhala ( Altai, p. 359)! On the other hand, a Lama declared that the great

fabulous Shambhala is not exactly a subterranean realm; it seems situated somewhere up north and, in 1933, James Hilton issued the best-seller Lost Horizon, describing an inaccessible and inviolable region in Tibet, called Shangri-La, an imitation of Shambhala. For the grand public, Shangri-La surpassed by far the fame of Agarttha, entering the current language as a synonym for hidden paradise, thus banishing Agarttha forever to the realm of the fairy tales (Hendrickson 606). 6 We may note that Lost Horizon is itself a fairy tale, being a copy of a Romanian tale, Forever young and life without death (collection Petre Ispirescu). Shangri-La has the capacity to keep individuals young forever, but if they leave this paradise, they regain their real age. In the Romanian fairy tale, the hero reaches the primordial center, the land of eternal youth, yet remembering the ephemeral world he returns and, losing his magic youth, becomes older and older until he dies. After Gunon published Le Roi du Monde, the search for the subterranean realm went on, without any result, and then, as it usually happens in the modern scientific world, Agarttha was declared a pure invention. Marco Pallis was the one who connected this invention to Gunon.7 Pallis wandered through Tibet and India, investigating Tibetan Buddhism and, like Roerich, thinking that he became qualified in this domain 8; of course, Gunons views about Buddhism did not please him, and neither did the fact that, where he wandered, nobody mentioned a word about Agarttha. When Ren Gunon disappeared from this world, Marco Pallis openly expressed his grief, in an article Ren Gunon and Buddhism, published in a volume paying homage to Gunon at his death.9 We will come back to this question regarding Buddhism; right now we note that in the same article, Pallis wrote about the Lord of the World and the mysterious subterranean realm, concluding that the only known center is Shmbala, Agarttha being a name totally ignored in Asia. He based some of his affirmations on George Roerich, one of Nicholas Roerichs sons, quoting him more than once, a fact that, on the contrary, is not in his favor. Nicholas Roerichs expedition was one en famille, his wife and two sons participating equally in this adventure; the wife, Helena Roerich, was involved with the theosophists, and wrote some dubious books. The whole family was implicated in the suspect affair regarding the stone of Shambhala, an aerolite, which George Roerich suggested came from Sirius; a fragment of this stone was sent to aid in the foundation of the League of Nations! (Godwin 102). Nicholas Roerich also affirms that he witnessed in Mongolia (1927) the flight of a UFO, oval and shining (Altai, p. 361, Shambhala, p. 244); this explains, partially at least, the origins of those theories that consider the gods and heroes as extraterrestrials, trying to replace the sacred writings with UFO science. Most probably, George Roerich provided Pallis
Shambhala is located far beyond the ocean, in the heavenly domain, and has nothing to do with the earth (Shambhala, p. 2), that is, Shambhala is, like the zmeis realm, beyond oceans and countries; finally, Roerich mentions a subterranean lake under Potala (Shambhala, p. 20), similar to Lake Zirchnitz. The famous presidential residence, Camp David, built by Franklin Roosevelt, was first called Shangri-La (Bernbaum 3). More recently, Laurant touched on the problem, stating that Lucius Ampelius was the first to mention the name of Agarttha; Ampelius wrote about a city in Egypt, called Agartus (Jean-Pierre Laurant, Le sens cach dans loeuvre de Ren Gunon, LAge dhomme, 1975, p. 129). In a new translation, Agartus is mentioned not as a city but as architect of the Egyptian pyramids (L. Ampelius, Liber Memorialis, Les Belles Lettres, 1993, p. 16). The second edition of his book, Peaks and Lamas, was improved under the influence of Gunon and Coomaraswamy. These two wrote favorable reviews, being very supportive (Ren Gunon, tudes sur lHindouisme, d. Traditionnelles, 1979, pp. 202, 213). tudes Traditionnelles, 1951, no. 293-294-295, p. 308.

