When the Theosophical Society ran into a major controversy

Annie Besant, who was one of the prominent defenders of Blavatsky, who would later become the president of the society. (Source: THE HINDU ARCHIVES)

In 1879, four years after the Theosophical Society was founded in New York, its founder, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, popularly known as Madame Blavatsky, arrived in India along with Henry Steel Olcott, one of the society’s co-founders.

Three years later, the two established the society’s headquarters on its present premises at Adyar, Madras. The popularity of the society soared quickly with many Indians, belonging to the section of educated elites, showing interest in its activities and even becoming its members.