1

“You wander from room to room

hunting for the diamond necklace

that is already around your neck!”

“The intellectual quest is exquisite like pearls and coral, But it is not the same as the spiritual quest.

The spiritual quest is on another level altogether, Spiritual wine has a subtler taste.

The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to the wonder.”

-Rumi

The Travelogue as a Literary Form: Its History and Significance

Travelogues have been popular in the history of world literature. Travel literature, is

travel writing aspiring to literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of

an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called

a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or

may involve travel to different regions within the same country. Accounts of spaceflight may

also be considered travel literature.

Literary travelogues generally exhibit a coherent narrative or aesthetic beyond the

logging of dates and events as found in travel journals or a ship's log.

Early examples of travel literature are Pausanias‟ Description of Greece in the 2nd

century C.E, Petrarch‟s ascent of Mount Ventoux in 1336. Petrarch wrote about his climb and

made allegorical comparisons between climbing the mountain and his own moral progress in

life. His account however expresses the pure pleasure of travelling for its own sake.

Other examples of travel literature include accounts of Aristocrats, clergymen, and

others who in their leisure time, travelled all around Europe to learn about its art and

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architecture. A pioneer of tourism literature was Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). His

essay on the pleasures of travelling titled “Walking Tours” describes the pleasures of walking

in the lap of nature. Apart from these writers, there is Francis Bacon‟s essay “On Travel”,

The Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan which is considered one of the most significant

works of religious English Literature, Ulysses by Tennyson etc. which offer fictional

descriptions of journeys made in life in both the outer world and the inner world.

Travel literature has many sub divisions in which can be included Travelogues,

Fictional Travelogues, Travel writing, Travel Journals and Guide books.

Travelogues are also otherwise called itineraries. They are the recordings of personal

experiences of an author. Early Travelogues were combined with religion as in English

literature; The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer describe the pilgrimage to Canterbury

undertaken by people from different walks of life. These early accounts also include

description of the Buddhist kingdoms by Fahien the Chinese monk. He witnessed these

during his journey to India. There are other writers of travelogues in recent years like, Pico

Iyer, William Dalrymple, and Paul Brunton etc.

Travelogues were among the first bestsellers. In 1727, Daniel Defoe, whose Robinson

Crusoe is considered the first novel written in English, completed the third volume of his

travelogue A tour thro’ the whole island of Great Britain. Samuel Johnson‟s A Journey to the

Western Islands of Scotland was published in 1775, twenty years after his definitive English

dictionary. Goethe‟s description of his Italian Journey, published in 1817, includes his still

quoted awe at Michelangelo‟s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. “Without having seen the

Sistine Chapel,” he wrote, “one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of

achieving”.

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Fictional travelogues make up a large proportion of travel literature. Although it may

be desirable in some contexts to distinguish fictional from non-fictional works, such

distinctions have proved notoriously difficult to make in practice, as in the famous instance of

the travel writings of Marco Polo or John Mandeville. Many "fictional" works of travel

literature are based on factual journeys – Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and

presumably, Homer's Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE) – while other works, though based on

imaginary and even highly fantastic or satirical journeys – Dante's Divine Comedy, Jonathan

Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Voltaire's Candide or Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas,

Prince of Abissinia – nevertheless contain factual elements. Jack Kerouac's On the

Road (1957) and The Dharma Bums (1958) are fictionalized accounts of his travels across the

United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Travel writing is another genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary

places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to

the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious. Travel

writing is often associated with tourism, and includes works such as guide books and reviews,

with the intention to educate the reader about the place, provide helpful advice for those

visiting the place, and inspire readers to travel to a destination.

A guide book is a book for tourists or a traveller that provides details about a

geographic location, tourist destination, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour

guide. Modern travel guides often now take the form of travel websites rather than printed

books.

Travel blogs are online travel journals, sometimes known as travelogs. The first

online travel blog was posted by Jeff Greenwald on GNN, the Global Network Navigator in

1993-1994, describing his journey around the world. (These dispatches formed the basis for

his subsequent book, The Size of the World.