with similar suspect information regarding Shambhala. Marco Pallis had no rest, and in 1984, when a file on Ren Gunon was published, he participated with an article, Le Roi du Monde et le problme des sources dOssendowski, avoiding to attack Gunon directly. The article is rather disappointing10; we would expect more essence from Pallis, 11 and not just a repetition of what he wrote in 1951. Anyway, Pallis conclusion was that Ossendowski, having a tabloid mentality, borrowed from Saint-Yves the idea of a subterranean realm, voluntarily distorted some names, and invented others. Nobody in India and Mongolia knew about Agarttha as this name is incompatible with Sanskrit, the title Lord of the World is a fantasy, the cult of Rama too, everything is just an imaginary tale of Western origin; only Shambhala had, as a myth, reality. It is true that, at the end of his article, Pallis, recalling that the file is dedicated to Gunon, introduced a sentence in which he accepted the sacred geometry and geography as Gunon stated them in Le Roi du Monde. We may note that in the same file Alain Danilou considered Le Roi du Monde to be based on Ouspenskis fantastic story, and contestable (p. 137); of course, Danilou mistakes Ossendowski with Ouspenski, and has no idea that Gunon doesnt treat the fantastic story but the doctrinal and symbolic meaning of the center. Regarding the Sanskrit name of Agarttha, we think that it represents one of Gunons subtleties. Sure, it is well-known that Ren Gunon took the Tradition and spiritual doctrines very seriously, and his approach was always very direct; yet his fundamental work Le Roi du Monde is, voluntarily or not, a subtle tale full of allusions, a metaphysical tale if we are permitted to use such an expression. Strongly involved in a crusade against the occultists, theosophists and pseudo-spirituality, Gunon reveals a subtle and elegant spiritual technique. He writes: Agarttha signifie insaisissable ou inaccessible (et aussi inviolable, car cest le sjour de la Paix, Salem) (Roi, p. 67); which doesnt mean at all a mot--mot translation of the name, but it reflects its inner and sacred significance. In this context, Hapels attempts to find valid etymologies for Agarttha appear as a misunderstanding of Gunons subtlety (Hapel 58). Gunon stresses that Agarttha is the residence of Salem, of Peace. This is very important. Bernbaum and others translate the word shambhala as the source of happiness (Sanskrit sham, happiness) (Bernbaum 270). Yet the Sanskrit primary meaning of Shambhala is that of the residence of tranquility, of peace and only secondary of joy.12 We should not be surprised that Agarttha and Shambhala are equivalents of Salem, the Center of the World in Judeo-Christian tradition, Salem being the city of the Lord of the World, Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1-3, Gunon, Roi, p. 47 ff). When Gunon specifies that Agarttha signifies inviolable, because it is the seat of the Peace, Salem (Roi, p. 67), he implicitly indicates the equivalence between Agarttha, Shambhala and Salem.13 The difference is that Shambhala is a name applied to the Center when that one was situated at the North Pole, on the top of Mount Meru, the
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Les Dossiers H, Ren Gunon, LAge dHomme, 1984, p. 145 ff. Confessing to Godwin, Pallis calls Le Roi du Monde a disaster (Godwin 87). It is, however, a general flaw. Today, many books or articles so called traditional or connected to Gunon, treat insignificant elements belonging to the gossip domain and not doctrinal problems belonging to the sacred sciences field. Sanskr. shama means divine quiet, peace, rest; also sham (sam) in the Vedic writings means at the same time peace and bliss. Gunon writes: the word Salem, despite the common opinion, never designated a real city, but, if we consider it as a symbolical name of Melchizedeks residence, could be regarded as an equivalent of the term Agarttha (Roi, p. 49).

