Sorabji J. Padshah
Sorabji Jamaspji Padshah (also known as Sohrab Jamasp Padshah) (1856-1927) was a Parsi and the editor of the Indian Spectator. He was an early member of the Theosophical Society and received a letter from Master K.H. However, he soon lost interest in the Theosophical Society. He was the older brother of another early member, Burjorji J. Padshah.[1]
Personal life and education
Little is known of Padshah's life and early years. He was a resident of Bombay.
Involvement with Theosophical Society
S. J. Padshah became a member of the Theosophical Society soon after the Founders, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, arrived in India. In April, 1880,he was named jointly with A. Gustam as Librarian of the Society.[2] On May 7, 1880, Padshah embarked with the Founders on their first trip to Ceylon, along with Edward Wimbridge, Damodar K. Mavalankar, and Pherozshaw Dhanjibhai Shroff.[3] He went ashore at Tutticorin to return to Bombay by rail.[4] That year he was the Assistant Recording Secretary and was also at one time on the General Council of the TS.[5]
In autumn 1881 he received a letter from Master K.H., who wrote:
Your spirit is undoubtedly most closely akin to and largely vivified by that of poetry, and your intellectual instinct pierces easily into all the mysteries and abysses of nature, often giving a beautiful form, verity and harmony to your verse, as far as I am able to judge of English poetry.[6]
The letter closes with the following words:
Bear with the world of those who surround you. Be patient and true to yourself, and Fate, who was a step-mother to you, my poor young friend, may yet change and her persecutions be changed into bounties. Whatever happens know--I am watching over you.[7]
In that letter the Master also tells him that, after reading one of his poems, he sent it to Mr. Sinnett and asked him his opinion on its merits.[8]
S. J. Padshah was one of the Joint signers of a testimonial sent to the Spiritualist Magazine in London, August 19, 1881, affirming belief in the existence of the Masters of the Wisdom.[9] On August 27, 1881, he published in The Bombay Gazette , a statement entitled "The Theosophists and The Occult World" again vouching for the existence of the Masters and claiming he had seen "more than one of them" and that he was a disciple of Master K.H.[10]
By December 1881, however, Mme. Blavatsky complains because "Mr. Padshah" was acting on behalf of the Society without any permission, initiating members into the Society and keeping the money, and having authoritarian attitudes. She wrote to Mr. Sinnett:
With the exception of once 8 or 9 and at another as many lines, from Koot Hoomi, he never received one word from the Brothers, yet, he lowers down all other fellows and publicly boasted at his lecture Framji Hall — that he was one of the very few favoured ones by the Brothers, namely "Col. Olcott, Mr. Sinnett and himself!!" . . . It is always K. H.'s kindness and extreme tenderness for everything suffering that brings on this. He pitied the Fellow who was disinherited by his Father, and had epileptic fits, and felt miserable and — wrote to him a few lines of consolation, and now, there's the thanks. The Brothers are again and once more brought into ridicule.[11]
There is a reference to "poor Padshah" by Master K.H. in October 1882, who stated: "He is a madcap, yet of excellent heart and sincerely devoted to Theosophy and — our Cause".[12]
According to C. Jinarājadāsa after a few years he lost interest in the Theosophical Society.[13]
Writings
S. J. Padshah wrote several articles in the The Theosophist, as listed:
- "Sonnets" February 1880, p. 112
- "An Indian Patriot's Prayer" February 1880, p. 113
- "Zoroaster" March 1880, p. 135
- "Shelley - An Aryan thinker" April 1881, p. 141
- "The 'Occult World' & the 'Spiritualist', August 1881, p. 230
- "To the Himalayan Brothers" August 1881, p. 245
- "Hymn to Bramh" Supplement Oct 1882, p. 4.
In the Supplement for Nov. 1881 issue, p. 3 there is a notice of a lecture he delivered at the Bombay (Branch) TS.
He also wrote at least one book:
- A Short Essay on Zoroaster: Theosophical Classics: Studies in Zoroastrianism.
Online resources
Articles
- Statement of Mr. S. J. Padshah published by Blavatsky Study Center.
- The Theosophists and "The Occult World" by S. J. Padshah published by Blavatsky Study Center.
- Shelley, an Indian Thinker by Sorabji J. Padshah.
Notes
- ↑ K. J. B. Wadia, Fifty Years of Theosophy in Bombay (Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1931), 5.
- ↑ "Executive Officers for 1880" The Theosophist 1.8 (May, 1880), 214.
- ↑ Anonymous, "The Theosophical Society" The Theosophist 1.9 (June, 1880), 240.
- ↑ H. P. Blavatsky, "The Number Seven and Our Society" The Theosophist 1 no. 12 (September 1880), 311.
- ↑ George E. Linton and Virginia Hanson, eds., Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 241.
- ↑ Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom Second Series No. 77 (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1977), 149.
- ↑ Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom Second Series No. 77 (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1977), 150.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 21 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), ???.
- ↑ Sven Eek, Damodar and the Pioneers of the Theosophical Movement (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1965), 169.
- ↑ Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom Second Series No. 77 (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1977), 149.
- ↑ A. Trevor Barker, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett Letter No. XX, (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1973), 40.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 91 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), ???. See Mahatma Letter No. 91, page 3. It is not entirely clear, however, whether this refers to him or to another Padshah such as Burjorji J. Padshah.
- ↑ Curuppumullage Jinarājadāsa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom Second Series No. 77 (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1977), 149.