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There are two styles of travel writing,

The factual style of travel writing

The creative non-fiction style of travel writing

Travel articles are distributed into various sub categories under these two styles of travel

writing. Under the factual style of travel writing, the various types are:

Destination specific type is a very traditional style of travel writing also known as the

travel guide. It contains factual information about a destination such as a country, city, or

area. Travel guides contain information about major attractions, accommodations,

restaurants, nightlife, transportation, culture, and other relevant information, often including

rates, hours of operation, as well as contact information. The information is timely and must

be updated regularly. Examples of this type are: Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Frommer's

and Insight Guides.

Event specific type of travel writing is similar to the destination specific type but it

focuses on an event. It details factual information about the event and where it is held

including the attractions, accommodations, restaurants and other information specific to the

event and the area. This type of writing is extremely timely; publications begin planning for it

from 6 months to a year in advance. . Examples of this type have titles like: The Beijing

Olympics 2008, Super Bowl Weekend 2002, etc.

Subject/theme specific travel writing is similar to the destination specific type, but it

focuses on a subject or theme such as golf, diving, camping, trekking, amusement parks, and

heritage sites. Examples of this type are: Golfing in New England, Diving in the Philippines,

etc.

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Reporting is a type of piece which reports on an issue related to a destination,

detailing and explaining the various aspects of the issue without supporting or rejecting any

side. It is a very factual journalistic approach. Issues dealt with include: the environment,

politics, geography, history, and economics. The writer doesn't necessarily need to travel to

the destination, but would need a thorough understanding of the issue and be familiar with the

destination. Much of the information for the piece would come from diligent research

including interviews with experts on the issue.

Service or sidebar travel writing is usually in point or summary form, displayed in

graphic boxes. Sidebars often accompany creative non-fiction travel articles. The information

is gathered through extensive, timely research.

The sub categories or types of the creative non-fiction style of travel writing are listed

below. The spiritual experiences recorded in travelogues fall under this style.

Travelogue is a journal or diary form of approach which gives a vivid account of the

experiences of the writer on the course of a trip. The impressions and feelings of the writer

are the key aspects which have to be taken into account in this type. The writings of Bill

Bryson and Paul Theroux are excellent examples of this type of writing.

Adventure describes that which is unique and something that has never been done

before. Different from the above described themes, it focuses on a specific activity describing

it fully, including background information and preparations along with an in-depth

description of the experience from the writer's perspective. Examples of this type are pieces

with titles similar to: “Surviving the Trek to Everest Base Camp”, “Swimming with Sharks in

Belize” and adventures of a similar kind. Factual information is often included in the sidebar

format.

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Personal experience is a type centred on the experience a writer has had in a

destination. Like a chance encounter a good or even a bad experience. The writer gives a first

person account of feelings thoughts and perceptions. These pieces contain very little

description of the destination as the focus is on the experience of the writer rather than the

destination. Examples of this are pieces with titles similar to: Meeting Royalty in London,

Kindred Spirits found on the Great Wall, etc.

Inspirational kind of travel writing takes the travelogue adventure or personal

experience a step ahead by incorporating a spiritual message or the motivation for change as

experienced by a writer. These pieces are often found in publications geared towards lifestyle

modification and self-help as well as in religious publications. Examples of this type are: A

Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton, and the works of Dalrymple etc.

Essay, similar to the reporting type of factual travel writing mentioned above, this

type covers issues related to a destination, but it is written from the writer's point of view.

The issue is presented along with the writer's theories, views and conclusions. These types of

editorial or opinionated pieces are often published in international journals or news type

publications written by well-known personalities and accredited experts in the field.

Examples for this type are the travel writings in the Sunday Magazine of “The Hindu”, and

various travel magazines and online blogs called “travelogs”.

All the above categories are a result of the extensive study on the genre of travel

writing in the 20th

and 21st centuries. The most popular writer who is widely read in the

present day is William Dalrymple who has written the inspirational type of travel articles in

the form of books. He also contributed to the field of Indian history by writing various books

on India. The other prominent writers of this century are Peter Matthiessen, Jan Morris, who

wrote The Snow Leopard and Journeys respectively. The former gives an account of the

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Himalayan climbing expeditions along with passages of spiritual quest and self-analysis. In

the twentieth and twenty first centuries, the Inspirational travel narratives have become a

prominent part of travel literature. The expeditions undertaken to various countries and

remote places seeking spiritual contentment have found their way into travel literature.