Axis of the World; Agarttha refers to the hidden Center, when that one became subterranean. Shambhala doesnt exist anymore in our decayed world, and that and is why many legends about it circulated freely in Asia and Pallis, Bernbaum and others could learn about them. Agarttha, on the contrary, is still present, though underground and invisible, and in consequence a thick mystery covers it. But we have to be careful: from an absolute point of view, there is no difference between Shambhala and Agarttha. In the Romanian fairy tales, the immediate meaning of the subterranean realm is that of the other world or the land of the dragons ( zmei); yet in other cases the same realm of the dragons (asuras, zmei) is at the extremity of the world, beyond oceans and countries, and not underground. In the same way, Shambhala is at the extremity of the world, that is, at the Extreme North, and Agarttha is underground. The guidebooks to Shambhala describe a journey very similar to those found in the Romanian fairy tales 14; it is an initiatory journey symbolizing a spiritual realization within the intellect of the heart, where the real Shambhala hides. At the same time, Shambhala is the spiritual center; from Shambhala, Kalki, the Savior, will come to put an end to the rotten and decayed world and start a new Golden Age. Some Tibetan legends consider Sucandra as the first king of Shambhala; he was an incarnation of Vajrapani, the Bodhisattva of Power and Master of Secret Teachings (Bernbaum 234). Sucandra was followed by six religious kings (that is, kings combining the spiritual authority with the temporal power), the son of the last one being Manjushrikirti, an incarnation of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Manjushrikirtis son, Pundarika, was an incarnation of Avalokitshwara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion (Bernbaum 236). The last king of Shambhala will be Rudra Chakrin, an incarnation of Manjushri; he will fight and defeat the evil forces and will start a new Golden Age, being identical to Hindu Kalki-Avatra. Rudra Chakrin, like the other kings of Shambhala, is an aspect of the Lord of the World. Charles-Andr Gilis, in a chapter dedicated to the Lord of the World, points out that, despite Marco Pallis statement, the three supreme functions connected to the Lord of the World are well-known in Asia; they are: Manjushri the supreme function, Avalokitshwara the spiritual authority, and Vajrapn the temporal power (Gilis 15).15 More recently, this thesis was developed in a new journal for traditional studies, Science sacre.16

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About the legends describing Shambhala and its location see Bernabaums book. Unfortunately, the author, instead of limiting himself to a presentation of various data regarding Shambhala, tries to decipher the secret meaning of the journey to Shambhala and gives a psychoanalytical interpretation far from its real and truthful significance. Gilis states that Ren Gunons mission was precisely to represent Agarttha, the supreme Center, in the Occidental world: The function of the supreme authority, having the Center of the World as abode, is exactly the function that Gunon had as his mission to represent in a direct way in the Western world. Science sacre, nos. 3-4, September 2001- April 2002. There are two articles about the three supreme functions in the Tibetan Buddhism. We may note that in the first one Cyrille Gayat translates the Sanskrit Shambhala as the source of joy. In the second one, Pascal Coumes reiterates Gilis statement about the triad Manjushri-Avalokitshwara-Vajrapn, and writes about Rudra Charkin and Shambhala.

AGARTTHA (II) by Mircea A. Tamas The opinion that Ossendowski would have plagiarized Saint-Yves dAlveydre is not new and not without some grounds. In an article written at the end of 1924, and published in Les cahiers du mois in 1925, Gunon, noting the concordance between Saint-Yves and Ossendowski, foresees that the latter will be accused of plagiarism and lists a series of coincidences, incorporated later into Le Roi du Monde. Gunon rejects the plagiarism thesis (Hapel 49-50), yet one of the motives for doing so is that the theosophists formulated it feeling that their position and theories were in danger (especially the question of Mahtms) due to Ossendowski. That is why Roerich tried to link Shambhala to Mahtms; and it seems that Pallis, involuntarily, helped him. There is a detail in Ossendowskis work that seems conspicuously suspect: The blissful Sakkia Mouni found on one mountain top tablets of stone