THE PORTRAIT OF MASTER MORYA THAT BLAVATSKY HAD

 

 

In the spring of 1887, the Sanskrit scholar Charles Johnston visited Blavatsky, who was then living in London, and part of their conversation went as follows:

 

« Madame Blavatsky asked me:

 

-       “What do you think of the red writing?” Referring to the writing of some of the letters that Mr. Sinnett showed me from the Mahatmas.

 

I replied:

 

-       “The red? Oh that is wholly different. It is fierce, impetuous, dominant, strong; it comes in volcanic outbursts, while the other is like Niagara Falls. One is fire, and the other is the ocean. They are wholly different, and both quite unlike yours. But the second has more resemblance to yours than the first.”

 

She said:

 

-       “This is my Master whom we call Mahatma Morya. I have his picture here.”

 

And she showed me a small panel in oils. If ever I saw genuine awe and reverence in a human face, it was in hers, when she spoke of her Master. He was a Rajput by birth, she said, one of the old warrior race of the Indian desert, the finest and handsomest nation in the world. Her Master was a giant, six feet eight, and splendidly built; a superb type of manly beauty.

 

Even in the picture, there is a marvelous power and fascination; the force, the fierceness even, of the face; the dark, glowing eyes, which stare you out of countenance; the clear-cut features of bronze, the raven hair and beard—all spoke of a tremendous individuality, a very Zeus in the prime of manhood and strength. »

(CW VIII, p.399)

 

 

 

 

When a reporter for “The London Star” newspaper in December 1888 described his visit to HPB at the house in London which served both as her home and as the main centre of Theosophical work in England, he mentioned amongst many other things that:

 

« Besides the tobacco box, there is only one other notable object in her sanctum, the portrait of the Mahatma Morya (a descendant, she says, of the old dynasty of the Mauryas), whom she calls her Master, a dark and beautiful Indian face, full of sweetness and wisdom.

 

This seer Madame Blavatsky has seen, she says, at various times in the flesh: in England once, in India on many occasions, and some years ago she went to seek him in the fastness of Tibet, a romantic pilgrimage by no means free from peril, during which she penetrated some of the Buddhist monasteries or Lamaseries, and had converse with the recluses there. »

 

 

 

 

There is a photo taken in 1888 of the room in the house at 17 Lansdowne Road, in London, where Blavatsky lived during her last years (her last year she moved to Annie Besant's house) and in this photo appears the portrait of Master Morya.

 

 

 

About this photo, the researcher Boris de Zircoff said the following:

 

« The view of this room is taken from the corner near H. P. B.’s desk. The little round table was used by her for her frugal breakfasts. The painting of Master M. is most likely the copy made by Hermann Schmiechen from his own original, before the latter was taken by Col. H.S. Olcott to Adyar. Reproduced from an old print. »

(CW VII, p.256)

 

 

 

Indeed, the portrait of Master Morya that appears in Blavatsky's room is very similar to the portrait painted by the German portraitist Hermann Schmiechen in 1884:

 

 

 

 

And therefore we can consider that Blavatsky asked Schmiechen to make a smaller copy of that portrait for her to take with her.

 

 

 

 

We do not know what became of this painting after Blavatsky dead.