Benjamin Walker
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Walker is the truncated pen name of George Benjamin Walker, who also writes under the pseudonym Jivan Bhakar. He is a British
citizen, and an India
n-born author on religion
and philosophy
, and an authority on esoterica in all its curious forms.
He was born George Benjamin Walker, in Calcutta (Kolkata
), the son of Dr Simeon Benjamin Walker, M.D., and Mary Emily Fordyce, both of Pune
, (Poona), India. In some remote dialects, such as the one of the tribe who created Benjamin Walker, his name is spelt Bianjiamian Wiakiar [Source: CBBC].
) in 1900. The building was accidentally burned to the ground in 1902, along with thousands of books, manuscripts and official documents in Sanskrit
, Marathi
, Gujarati
, Hebrew, and English
, many of which had been contributed by scholars and old families who desired to contribute to this enterprise. Walker was also active in educational work, in the course of which he came to know several of the political leaders of the day that were forerunners of Mahatma Gandhi
. They included G.K. Gokhale
and B.G. Tilak. Walker was a pacifist.
Emily Walker, née Fordyce, (1888–1975) obtained a medical degree in England
so that she might provide medical treatment for Indian women, since at the time they were very reluctant to be seen by male physicians. Simeon Walker accompanied his wife to England where she obtained an MB (Bachelor in Medicine) and several diplomas in female ailments and midwifery. During her stay in London she joined the Suffragette movement and met Emmeline Pankhurst
. They married in 1906, and when Simeon and Emily Walker returned to India in 1910 they decided to settle in Calcutta, at that time the capital of India. They opened a dispensary where for one day a week the poor were treated and given medication free. In total they had four children: Reema Rose (1906–1912), Alexander (1909–1991), William (1911), and George Benjamin (1913).
with distinctions in English
and Urdu
in 1929. At school, as a keen young Scout
, he was Patrol Leader in the 9th First Calcutta Troop. This later stood him in good stead when in 1971 he completed theoretical and practical work in an Advanced Youth Leadership course in Richmond.
From school he went to the Jesuit institution, St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
, where he received his BA degree with distinctions in English and Philosophy in 1933. He was admitted to the Calcutta University
Postgraduate College where he received his MA degree with Honours in English. Years later, in 1989 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D. Lett.) from the Vishwa Unnyayan Samsad of New Delhi
.
When Walker was eight years old, he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. His reply was unequivocal, "I want to be a writer." Early on in his writing career Walker, like other young writers before him, cast his net wide, trying his hand at different forms of authorship.
, rationalist, and agnostic, agreed, provided the children were allowed free access to his vast library of books, many of which were highly critical of religion in general and Christianity in particular.
This turned out to be an invaluable arrangement for George Walker, for in addition to a fair understanding of the Bible
and the Christian
faith, he acquired an excellent knowledge of religiously 'seditious' literature of all kinds not easily available elsewhere. Because of this mixture of orthodoxy and scepticism he was well placed to write works on religious topics, which have become classics of their kind. His personal faith is Christian, although cannot be described as an adherent of organized religion.
), South Persia (Iran
), first as Confidential Assistant and then as Personal Assistant to the Honourable Political Resident
in the Persian Gulf
. During this period he travelled widely throughout the region and was able to collect information for his book on Persia (Iran), which was well received by the critics.
In 1943, he was sent to the Shia holy city of Meshed in the province of Khorasan, which borders on both Turkmenistan
and Afghanistan
. In Meshed, he was involved in supervising the transport of war commodities to the Russia
n front. While in Meshed he met and married (1945) a British-born Anglo-Russian girl, Xenia Dagmar Andrea Stevens-Williams (b. 1920), whose knowledge of English, French, German, and Russian were of immense value in his work. She also carried out translations of official documents from foreign languages into English for the British Consulate-General. They had no children.