carrying words which he only understood in his old age and afterwards penetrated into the Kingdom of Agharti, from which he brought back crumbs of the sacred learning preserved in his memory (Oss. 304). This scenario of Buddha coming back from Agarttha only with scraps of knowledge, kept in his memory, could already be read in Saint-Yves book: aprs sa fuite, le fondateur du Bouddhisme ne put que dicter ses premiers disciples, en toute hte, ce que sa mmoire avait t capable de retenir (Alveydre 96). For dAlveydre, Buddhism was a schism, a revolt against Brahmanism, aiming at the installation of a belle petite anarchie (Alveydre 84). SaintYves wrote, akya-Mouni was not allowed to open the gates of the main Sanctuary (of Agarttha), where Brhatmah reigns, yet the Buddhists were meritorious and virtuous vulgarizers. Of course, the theosophists, the promoters of a distorted and illusory Buddhism in Occident, could not accept this scenario. Ossendowskis sources are Mongolian Buddhists. Can we accept the fact that they have denigrated their own religion? To answer this we have to go back to Gunon. In the 1951 article, Pallis described how he persuaded Gunon to change or skip the unfavorable paragraphs concerning Buddhism in his books. The fact of the matter is that Gunon modified only what he considered opportune to modify, and what did not affect the metaphysical kernel. He stated it clearly and loudly, yet nobody listened, it seems: Gunon published only in accordance with the circumstances, and his writings are a question of opportunity; he followed a strategy that allowed him to exercise his sacred function. Gunons key objective was to resurrect the traditional mentality of the Occident; hence, he had to be without mercy. In his time, occultism devastated the Western minds, and Gunon, as a consequence, had to shake the contemporary mentality, severely condemning everything that could be a temptation. Buddhism is one of these temptations, especially due to the theosophists intervention. In time, when Ananda Coomaraswamy started to publish his works, Gunon reluctantly accepted a change in his attitude regarding Buddhism, hoping that the Western mentality was better prepared now to see the real face of Buddha.17
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We may note that if, as a consequence of the Gunon-Coomaraswamy encounter, the former modified some paragraphs about Buddhism, the latter modified his entire intellectual perspective. In 1945, Gunon wrote a review regarding Coomaraswamys Hinduism and Buddhism, in which he states: Mr. Coomaraswamy remarks that the more superficially it is studied, the more different Buddhism seems to be in comparison to Hinduism; yet if it is studied more profoundly, it is more difficult to see any difference. In the Western world,

We have to understand that Gunon cannot be measured with the square but with the compass. He was the keeper of metaphysical truths, of immutable spiritual knowledge that he dressed in various garments, functions of opportunity. Gunon considered it opportune to use, for example, Fabre dOlivet and dAlveydres heritage, estimating that these two have somehow received genuine initiation data, which deserved to be used (being already familiar to the Western mind) to transmit some higher spiritual learning. Fabre dOlivet published his History of Humankind in 1822.18 Influenced by the French Revolution, dOlivet regarded the human history as a series of cycles, the link between two cycles being a revolution. His vision was an evolutionist, not a traditional one, dOlivet considering the Golden Age, which is normally the first Age, as the final one, humankind heading to a golden future. Gunon accepted dOlivet, quoting him from time to time, but correcting his errors and reinstalling his (and dAlveydres) heritage on a traditional basis. For Gunon, the two esoteric thinkers constituted a good opportunity to penetrate the Western milieu and adjust its mentality. DOlivet narrated at length about the Cycle of Ram, regarding Ram as a Druid who conquered Asia, bringing into power the white, Borean race (Olivet 147, 204, 212, 226); dAlveydre followed dOlivet closely. Fabre dOlivet was the one who introduced the title Lord of the World: Le premier Khan que Ram sacra pour tre le souverain Roi du Monde, se nommait Kousha, having his capital at Ayodhya, the city of the solar dynasty (Olivet 238). And Saint-Yves story about Irshou, the son of emperor Ougra, and his schism, was initially mentioned by dOlivet (Olivet 252). Curiously, even though dOlivet liked the term revolution, he didnt consider