George Arundale - India

India

The Theosophical Society was closely associated with Indian spiritualism, and was headquartered in Adyar in south India. Another major center of the society was Varanasi, a city held holy in Indian spiritualism. In 1902 Arundale and his aunt moved to Varanasi where he took a position as history teacher at the Central Hindu College (CHC). In 1909, he was appointed its Principal.

During the early 20th-century, many Theosophists believed in the imminent appearance of a messianic entity, the so-called Maitreya or World Teacher. Around this time, a young boy named Jiddu Krishnamurti was "discovered" and identified by leading Theosophists as being the probable "vehicle" of the expected Messiah (Krishnamurti later repudiated the idea). Arundale was selected as one of Krishnamurti's private tutors. He was a firm believer in the Coming of the World Teacher, and in late 1910 formed a clandestine society, the Order of the Rising Sun (later renamed Order of the Star in the East), which was intended to further this cause. Most of the recruits were students and staff at the CHC. There was great commotion when the existence and the activities of the society eventually became public; following opposition to the Order by the school's Trustees and administrators, in 1913 Arundale and other staff members resigned their positions and left the school.

After a holiday in England, he returned to India to devote himself to the activities of the Theosophical Society. He and his aunt settled at the Society's sprawling campus at Adyar in Madras. The Indian Independence Movement was picking up pace during these years, as was a revival of interest and pride in the ancient culture and philosophies of India. The Theosophical Society was supportive of both these currents. In 1917, he was one of a group of Theosophists who, along with Annie Besant, organized the National University of India at Chennai, near the headquarters of the Society. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Chancellor of the University. In June the same year, Arundale was arrested along with Besant and Bahman Pestonji Wadia by the British authorities for having become involved in the Indian Independence Movement.