On a
December day in 1877, Colonel Olcott, Mr. Judge, Dr. Marquette and Blavatsky
were talking in the living-room of the Lamasery apartment. The conversation
turned to the supernormal mode of materializing images or writings called precipitation, and William Judge, to
illustrate the matter, asked Blavatsky to create in this phenomenal manner the
portrait of the Yogi Tiravalla, and Blavatsky did so.
Journalist
Alfred Sinnett wrote about this event in his book “The Hidden World”:
« Colonel Olcott told me he took home a piece of note-paper from a club in
New York- a piece bearing a club stamp -and gave this to Madame Blavatsky. She
put it between the sheets of blotting-paper on her writing-table, rubbed her
hand over the outside of the pad, and then in a few moments the marked paper
was given back to him with a complete picture upon it representing an Indian fakir
in a state of samadhi. And the artistic execution of this drawing was conceived
by artists to whom Colonel Olcott afterwards showed it to be so good that they
compared it to the works of old masters whom they specially adored and affirmed
that as an artistic curiosity it was unique and priceless. »
(1969,
p.177)
And in the
second edition of his book “Incidents in
the Life of Madame Blavatsky”, Mr. Sinnett included the testimonies of two
witnesses and the opinion of two prestigious artists:
«
Testimony of William Judge
Mr. Judge
made a special affidavit in reference to this event. And this document is as
follows:
"City and County of New York,
S.S.
William Q. Judge, being duly sworn,
says that he is an attorney and counsellor-at-law, practising at the bar of the
State of New York : that he was present at the house of Madame H. P. Blavatsky,
at No. 302 West 47th Street, New York City, on one occasion in the month of
December 1877, when a discussion was being held upon the subject of Eastern
magic, especially upon the power of an adept to produce phenomena by an
exercise of the will, equalling or surpassing those of mediumship.
To illustrate the subject, as she
had often done in deponent's presence previously by other experiments, Mme.
Blavatsky, without preparation and in full light, and in the presence and sight
of deponent, Col. Olcott, and Dr L. M. Marquette, tore a sheet of common
writing paper in two, and asked us the subject we would have represented.
Thereupon, laying the paper upon the
table, Mme. Blavatsky laid the palm of her hand upon it, and after rubbing the
paper a few times (occupying less than a minute) with a circular motion, lifted
her hand, and gave deponent the paper for inspection. Upon the previously white
surface there was a most remarkable and striking picture of an Indian Fakir,
representing him as if in contemplation. Deponent has frequently seen it since,
and it is now in possession of Col. Olcott.
Deponent positively avers that the
blank paper first taken was the paper on which the picture appeared, and that
no substitution of another paper was made or was possible. Wm. Q. Judge."
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 20th day of March 1878. "Samuel F. Speyer," Notary Public, New
York County."
Testimony of Dr. Marquette
This declaration received
corroborative testimony from another witness, who appends a note as follows:
"The undersigned, a practising
physician, residing at No. 224 Spring Street, in the city of New York, having
read the foregoing affidavit of Mr Judge, certifies that it is a correct
statement of the facts.
The portrait was produced, as
described, in full light, and without there being any opportunity for fraud.
Moreover, the undersigned wishes to say, that other examples of Mme.
Blavatsky's power to instantly render objective the images in her mind have
been given in the presence of many witnesses, including the undersigned, and
that having intimately known that lady since 1873, when she was living with her
brother at Paris, the undersigned can and does unreservedly testify that her
moral character is above censure, and that her phenomena have been invariably
produced in defiance of the conditions of mediumship, with which the
undersigned is very familiar.
L. M. Marquette, M.D."
The opinion of the sculptor William
O'Donovan
So much for the circumstances
attending the production of the portrait; now let us see what are
its artistic merits. The witnesses
are well qualified,— Mr O'Donovan being one of the best known of American
sculptors, and, as alleged, an experienced art critic, and Mr Le Clear
occupying a place second to none as a portrait painter:
"To THE Editor of the 'Spiritualist.'