Buddhism a revolt, as dAlveydre did, but, for him, Buddha was a providential reformer, like Orpheus and Moses, and Buddhism was the crowning of the Cult of Ram (Olivet 289, 302). Gunons strategy becomes so much more evident. In Le Roi du Monde, first edition,19 Gunon embraces Saint-Yves and Ossendowskis opinion when he writes: Shkya-Muni, alors quil projetait sa rvolte contre le Brhmanisme, aurait vu les portes de lAgarttha se fermer devant lui (Roi, 1939, p. 17); this part is suppressed in other editions. Bruno Hapel assigned a chapter to the Buddhist problem, comparing Gunons texts of different editions. He stressed that in Autorit spirituelle et pouvoir temporel (chap. VI, La rvolte des Kshatriyas), first edition, Gunon presented Buddhism as a revolt of Kshatriyas (the warrior caste), Buddha belonging to this caste; later on, Gunon reviewed this statement and deemed only the deviated Buddhism, not the primary one, as being inspired by this revolt, Buddha being legitimated by the circumstances of the present cosmic cycle. Ananda Coomaraswamys researches20 and, maybe, the negative effects of the war upon the theosophists strength, persuaded Gunon to give up dAlveydres theory and come back to the older idea, of Fabre dOlivet, about a redeemer Buddha, hoping that the
Buddhism was admired especially for what it wasnt. Buddha himself never pretended to teach a new doctrine (tudes sur lHindouisme, p. 194). Yet we have to keep in mind that Coomaraswamy also said, in 1935, that Buddhism in India represents a heterodox development, all that is metaphysically correct ( pramiti) in its ontology and symbolism, being derived from the primordial tradition (Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Elements of Buddhist Iconography, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1998, p. 3). Fabre dOlivet, Histoire philosophique du genre humain, d. Traditionnelles, 1991. We have at hand the second edition, published in 1939 at d. Traditionnelles, but this is an exact copy of the first one. Though, in a review of an article Coomaraswamy wrote in 1935, Gunon states: The author also remarks that the revolt of the temporal power ( kshatra) against the spiritual authority ( brahma), is reflected by Jainism and Buddhism (tudes sur lHindouisme, p. 228).

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Occidental mentality would understand the difference between the primitive Buddhism and the later deviations.21 Gunons change of perspective left Ossendowski without any cover for his statement about Buddhas incomplete divine knowledge, and we may wonder if he did not borrow this part from dAlveydre. Or, we have to accept that the Mongolians regarded Buddhism only as a part of the supreme learning, and thus we can understand Gunons statement that, in Mongolia, the Cult of Rama, mentioned by Ossendowski, was something other than Buddhism ( Roi, p. 72). At a round table, organized in 1924, where Gunon joined Ossendowski, he said: The idea of the Lord of the World is very old in Asia, and had always an important role in the Hindu and Shivait traditions, which compose the Tibetan Buddhism (Hapel 36). Eventually, we reached the great dilemma: what did Agarttha represent to Gunon? Ren Gunon strongly stated that he knew about the myth of a subterranean realm in Asia from absolute different sources than Saint-Yves and Ossendowski ( Roi, p. 9). He quoted Ossendowski, and even dAlveydre, only to have a starting point for his metaphysical and symbolic developments (Roi, p. 11)22. The same way he used Buddhism only as a particular application to illustrate the doctrine of the cosmic cycles and the revolt of the warrior caste, as Dante used historical details to expose his initiatory voyage, Gunon used Agarttha to teach the symbolism of the center and the meaning of the Lord of the World. We remark that Gunon didnt mention Shambhala, even though he, obviously, knew about it 23; he used Agarttha because the stories of dAlveydre and Ossendowski were very close to the genuine traditional version about an underground center and opposite to the occultists and theosophists fantasies. Moreover, Gunon offers us a key. He writes that, before disappearing from the visible world, Agarttha bore another name; and later he explains that, prior to Kali-Yuga (the Iron Age), Agarttha was called Paradsha, that is, the supreme land (in Sanskrit), from which was derived Western paradise (Roi, pp. 67, 73). In fact, Gunon accepts Saint Yves terminology, who indistinctly called the center Paradsha and Agarttha (Alveydre 23, 35, 44). Obviously, Gunon establishes equality between Agarttha and the Paradise, and if we are ready to accept the symbolism of the Paradise, we have to equally accept the symbolism of Agarttha. 24 It is absurd to contest Agartthas existence or even to try to find its location; as we already said, who dares to embark upon a quest to find Paradise?25 Gunon wrote in his article of 1924: Everywhere, in all the traditions of the world, we find stated the existence of a
