Diamond Jubilee Convention

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Commemorative seal

The Diamond Jubilee Convention was the 1935 annual convention of the Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. The Diamond Jubilee theme celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Society. Josephine Ransom reported extensively about the convention in The American Theosophist of April, 1936.

The Garden of Remembrance was introduced to the membership during this convention.

Dance performance

The first public dance performance of Rukmini Devi Arundale occurred at the convention. She wrote, "At the Diamond Jubilee Convention we had expected about two hundred people but two thousand turned up. There was so much excitement. More than anything, it totally changed people's prejudice towards the dance."[1] She continued: "Dr. Arundale himself thought at first it was a delightful hobby but when he saw me dance during that Diamond Jubilee Convention in 1935, he was greatly moved. He told me later it was a spiritual experience like a meditation. He and Dr. Cousins were convinced that it was a spiritual medium which could be part of the Theosophical work."[2]

Notes

  1. Rukmini Devi Arundale, "Rukmini on Herself," Rukmini Devi Arundale: Birth Centenary Commemorative Volume, Shakuntala Ramani, ed., (Chennai, India: The Kalakshetra Foundation, 2003), 46.
  2. Ibid., 46.