Sir, — For For the benefit of those among
your readers who may be able to gather the significance of it, I beg to offer
some testimony concerning a remarkable performance claimed by Colonel Olcott
and Madame Blavatsky to have been done by herself without the aid of such
physical means as are employed by persons usually for such an end.
The production referred to is a
small portrait in black and white of a Hindu Fakir, which was produced by
Madame Blavatsky, as it is claimed, by a simple exercise of will power. As to
the means by which this work was produced, however, I have nothing at all to do;
and wish simply to say as an artist, and give also the testimony of Mr. Thomas
Le Clear, one of the most eminent of our portrait painters, whose experience as
such has extended over fifty years, that the work is of a kind that could not
have been done by any living artist known to any of us. It has all the
essential qualities which distinguish the portraits by Titian, Masaccio, and
Raphael: namely, individuality of the profoundest kind, and consequently
breadth and unity of as perfect a quality as I can conceive.
I may safely assert that there is
no artist who has given intelligent attention to portraiture, who would not
concur with Mr. Le Clear and myself in the opinion which we have formed of this
remarkable work; and if it was done, as it is claimed to have been done, I am
at utter loss to account for it. I may add that this drawing, or whatever it
may be termed, has at first sight the appearance of having been done by washes
of Indian ink, but that upon closer inspection, both Mr. Le Cleat: and myself
have been unable to liken it to any process of drawing known to us; the black
tints seem to be an integral part of the paper upon which it is done. I have
seen numbers of drawings claimed to have been done by spirit influences, in
which the vehicle employed was perfectly obvious, and none of them were of more
than mediocre artistic merit ; not one of them certainly could be compared
at all with this most remarkable performance of which I write.
Wm. R. O'Donovan.
Studio Building,
51 West 10th Street, New York.”
The opinion of portrait artist Thomas Le
Clear
"To the President of the
Theosophical Society.
Dear Sir, — My experience has not
made me at all familiar with magic, but I have seen much of what is termed
spiritualistic phenomena; among the latter, so-called spirit drawings, which
were thought by the mediums and their friends very fine, but the best of which
I found wanting in every element of art.
I do not wish to be censorious, but
an experience of fifty years in portrait-painting has perhaps made me exacting,
when it is a question of paintings alleged to have come from a supernatural
source. — This much by way of preface to the subject of my present
note.
I have seen in your possession a
portrait in black and white of an Indian religious ascetic, which is entirely
unique. It would require an artist of very extraordinary power to reach the
degree of ability which is expressed in this work. There is a oneness of
treatment difficult to attain, with a pronounced individuality, combined with
great breadth. As a whole, it is an individual. It has the appearance of having
been done on the moment — a result inseparable from great art. I cannot
discover with what material it is laid on the paper. I first thought it chalk,
then pencil, then Indian ink; but a minute inspection leaves me quite unable to
decide: certainly it is neither of the above.
If, as you tell me, it was done
instantaneously by Madame Blavatsky, then all I can say is, she must possess
artistic powers not to be accounted for on any hypothesis except that of magic.
The tint seems not to be laid on the surface of the common writing paper upon
which the portrait is made, but to be combined as it were, with the fibres
themselves. No human being, however much genius he might have, could produce
the work, except with much time and painstaking labour; and if my observation
goes for anything, no medium has ever produced anything worthy of being
mentioned beside it.
Thos. Le Clear.
Studio Building,
51 West 10th Street, New York."
»
(Chapter
8, 1886, p.201-4)
Regarding
the assessment of this work, an article published in The Bombay Gazette newspaper on March 31, 1879, indicated that:
«
Of one of
his magical pictures – the portrait of an Indian yogi – Thomas LeClear, an eminent American painter, and William R. O’Donovan,
an equally distinguished sculptor, affirmed in a London journal, that no living
artist could, in their opinion, equal it in vigour, breadth, and uniqueness,
while they were both unable to decide upon the nature of the colouring
substance employed in the manner of its application. »
(p.3)
Testimony of Henry Olcott
And about
this event Colonel Olcott wrote the following in his “Old Leaves of a Diary I”:
« Another precipitated portrait, made by H. P. B., I refer to that of an Indian
yogi, which is described in Sinnett's Occult
World and Incidents in the Life of Mme.
