Terrence5904 at 11:19, 23 April 2026

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{{Short description|British orientalist (1865–1936)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix = Sir
|name = John Woodroffe
|image = File:Sir_John_George_Woodroffe_in_1928.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = In 1928. Portrait by [[James Lafayette|Lafayette]]
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1865|12|15}}
|birth_place = [[Calcutta]], [[British India]]<ref name="birth">''India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947''</ref><ref>''1881 England Census''</ref>
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1936|01|16|1865|12|15}}
|death_place = [[Beausoleil, Alpes-Maritimes]], France<ref name="times"/>
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates = 
|citizenship = United Kingdom
|other_names = Arthur Avalon
|known_for = ''The Serpent Power''
|alma_mater = [[University College, Oxford]]
|occupation = [[Lawyer]]; [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]]
|parents = James Tisdall Woodroffe, Florence Woodroffe
}}

'''Sir John George Woodroffe''' (15 December 1865 – 16 January 1936), also known by his pseudonym '''Arthur Avalon''', was a British [[oriental studies|Orientalist]] whose extensive and complex published works on the [[Tantras (Hinduism)|Tantras]], and other Hindu traditions, stimulated a wide-ranging interest in [[Hindu philosophy]] and [[yoga]].<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir John Woodroffe |work=[[The Times]] |date=18 January 1936|page=14 }}</ref>

==Life==
Woodroffe was the eldest son of James Tisdall Woodroffe and his wife Florence, daughter of James Hume. James Woodroffe was Advocate-General of [[Bengal]] and Legal Member of the Government of India, a [[Justice of the Peace]], and a [[Knight of St. Gregory]]. John was educated at Woburn Park School and the [[University College, Oxford]], where he took second classes in jurisprudence and the Bachelor of Civil Law examinations. He was called to the Bar by the [[Inner Temple]] in 1889, and in the following year was enrolled as an advocate of the [[Calcutta High Court]]. He was soon made a Fellow of the [[Calcutta University]] and appointed Tagore Law Professor. He collaborated with Ameer Ali in a widely used textbook, ''Civil Procedure in British India''. He was appointed Standing Counsel to the Government of India in 1902, and in 1904 was raised to the High Court Bench. He served there for eighteen years, becoming Chief Justice in 1915. After retiring to England he served as Reader in Indian Law to the [[University of Oxford]]. He died on 18 January 1936 in France.<ref name="times"/>

Woodroffe was married to the concert pianist [[Grimson (musical family)|Ellen Elizabeth Grimson]] from 1902.

==Sanskrit studies==
John Woodroffe's interest in tantra was sparked due to a court case, in which he felt he suddenly could not focus on the facts of the case. After mentioning this to his assistant, he was informed that a "tantrik sadhu" had been hired to perform a mantra outside the courthouse to "cloud his mind" in favor of the defendant. A constable was dispatched who chased the sadhu away. John Woodroffe said that his mind instantly cleared when the sadhu was stopped.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

This event sparked a lifelong interest in tantrik and yoga studies.

Alongside his judicial duties he studied [[Sanskrit]] and [[Hindu philosophy]] and was especially interested in Hindu [[Tantra]]. He translated some twenty original Sanskrit texts and, under his pseudonym ''Arthur Avalon'', published and lectured prolifically on [[Indian philosophy]] and a wide range of [[Yoga]] and [[Tantra]] topics. T.M.P. Mahadevan wrote: "By editing the original Sanskrit texts, as also by publishing essays on the different aspects of [[Shaktism]], he showed that the religion and worship had a profound philosophy behind it, and that there was nothing irrational or obscurantist about the technique of worship it recommends."<ref>T.M.P. Mahadevan, foreword to; Arthur Avalon, ''Garland of Letters'', Ganesh and Company Madras, 6th ed. 1974 p iii.</ref>

John Woodroffe's Sanskrit tutor and "guru" who he retained in order to study tantra, first insisted that he sleep on the floor, or he would be unable to pronounce the Sanskrit properly, due to over-relaxing of the neck. He promptly had his bed removed, and replaced it with a thin mat.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

John Woodroffe's Sanskrit studies led him to become even more precise in his Sanskrit than most native speakers, leaving him in a position to translate the most difficult Sanskrit texts.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Woodroffe was initiated into a yoga lineage similar to that of Lahiri Mahasay, now publicized as kriya yoga.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Woodroffe was believed by his "guru" to be the reincarnation of two somewhat famous persons from Indian history.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

His choice of the name Arthur Avalon was due his initiation into the western equivalent of eastern tantra, the secretive Celtic religion which worships in secret within many British Churches, which has Arthur, with the nine sisters of Avalon in place of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the nine incarnations of Durga, or the ten Mahavidyas as within other tantrik systems.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

