{{Short description|French barrister, judge, author and lecturer (1837–1890)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox writer | name = Louis Jacolliot | image = Louis Jacolliot.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1837|10|31}} | birth_place = Charolles, Saône-et-Loire, France | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1890|10|30|1837|10|31}} | death_place = Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes, Seine-et-Marne, France | resting_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|barrister|judge|lecturer}} | language = French | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = {{hlist|Historical novel|adventures}} | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = }}
'''Louis Jacolliot''' (31 October 1837 – 30 October 1890) was a French barrister, colonial judge, author and lecturer.
==Biography== Born in Charolles, Saône-et-Loire, he lived several years in Tahiti and India during the period 1865-1869.
Jacolliot's ''Occult science in India'' (French ''Le spiritisme dans le monde'') was written during the 1860s and published 1875 (English translation 1884). Jacolliot was searching for the "Indian roots of western occultism" and makes reference to an otherwise unknown Sanskrit text he calls ''Agrouchada-Parikchai'', which is apparently Jacolliot's personal invention, a "pastiche" of elements taken from Upanishads, Dharmashastras and "a bit of Freemasonry".<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/osi/index.htm Introduction to '''Occult Science in India by Louis Jacolliot'''] [1919] at sacred-texts.com by J. B. Hare, June 21, 2008.</ref> Jacolliot also expounds his belief in a lost Pacific continent, and was quoted on this by Helena Blavatsky in ''Isis Unveiled'' in support of her own Lemuria.
In Jacolliot's book {{Lang|fr|La Bible dans l'Inde, Vie de Iezeus Christna}} (1869)<ref name=jacolliot1>L. Jacolliot (1869) ''[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PbsOAAAAQAAJ <!-- quote="La Bible dans l'Inde". --> La Bible dans l'Inde]'', Librairie Internationale, Paris (digitized by Google Books)</ref> ({{Translation|The Bible in India, or the Life of Iezeus Christna}}),<ref name=jacolliot>Louis Jacolliot (1870) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vqguAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Louis+Jacolliot%22 The Bible in India]'', Carleton, New York (digitized by Google Books)</ref> he compares the accounts of the life of Bhagavan Krishna with that of Jesus Christ in the Gospels and concludes that it could not have been a coincidence, so similar are the stories in so many details in his opinion. He concludes that the account in the Gospels is a myth based on the mythology of ancient India. Jacolliot does not claim that Jesus was in India as some have claimed. "Christna" is his way of spelling "Krishna" and he wrote that Krishna's disciples gave him the name "Iezeus" which means "pure essence" in Sanskrit.<ref name=jacolliot/> However, Sanskrit philologist Max Müller confirmed that it is not a Sanskrit term at all and "it was simply invented" by Jacolliot.<ref>Max Müller (1888), ''Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute Volume 21'', page 179</ref>
Jacolliot was successfully sued for defamation by Father Honoré Laval ss.cc, and ordered by the Supreme Court of the State of the Protectorate of the Society Islands to pay 15,000 francs in damages. It ordered the suppression of those portions of the pamphlet "La verité sur Tahiti" deemed defamatory, and further ordered that the judgement be printed in the official journal of the Protectorate in French, English, and Tahitian, as well as in three newspapers of the French colonies, three journals of Paris, and four gazettes of provinces of Laval's choosing.<ref name=Wellington>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WI18721231.2.14 "Father Honore Laval and His Fellow-Laborers in the Pacific", ''Wellington Independent'', Volume XXVII, Issue 3692, 31 December 1872, p. 3]</ref>
He has been described as a prolific writer for his time.<ref>Voyage to the country of liberty: communal life in the United States, p. XI, Jacolliot, Paul Douglas, George Mccool</ref><ref>L. Sprague de Camp, Lost Continents, 1954 (First Edition), p. 58</ref> During his time in India he collected Sanskrit myths, which he popularized later starting in his ''{{Lang|fr|Histoire des Vierges. Les Peuples et les continents disparus}}'' (1874). Among other things, he claimed that Hindu writings (or unspecified "Sanskrit tablets") would tell the story of a sunken land called "Rutas" in the Indian Ocean. However, he relocated this lost continent to the Pacific Ocean and linked it to the Atlantis-myth. Furthermore, his "discovery" of Rutas is somehow similar to the origin of the Mu-Story.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}
Among his works is a translation of the ''Manu Smriti''. This work influenced Friedrich Nietzsche: see ''Tschandala''. Between 1867 and 1876, he also translated select verses of the Tirukkural, an ancient Tamil classic on ethics and morality.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sanjeevi | first = N. | title = ''Bibliography on Tirukkural''. ''In'' First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers | publisher = University of Madras | date = 1973 | location = Chennai | pages = 146 }}</ref>
He also created the popular occultist concept of Agartha in his 1873 book {{Lang|fr|Les fils de Dieu}} ({{Literal translation|''The Sons of God''}} or {{Literal translation|''God's Sons''}}). In it, he wrote of Agartha as an ancient powerful Indian city. The idea became popular in the world of occultism and spread through the writings of several different occultists; these later versions were quite different from Jacolliot's, particularly in their portrayal of Agartha as being underground and still existing.{{sfn|Greer|2003|p=7}}{{sfn|Godwin|1993|p=81}}
He died in Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes, Seine-et-Marne.