The other well read and popular writers of today‟s travel literature are, Alexander

William Kinglake (1844) who wrote Eothen, Eric Newbee, who wrote A Short Walk in the

Hindukush, John Macphee, Coming into the Country Paul Theroux The Great Railway

Bazaar Bruce Chatwin In Patagonia, Video Night in Khatmandu by Pico Iyer, No Mercy by

Redmond O‟ Hanlon, As They Were by M.F.K Fisher, Down and Out in Paris and London

by George Orwell (1933) etc.

India is home to many ancient religions and also a host to new ones. Followers of all

world religions are present among the peoples of India. Hinduism the direct descendent of

Brahmanism, the Vedic religion of more than 3,000 years ago, is the oldest of the country‟s

religions and has the largest number of followers. This was followed by Jainism and

Buddhism which were established around the same time 2,500 years ago, in North India.

These were followed by Christianity and Islam.

Islam followed two centuries later. Among other arrivals were Zoroastrians and Jews.

The youngest of India‟s religious traditions is Sikhism, the faith first taught by Guru Nanak in

the sixteenth century. It was a part of the Bhakti and Sant Mat tradition which started in South

India and spread its wings towards the North.

Religions influence all the aspects of society. Especially, as Bankim Chandra

Chatterji, put it thus: “with other peoples, religion is only a part of life; there are things

religious and things lay and secular. To the Hindu, his whole life was religion…. All life to

him was religion and religion never received a name from him, because it never had for him

8

an existence apart from all that had received a name.”1 The cultural heritage of India is

primarily rooted in its philosophical and religious beliefs, whose sources lie in the Vedas and

the Upanishads.

From the late 19th century a number of European and Indian scholars started the study

of ancient India‟s history, philosophy, science, religions and literature. This growing

knowledge of India‟s past glory provided to the Indian people a sense of pride in their

civilization. It also helped the reformers in their work of religious and social reform for their

struggle against all type of inhuman practices, superstitions etc.

Some of the religious reforms which took place during this time were focussed mainly

on the reinterpretation of the sacred texts and also in driving away the superstitious practices

which had been under the control of the upper castes.

The Brahmo Samaj was established by Raja Rammohan Roy in 1828. The Brahmo

Samaj was an assembly of all those who believed in a universal religion based on the

principle of one Supreme God. Raja Rammohan Roy condemned idol worship, rites and

rituals. But he never lost his faith in Hinduism and the Vedas. The Brahmo Samaj condemned

caste, untouchability, the practice of Sati and image worship.

Swami Dayananda Saraswathi started the Arya Samaj in 1875. He was born at a

small town in Gujarat in a conservative Brahmin family. His childhood name was Mul

Shankar. He met Swami Vrajanand at Mathura. He became the disciple of Vrajanand. There

he studied Vedas. He devoted his life to the propagation of the Vedas. He wanted to reform

the Hindu Society. According to Dayananda Saraswathi the Vedas contained all the truth. His

motto was “Go Back to the Vedas”.

1Madan,T.N. Religion in India. New Delhi: Oxford UP, 1991. 16. Print.

9

His book Sathyartha Prakash contains his views about Vedas. In the field of religion,

Arya Samaj opposed idol worship, ritualism, animal sacrifice, the idea of

heaven and hell and the concept of fatalism. Dayananda Saraswathi started Suddhi

movement to reconvert the Hindus who had been converted to other religions earlier. By his

efforts, large numbers of people were taken back within the fold of Hinduism.

Another important reformer of the 19th century was Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. He

was a priest in a temple of Kali at Dakshineswar near Kolkata. He had no formal education.

However, he won the hearts of all who gathered around him by his simplicity of character

and homely wisdom. He had deep faith in the basic truth of all religions. He preached the

unity of all religions.

He explained the principles contained in the Vedas and Upanishads through simple

stories, called parables. He stressed that every individual is a part of God. Therefore,

according to him “service to man means service to God.” The credit of propagating his ideas

goes to his great disciple, Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda raised the prestige of Indian

culture and religion in the eyes of the world. His speeches at Chicago in the world parliament

of Religions and other places in the United States of America and the United Kingdom

brought him fame and friends.

The religion of saints already existed by the 19th

century, but in the year 1818, a great

Saint incarnated in Agra, who was called Soamiji Maharaj. He laid the foundation for a new

faith called the Radhasoami Satsang, which was founded on the day of Basant Panchami in

1861.

