MRS. BESANT IN COURT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1914, Page 14

MRS. BESANT IN COURT

A THEOSOPHICAL DISPUTE. Mrs. Annie Besant, head of the Theosophist movement in India, made her appearance before tho Judicial Committee of the Privy Council last month in connection with the dispute regarding the custody of the two Indian boys, Krishnamurti and Nityanananda Marayaniah. A London paper states that, according to theosophical notions, the firstnamed boy is claimed to bo a reincarnation of one of tho disciples of Buddha, with 31 "previous existences." He has, according to this theory, been a prehistoric woman in North America, a Chinaman, a Peruvian, -an African, a Greek, a Persian, and a Buddhist monk. His brother is also credited with as many appearances in the nusty past. These two boys have been the subject of protracted legal proceedings, and the appeal aroused considerable interest. Mrs. Besant was accompanied by several well-known people, including Muriel Lady cle la Warr, Viscountess Churchill, the Master/ of Semphill, Dr. Mary Rocke, etc. In the Indian Courts the father of the boys brought an action to annul a deed of guardianship whereby Mrs. Besant was to maintain and educate the boys, on the ground that Mr. C. W. Loadbetter, the tutor of the boys appointed by Mrs. Besant, was not a suitable person to have charge of their education. The Indian Courts decided in tho father's favour, and Mrs. Besant has appealed to the Privy Council. The boys were now being educated in England, with a view to their being sent to Oxford in October.