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Unfortunately, his hopes have been not fulfilled. We stress that, even though Gunon accepted some of dOlivets fundamental ideas, such as the Cycle of Ram, the title Lord of the World, the triad Providence, Will, Destiny, he rejected his idea about Buddhas regenerative role in respect to Brahmanism. One of the reasons was Gunons concern that the Western mind would not understand the spiritual aspect of Buddhism, only its sentimental part. These developments Gunon stresses are beyond Ossendowskis and Saint-Yves individualities and even beyond Gunons individuality. In 1940, reviewing one of Coomaraswamys articles, Gunon writes about the mysterious city of Shambhala and its king Kalki (tudes sur lHindouisme, p. 246). At the same time, he specifies that the Center of the World (the Earthly Paradise), regardless of its various locations during the ages, remains always a polar center (in a symbolic sense) (Gunon, Roi, p. 74); this remark alludes to Shambhala, supposedly located at the North Pole, but indicates that symbolically Agarttha is also a polar city. Gunon also wrote that, before being named Paradsha, the center was called Tula (Roi, p. 83). Maybe not without reason in the first two editions of Le Roi du Monde the chapters did not have titles, the book being written in the manner of a fairy tale.

spiritual center, hidden from the profane eyes. The difficulty is to recognize what, in those traditions, has to be understood literarily, and what presents an exclusive symbolic significance; this is what both Saint-Yves and Ossendowski failed to accomplish; and, however, the latter was incapable to do it; for that reason, some parts of their narrative have the appearance of fantasy. (Hapel 52) In his letters to Vasile Lovinescu, Gunon stresses that Agarttha is the abode of the primordial Tradition (Jan. 1936), and, even though many have been influenced directly or indirectly by Agarttha, no historical character can be designated as a member of Agarttha, those members, like Rosy Cross, never operating in the outside world; never has a member of Agarttha designated himself as such (Aug. 1934). Maybe that is the reason why it is useless to search Gunons spiritual masters. Regarding the Lord of the World, the supreme head of Agarttha, Gunon is very explicit. At the beginning of his book, he defines exactly what this means: the Lord of the World is not an individual, not a historical or legendary character, but a divine principle, a cosmic function. Le titre de Roi du Monde, pris dans son acception la plus leve, la plus complte et en mme temps la plus rigoureuse, sapplique proprement Manu, le Lgislateur primordial et universel, dont le nom se retrouve, sous de formes diverses, chez un grand nombre de peuples anciens. Ce nom, dailleurs, ne dsigne nullement un personage historique ou plus ou moins lgendaire; ce quil dsigne en ralit, cest un principe, lIntelligence cosmique qui rflchit la Lumire spirituelle pure et formule la Loi (Dharma); et il est en mme temps larchtype de lhomme considr spcialement en tant qutre pensant (en sanscrit mnava).26 (Roi, p. 13) One hundred years earlier, Fabre dOlivet wrote the same thing: On entend par Menou (sic) lIntelligence lgislatrice, qui prside sur la Terre dun dluge lautre (Olivet 238). What can be clearer? After defining the Lord of the World, Gunon writes: Dautre part, ce quil importe essentiellement de remarquer ici, cest ce que ce principe (that is, Manu) peut tre manifest par un centre spirituel tabli dans le monde terrestre, par une organisation charge de conserver intgralement le dpt de la tradition sacre, dorigine non-humaine (apaurushya), par laquelle la Sagesse primordiale se communique travers les ges ceux qui sont capables de la recevoir. Le chef dune telle organisation, reprsentant en quelque sorte Manu luimme, pourra lgitimement en porter le titre et les attributs; et mme, par le degr de connaissance quil doit avoir atteint pour pouvoir exercer sa fonction, il sidentifie rellement au principe dont il est comme lexpression humaine, et devant lequel son individualit disparat. Tel est bien le cas de l Agarttha, si ce centre a recueilli, comme lindique Saint-Yves, lhritage de lantique dynastie solaire qui faisait remonter son origine Manu du cycle actuel.27 (Roi, pp. 13-14)
