Agartha

Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti,^[1] Agarta or Agarttha) is a legendary city that is said to be located in the Earth's core.^[2] It is related to the belief in a hollow Earth and is a popular subject in esotericism.^[3]

History

Nineteenth-century French occultist Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre published the first "reliable" account of Agartha in Europe.^[4] According to him, the secret world of "Agartha" and all of its wisdom and wealth "will be accessible for all mankind, when Christianity lives up to the commandments which were once drafted by Moses and God," meaning "When the Anarchy which exists in our world is replaced by the Synarchy." Saint-Yves gives a lively description of "Agartha" in this book as if it were a place which really exists, situated in the Himalayas in Tibet. Saint-Yves' version of the history of "Agartha" is based upon "revealed" information, meaning received by Saint-Yves himself through "attunement."

The explorer Ferdynand Ossendowski wrote a book in 1922 titled Beasts, Men and Gods. In the book, Ossendowski tells of a story which was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom which exists inside the earth. This kingdom was known to the Buddhists as Agharti.^[5]

Connections to mythology

Agartha is frequently associated or confused with Shambhala,^[6] which figures prominently in Vajrayana Buddhism and Tibetan Kalachakra teachings and revived in the West by Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. Theosophists in particular regard Agarthi as a vast complex of caves underneath Tibet inhabited by evil demons called asuras. Helena and Nicholas Roerich, whose teachings closely parallel Theosophy, see Shambhala's existence as both spiritual and physical.^[7]

In modern media

Music

• In 1975, the Jazz musician and composer Miles Davis released a live album entitled Agharta, based on a performance at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan in February of that year, on the Columbia Jazz imprint.^[8] Allmusic describes it as 'the greatest electric funk-rock jazz album ever made - period'^[9]
• On his 1987 album Shoulda Gone Before I Left, vocalist/guitarist Ike Willis includes a tune entitled "Hollow Earth," in which he mentions "Aghartha."
• Experimental Doom metal band Sunn O))) recorded a track titled "Aghartha" on their 2009 record Monoliths & Dimensions.^[10] They also have a live album called Agharti Live 09-10.
• In 1998 Electro musician Afrika Bambaataa and German DJ WestBam released the single "Agharta - The City Of Shamballa (Subterranean World)" ^[11]
• Head of Wantastiquet, the solo project of Paul LaBrecque, included a track entitled "Return To Agharti" on the album^[12] in 2010.
• ZUN released "Wind of Agartha" as part of his album Neo-traditionalism of Japan, on August 11, 2012.^[13]
• In 2012, Italian DJ Congorock released a song called "Agarta" along with "Monolith" on Ultra Records.^[14] The songs were both featured on the compilation album "Cavo Paradiso" which was mixed by fellow Italian DJ, Benny Benassi.
• In 2015, American Doom Metal Band The Sword released an instrumental song titled "Agartha" on their album High Country^[15]

Video games

• The 2012 Funcom game The Secret World features Agartha as the open region of the hollow Earth and home to the giant World tree, maintained in a warmer environment by the bees which nest in it, whose many branches reach off in different directions providing portals to different locations (and times) across the surface world.
• The video game Final Fantasy IV features an above-ground city, Agart (a reference to Agartha), which leads to a subterranean world.
• The game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow includes Agharta as an advanced but now dead civilization; their surviving technology plays an important role in the game.
• The video game Dominions 3: The Awakening and its sequel Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension include Agartha as one of the playable civilizations, a group of giants who dwell underground.
• The video game Call of Duty: Black Ops includes Agartha as in the main Easter Egg in the map Shangri-La, where the two explorers get lost looking for it and stuck in Dr. Richtofen's tomb.
• The video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II includes a reference to Agartha as an Easter egg within the fourth zombies map, "Buried" and in the fifth map "Origins" where it is referenced that Samantha is trapped in Agartha (Not to be confused with 'The Crazy Place').

Film and Television

• In Makoto Shinkai's 2002 Original Video Animation Voices of a Distant Star, Agartha is the name of fictional fourth planet of the Sirius System.
• Shinkai's 2011 anime film Children Who Chase Lost Voices takes place in Agartha, which is depicted as a land where various tribes of semi-advanced humans live alongside gods who have retreated from the surface world.
• In Season 3 of Sanctuary (TV Series), under the Tibetan Himalayas, Helen Magnus and her team discover the entrance to Hollow Earth. It is never called "Agartha" by name, but the location and various other parallels hint at definite influences.

Literature

• In 1989, Argentinian writer Abel Posse wrote a novel based on the search of this mythic city for a Nazi agent.
• The novel Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco discusses Agartha multiple times in the context of the main characters' preoccupation with esotericism.
• References to Agartha appear in Mike Mignola's B.P.R.D. series of comics.
• Agharti is a common topic in Italian series of comics Martin Mystère.
• The Illuminatus Trilogy, a novel by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, includes Agartha in its plot.

References

1. Ossendowski, Ferdinand; Palen, Lewis Stanton (2003), Beasts, Men and Gods, Kessinger Publishing, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-7661-5765-1
2. Eco, Umberto (5 August 2006). "Commentary: Spheres of influence". The Observer.
3. Tamas, Mircea Alexandru (2003), Agarttha, the invisible center, Rose-Cross Books, ISBN 978-0-9731191-1-4
4. Guenon, Rene (1958), Le Roi du Monde, Gallimard
5. Ferdynand Ossendowski (1922). Beasts, Men and Gods. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.
6. Greer, John Michael (2003), The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN 1-56718-336-0
7. File:"About Shambala" N.Roerich.ogg
8. Chambers, Jack (1998). Milestones: The Life and Times of Miles Davis. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80849-8.
9. Thom Jurek (1975-02-01). "Agharta - Miles Davis | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
10. "Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions - Encyclopaedia Metallum". The Metal Archives. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
12. Dead Seas
13. "Neo-traditionalism of Japan - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more". En.touhouwiki.net. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
14. "Congorock - Monolith / Agartha". Budapest Bonkers. Blogspot. March 21, 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
15. "The Sword - High Country".

External links

• Saint-Yves d’Alveydre and the Agartthian Connection, by Joscelyn Godwin.
• Map/diagram of Agharta and the Hollow Earth, based on writings of Raymond W. Bernard.
• On Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Agharta, Shambhala, Vril and the Occult Roots of Nazi Power, by Joseph George Caldwell.
• "An Algorithmic Agartha"—Essay-Contribution to Culture Machine 16, 2015 (the journal's Special-Issue on Drone Culture).