The role of German classical philosophy, Anthroposophy, Russian religiously oriented philosophy and French Symbolism in the development of the Russian Symbolist movement is well recognised. Up till now, however, another component of its ideology has been forgotten—the ideas of ancient Indian philosophy. My presentation is going to be focused on some Indian ideas which Andrej Belyj knew and used in his writings on the theory of Symbolism.
In this paper two extremely interesting articles written by Belyj
are chosen to exemplify the Indian influence on Russian Symbolist
thought. They are
As has been already mentioned this subject is new in the history of Belyj studies. According to existing bibliographies, there are some published works where Belyj`s theoretical heritage is discussed from the philosophical point of view. Among the researchers of these aspects of Belyj`s creative works are Maria Carlson, Steven Cassedy, John Elsworth, Roger Keys, John Kopper and Avril Pyman. It appears that Maria Carlson`s approach in her investigation of the influence and the participation of some Russian Symbolist writers in the Theosophical movement is more similar to mine than anyone else's.
According to Bely`s own words, his theory of Symbolism is based on
German and Eastern ideas, Indian in particular (see
Tat tvam asi
(I am you);
For example, in I am you,
is echoed in Belyj`s axiom
the unity is the symbol.
Methodologically his
construction of the pyramid of meaningful emblems is a reproduction of
the Indian trinity of Brahman-Atman-atman.
Further evidence of Belyj`s intention to use certain ideas from
Indian philosophy is found in
In conclusion I repeat that my intentions here are to emphasize the importance of basic Indian ideas about the spiritual integration between the Universe and the human being in Belyj`s creation of the theory of Symbolism. They do not reduce the role of contemporary European thought about the nature and origin of the Universe and the meaning of history in Belyj`s ideas. On the contrary, I argue that it is the fusion of Eastern and Western components that accounts for the particular character of Belyj`s philosophical heritage.