Counter-Currents
Remembering Savitri Devi
(September 30, 1905–October 22, 1982)
Greg Johnson
873 words
Savitri Devi was a philosopher, a religious thinker, and a tireless polemicist and activist for the causes of animal rights, European pagan revivalism, Hindu nationalism, German National Socialism, and — after the Second World War — pan-European racial nationalism. She also sought to found a religion, Esoteric Hitlerism, fusing National Socialism with the Traditionalism of René Guénon and Julius Evola. All told, she was one of the most extraordinary personalities of the 20th century.
She was born Maximine Portaz in Lyons, France on September 30, 1905. Her mother, Julia Nash, was English, descending from Viking stock. (She claimed that the name Nash is derived from Ash, as in the World Ash Tree.) Her father, Maxim Portaz, was three-fourths Italian from Savoy, one-fourth Greek. Because of her mixed-European heritage, she identified herself simply as “European.” She also described herself as a “nationalist of all nations.”
For an account of her life and work, read R. G. Fowler’s tribute to Savitri Devi on her 100th birthday: “Woman Against Time: Remembering Savitri Devi’s 100th Birthday.” (Translations: German, French, Czech, Norwegian)
Savitri Devi died on October 22, 1982, in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England at the home of her friend Muriel Gantry. For a sad account of her passing, see Muriel Gantry’s “The Last Days of Savitri Devi,” selected from her correspondence by R. G. Fowler.
For more information on Savitri Devi’s life, work, and influence see R. G. Fowler’s website The Savitri Devi Archive, which was relaunched two years ago today and now contains many new texts and other items that have never been published before.
Counter-Currents has reprinted several works by Savitri Devi online:
- “Akhnaton on Racial Diversity,” an excerpt from The Lightning and the Sun
- “Cosmotheism in Savitri Devi,” an excerpt from Defiance
- “Feminism and National Socialism” in Greek
- “Gandhi: A Man Against Time.”
- “History, Action, and the Timeless,” chapter 5 of Souvenirs et réflexions d’une Aryenne
- “Hitlerian Esotericism and the Tradition,” chapter 10 of Souvenirs et réflexions d’une Aryenne
- “Hitlerism and Hindudom” in Greek
- “The Jews and the Dark Age.”
- “In Memory of May 1st, 1945,” a poem written under the pen name Clara Sharland
- “Incurable Decadence,” chapter 11 of Souvenirs et réflexions d’une Aryenne
- “The Meaning of Dunkirk,” an excerpt from chapter 14 of The Lightning and the Sun
- “National Socialism and Anti-Semitism,” an excerpt from The Lightning and the Sun
- “Paul of Tarsus, or Christianity and Jewry,” an essay from 1957, Norwegian translation here
- “Race, Economics, and Kindness: The Ideal World,” chapter 11 of Impeachment of Man
- “Remembering Sven Hedin,” an excerpt from And Time Rolls On
- “The Religion of the Strong,” chapter 1 of Souvenirs et réflexions d’une Aryenne
- “Paganismo indio: la última expresión viva de la belleza aria” (in Spanish)
Savitri Devi audios:
Counter-Currents has also published or reprinted several works about Savitri Devi:
- Jonathan Bowden, “Savitri Devi,” Podcast, Transcript; also reprinted in Extremists
- Paul Brundsen, “Life is Worship: Savitri Devi’s Son of the Sun.” French translation here
- William de Vere, “Denazifying Savitri Devi.”
- William de Vere, “Ecofascism Resurgent.”
- William de Vere, “The Politics of Meat: An Ecofascist Perspective.”
- William de Vere, “The Purgative Fantasy.”
- R. G. Fowler, “Enemy and Exemplar: Savitri Devi on Paul of Tarsus.” Translations: German, French
- R. G. Fowler, “Woman Against Time: Remembering Savitri Devi’s 100th Birthday.” Translations: German, French, Czech, Norwegian, Portuguese
- Muriel Gantry, “Curriculum Vitae of Muriel Gantry,” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
- Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Interview with Muriel Gantry, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
- Juleigh Howard-Hobson, “After the Avatar, 1945,” a sonnet
- Juleigh Howard-Hobson, “Hope and Wait.”