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The title Lord of the World, Gunon writes, at its highest level, applies to Manu, the universal and primordial Legislator. Manu is not an ordinary individual or a legendary character; what he really designates is a principle, the cosmic Intelligence that reflects the pure spiritual Light; he also is the prototype of the humankind. Manu, this principle, Gunon writes, manifests itself through a spiritual center established in the terrestrial world, through an organization charged to preserve the sacred tradition of non-human origin. The head of such an organization, representing somehow Manu himself, can have his title and attributes; even more, due to his

The last quotation, even though affirms that Agarttha is the spiritual center through which Manu, the supreme principle, manifested himself in our terrestrial world, doesnt suggest that we can discover this center on a profane geographical map. This spiritual center Gunon writes is beyond our terrestrial world (the world of changes), that is why the flood couldnt reach the Earthly Paradise; this center is at the border between Heaven and Earth, on top of the Mount of Purgatory (Roi, pp. 43-4). It was said that nobody in Asia knew anything about Agarttha; but how much is known today about a place called Paradise? Besides the fact that Pallis and others like him came too late into this quest, and were motivated mainly by curiosity, they also did not know how to see. The map of India, for example, shows different regions called Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, all of them appearing as supreme lands, yet in reality they are just projections in the world and shadows of what initially and symbolically meant Paradsha, the supreme center that can be also considered the highest land and thus, situated on the top of Mount Meru. Similarly, Tula, the primeval name of the supreme center, remained in our world, and we find a Thule in Greenland, near the geomagnetic pole, a Tula in Russia, and a Tula in Mexico. The same thing happened to Agarttha. Despite Marco Pallis who stressed that nobody knows anything about this name in India, around 1850, Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya, of a Hindu-Mongolian dynasty, selected a new place for the capital-city of his small province Tripura, situated east of Bangladesh. The name Tripura was derived from a king Tripura found in Mahbhrata or even from tui, water and pra, near, but it is more plausible to consider the Sanskrit meaning of Tripura: The Three Cities, another appellation in the Hindu tradition for the Three Worlds. The name of the new capitalcity is Agartala, and even though, like pradesh, it is no more than an echo of mythical data, the name exists, and in 1951, a hundred years after its birth, when Pallis published his article, it was probably pretty well-known in India. The old capital, Puran Haveli, is now known as the old Agartala. We note, as a curiosity, the statement of Gaudart de Soulages, born in India, at Pondichry, who was very interested in Agarttha, and in 1969, asked a native from the south of India about the location of the mysterious center; the answer was that Agarttha exists and its entrance is near Calcutta, but Soulages understood that it was a symbolic entrance ( Que vous, pp. 110-1; nevertheless, Calcutta is in the vicinity of Agartala). There are not too many data about Agartala, yet in a Bengali book we found some legends about this name. 28 It is said that Agartala was named after a big old tree, Agru (in Bengali; Aquillaria Agollocha in English); in ancient times, the merchants and passersby used to rest under this tree. Another legend suggests that the great king Dangor Fa had a son, Agar Fa, who, inheriting this portion of land, named it after him. A similar legend says that Maharaja Krishna Kishore Manikya himself named the land under the shade of the Agru Tree, Agartala, and he built the city to escape the tumult of the crowded cities. Like in the case of the name Tripura, a folkloric etymology was assumed for Agartala; it is more plausible to consider that Agartala is a reflex of the subterranean center, Agarttha.

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knowledge needed for his function, he identifies himself with the principle, being its human expression. That is the case of Agarttha. Jagadisa Gana-Caudhuri, Agartalara itibrtta (in Bengali), Pharma Keelaema, 1994.