==Mahānirvāṇatantraṃ==
Woodroffe translated the Mahānirvāṇatantraṃ from the original Sanskrit into English under his [[pen name]], Arthur Avalon: a play on the magical realm of [[Avalon]] and the young later-to-be, [[King Arthur]], within the story-cycle of tales known generally as [[King Arthur|King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table]]; specifically according to Taylor (2001: p. 148), Woodroffe chose the name from the noted incomplete ''[[Masterpiece|magnum opus]]'', the painting '[[The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon|Arthur's Sleep in Avalon]]' by [[Burne-Jones]].<ref name="books.google.com.au">Taylor, Kathleen (2001). ''Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra and Bengal: 'an Indian soul in a European body?'.'' SOAS London studies on south Asia. Illustrated edition. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-7007-1345-X}}, 9780700713455. Source: [https://books.google.com/books?id=tcykYqIfNqsC&dq=woodroffe+king+arthur&pg=PA148] (accessed: Monday 3 May 2010), p.148</ref> Moreover, Taylor (2001: p. 148) conveys the salience of this magical literary identity and contextualises by making reference to [[western esotericism]], [[Holy Grail]], [[quest]], [[occult|occult secrets]], [[initiations]] and the [[Theosophists]]:
<blockquote>"This is quite important to know, for here we have a writer on an Indian esoteric system taking a name imbued with western esotericism. The name at any rate seems to hint at initiations and the possession of occult secrets. The Arthurian legends are bound up with the story of the Holy Grail and its quest. This was a symbol of esoteric wisdom, especially to Theosophists who appropriated the legend. Anyone who named himself after King Arthur or the mystic isle of Avalon would be thought to be identifying himself with occultism, in Theosophists' eyes."<ref name="books.google.com.au"/></blockquote>

==Bibliography==
His writings (published under his own name, as well as Arthur Avalon) include:

* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20141226044523/https://fr.scribd.com/doc/3009658/Woodroffe-Introduction-to-Tantra-S-astra Introduction to the Tantra Śāstra]'', {{ISBN|81-85988-11-0}} (1913).
* ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/maha/index.htm Tantra of the Great Liberation (Mahānirvāna Tantra)]'', {{ISBN|0-89744-023-4}} (1913).
* ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/index.htm Hymns to the Goddess]'' (1913).
*''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/index.htm Shakti and Shâkta]'', {{ISBN|81-85988-03-X}} (1918).
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QaN8Ix66P-EC The Serpent Power]'', {{ISBN|81-85988-05-6}} (1919).
*{{cite book|title=Hymn to Kali: Karpuradi-Stotra |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/htk/index.htm|year=1922|publisher= Luzac & Co., London}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/worldaspower033188mbp The World as Power]'', {{ISBN|1-4067-7706-4}} (1922).
* ''[http://fr.scribd.com/doc/3009647/Woodroffe-The-Garland-of-Letters The Garland of Letters]''. {{ISBN|81-85988-12-9}} (1922).
* ''Principles of Tantra (2 vols)'' {{ISBN|81-85988-14-5}}.
* ''[https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Kularnava-Tantra.pdf Kularnava Tantra (Introduction by John Woodroffe)]''. {{ISBN|81-208-0972-6}} (1965).
* ''Kamakalavilasa'' by Puṇyānanda.
* ''Bharati Shakti: Essays and Addresses on Indian Culture''.
* ''India: Culture and Society''.
* ''Is India Civilized? Essays on Indian Culture''.

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Sir John George Woodroffe Escutcheon.png
|crest = An open dexter hand between two branches of honeysuckle all Proper.
|escutcheon = Gules on a chevron Argent between three roses of the last barbed and seeded Proper as many stags' heads erased Sable a chief nebuly of the second charged with a trefoil slipped Vert.
|motto = Sit Dux Sapientia
|notes = Confirmed 2 November 1875 by [[Sir John Bernard Burke]], [[Ulster King of Arms]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529194/StaffViewMARC#tabnav |publisher=National Archives of Ireland |accessdate=5 February 2023 |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. G |year=1863 |page=364}}</ref>}}

==See also==
*[[Kali]]
*[[Mantra]]
*[[Yantra]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* ''[https://books.google.com/books/p/pub-4297897631756504?id=3e3_GVggCgUC&pg=PA325&dq=Hinduism Shakti and Shakta]'', by John Woodroffe, Published by [http://www.forgottenbooks.org Forgotten Books], 1910. {{ISBN|1-60620-145-X}}.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books/p/pub-4297897631756504?id=XrAIJR37dJoC&pg=PP7&dq=John+Woodroffe#PPP3,M1 Hymn to Kali:Karpuradi Stotra]'', by Sir John Woodroffe. Published by [http://www.forgottenbooks.org Forgotten Books]. 1922. {{ISBN|1-60620-147-6}}.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books/p/pub-4297897631756504?id=4VUS2Rxmy_QC&pg=PR7&dq=John+Woodroffe#PPR3,M1 Hymns to the Goddess]'', Translated by John George Woodroffe, Ellen Elizabeth (Grimson) Woodroffe, Published by [http://www.forgottenbooks.org Forgotten Books], 1952 (org 1913). {{ISBN|1-60620-146-8}}.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books/p/pub-4297897631756504?id=FYaIQbFtPmYC&pg=PP3&dq=John+Woodroffe Mahanirvana Tantra]'', By Arthur Avalon, 1913,{{ISBN|1606201441}}.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tcykYqIfNqsC&dq=%22Sir+John+Woodroffe%22+death&pg=PA151 Sir John Woodroffe, Tantra And Bengal- An Indian Soul In A European Body?]'', by Kathleen Taylor. Routledge, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7007-1345-X}}.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923082311/http://www.colorado.edu/ReligiousStudies/TheStrip/features/thesis/academics/avalon/wood1.htm Sir John Woodroffe's representations of Hindu Tantra] [[University of Colorado]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923185255/http://users.telenet.be/ananda/jwdrf.htm Woodroffe]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/index.htm Works of sir John Woodroffe] ''Sacred texts''

{{Yoga scholars}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodroffe, John}}
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:English orientalists]]
[[Category:English Indologists]]
[[Category:English Hindus]]
[[Category:British India judges]]
[[Category:English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English judges]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Legal scholars of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Converts to Hinduism]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Yoga scholars]]

John Woodroffe - Revision history

Terrence5904 at 11:19, 23 April 2026