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, Petrarchs 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

architecture. A pioneer of tourism literature was Robert Louis Stevenson (18501894). 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 Bacons essay On Travel,
The Pilgrims 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 Johnsons A Journey to the
Western Islands of Scotland was published in 1775, twenty years after his definitive English
dictionary. Goethes description of his Italian Journey, published in 1817, includes his still
quoted awe at Michelangelos 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 todays 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 countrys
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 Indias 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

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 Indias history, philosophy, science, religions and literature. This growing
knowledge of Indias 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.

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

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

Samaj

opposed idol

heaven and hell and the

worship,

concept

of

ritualism,

fatalism.

animal

Dayananda

sacrifice,
Saraswathi

the

idea

of

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

10

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.
Indias relations with the world date back to pre-historic times. Indias 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

Souvenir Agra: Radhasoami satsang sabha, 1961. Print.

11

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
3

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

<http://www.geocities.ws/rezuj/ati.html>
4

Radhakrishnan.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

Nationality

to India
Hiuen Tsang

629-645 A.D

Chinese

Name of

Travellers Occupation and

the Book

Remarks

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 [ 851A.D

916]

Arab

Akhbar Al-

Was a merchant by profession and

Sin Wa'l-

fortunately wrote the observations

Hind

and experiences in his book. He

Went on to become the first writer
to give in depth information of
India.

13

Ibn-Batuta

12 Sept 1333

[1304 1368]

to 1342 A.D

Moroccan

Rehla

This Moorish traveller stayed in

Travelogue

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

1441-1444

Afghan or

Matla`I-

Was sent by Timurs son Shah

Abdur Razzaq

A.D

Central

Sa`dain

Rukh and returned to Herat in

Asian origin
Marco Polo

Circa 1293-94

[1254-1324]

A.D

Italian

1444
"The

When he was 17, he went to

Travels of

China with his father and left in

Marco

1292. From Sumatra via a ship he

Polo", first

came to South India and then

published

came overland later leaving for

in French

Tabriz, Iran. When on his death

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

14

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

1599-1606

Mildenhall

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

1615-17A.D

English

The famed leg stretcher who

Coryate

walked all the way to India, and

breathed his last in Surat.

J.B.Tavernier

1641-67 A.D

French

Six

A Diamond merchant by business,

Voyages

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

Mogor

and at age 16 arrived in Surat.

or by other

Joined Dara Shikoh as an artillery

accounts death

man and accompanied him to

is in 1717

Multan and Bhakkar. Post Daras

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

1666-67 A.D

French

Thevenot

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.

16

(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. Blavatskys great grandfather, Prince Pavel
5

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

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

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

17

Vasilyievich Dolgorukov (17551837) 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. Blavatskys 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, Helenas 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 nature7
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

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, Blavatskys 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 (18321907), and William Quan Judge (18511896). 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 Dayanands 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

20

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. Youll 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 didnt 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 Id 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 21 st
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

Brunton. Paul. A Search in Secret India. London: Random House, 1934. Introduction. Print.
Smith Timothy. Conversations and recollections of P.B. 14 August 2013.
<http://www.paulbrunton.org/meetings-with-pb.php#smith>
9

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 Id want to live in India and Id 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, Id 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. Ive 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 nonexistent". 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 travellers cheques.
11

Ibid.
Nicoll, Ruaridh. Nine Lives by William Dalrymple The Observer Sunday, 4 October, 2009. Google Web
Search. 10 August 2013.
12

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 Saids Orientalism, and other fields of literary studies, like Postcolonialism and most notably Comparative Literature, The study of travel writing developed
most extensively in the 1990s. 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 centurys 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 worlds 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 forgetI 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/>