Its teachings are similar in almost all respects to those of the Religion of Saints as

taught by Kabir Sahab, Paltu Sahab, etc. the Radhasoami Faith is therefore also known

as the Religion of Saints. The teachings of Radhasoami Faith are similar to those of the

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religion of Saints but with a marked difference. The difference consists in the fact that

the message of the Faith is the Message of the Highest Region of the creation, i.e. the

Region of the Supreme Lord. Saints, who came in the past, either did not refer to this

High Abode or referred to it only casually or in an implied manner.2

The Radhasoami Faith, talks about the importance of a living Sant Satguru who is the

incarnation of the Supreme Lord, in achieving the abode of the Almighty. The faith also tells

us that the Supreme Spiritual Current, which emanated from the Supreme Being, would never

turn back and would take abode in one Satguru after another till the entire creation is

redeemed.

India‟s relations with the world date back to pre-historic times. India‟s contact with

the outside world was made possible both by land and sea routes. The earliest travellers to

give accounts of India dated back to the 4th

century. Literature was written in the form of

travel accounts for the very first time. Wanderers and explorers recorded their adventures and

voyages in the form of travel literature.

The Chinese explorer Fahien, who visited India around 410A.D during the reign of

Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya), gives an account of the Himalayas:

From this (the travellers) went Westwards towards North India, and after being on the

way for a month, they succeeded in getting across and through the range of the Onion

mountains. The snow rests on them both winter and summer. There are also among

them venomous dragons, which, when provoked, spit forth poisonous winds, and cause

showers of snow and storms of sand and gravel. Not one in ten thousand of those who

2 Souvenir Agra: Radhasoami satsang sabha, 1961. Print.

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encounter these dangers escape with his life. The people of the country call the range

by the name of "The Snow Mountains”.3

The relations of India with various countries in the West can be analysed separately to

obtain a more clear view as to the mutual influence between the East and the West.

The relation between Afghanistan and India dates back to the Rig Vedic period. The

Indus valley civilization was in cultural and commercial contact with Afghanistan. The

Pashto dialect of the Afghans, both in its vocabulary and grammatical structure is a dialect of

Sanskrit. The region was effectively controlled by the Mauryas and was under the influence

of Brahmanism and Buddhism till the conquest by Islam.

India had ties with Greece for the first time during the sixth century B.C when the

first Greek book about India was written by Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek sea captain, whom

Darius employed to explore the course of the Sindhu. It contained travellers‟ tales. The other

Greek writer to mention India and its products was Hecataeus of Miletus (before 500 B.C).

Apart from these writers, Herodotus (484 B.C) gives a number of details about India. “His

works refer to the voyage of Scylax from the mouth of the Sindhu to the Persian gulf; to the

cotton and bamboos of India; gold digging ants as large as foxes; wool-bearing trees

„surpassing in beauty and in quality the wool of sheep‟; and a number of wonderful myths

about India.”4

Journeys undertaken by spiritual seekers have been recorded in writing by the

travellers and it is in this way, that Ralph Fitch (1583-91) the first traveller from England

gave written accounts about India and created interest among the English to start trade with

3Husain, Juzer Mohammed. “Travellers to Ancient India.” Web. 6 June 2013.

<http://www.geocities.ws/rezuj/ati.html>

4Radhakrishnan.S. The Cultural Heritage of India. Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture,

1937. 152. Print.

12

India. These accounts were followed by those of Thomas Coryate who walked all the way to

India and breathed his last in Surat. The travellers during this time gave accounts of India

through the eyes of a foreigner. These accounts helped the English to establish contact with

the people of India and also to familiarize themselves with the social, cultural, political and

religious customs of the country. Some of the travellers were attracted to the country because

of the richness in tradition and also due to the variety of religious beliefs it had to offer.

Hinduism was the religion which attracted many seekers to India followed by Jainism and

Buddhism.

Traveller Year of visit

to India

Nationality Name of

the Book

Traveller’s Occupation and

Remarks

Hiuen Tsang 629-645 A.D Chinese Si-yu-ki

Among the most well-known

travellers to India, he visited in

the reign of King

Harshavardhan and was the first

foreigner to give the written

account of Kumbh Mela in his

time.