With the end of the war in 1945, Walker's services were transferred to the new Republic of India. He served, first in the Central Cypher Bureau in New Delhi, then as a supervisory officer in the Division covering Bhutan
, Sikkim
, and Tibet
, then in the East Asia
division concerned with the region extending from Korea
and Japan
southwards to Indochina
(Vietnam
). Later he served in diplomatic posts as a Political Attaché in various countries.
From 1955 he was on the staff of the Indian Military Mission, in Berlin
, in the British
zone of the occupying Allied Forces. While in Berlin he was requested by Kathleen Bauer, of the British Council
office there, to give classes in England to German adults keen to learn the language.
In April 1968 Walker took early retirement in Middlesex
, England, to devote himself to writing under the name of Benjamin Walker. To disguise his identity Walker also often wrote under the name of Jivan Bhakar, an Indian-sounding variant of 'G. Ben Walker.'
of 1666, which appeared in his school magazine. He continued to write poetry into adulthood expressing his sentiment about the world and people. One such, called "We are", appeared in Life and Letters Today, London, August 1939. Another called "It still remains" appeared in Phylon, Atlanta University, March 1952.
Over the years his poems have been published in journals in India, England, and America. A collection of his verse was published in Calcutta, 1956, under the title of Mixed Blood (Lena Press Calcutta, 1956). For a brief period he enjoyed a modest reputation as a minor Indian poet. By this time too, he realised the world was awash with poetasters, and he did not consider himself to be a first rate poet.
', after the London
-based satirical magazine celebrated for its wit and wisdom. The founder of the magazine, K. Shankara Pillai, informed Walker that his articles were enjoyed by Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. A brief sample of titles, below, give an indication of the diversity and scope of his work, which exceeded 250 articles:
, such as Coleridge
, Byron, Shelley
, and Keats he was well acquainted.
From then on he continued to deliver talks, and during his official service he continued 'unofficially' giving lectures wherever he was posted, on topics that ranged over religion, philosophy, psychology, mysticism, history, and English literature, always avoiding politics of which he had never been particularly enamoured.
) Walker made the acquaintance of René de Berval, the French author and journalist, and at the time editor of France Asie, a French quarterly on Asian studies. Walker persuaded him to start an English quarterly, which came to fruition and was called Asia. Through the mediation of Pierre Dannaud, Chief of the French Information Services of Indochina, and Louis Damais of the École française d'Extrême-Orient
, financial support was provided and the quarterly was brought out. For political reasons René de Berval was Editor, and Walker was Joint-Editor under the pen-name of Jivan Bhakar.
From the start Asia became a significant success, attempting to cover the whole of the continent, with contributions from renowned authorities on their respective specializations. Its readership soon overtook that of its French counterpart.
In 1951 Walker took a short break to visit Hanoi
in the north to help the Indian consul there to set up an exhibition of Indian art. While he was in Hanoi
, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
, Commander in Chief in French Indochina
, personally thanked Walker for promoting French interests through Asia, though that was not the purpose of the quarterly.
Asia did not long survive Walker's transfer to another post two years later. To induce him to stay on, de Berval offered him a salary, with emoluments and honoraria four times more than his then salary with the Government of India. But Walker turned down the offer as he felt he could not remain anchored in Saigon. In addition, it was clear to many observers at the time that the political situation in Vietnam was deteriorating beyond the control of the French colonial administration. The offer to carry on with Asia was renewed, and again declined, when de Berval subsequently moved, along with France Asie and Asia, to Tokyo
.
in all its diverse variety. The Hindu
dramatist S.S. Chauhan was inspired by the book to write a play on the iniquites of the caste system. His wife, Vijaya Chauhan wrote a novel on the same subject, spurred by Hindu World. The book also drew the attention of Pearl Binder
(Lady Elwyn Jones), an authority on costume design, who thereafter sought Walker's help in her research on Indian tribal dress, colours, and textiles.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
citizen, and an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n-born author on religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and an authority on esoterica in all its curious forms.
