From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan

From the Caves and Jungles of
Hindostan

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Title: From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
Author: Helena Pretrovna Blavatsky
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FROM THE
CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN ***

[[Transcribed by M.R.J.]]

FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN Translated
From The Russian Of HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY

Translator's Preface
"You must remember," said Mme. Blavatsky, "that I never meant this
for a scientific work. My letters to the Russian Messenger, under the
general title: 'From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan,' were written
in leisure moments, more for amusement than with any serious design.
"Broadly speaking, the facts and incidents are true; but I have freely
availed myself of an author's privilege to group, colour, and dramatize
them, whenever this seemed necessary to the full artistic effect; though,
as I say, much of the book is exactly true, l would rather claim kindly
judgment for it, as a romance of travel, than incur the critical risks that
haunt an avowedly serious work."
To this caution of the author's, the translator must add another; these
letters, as Mme Blavatsky says, were written in leisure moments,
during 1879 and 1880, for the pages of the Russki Vyestnik, then edited
by M. Katkoff. Mme. Blavatsky's manuscript was often incorrect; often
obscure. The Russian compositors, though they did their best to render
faithfully the Indian names and places, often produced, through their
ignorance of Oriental tongues, forms which are strange, and sometimes
unrecognizable. The proof-sheets were never corrected by the author,
who was then in India; and, in consequence, it has been impossible to

restore all the local and personal names to their proper form.
A similar difficulty has arisen with reference to quotations and cited
authorities, all of which have gone through a double process of
refraction: first into Russian, then into English. The translator, also a
Russian, and far from perfectly acquainted with English, cannot claim
to possess the erudition necessary to verify and restore the many
quotations to verbal accuracy; all that is hoped is that, by a careful
rendering, the correct sense has been preserved.
The translator begs the indulgence of English readers for all
imperfections of style and language; in the words of the Sanskrit
proverb: "Who is to be blamed, if success be not reached after due
effort?"
The translator's best thanks are due to Mr. John C. Staples, for valuable
help in the early chapters.
--London, July, 1892

Contents
In Bombay On the Way to Karli In the Karli Caves Vanished Glories A
City of the Dead Brahmanic Hospitalities A Witch's Den God's Warrior
The Banns of Marriage The Caves of Bagh An Isle of Mystery
Jubblepore

FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN By Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky

In Bombay

Late in the evening of the sixteenth of February, 1879, after a rough
voyage which lasted thirty-two days, joyful exclamations were heard
everywhere on deck. "Have you seen the lighthouse?" "There it is at
last, the Bombay lighthouse."
Cards, books, music, everything was forgotten. Everyone rushed on
deck. The moon had not risen as yet, and, in spite of the starry tropical
sky, it was quite dark. The stars were so bright that, at first, it seemed
hardly possible to distinguish, far away amongst them, a small fiery
point lit by earthly hands. The stars winked at us like so many huge

eyes in the black sky, on one side of which shone the Southern Cross.
At last we distinguished the lighthouse on the distant horizon. It was
nothing but a tiny fiery point diving in the phosphorescent waves. The
tired travellers greeted it warmly.