Sulayman Tajir [

916]

851A.D Arab Akhbar Al-

Sin Wa'l-

Hind

Was a merchant by profession and

fortunately wrote the observations

and experiences in his book. He

Went on to become the first writer

to give in depth information of

India.

13

Ibn-Batuta

[1304 –1368]

12 Sept 1333

to 1342 A.D

Moroccan Rehla

Travelogue

This Moorish traveller stayed in

India for nearly nine years and is

probably one of the few early

travellers who travelled the length

and breadth of India and gave a

vivid account of the places he

visited. His book is written in

1357, four years after completing

his travels in 1353, when he

reached his native homeland.

Interestingly, he left Delhi as the

ambassador of the Sultan

Mohammed – Bin – Tughluq to

China. He travelled an estimated

75,000 miles.

Kamaluddin

Abdur Razzaq

1441-1444

A.D

Afghan or

Central

Asian origin

Matla`I-

Sa`dain

Was sent by Timur‟s son Shah

Rukh and returned to Herat in

1444

Marco Polo

[1254-1324]

Circa 1293-94

A.D

Italian "The

Travels of

Marco

Polo", first

published

in French

When he was 17, he went to

China with his father and left in

1292. From Sumatra via a ship he

came to South India and then

came overland later leaving for

Tabriz, Iran. When on his death

bed, he said "I didn't tell half of

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what I saw, because no one would

have believed me."

Ralph Fitch 1583-91 A.D English The first serious traveller from

England to have written accounts

about India. Credit goes to him

for creating interest among the

English to start trade with India.

John

Mildenhall

1599-1606

A.D

English A commercial minded traveller

who seriously tried to get trade

concessions from Mughal

Emperor Akbar for the English

merchants.

Probably the first English to

marry an Indian woman and have

children, a girl and a boy from

this union. His grave is in Agra.

Thomas

Coryate

1615-17A.D English The famed leg stretcher who

walked all the way to India, and

breathed his last in Surat.

J.B.Tavernier 1641-67 A.D French Six

Voyages

A Diamond merchant by business,

he has written one of the most

thorough accounts. He had also

met F. Bernier, with whom he

went up to Bengal.

Niccolai 1653-1708 Venetian Storia do Ran away from Venice at age 14,

15

Manucci A.D

or by other

accounts death

is in 1717

Mogor and at age 16 arrived in Surat.

Joined Dara Shikoh as an artillery

man and accompanied him to

Multan and Bhakkar. Post Dara‟s

execution by Aurangzeb, he

became an artillery captain, an

ambassador and finally foreign

correspondent and interpreter for

his English masters. Died in

Madras in 1717. His book is

written in a mixture of Italian,

French and Portuguese

Joan De

Thevenot

1666-67 A.D French He came to Surat in 1666 and left

for Iran in 1667, where he

breathed his last in a small town.

One of the biggest monumental

works of Mughal India, including

minute details of people and

culture was reported by him.

Dr. John Fryer 1672-81 A.D English Visited India and Iran in his nine

years of travels. Has given vivid

details of the city of Bombay and

Surat.

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(TABLE-1)5

Many people over the centuries undertook journeys to India. It came under longer,

stronger cultural influences from Europe than any other Asian country. More was

written about it than any other; more was known about it. Foreign writers (from a

number of nations) produced more literature about India than Indians did. Its

differences and oddities, so often described, became slightly devalued by time. So did

the literature about it.6

India, attracted many spiritual seekers due to the presence of many Yogis and Rishis.

As a travel destination, it was popular for its diverse cultural heritage and natural beauty. Its

beauty was praised by the foreign dwellers and some of the most popular destinations were

the southern parts of India, with their scenic beauty, and also the hill stations located in the

Northern regions.

Among the spiritual seekers, were mostly the international members of the various

societies formed in India like the Arya Samaj, Theosophical society etc. They undertook

journeys to India to study the hidden secrets which were ingrained into the highly

philosophical scriptures of ancient India. The European mind was in search of tranquillity

which was growing scarce day by day with the advent of science and technology. The West

was losing faith and belief in the Almighty.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky born on 31 July (12 August new style), 1831, at

Yekaterinoslav (from 1926 Dnepropetrovsk) was a Russian-German occultist. She had by

lineage royal blood in her family. H.P. Blavatsky‟s great grandfather, Prince Pavel 5 Husain, Juzer Mohammed. “Travellers to Ancient India.” Web. 6 June 2013.