Blavatsky; the documents respecting which were originally published in the Spiritualist shortly after the occurrence
of the incident. It happened in this wise:
On my way home to "The Lamasery"
one day, I stopped at the Lotos Club and got some of the club note-paper and envelopes
to use at home as occasion might require. It was late when I reached the house,
and H. P. B. was at the dinner table already, with Mr. Judge and Dr. Marquette as
guests.
I laid the package of stationery on
my desk in the writing-room (between which and the dining-room there was a dead
wall, by the way), made a hurried toilet, and went to my seat at the table. At the
close of the dinner we had drifted into talk about precipitations, and Judge asked
H. P. B. if she would not make somebody's portrait for us. As we were moving towards
the writing-room, she asked him whose portrait he wished made, and he chose that
of this particular yogi, whom we knew by name as one held in great respect by the
Masters.
She crossed to my table, took a sheet
of my crested club-paper, tore it in halves, kept the half which had no imprint,
and laid it down on her own blotting-paper. She then scraped perhaps a grain of
the plumago of a Faber lead pencil on it, and then rubbed the surface for a minute
or so with a circular motion of the palm of her right hand; after which she handed
us the result.
On the paper had come the desired
portrait and, setting wholly aside the question of its phenomenal character, it
is an artistic production of power and genius.
Le Clear, the noted American portrait
painter, declared it unique, distinctly an "individual" in the technical
sense; one that no living artist within his knowledge could have produced.
The yogi is depicted in Samaddhi, the head drawn partly aside, the
eyes profoundly introspective and dead to external things, the body seemingly that
of an absent tenant.
There is a beard and hair of moderate
length, the latter drawn with such skill that one sees through the upstanding locks,
as it were — an effect obtained in good photographs, but hard to imitate with pencil
or crayon.
The portrait is in a medium not easy
to distinguish; it might be black crayon, without stumping, or black lead; but there
is neither dust nor gloss on the surface to indicate which, nor any marks of the
stump or the point used : hold the paper horizontally towards the light and you
might fancy the pigment was below the surface, combined with the fibres.
This incomparable picture was subjected
in India later to the outrage of being rubbed with India-rubber to satisfy the curiosity
of one of our Indian members, who had borrowed it as a special favour "to show
his mother," and who wished to see if the pigment was really on or under the
surface! The effect of his vandal-like experiment is now seen in the obliteration
of a part of the beard, and my sorrow over the disaster is not in the least mitigated
by the knowledge that it was not due to malice but to ignorance and the spirit of
childish curiosity.
The yogi's name was always pronounced
by H. P. B. "Tiravala," but since coming to live in Madras Presidency,
I can very well imagine that she meant Tiruvalluvar, and that the portrait, now
hanging in the Picture Annex of the Adyar Library, is really that of the revered
philosopher of ancient Mylapur, the friend and teacher of the poor Pariahs.
As to the question whether he is still
in the body or not I can venture no assertion, but from what H. P. B. used to say
about him I always inferred that he was. And yet to all save Hindus that would seem
incredible, since he is said to have written his immortal "Kural" something like a thousand years
ago!
He is classed in Southern India as
one of the Siddhas, and like the other
seventeen, is said to be still living in the Tirupati and Nilgiri Hills; keeping
watch and ward over the Hindu religion. Themselves unseen, these Great Souls help,
by their potent willpower, its friends and promoters and all lovers of mankind. May their benediction be with us!
In recalling the incidents for the
present narrative, I note the fact that no aura or spiritual glow is depicted around
the yogi's head, although H. P. B.'s account of him confirms that of his Indian
admirers, that he was a person of the highest spirituality of aspiration and purest
character. »
(Chapter
23)
Blavatsky 's explanation
Blavatsky
explained to Colonel Olcott some aspects of the mechanics of precipitation, and
he revealed them in his “Old Leaves of a
Diary II”:
« In connection with her New York precipitations of the Yogi's and M. A.