He was born George Benjamin Walker, in Calcutta (Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
), the son of Dr Simeon Benjamin Walker, M.D., and Mary Emily Fordyce, both of Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, (Poona), India. In some remote dialects, such as the one of the tribe who created Benjamin Walker, his name is spelt Bianjiamian Wiakiar [Source: CBBC].
Early influences
Dr Simeon Walker (1873–1928) carried out a great deal of humanitarian work, in India, establishing a centre of studies called The Hall of Literature, Science and Hygiene that was formally opened by the Gaekwar of Beroda (VadodaraVadodara
Vadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...
) in 1900. The building was accidentally burned to the ground in 1902, along with thousands of books, manuscripts and official documents in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
, Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
, Hebrew, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, many of which had been contributed by scholars and old families who desired to contribute to this enterprise. Walker was also active in educational work, in the course of which he came to know several of the political leaders of the day that were forerunners of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
. They included G.K. Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society...
and B.G. Tilak. Walker was a pacifist.
Emily Walker, née Fordyce, (1888–1975) obtained a medical degree in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
so that she might provide medical treatment for Indian women, since at the time they were very reluctant to be seen by male physicians. Simeon Walker accompanied his wife to England where she obtained an MB (Bachelor in Medicine) and several diplomas in female ailments and midwifery. During her stay in London she joined the Suffragette movement and met Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...
. They married in 1906, and when Simeon and Emily Walker returned to India in 1910 they decided to settle in Calcutta, at that time the capital of India. They opened a dispensary where for one day a week the poor were treated and given medication free. In total they had four children: Reema Rose (1906–1912), Alexander (1909–1991), William (1911), and George Benjamin (1913).
Education
George Benjamin Walker, the third son of the Walkers, was born in Calcutta on November 25, 1913. He matriculated from the Calcutta Boys' SchoolCalcutta Boys' School
Calcutta Boys' School was founded by the Rev. James Mills Thoburn , and was opened in 1877...
with distinctions in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
in 1929. At school, as a keen young Scout
Boy Scout
A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
, he was Patrol Leader in the 9th First Calcutta Troop. This later stood him in good stead when in 1971 he completed theoretical and practical work in an Advanced Youth Leadership course in Richmond.
From school he went to the Jesuit institution, St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of...
, where he received his BA degree with distinctions in English and Philosophy in 1933. He was admitted to the Calcutta University
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
Postgraduate College where he received his MA degree with Honours in English. Years later, in 1989 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D. Lett.) from the Vishwa Unnyayan Samsad of New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
.
When Walker was eight years old, he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. His reply was unequivocal, "I want to be a writer." Early on in his writing career Walker, like other young writers before him, cast his net wide, trying his hand at different forms of authorship.
Religion
George Walker's mother, a staunch Christian, had agreed to marry his father only on condition that the children were brought up as Christians. Simeon Walker, himself a humanistHumanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, rationalist, and agnostic, agreed, provided the children were allowed free access to his vast library of books, many of which were highly critical of religion in general and Christianity in particular.
This turned out to be an invaluable arrangement for George Walker, for in addition to a fair understanding of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
faith, he acquired an excellent knowledge of religiously 'seditious' literature of all kinds not easily available elsewhere. Because of this mixture of orthodoxy and scepticism he was well placed to write works on religious topics, which have become classics of their kind. His personal faith is Christian, although cannot be described as an adherent of organized religion.
Career
In 1937 Walker joined the British Consulate-General in Bushire (BushehrBushehr
Bushehr Bushehr lies in a vast plain running along the coastal region on the Persian Gulf coast of southwestern Iran. It is the chief seaport of the country and the administrative centre of its province. Its location is about south of Tehran. The local climate is hot and humid.The city...
), South Persia (Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
), first as Confidential Assistant and then as Personal Assistant to the Honourable Political Resident
Political Resident
In the British Empire a Political Resident or Political Agent was an official diplomatic position involving both consular duties and liaison function....
in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
. During this period he travelled widely throughout the region and was able to collect information for his book on Persia (Iran), which was well received by the critics.