<http://www.geocities.ws/rezuj/ati.html>

6Jinarajadasa. C. The Meeting of the East and the West. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1921. Print.

17

Vasilyievich Dolgorukov (1755–1837) was a Major General during the reign of Ekaterina the

Great. He was decorated with the highest army award, the Order of St. George and was a

companion in arms of Kutuzov. Princess Helena Pavlovna, H.P. Blavatsky‟s grandmother,

was a daughter of Pavel Vasilyievich and Henrietta Adolfovna. She received a versatile home

education, spoke five languages, and focused her studies in Archaeology, Numismatics, and

Botany. In an excerpt from her biography written by H.F. Pisareva, Nadejda Andreevna

Fadeyeva, Helena‟s aunt, remembered the following:

She was trained as a girl from good family … extraordinary wealth in the form of her

intellectual faculties, fineness and quickness of thought, amazing understanding and

learning of most difficult disciplines, unusually developed mind together with

chivalrous, direct, energetic and open character – this is what raised her so high over

the level of conventional society and could not help attracting the common attention

and therefore the envy and hostility from those who with their nonentity cannot stand of

lustre and gifts of this wonderful nature”7

During the course of her journeys which were often many, Helena Blavatsky met an art

student named Albert Rawson in Cairo who recollects from memory these words of

Blavatsky "This work is not mine, but he who sends me." Her mission was spiritual and for

the greater good as opposed to being personal. In 1851, on her birthday (12 August),

Blavatsky met her Teacher for the first time in Hyde Park in London. Previously, she had

seen this Teacher in her dreams. Countess Konstanz Wachtmeister, widow of the Swedish

ambassador at London, remembered the details of this conversation in which Blavatsky's

Teacher said that he needed her participation in the work he was going to undertake and she

would live three years in Tibet to prepare for this important mission. In 1852 Blavatsky

7 Zhelihovsky,Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1971. 194-195. Print.

18

arrived in India, where she remembered, "I lived there about two years and received money

monthly from an unknown person.”

In 1856, Blavatsky‟s memories about living in India were published in the book From

the Caves and Jungles of Hindustan. The book was composed of essays written from 1879 to

1886 under the pen name "Radda-Bay". In Russian, the essays were first published in the

newspaper Moskovskie vedomosti, which was edited by Mikhail Katkov. The essays attracted

great interest among the readership, so Katkov republished them as an attachment to Russkii

vestnik and then published new letters written specially for this journal. In 1892, the book

was partially translated into English; in 1975 it was fully translated into English.

Blavatsky wrote her well known books of theosophical thought, The Voice of the

Silence (1889), The Secret Doctrine (1888), The Key to Theosophy (1889) in London.

Blavatsky helped found the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875 with the motto,

"There is no Religion higher than Truth". Its other principal founding members include Henry

Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–1896). After several changes and

iterations its declared objectives became the following:

1. To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of

race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.

2. To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science.

3. To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man.

Apart from the theosophical society which preached Universal Brotherhood and also

the concept of the existence of a single Supreme power, there was another society formed

parallel to it. It was the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in the same year

as the Theosophical society. It was suggested to unite the two societies, and the proposal was

accepted at a meeting of the Theosophical Society on May 22, 1878 in New York.

19

The Thesophical Society changed its name to the Theosophical Society of the Arya

Samaj of Aryavarta. In December 1878, Blavatsky and Olcott travelled to Mumbai, where

they arrived in February 1879. They met Hari Chand Chintamani, and founded the first

theosophical lodge in India. They moved the headquarters of the society to Mumbai. There

were however tensions between the two societies, and on March 26, 1882 Dayananda spoke

about the Humbuggery of the Theosophists, Olcott replied to Dayanand‟s charges in The

Theosophist in July 1882 in an article titled Swami Dayanand's Charges. This led to a

difference of opinion and the two societies lost their collaborative existence.

On 8 May 1891 Blavatsky died after she fell ill. Her body was cremated at Woking

Crematorium and the ashes were divided between three centres of the theosophical

movement: London, New York and Adyar (near Madras). The day of her death is observed

by the followers as “Day of the White Lotus”.

