Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Helena Blavatsky, a Russian, a founder of the Theosophical Society, travelled from Adyar to Sri Lanka with Olcott, a fellow founder of the Society. The two of them arrived in the island’s southern port of Galle and embraced Buddhism while kneeling down before the high priest, sending spasms of delight through a public, hitherto accustomed to witnessing white-skinned people only attacking Buddhism.
Blavatsky’s knowledge of occultism attracted, like a month to a flame, the young David Hewavitarne, who was still studying at St, Thomas’, a Christian secondary school. In his “Reminiscences” he recalls that from his early youth he was inclined towards the mystic, ascetic life, and that he was on the lookout for news about Arahants and psychic knowledge.
From many accounts it appears that: Blavatsky 'hypnotised’ the young and agitated mind of Don David. She succeeded in persuading Don Carolis Hewavitarne, the father, to allow the young boy to go with her to India. The future Anagarika Dharmapala was drawn into the world of occultism in Adyar, Madras.
He believed, at the age of 20, like many other Buddhists at the time, that the interests of Buddhism and of the Theosophical Society were identical. These views were later to change as the death of Ms. Blavatsky and Olcott‘s ‘defection’ to Ms. Annie Besant’s theosophy, changed the course of that Society to a pro-Hindu stance.
Unmistakably, next to the Anagarika’s own mother, Mallika Hewavitarane, it was Blavatsky who radically moulded the character of the young reformist, Dharmapala.
For more details see:
https://blavatskyarchives.com/
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=Blavatsky,+H.+P.+(Helena+Petrovna)
· Caldwell, Daniel H (2000). The esoteric world of Madame Blavatsky: insights into the life of a modern sphinx. Theosophical Pub. House. ISBN 978-0-8356-0794-0.
· Cranston, Sylvia (1993). HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 978-0-87477-688-1.
· Lachman, Gary (2012). Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. ISBN 978-1-58542-863-2.
· Meade, Marion (1980). Madame Blavatsky: The Woman Behind the Myth. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-12376-4.