Rosalind Rajagopal

Rosalind Rajagopal

Rosalind Edith Rajagopal, (1903-1996) was a long-time director of the Happy Valley School in Ojai, California, United States, which she founded with Jiddu Krishnamurti (also known as 'K'), Guido Ferrando and Aldous Huxley in 1946.

Through her family's involvement in the Theosophical Society she became acquainted with Krishnamurti and his ailing brother Nityananda Jiddu in 1922, when she was selected to be a companion and nurse to the latter, who died of tuberculosis in 1925. Rosalind developed close ties to the brothers and sometime after her marriage in 1927 to their associate, D. Rajagopal, she and the philosopher Krishnamurti began a long term romantic relationship. This relationship became a source of controversy when it was revealed in a 1991 book ("Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti") written by her daughter Radha Rajagopal Sloss.

She was born Rosalind Edith Williams on June 20, 1903 in Buffalo, New York to John Williams and Sophia Waldow. She was the youngest of four daughters. During the year 1918, Sophia Williams left her husband and moved to Hollywood with her daughters. It was through Rosalind's sister Erma that she met the Theosophist Mary Gray who then enlisted her in 1922 to help with the newly arrived from India Jiddu brothers, who were staying at Gray's estate in Ojai, California. Jiddu Krishnamurti, then twenty-seven years old, was being groomed by the quasi-mystical society to become the 'World Teacher,' a sort of new Christ. Rosalind's close relationship to the brothers lead to her being a witness, along with Nityananda to what has been called K's enlightenment experience in Ojai in 1922.

Because of her special relationship to the Jiddu brothers, Rosalind moved with them through rarefied Theosophical circles, making the acquaintances of Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and authors Emily and Mary Lutyens. She accompanied the brothers to India and Australia in 1925. It was in Sydney that Nityananda's tuberculosis grew worse, hastening the trio's return to the climate of Ojai in July. According to her daughter, Radha Sloss, Rosalind and Nityananda were in love when he died in November 1925, leaving Rosalind permanently affected by his loss.

In 1927, purportedly at the urging of Annie Besant, Rosalind married Desikacharya Rajagopal (Raja), 28, of India, while in London. The marriage was not a happy one and produced one daughter, Radha, born in 1931. Raja, K's friend and editor, and Rosalind had been charged with looking after K's interests by Mrs. Besant. The three lived in close proximity in Ojai during the late 1920s through the 1960s, and the Rajagopals were closely involved with K when he broke with the Theosophical Society and began his independent speaking career in 1929. According to Radha Rajagopal Sloss, the long affair between K and Rosalind began in 1932 and endured for about twenty-five years. Krishnamurti and Rosalind became close friends with Aldous Huxley and his wife Maria, with frequent visits and correspondence. Reportedly, Huxley modeled the character of Virginia in his 1939 novel, "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan" after Rosalind. She was present at Huxley's deathbed on November 22, 1963.

Rosalind became the director of the Happy Valley School after its inception in 1946, and eventually became president of the Happy Valley foundation. Krishnamurti disassociated himself from the school in the early 1960s as he became estranged from Rosalind and D. Rajagopal. Their complete break eventually led to acrimony and lawsuits between the older Krishnamurti organization, KWINC, of which D. Rajagopal was the director, and the newer Krishnamurti Foundation Trust. The three never made up their differences. Rosalind died in 1996 having shared a house in Ojai for many years with the artist Beatrice Wood and serving on the Happy Valley board of directors until 1988.

References

*Lutyens, Mary;, "Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals" (Krishnamurti Foundation of America, 1996).
*Sloss, Radha Rajagopal; "Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti" (Addison Wesley, 1991).
*Sloss, Radha Rajagopal; "The Story of Happy Valley" (Happy Valley Foundation, Ojai, 1998).

See also

Besant Hill School

External links

* [http://www.happyvalleyfdn.org/ Happy Valley Foundation]
* [http://www.besanthill.org/ Besant Hill School]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jiddu Krishnamurti — Krishnamurti dans les années 1920 Naissance 11 mai 1895 Mandanapalle, Inde Décès …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Beatrice Wood — (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) was an American artist and studio potter, who late in life was dubbed the Mama of Dada, and served as a partial inspiration for the character of Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron s 1997 film, Titanic . Beatrice …   Wikipedia

  • Annie Besant — Besant redirects here. For Walter Besant see Walter Besant. For the coin, see Bezant. Annie Besant Annie Besant in the 1880s Born 1 October 1847(1847 10 01) …   Wikipedia

  • Besant Hill School — Infobox Private School name = Besant Hill School homepage = [http://www.besanthill.org/ www.besanthill.org] |Besant Hill School of Happy Valley, formerly the Happy Valley School, is a American private, coeducational boarding school and day school …   Wikipedia

  • Jiddu Krishnamurti — Infobox Person name = Jiddu Krishnamurti image size = 250px caption = J. Krishnamurti cir. the 1920s birth date = May 11, 1895 birth place = Madanapalle, India death date = February 17, 1986 (aged 90) death place = Ojai, California education =… …   Wikipedia

  • Кришнамурти, Джидду — Джидду Кришнамурти జిడ్డు కృష్ణ మూర్తి …   Википедия

  • Kunbi — This article is about the Kunbi community in Maharashtra. For other uses, see Kunbi (disambiguation). A group of Kunbis in Central India, 1916 Kunbi (Marathi: कुणबी, Gujarati: કુનબી, alternatively Kanbi) is a generic term applied to castes of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of United States presidential electors, 2000 — This is a list of 2000 U.S. presidential electors, by state.AlabamaGlen Dunlap, Bob Fincher, Homer Jackson, Jerry Lathan, Elaine Little, Melba Peters, Martha Stokes, Jean Sullivan, Edgar WeldenAlaskaBill J. Allen, Susan Fischetti, Lucy… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1975 — 1975 U.S. and Canadian Fellows= * Edward Ostrander Abbey, Deceased. Fiction: 1975. * Claus Adam, Deceased. Music Composition: 1975 * Ai, Poet; Professor of English, Oklahoma State University: 1975. Appointed as Ogawa, Pelorhankhe Ai L heah. *… …   Wikipedia

  • New Year Honours 2008 — The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 29 December 2007, [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7163660.stm| title= Parkinson and Minogue top honours] to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”