Agartha

Agartha (also spelled Agartta, Agharti, Agarath, Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a legendary kingdom that is said to be located on the inner surface of the Earth. It is sometimes related to the belief in a hollow Earth and is a popular subject in esotericism, occultism, and the New Age. The concept was introduced by Louis Jacolliot in his 1873 book ''Les Fils du Dieu'', and was expanded upon by authors Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Ferdynand Ossendowski and René Guénon. Saint-Yves's version of the tale would become the most influential.

Belief

The belief is in a legendary kingdom that is said to be located on the inner surface of the Earth, sometimes involving a "King of the World". It is sometimes related to the belief in a hollow Earth, and is a popular subject in esotericism and occultism. It is also popular in New Age thought. Many theosophy groups or derived groups share a belief in a Grand Lodge of Agartha, which is made up of ascended masters who secretly control the world. The Order of the Solar Temple was one of these, and had belief in the ascended masters living underground in the advanced civilization of Agartha. Notoriously, Solar Temple members ended up committing mass murder-suicide throughout the 1990s, partially rationalizing this as completing the "cycle" started by the Grand Lodge of Agartha. Separately, Dwight York, leader of the Nuwaubian Nation, titled one of his numerous publications ''Shamballah and Aghaarta. Cities Within the Earth''.

Agartha is frequently associated or confused with the Buddhist mythical kingdom Shambhala. In occult thought, they are sometimes conceptualized as being two rival powers, one the "Right Hand Way" and one the "Left Hand Way", with Agartha being conceptualized as the right hand, a land of goodness, in contrast to Shambhala. Where this conceptualization of them as two rival powers comes from is unknown.

History

Writer and occultist John Michael Greer described Agartha as "one of the most remarkable products of occult history—a rich fabric of legend woven out of a mixture of Victorian anthropology, occult politics, and thin air." Agartha's origins can be traced back to Victorian attempts to interpret mythology through a euhemerist lense, seeing them as containing references to hidden past history; due to influence from the racist theories at the time, this was usually taken from ancient Germanic myths. The Agartha myth was created by French writer Louis Jacolliot, introduced in his book ''Les Fils du Dieu'' (1873). Jacolliot was a colonial official in South India, and a writer of many popular books, including a trilogy discussing Indian mythology's relationship to Christianity. In this book, one of the trilogy, he claimed that he had been given access to ancient manuscripts that revealed 15,000 years of Indian history by Brahmin friends of his in Chandernagore, who had told him the story of 'Asgartha'.

Asgartha was said to be an ancient city, the capital of India, that had been destroyed in 5000 BC, shortly before the beginning of the Kali Yuga. He conceptualized the city as ruled by the "Brahmatma", who were the manifestations of God and the chief priests of the Brahmins. His book tells of Agartha's rise and fall. The tale of Agartha has few commonalities with actual Indian mythology, and more similarities to then contemporary theories on prehistory and Norse mythology, and attempts to historicize them. Asgartha, or "Asgarth", is an alternative spelling of Asgard (a location associated with the gods of Norse myth), with an "an" added to make it closer to Sanskrit. ''Les Fils du Dieu'' was popular in France, giving a wide exposure to the Agartha concept. Three years after the publication of Jacolliot's book, an anonymous piece of literature called ''Ghostland, or Researches into the Mysteries of Occultism'', was published, discussing Agartha.

In 1886, the French occultist Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre wrote ''Mission de l'Inde en Europe'', discussing Agartha. Saint-Yves's version of the story would become the most popular and influential. The book discusses how Saint-Yves had allegedly mastered astral travel, and had studied with a man named Haji Sharif (who he claimed was a "high official of the Hindu church", though was actually a parrot shop owner with a Muslim name) who had introduced him to the Agartha idea. In ''Mission de l'Inde en Europe'' Saint-Yves said that he had visited Agartha through astral projection, and gave a detailed description of its marvels. Unlike Jacolliot, Saint-Yves claimed that Agartha was still in existence underground, having moved there at the beginning of Kali Yuga; he described it as an underground city with millions of inhabitants, under absolute rule from a single figure who had magical powers and advanced technology. The exact influence of Jacolliot on Saint-Yves's story is unknown, as it is likely Sharif who introduced him to the concept. The narrative has many commonalities with Jacolliot's original, but with additional concepts taken from the "Mahatma letters" in Theosophy, in addition to the novel '' The Coming Race'' (''Vril'').

In his 1922 book, ''Beasts, Men and Gods'', the Polish explorer Ferdynand Ossendowski relates a story which was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom existing inside the Earth. This kingdom is known to a fictional Buddhist society as ''Agharti''. The idea was expanded upon in René Guénon's works.

Agartha is the subject of Afrika Bambaataa's 1998 song "Agharta (City of Shamballa)". Its music video, directed by Daniel P. Siegler, depicts a future Earth, with an uninhabitable surface and the majority of the population living in slavery in concentration camps, before they are freed by emissaries of Agartha. Dwight York's book on Agartha mimics this music video.

See also

* Hyperborea
* Hades
* Xibalba
* Esoteric neo-Nazism

References

Works cited

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Mythological populated places
Hollow Earth