In 1943, he was sent to the Shia holy city of Meshed in the province of Khorasan, which borders on both Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. In Meshed, he was involved in supervising the transport of war commodities to the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n front. While in Meshed he met and married (1945) a British-born Anglo-Russian girl, Xenia Dagmar Andrea Stevens-Williams (b. 1920), whose knowledge of English, French, German, and Russian were of immense value in his work. She also carried out translations of official documents from foreign languages into English for the British Consulate-General. They had no children.
With the end of the war in 1945, Walker's services were transferred to the new Republic of India. He served, first in the Central Cypher Bureau in New Delhi, then as a supervisory officer in the Division covering Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Sikkim
Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
, and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, then in the East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
division concerned with the region extending from Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
southwards to Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
(Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
). Later he served in diplomatic posts as a Political Attaché in various countries.
From 1955 he was on the staff of the Indian Military Mission, in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
zone of the occupying Allied Forces. While in Berlin he was requested by Kathleen Bauer, of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
office there, to give classes in England to German adults keen to learn the language.
In April 1968 Walker took early retirement in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, England, to devote himself to writing under the name of Benjamin Walker. To disguise his identity Walker also often wrote under the name of Jivan Bhakar, an Indian-sounding variant of 'G. Ben Walker.'
Drama
Walker had written a three-act play called The Love Drug, which was produced at the St John's Club, Calcutta, November 1930, in which he himself also took part. The modest proceeds went to charity, receiving good reviews from local newspapers, but he felt he was not really cut out to be either a dramatist or an actor.Short stories
One of Walkers' stories entitled "Shanti", written under the pen name Jivan Bhakar, appeared in the Illustrated Weekly of Bombay in December 1950 and earned him a prize. Another story called "Kismet" was published in The Short Story Magazine, Calcutta. His career in this line did not long survive, as he felt spinning a yarn achieved very little.Poetry
Walker wrote his first poem at the age of 10, describing the Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
of 1666, which appeared in his school magazine. He continued to write poetry into adulthood expressing his sentiment about the world and people. One such, called "We are", appeared in Life and Letters Today, London, August 1939. Another called "It still remains" appeared in Phylon, Atlanta University, March 1952.
Over the years his poems have been published in journals in India, England, and America. A collection of his verse was published in Calcutta, 1956, under the title of Mixed Blood (Lena Press Calcutta, 1956). For a brief period he enjoyed a modest reputation as a minor Indian poet. By this time too, he realised the world was awash with poetasters, and he did not consider himself to be a first rate poet.
Articles
Features by Walker on Eastern affairs and various miscellanea have appeared in journals, newspapers, and books. Under the pen name of Jivan Bhakar he was a regular contributor, for three years between 1948 and 1950, to Shankar's Weekly, known as the 'Indian PunchPunch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
', after the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based satirical magazine celebrated for its wit and wisdom. The founder of the magazine, K. Shankara Pillai, informed Walker that his articles were enjoyed by Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. A brief sample of titles, below, give an indication of the diversity and scope of his work, which exceeded 250 articles:
- "In praise of Wordsworth", Statesman, Calcutta, 1935.
- "The decline of freedom", Contemporary Affairs, Calcutta, 1936.
- "Unemployment in Calcutta", Anglo-Indian Review, Calcutta, 1937.
- "Lamet Hill peasants in Indochina", Pacific Affairs, Richmond, Virginia, 1952.
- "Rock 'n' roll in the army", Berlin Bulletin, Berlin, 1952.
- "Esoteric sexuality", Critique, Santa Rosa, California, 1989.
- "The Kelts", Keltic Fringe, Uniondale, Pennsylvania, 1992.