Paul Brunton, born in 1898 in London was originally named Raphael Hurst. He

changed his name during his journalistic days and it came to stay. He served in a tank

division during the First World War, and later devoted himself to mysticism and came into

contact with Theosophists. Bruton met the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram and he was

directed to meet Sri Ramana Maharshi. Brunton's first visit to Sri Ramana's Ashram took

place in 1931. During this visit, Brunton was accompanied by a Buddhist Bhikshu, formerly a

military officer but later known as Swami Prajnananda, the founder of the

English Ashram in Rangoon. Brunton asked several questions, including "What is the way to

God-realization?" and Maharshi said: "Vichara, asking yourself the 'Who am I?' enquiry into

the nature of your Self."

He introduced the teachings of the Maharshi to the West through his books A Search

in secret India and The secret Path. His other books include The Spiritual Crisis of Man, A

Search in Secret Egypt and A Hermit in the Himalayas. All these books are centred on the

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experiences he encountered in India and Egypt. Brunton is known for his journeys across

major continents in search of people of high spiritual attainment regardless of tradition. “Like

the geographers before him Paul Brunton („P.B.‟ to his friends) contributed to a new and

vitally important mapping of the world- a map of the spirit, of the greater and smaller

traditions, and of their leaders.”8 Timothy Smith recollects his meeting with Paul Brunton in

Switzerland.

I entered the study to find a diminutive man reclining on a vivid orange couch, propped

up on pillows reading A Search in Secret Egypt. “You‟ll have to forgive me,” he said,

“I must find out how this book comes out.” Too nonplussed to make a remark, I knelt

on the floor for some time. Gradually a great peace and joy began to fill me. I felt

absolutely wonderful and had the sense that I could never desire anything again, except

to be in that room, with PB. I didn‟t stop being tired, and I still wondered about his

remark concerning a book he himself had written, but I had no doubt that I was in the

presence of something I‟d never encountered before.9

He is also well acknowledged in the West for providing the teachings of the East in as

simple a language as possible. He was regarded as a mystic and had many followers in the

West who worshipped him as a teacher (Guru). Paul Brunton died in Switzerland in the year

1981.

William Dalrymple is one of the most popular travel writers and historian of the 21st

century. He was born on 20th

March 1965 in Scotland; He was educated at Ampleforth

College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was first a history exhibitioner and then a

senior history scholar. Dalrymple has lived in India on and off since 1989 and spends most of

8 Brunton. Paul. A Search in Secret India. London: Random House, 1934. Introduction. Print.

9 Smith Timothy. Conversations and recollections of P.B. 14 August 2013.

<http://www.paulbrunton.org/meetings-with-pb.php#smith>

21

the year at his Mehrauli farmhouse in the outskirts of Delhi, but summers in London and

Edinburgh.

His first three works were travel books based on his journeys in the Middle East, India

and Central Asia. His early influences included the travel writers such as Robert Byron, Eric

Newby, and Bruce Chatwin. More recently, Dalrymple published a book of essays about

current affairs in South Asia, and two award-winning histories of the interaction between the

British and the Mughals between the eighteenth and mid nineteenth century. His books have

been translated into more than 40 languages.

Dalrymple is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, The

Guardian, the New Statesman and The New Yorker. He has also written many articles for

the Time magazine. He has been the South Asia correspondent of the New Statesman since

2004. His 2009 book, Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, was published by

Bloomsbury, and went to the number one slot on the Indian non-fiction bestseller list. Since

its publication Dalrymple has been touring the UK, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia,

Holland and the US. This book was preceded by The Age of Kali which is a compilation of

his experiences in India through various encounters collected in the form of travel articles.

Dalrymple says that from the first time he visited India in January 1984 he has never

wanted to leave. Perennially looking for fresh insights into the past, Dalrymple believes being

in India was the best thing that has happened to him. “Living in India has been so enriching.

If I had maybe five more lives I‟d want to live in India and I‟d find more and more stories to

write about.‟‟10

A friend who was going to India asked if Dalrymple would like to go along. “And at the last

minute, just like that, I agreed,‟‟ he says. “It must have been a mixture of extreme strangeness

10

Raj, Anand. “William Dalrymple: If I had five more lives, I‟d live them all in India”. Friday. March 1, 2013.

