Difference between pages "HPB-SB-2-13" and "HPB-Caves-Translator's foreword"

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Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya’s letters from India were originally published under the pseudonym "Radda-Bai" in the newspaper "Moskovskie vedomosti" (“Московские ведомости”, ''Moscow Records'') under the title ''“From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan. Letters to the Homeland”''. Then these letters were republished in the magazine "Russkiy Vestnik" (“Русский вестник”, ''Russian Herald'', 1883, No. 1-7, Appendix) and reprinted as a separate book “''From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan”'', part 1-2 (''Russkiy Vestnik'', Appendix, Moscow, University Printing House, 1883, 411 pp).
  
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style of face, but a shorter nose, and much more the look of an ordinary mortal. The Katie in the picture, loyalty to truth requires me to state, in the very ethereal drapery that veils her exquisitely graceful figure, might be taken for a beautiful houri, but never for a Scriptural angel.
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The second part of the book (7 chapters) was published in the same journal in 1885 (No. 11, pp. 270-299) and 1886 (No. 2, 3, 8) as appendix.
  
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On the frieze, of one of the porticos is inscribed, in Greek:
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Later these letters were published under the same title in A.S. Suvorin Printing House in Saint-Petersburg in 1912.<ref>The full original text in Russian is available in Teopedia: [https://ru.teopedia.org/lib/HPB-Caves]</ref>
  
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{{Style P-Align center|“ πΰρ άσβεστον ”}}
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The first translation of letters was made and published by Helena Petrovna's niece, Vera Johnston (born Zhelekhovskaya) in 1892 under the title ''“From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan”'' (London, Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892, 318 pp). She has translated 22 and a half letters published in the “Russkiy Vestnik”, with small alteration: she has skipped those parts, concerning the author's negative statements about the British in India. Here is what Vera Vladimirovna wrote to her relatives about this translation:
  
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(the unquenchable fire). The Hebrew word “ Esh” on another front signifies “ lightning ” or “ the fire of God,” as Professor Sophocles, of Harvard University, informs me. John King holds in his hands a large, crimson-bound, volume, on which are several inscriptions in gold :
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{{Style P-Quote|To V.P. Zhelikhovsky
  
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{{Style P-Align center|“ Α Ω ”}}
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[First half of September 1891, London]
  
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“To my best medium”; something that Prof. Sophocles thinks to be the Hebrew word “Shem,” “the name,” (meaning «God.”) Under this the sign Libra; then what Prof. Sophocles supposes to be Egyptian hieroglyphics, of which he could decipher only the letter M ; ending with the Hebrew letter S.
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“… I am translating ''From the Caverns and Wilds'' rather slowly. I will give it to the Countess to be published as a separate book ... I omit a lot. All attacks on the British in India and their police.” }}
  
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Standing against the balcony are the two pillars of Solomon’s Temple, so familiar to the Masonic fraternity, on which Hebrew words (“Jachin” and “Boaz,” no doubt) are inscribed. Between them are a double triangle, and a ''croix cramponee'' (Solomon’s seal and Thor’s hammer, an ancient Scandinavian emblem, says Prof. Sophocles.)
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Actually there were few omitions.
  
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From recent information, I have reason to believe that John King is dissatisfied with these partial explanations, declares that the whole of these mystic symbols, taken together, have a definite meaning, and invites me to “try and find it out,’’ which I despair of doing, being no antiquarian or Orientalist.
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{{Style P-Quote|To V.P. Zhelikhovsky
  
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Several artists who have examined the picture have expressed themselves as puzzled to know by what process it could have been painted on the satin.
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September 18 [1891, London]
  
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The circumstances under which the picture was executed are stated in a letter to me from Col. Olcutt, from which I take the liberty of extracting the following:
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“... I have already translated 3 chapters of ''Caves and Wilds''. I like working on it and it is pleasant.”
  
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{{Style P-Align right|{{Style S-Small capitals|Philadelphia}}, April 20, 1875.}}
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To V.P. Zhelikhovsky
  
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{{Style S-Small capitals|Dear General:}}
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October 5 [1891, London]
  
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In reply to your postal card, as well as to your letters to Madame de B., which she has shown me, I give you the following explanation of the way in which the John King picture was done :
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“... The translation of ''Caves and Wilds'' is advancing little by little. From July to October, I wrote so much that I can't translate more than 4-5 pages a day, I'm tired.”
  
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By John King’s request, Madame de B. bought some fine satin, and a piece of the required size was tacked on a drawing-board. Dry colors, water, and an assortment of brushes were provided and placed in the room devoted to the spirits, and the whole left there over night, covered with a cloth. In the morning the whole upper portion of the picture and John's face were found traced in faint outline; the spirit figures were surrounded with a faint body of color, which formed the outlines, as you see them now, without the usual single sharp lines of the pencil. When Madame de B. sat down at the table, John told her to begin the wreath of flowers and the vines which form the perpendicular supports of what may be called the central panel. Dissatisfied with her work, he bid her go away, after covering the satin, and when he called her back, she found that he had laid in the outlines of the perpendicular foliage and the marble balcony upon which he stands. She then went to work upon the large wreath below the latter, and thereafter confined herself exclusively to that, John doing everything else himself—piecemeal, sometimes by day and sometimes by night. I was in the house most or this time, and on more than one occasion sat near her while painting, and with her stepped out for a few minutes while the spirit artist drew some portion of the picture beneath the cloth that was spread over its face. The Greek and Hebrew words and the cabalistic signs were put in last of all.
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To V.P., N.V., E.V. Zhelikhovskys
  