Oxon's portraits, the writing of the latter, and other phenomena; she explained
that inasmuch as the images of all objects and incidents are stored in the Astral
Light, it did not require that she should have seen the person or known the
writing, the image of which she wished to precipitate; she had only to be put
on the trace and could find and see them for herself and then objectivate them. »
(1974,
p.366)
Master Kuthumi 's opinion
However, the
process of precipitating a portrait does not seem to be as mechanical as it may
sound in Blavatsky's explanation, and surely the artistic ability of the person
precipitating it, together with his or her occult ability, also influences it.
In one of
his letters to Mr. Sinnett, master Kuthumi praised Blavatsky's hasty works as
follows:
«
She can and did produce phenomena, owing to her
natural powers combined with several long years of regular training and her
phenomena are sometimes better, more wonderful and far more perfect than those
of some high, initiated chelas [disciples], whom she
surpasses in artistic taste and purely Western appreciation of art — as for
instance in the instantaneous production of pictures: witness — her portrait of
the "fakir" Tiravalla mentioned in Hints, and compared with my
portrait by Djual Khool.
Notwithstanding all the superiority of his powers, as
compared to hers; his youth as contrasted with her old age; and the undeniable
and important advantage he possesses of having never brought his pure unalloyed
magnetism in direct contact with the great impurity of your world and society —
yet do what he may, he will never be able to produce such a picture, simply
because he is unable to conceive it in his mind and Tibetan thought. »
(CM
54, p.312)
Disappearance and reappearance
Colonel Olcott
said that this portrait was in his bedroom, but it disappeared from its frame
just before he and Blavatsky left New York for India (December 17, 1878).
But on August
23, 1880, while he, Blavatsky and Damodar were conversing in the Bombay office,
this portrait fell through the air onto the desk at which the colonel was
sitting.
« H. P. B., Damodar, and I were
sitting in the office conversing, when the weird portrait of the Yogi “Tiruvalla,”
which was phenomenally produced for Mr. Judge and myself in New York —and which
had disappeared from its frame in my bedroom just before we left America— fell
through the air on the desk at which I sat. Afterwards a photograph of Swami
Dayinand, which he had given me, fell similarly from space.
In noting the circumstances the same
evening, I wrote that, “I saw the first when it struck a tin box on my desk,
and the second as it was coming obliquely through the air.” Which implies, of
course, that it was not dropped through a slit in the ceiling cloth, as Mme.
Coulomb says it was. »
(Chapter
14)
Who is that character?
Colonel
Olcott speculated that it could be Thiruvalluvar, a celebrated Tamil poet and
philosopher believed to have lived between the 2nd century BC and the 8th
century AD.
Mr. Sinnett
referred to the subject of the painting as "an Indian fakir" but master
Kuthumi refers to that character by putting the word fakir in quotation marks
(indicating that he was not a fakir) and adding the name Tiravalla.
This appears
to be the same name used by Mme. Blavatsky. "Tiruvalla" is the name
of a town in the southern Indian state of Kerala (which is also spelled
Thiruvalla in an alternative spelling) so the subject of the portrait could
well be "the yogi of Tiruvalla".
This portrait
is found in the museum of the Theosophical Society of Adyar:
At the
bottom of the painting there is an inscription that says:
“Ghostland or Land of the Living Brotherhood of T — Which?”
This is a
reference to the spiritualist teaching that the souls of the dead become
"spirit guides" (which Blavatsky calls "ghosts"), and which
is opposed to what is taught by the trans-Himalayan masters (which Blavatsky
relates to "the living Brotherhood of T.") who claim that in reality
the vast majority of deceased humans fall into a deep sleep.
And that T.
may be the initial of the city of Tiruvalla
where the Hindu master Narayan (also known as the "Old
Gentleman" or the Rishi Agastya) is associated with that place.
In a letter
which he sent for publication in The
Theosophist magazine he signed it as "One of the Hindu Founders of the
Mother Theosophical Society" and has as its place of dispatch and date
"Tiruvallam Hills, 17th May" (see
Collected Writings X, p.438).
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