Google Web Search. 14 August 2013.

22

and familiarity – the latter a result of the colonial rule – that I jumped at the chance to go

along to India.‟‟ “I‟ve never looked back… never really left India,‟‟ he says. “I am obsessed

with the country and just cannot think of living anywhere else,‟‟ says the author who is a

major force behind the highly respected Jaipur Literature Festival.11

Dalrymple has been a recipient of many prestigious awards which include Thomas

Cook Travel Book award for The City of Djinns. The Age of Kali (1998) won the 2005 French

Prix d' Astrolabe, White Mughals: Love & Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India (2002) won

the 2003 Scottish Book of the Year Prize. Dalrymple received an Honorary Doctorate of

Letters, Honoris Causa, from the University of Lucknow in 2007 "for his outstanding

contribution in literature and history.”

Dalrymple is currently one of the co-founders and co-directors of the annual Jaipur

Literature Festival. In 2012 he was appointed Whitney J. Oates Visiting Fellow in the

Humanities by Princeton University.

In a recent newspaper article, he argued that the future of the form of travel writing

lies not in "the epic journeys, often by young men, conveying the raw intoxication of travel

during a moment in life when time is endless, and deadlines and commitments are non-

existent". Instead, it lies in the writings of "individuals who have made extended stays in

places, getting to know them intimately".12

The printing press changed the travelogue. Travel itself had changed: by the middle of the

nineteenth century, steamships were chugging between continents and rail networks were

speeding out across Europe and North America. . By 1772, people were talking about tourists

and, by 1811, tourism. Thomas Cook founded his company in 1841. In 1869, he escorted

paying guests on a cruise along the Nile and in 1874; he started issuing traveller‟s cheques.

11

Ibid. 12

Nicoll, Ruaridh. “Nine Lives by William Dalrymple” The Observer Sunday, 4 October, 2009. Google Web

Search. 10 August 2013.

23

The modern travel industry had been born, and with every passing year people travelled

longer distances with great ease.

Journeys have helped nations to establish relations globally. With the advent of new

theories in the literary field, travel writing is increasingly gaining recognition. With the

publication of Edward Said‟s Orientalism, and other fields of literary studies, like Post-

colonialism and most notably Comparative Literature, The study of travel writing developed

most extensively in the 1990‟s. The first international travel writing conference, “Snapshots

from Abroad”, organized by Donald Ross at the University of Minnesota in 1997, attracted

over one hundred scholars and led to the foundation of the International Society for Travel

Writing (ISTW). The first issue of Studies in Travel Writing was published the same year,

edited by Tim Youngs.

The field has expanded to accommodate television shows featuring travel experiences

and tours by culinary experts discovering the cuisine of various countries. Like the Chinese

show, called “Travelogue” where each episode features a host who travels with a camera

crew to a new destination in China or around the globe and experiences the sights, sounds,

and culture that the location has to offer. The show often takes the viewers beyond popular

tourist destinations in order to give a more authentic and in depth look at local culture.

Another of the nineteenth century‟s new technologies that transformed both how we

travel and the travelogue was photography. The first photograph was taken in 1826. By 1849,

men were lugging camera equipment out of Europe, to document the world‟s most beguiling

sights.

“Maxime Du Camp was among them. He travelled through Syria, Palestine, Egypt

and Nubia with Flaubert, taking photographs as a substitute for sketches. “I had realised on

my previous travels,” he said, “that I wasted much valuable time trying to draw buildings and

24

scenery I did not care to forget…I felt I needed an instrument of precision to record my

impressions.”13

Travelogues progressed along a more or less linear path in the twentieth century.

Although aeroplanes brought a new kind of fragmentation and the size of the travel industry

ballooned, great writers continued travelling and, in magazines, a new, glossy format for

descriptions and photographs from a journey was found. The twenty first century has been far

more disruptive. The first blogs led quickly to the first travel blogs. The Odyssey is still

widely read, almost 3,000 years after it was first composed, and Marco Polo is perhaps the

most famous man of not just his generation, but an entire era. Brave journeys and great travel

stories live on, perhaps forever.

13

Manley, Iain. “On Travelogues.” Old World Wanderings. 2011. Web. 6 June 2013.

<http://www.oldworldwandering.com/on-the-travelogue/>