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You may properly estimate the favor done you when I tell you that the Madame has vainly begged John to do something like this for her, for years past.
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[October 10, 1891, London]
  
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Col. O. adds some particulars within his own personal knowledge, which enable him to “certify to the impossibility of Madame B.’s having drawn the charming figures which appear on the John King picture.”
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“... I have found a long-distance assistant through the Countess, Mr. Staples, a writer living outside the city whom I had never seen. He will correct and rewrite my translation of ''Caves and Wilds'' for publication. I have already sent him 50 pages.”  
  
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And Madame B. writes me herself that, “except the flowers below, and some leaves round the balcony, I did not paint or touch one inch of the picture.”
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To V.P. Zhelikhovsky
  
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Why the spirit “John King” should have bestowed so much time and labor upon this picture, and then present it to one who is a stranger to him and to whom he can be under no personal obligation, I cannot explain except by supposing that an association of spirits is trying, as Katie King expressed it in a note to Robert Dale Owen (People from the Other World, p. 468), “to teach the people of this world they still {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|2-14}}
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December 8 / November 26 [1893, Hallain 378]
  
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[[Category: To be proofread]]
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“In America, they didn’t like ''Caves and Jungles'', because people found that it was impossible to make out, according to the spirit of the style, whether to believe everything or not.” }}
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Who knows, maybe due to such a reaction Vera Vladimirovna did not continue to translate the letters published later. According to her letters, she sincerely loved her aunt, the same patriot of Russia as herself. Moreover it could be that she has encountered some problems with translating names and terms. That is why I paid much attention to this in current edition. Another motivation for me was to recover the original full text and publish it in the public domain.
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As Vera Vladimirovna I was lucky enough to have a long-distance assistant too. I am grateful to the Canadian theosophist Mark Casady for proofreading the translation of Letters 23-29.
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{{Style P-Signature|Olga Fyodorova<br>
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June, 2021}}
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{{Footnotes}}

Revision as of 06:34, 14 June 2021


Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya’s letters from India were originally published under the pseudonym "Radda-Bai" in the newspaper "Moskovskie vedomosti" (“Московские ведомости”, Moscow Records) under the title “From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan. Letters to the Homeland”. Then these letters were republished in the magazine "Russkiy Vestnik" (“Русский вестник”, Russian Herald, 1883, No. 1-7, Appendix) and reprinted as a separate book “From the Caves and Wilds of Hindustan”, part 1-2 (Russkiy Vestnik, Appendix, Moscow, University Printing House, 1883, 411 pp).

The second part of the book (7 chapters) was published in the same journal in 1885 (No. 11, pp. 270-299) and 1886 (No. 2, 3, 8) as appendix.

Later these letters were published under the same title in A.S. Suvorin Printing House in Saint-Petersburg in 1912.[1]

The first translation of letters was made and published by Helena Petrovna's niece, Vera Johnston (born Zhelekhovskaya) in 1892 under the title “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan” (London, Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892, 318 pp). She has translated 22 and a half letters published in the “Russkiy Vestnik”, with small alteration: she has skipped those parts, concerning the author's negative statements about the British in India. Here is what Vera Vladimirovna wrote to her relatives about this translation:

To V.P. Zhelikhovsky

[First half of September 1891, London]

“… I am translating From the Caverns and Wilds rather slowly. I will give it to the Countess to be published as a separate book ... I omit a lot. All attacks on the British in India and their police.”

Actually there were few omitions.

To V.P. Zhelikhovsky

September 18 [1891, London]

“... I have already translated 3 chapters of Caves and Wilds. I like working on it and it is pleasant.”

To V.P. Zhelikhovsky

October 5 [1891, London]

“... The translation of Caves and Wilds is advancing little by little. From July to October, I wrote so much that I can't translate more than 4-5 pages a day, I'm tired.”

To V.P., N.V., E.V. Zhelikhovskys

[October 10, 1891, London]

“... I have found a long-distance assistant through the Countess, Mr. Staples, a writer living outside the city whom I had never seen. He will correct and rewrite my translation of Caves and Wilds for publication. I have already sent him 50 pages.”

To V.P. Zhelikhovsky

December 8 / November 26 [1893, Hallain 378]

“In America, they didn’t like Caves and Jungles, because people found that it was impossible to make out, according to the spirit of the style, whether to believe everything or not.”

Who knows, maybe due to such a reaction Vera Vladimirovna did not continue to translate the letters published later. According to her letters, she sincerely loved her aunt, the same patriot of Russia as herself. Moreover it could be that she has encountered some problems with translating names and terms. That is why I paid much attention to this in current edition. Another motivation for me was to recover the original full text and publish it in the public domain.

As Vera Vladimirovna I was lucky enough to have a long-distance assistant too. I am grateful to the Canadian theosophist Mark Casady for proofreading the translation of Letters 23-29.

Olga Fyodorova
June, 2021


Footnotes

  1. ↑ The full original text in Russian is available in Teopedia: [1]
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