== Works == *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mdw8AAAAYAAJ&q=%22La+Devadassi%22 La Devadassi]'' (1868) *''[https://archive.org/details/labibledanslind00mahmgoog La Bible dans l'Inde, ou la Vie de Iezeus Christna]'' (The Bible in India or The life of Iezeus Christna) (1869)<ref name=jacolliot1/> *''Les Fils de Dieu'' (The Sons of God) (1873) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TW4rAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Christna+et+le+Christ+%22 Christna et le Christ]'' (Christna and Christ) (1874) *''Histoire des Vierges. Les Peuples et les continents disparus'' (History of the Virgins. Vanished People and Continents) (1874) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tTkVAAAAYAAJ&q=%22La+Gen%C3%A8se+de+l'Humanit%C3%A9+%22 La Genèse de l'Humanité. Fétichisme, polythéisme, monothéisme]'' (Genesis of Mankind. Fetichism, polytheism, monotheism) (1875) * ''[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5502901b Le Spiritisme dans le monde, L'initiation et les sciences occultes dans l'Inde et chez tous les peuples de l'antiquité]'', Paris: Lacroix, 1875, 1879, reprint Geneve, Paris: Slatkine 1981. **translated into English as ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/osi/index.htm Occult science in India and among the ancients, with an account of their mystic initiations, and the history of spiritism]'', New York: Lovell/ London 1884, reprinted 1901, 1919; New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books 1971. *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lBAAAAAAYAAJ&q=Les+Traditions+Indo-europ%C3%A9ennes+et+Africaines Les Traditions Indo-européennes et Africaines]'' (Indo-European and African Traditions) (1876) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=txAAAAAAYAAJ&q=Le+Pariah+dans+l%27Humanit%C3%A9Le&pg=PA5 Pariah dans l'Humanité]'' (The Outcasts in the History of Mankind) (1876) *''Les Législateurs religieux : Manou, Moïse, Mahomet'' (Religious Lawmakers : Manu, Moses, Muhammad) (1876) *''La Femme dans l'Inde'' (Women in India) (1877) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YKXIRxdoigoC Rois, prêtres et castes]'' (Kings, Clergy and Castes) (1877) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OR8YAAAAYAAJ&q=L'Olympe+brahmanique. L'Olympe brahmanique. La mythologie de Manou]'' (The Brahmanic Pantheon. Manu's Mythology) (1881) *''Fakirs et bayadères'' (Fakirs and Devadasi) (1904) * La Vérité sur Tahiti *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NS8oAAAAYAAJ&q=Voyage+au+pays+des+Bayad%C3%A8res Voyage au pays des Bayadères]'' (Journey to the Land of the Devadasi) (1873) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2GpHAAAAIAAJ&q=Voyage+an+pays+des+perles Voyage au pays des perles]'' (Journey to the Land of the Pearls) I (1874) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oK4KAQAAIAAJ&q=Voyage+au+pays+des+%C3%A9l%C3%A9phants Voyage au pays des éléphants]'' (Journey to the Land of the Elephants)II (1876) *''Second voyage au pays des éléphants'' III (Second Journey to the Land of the Elephants) (1877) *''Voyage aux ruines de Golconde et à la cité des morts - Indoustan'' I (Journey to the ruins of Golkonda and the City of the Dead) (1875) *''Voyage aux pays des Brahmes'' II (Journey to the Land of Brahmans) (1878) *''Voyage au pays du Hatschisch'' III (Journey to the Land of Hachisch) (1883) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vNI-AAAAYAAJ&q=Voyage+au+pays+de+la+Libert%C3%A9 Voyage au pays de la Liberté : la vie communale aux Etats-Unis]'' (Journey to the Land of Freedom: Community Life in the United-States of America) (1876) *''Voyage aux rives du