- Greg Johnson, “Announcing the New Savitri Devi Archive.”
- Greg Johnson, “Greg Johnson Interviewed About Savitri Devi on the BBC.”
- Greg Johnson, “Robert Stark Interviews Greg Johnson on Eco-Fascism.”
- Greg Johnson, “Savitri Devi, Traditionalism, & Nature Religion.”
- Alex Kurtagić, Review of Defiance
- Alex Kurtagić, Review of Gold in the Furnace
- Christopher Pankhurst reviews The Lightning and the Sun
- Robert Stark Interviews Greg Johnson on Eco-Fascism (French translation here)
- J. A. Sexton, “Savitri Devi’s Defiance and Gold in the Furnace.”
- Video: “Savitri Devi: Woman Against Time.”
- Mark Weber, “Mark Weber on America in 2020.”
Savitri Devi is also quite widely tagged at Counter-Currents.
You can buy Savitri Devi’s The Lightning and the Sun here.
Seven of Savitri Devi’s books are currently in print in English and available for purchase at Counter-Currents:
- The most recent volume in the Centennial Edition of Savitri Devi’s Works is her magnum opus, The Lightning and the Sun.
- Forever and Ever: Devotional Poems is the first volume of her previously unpublished writings.
- The Non-Hindu Indians and Indian Unity is an early work of hers that urges Indians of all faiths to think of themselves as Indians first and foremost.
- For her views on animal rights, vegetarianism, and Deep Ecology, see her manifesto Impeachment of Man.
- For accounts of her clandestine propaganda activities in Occupied Germany, see Gold in the Furnace: Experiences in Occupied Germany.
- On her subsequent arrest, trial, and imprisonment, see Defiance: The Prison Memoirs of Savitri Devi.
- The best introduction to Savitri Devi’s life and work is And Time Rolls On: The Savitri Devi Interviews.
Counter-Currents has taken over publication of the Centennial Edition of Savitri Devi’s Works. The next volume will be a complete English translation of Memories and Reflections of an Aryan Woman.
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16 comments
The link to “The Last Days of Savitri Devi” is broken. This appears to be the correct link. It might be worth checking the others.
Great reference piece. Yet another writer I discovered through CC.
Thanks Mark!
A concern for the non-human beings with whom we share this world is a noble characteristic of our Indo-European race. It my be witnessed in the Vedic and Jain scriptures, in Xenophon and in the life and writings of Savitri Devi — she fostered stray cats in India. That is something most admirable to set in her favour, however much she may be vilified by the votaries of the “Many too Many”.
@Vehmgericht
A concern for the non-human beings with whom we share this world is a noble characteristic of our Indo-European race.
????
Goose pulling, Fox Tossing, Bear Baiting, Bull Baiting, Bull Fighting, Pero Palo Festival, Cock Fighting, Cock Throwing, Venatio, etc. were some of the disgusting blood sports prevalent in lands inhabited by the Indo-European race.
The history of torturing and harassing animals for sport and leisure is absolutely horrific; an everlasting shame.
Nevertheless, it is admirable if someone realized/realizes that even with animals we must behave honorably.
Goose pulling, Fox Tossing, Bear Baiting, Bull Baiting, Bull Fighting, Pero Palo Festival, Cock Fighting, Cock Throwing, Venatio, etc. were some of the disgusting blood sports prevalent in lands inhabited by the Indo-European race.
The history of torturing and harassing animals for sport and leisure is absolutely horrific; an everlasting shame.
No worse than halal and kosher killing. Let’s not make a distinction between torture of animals for sport and torture of animals for ancient religious ideas of supposedly purifying the corpse on your plate before it goes down your pie hole. The animals involved don’t know the difference.
…contemporary veterinary scientists and Muslim scholars have been working together for four decades to learn more about farm animals and their suffering. From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9159294/
Four decades? My, I am so impressed. Read the word salad-style Conclusion of the above article and have a good laugh. Nothing changes.
In any case, white people as far as I know were the first to come up with the idea of animal rights & protection. They are still at it and it’s too bad that so many of these animal advocates appear to be of the leftist type. Somebody send them Savitri’s books.