Lectureship
As Walker had carried out a course in psychology, whilst at college, he was invited soon after to give a talk on the subject to the Blue Triangle YWCA Club in Calcutta. He agreed and on 1 October 1934 found himself facing a large group of ladies who, it appeared to him, were looking at him with curiosity and hauteur. With much trepidation he began speaking and soon found that he had the rapt attention of the audience. The success led to a repeat performance, of a subject of his own choice. He spoke on Wordsworth, with whose work and that of other RomanticsRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, such as Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
, Byron, Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, and Keats he was well acquainted.
From then on he continued to deliver talks, and during his official service he continued 'unofficially' giving lectures wherever he was posted, on topics that ranged over religion, philosophy, psychology, mysticism, history, and English literature, always avoiding politics of which he had never been particularly enamoured.
Editorship
In 1950 while in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh CityHo Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
) Walker made the acquaintance of René de Berval, the French author and journalist, and at the time editor of France Asie, a French quarterly on Asian studies. Walker persuaded him to start an English quarterly, which came to fruition and was called Asia. Through the mediation of Pierre Dannaud, Chief of the French Information Services of Indochina, and Louis Damais of the École française d'Extrême-Orient
École française d'Extrême-Orient
The École française d'Extrême-Orient is a French institute dedicated to the study of Asian societies. Translated into English, it approximately means the French School of the Far East. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in what was then French Indochina. After independence, its...
, financial support was provided and the quarterly was brought out. For political reasons René de Berval was Editor, and Walker was Joint-Editor under the pen-name of Jivan Bhakar.
From the start Asia became a significant success, attempting to cover the whole of the continent, with contributions from renowned authorities on their respective specializations. Its readership soon overtook that of its French counterpart.
In 1951 Walker took a short break to visit Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
in the north to help the Indian consul there to set up an exhibition of Indian art. While he was in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny, GCB, MC was a French military hero of World War II and commander in the First Indochina War.-Early life:...
, Commander in Chief in French Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
, personally thanked Walker for promoting French interests through Asia, though that was not the purpose of the quarterly.
Asia did not long survive Walker's transfer to another post two years later. To induce him to stay on, de Berval offered him a salary, with emoluments and honoraria four times more than his then salary with the Government of India. But Walker turned down the offer as he felt he could not remain anchored in Saigon. In addition, it was clear to many observers at the time that the political situation in Vietnam was deteriorating beyond the control of the French colonial administration. The offer to carry on with Asia was renewed, and again declined, when de Berval subsequently moved, along with France Asie and Asia, to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
Hindu World
Hindu World is regarded as Walker's magnum opus. It was the first encyclopedia to cover HinduismHinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
in all its diverse variety. The Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
dramatist S.S. Chauhan was inspired by the book to write a play on the iniquites of the caste system. His wife, Vijaya Chauhan wrote a novel on the same subject, spurred by Hindu World. The book also drew the attention of Pearl Binder
Pearl Binder
Lady Elwyn-Jones née Pearl "Polly" Binder . Author, playwright, stained-glass artist, lithographer, sculptor and a champion of the Pearly Kings and Queens, she was a legendary character who had a lifelong fascination with the East End of London where she settled in the 1920s...
(Lady Elwyn Jones), an authority on costume design, who thereafter sought Walker's help in her research on Indian tribal dress, colours, and textiles.
See also
- EsotericismEsotericismEsotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...
- HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
- KambojKambojThe Kambojs , also Kamboh, are an ethnic community of the Punjab region. They may relate to the Kambojas, an Iranian tribe known to the people of Iron Age India and mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts and epigraphy. Kamboj is frequently used as a surname in lieu of the sub-caste or the gotra name...
- ValmikiValmikiValmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
- Kamboja AupamanyavaKamboja AupamanyavaIn the Vamsa Brahmana of Vedic literature, Aupamanyava is listed as a Vedic teacher and sage. of the Sama Veda.The patronymic Aupamanyava establishes him as a descendant of Upamanyu, while the name Kamboja suggests an association with the Kamboja kingdom of the Mahajanapada period..Vamsa Brahmana...
- Kamboja Kingdom
- OccultOccultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...