Niger, au Bénin et dans le Borgou'' I (Journey to the Banks of the Niger River, Benin and Borgu) (1879) *''[https://archive.org/stream/voyageauxpaysmys00jaco#page/n5/mode/2up Voyage aux pays mystérieux. Du Bénin au pays des Yébous; chez les Yébous - Tchadé]'' II (1880) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kwBFAAAAIAAJ&q=Voyage+au+pays+des+singes Voyage au pays des singes]'' III (1883) *''Voyage au pays des fakirs charmeurs'' (1881) *''Voyage au pays des palmiers'' (1884) *''Voyage humoristique au pays des kangourous'' I (1884) *''Voyage dans le buisson australien'' II (1884) *''Voyage au pays des Jungles. Les Femmes dans l'Inde'' (1889) *''Trois mois sur le Gange et le Brahmapoutre''. Ecrit par Madame Louis Jacolliot née Marguerite Faye (1875) *''Taïti, le crime de Pitcairn, souvenirs de voyages en Océanie'' (1878) *''La Côte d'Ebène. Le dernier des négriers'' I (1876) *''La Côte d'Ivoire. L'homme des déserts'' II (1877) *''La Cité des sables. El Temin'' III (1877) *''Les Pêcheurs de nacre'' IV (1883) *''L'Afrique mystérieuse'' I, II, III (1877); I, II, III, IV (1884) *''Les Mangeurs de feu'' (The Fire Eaters) (1887) *''Vengeance de forçats'' (The Convict's Revenge) (1888) *''Les Chasseurs d'esclaves'' (Slave Hunter) (1888) *''Le Coureur des jungles'' (1888) *''Les Ravageurs de la mer'' (1890) *''Perdus sur l'océan'' (Lost upon the Ocean) (1893) *''Les Mouches du coche'' (1880) *''Le Crime du moulin d'Usor'' (1888) *''L'Affaire de la rue de la Banque. Un mystérieux assassin'' (1890) *''Scènes de la vie de mer. Le capitaine de vaisseau'' (1890) *''Un Policier de génie. Le mariage de Galuchon'' (1890) *''Scènes de la vie de mer. Mémoires d'un lieutenant de vaisseau'' (1891) *''L'Affaire de la rue de la Banque. Le Père Lafouine'' (1892) *''La vérité sur Taïti. Affaire de la Roncière'' (1869) *''Ceylan et les Cinghalais'' (1883) *''La Genèse de la terre et de l'humanité'' I (1884) *''Le Monde primitif, les lois naturelles, les lois sociales'' II (1884) *''Les Animaux sauvages'' (1884)
==See also== {{Portal|India|France|Literature }} * Tirukkural translations into French
==References== {{Reflist}}
=== Works cited ===
* {{Cite book |last1=Godwin |first1=Joscelyn |author-link=Joscelyn Godwin |title=Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival |title-link=Arktos (book) |publisher=Phanes Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-933999-46-6 |location=Grand Rapids |pages=79–94 |language=en |chapter=Agartha and the Polaires}} * {{Cite book |last=Greer |first=John Michael |author-link=John Michael Greer |title=The New Encyclopedia of the Occult |title-link=The New Encyclopedia of the Occult |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56718-336-8 |location=St. Paul |pages=7–8 |language=en |chapter=Agharta}}
==Further reading== *Daniel Caracostea, ''Louis-François Jacolliot (1837 – 1890) : A biographical essay'' (1997) *Christian Gaillard, ''L'orientalisme anticlérical de Louis Jacolliot (1837 – 1890)'' (2001) * Angelo Paratico ''The Karma Killers'' New York, 2010.
== External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{Wikisource|fr|works=both}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Louis Jacolliot}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacolliot, Louis}} Category:1837 births Category:1890 deaths Category:People from Charolles Category:French Indologists Category:19th-century French writers Category:French male non-fiction writers Category:19th-century French male writers Category:Tamil–French translators Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into French Category:19th-century French translators Category:French lecturers