Savitri Devi has a great book “ Impeachment of Man” that is IMO perfect to send to animal rights advocates . IOM doesn t mention NS, AH or any politics.
Savitri Devi has a great book “ Impeachment of Man” that is IMO perfect to send to animal rights advocates . IOM doesn t mention NS, AH or any politics.
Thank you for mentioning her book*, which describes her ideal society (not doable in my opinion) and then elsewhere implies that utopianism is not sensible. She does mention the Aryans, and several times at that. From Chapter 11, only one example:
Indeed if the number of men is not to increase indefinitely, very strict regulations are to keep down the numbers of the inferior races lest the Aryan — the ruling race — be forced to have larger and larger families, merely in order to survive. For without his survival, there could be no ideal world, in the sense we have defined it.
_______________
*Amazon.com, used $105.00 US$.
*Abebooks, cheapest $200.84 US$. Highest-priced new over $500. US$.
LOL. I guess they know there are suckers to be found here & there, so why not list it at a price usually asked for a facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible.
*Noontide Press $22.95 US$. Say no more. 🙂
The last chapter is entitled Race, Economics and Kindness. The Ideal World. Savriti’s proposal would have the world population slowly reduced to at most several tens of millions. Once that were reached, it would be vigorously maintained.
How does this square with reincarnation? Sorry if this sounds simplistic as I don’t know the most basic elements of this concept.
This post is supposed to be about Savitri Davi’s writings. In Impeachment of Man she expresses bewilderment that the southern countries have vigorous life centered religions while ignoring those central tenants but the Nordic countries had Abrahamic faiths but to a greater degree exhibited those tenants.
@Stronza
It is simply silly to equate killing or hunting of an animal for the purpose of consumption (an honorable reason) with it being terrorized for some nasty entertainment by riffraff in the shape of human beings.
The animals involved don’t know the difference.
But man does. The Almighty has equipped him with discernment. He is not supposed to behave like rabies-infected beast.
Now, is meat-eating natural or not?
If it is, then, how should an animal be killed to make its meat fit for our consumption?
Should it be asked, “We like to have some of your meat. Please commit suicide or allow us to kill you.”?
Of course, as Muslims, we are obligated to follow certain rules: not every four-legged being falls into this category, blood of an animal has to be completely drained, animal should not be killed in front of another animal, it can be restrained but not kicked, beaten, or tortured, it should be healthy and grown-up, it should be offered some water, and, finally, the hand must be firm and the blade extremely sharp, which should make a swift, deep incision cutting the animal’s carotid artery and jugular vein.
In any case, white people as far as I know were the first to come up with the idea of animal rights & protection.
Good that some of them decided it was irrational after all to indulge in ancestor worship.
*forgot to italicized the cited comments. Apologies.
Sure, it’s OK to eat meat if you crave it. Too bad Islam is concerned only with the actual slaughter, though.
https://theconversation.com/new-findings-show-australian-sheep-face-dangerous-heat-stress-on-export-ships-137598
pm
*forgot to italicized the cited comments. Apologies.
Not at all. That is not a crime. But mistreating animals is.
Should the animal be put to sleep first or instantaneously killed so the animal feels no pain ?
Islam immigration restrictionists , European nationalists and anti cruelty to animals activists such as the French film star Bridget Bardot have pointed to Muslim Halal slaughter of animals as a reason Muslim migrants must be kept out of Europe .
As always, thank you so much Greg Johnson – this article on the GOAT Savitri Devi was AMAZING!
When I found Savitri Devi’s “The Lighting and the Sun” I was blown away – she presented all my suspicions about history, religion and a new concept called time cycles instead of linear time. Wow – blown away.
I’ve never been to India, my Russian nobility Grandfather (fought in the White Army in the Russian Civil War 100 years ago) was a professor of the Classical Indian language of Sanskrit when he immigrated here to the USA after his side, our side lost the Russian Civil War to the #(*& Bolshevik Communist Soviets. He was a rather beaten down old man when I got to know him as a boy, teen as he had to suffer both the American Great Depression as well as his memories of the Russian Civil War.
Do you know if there are any active practioners of this New/Old religion Esoteric Hitlerism, Neo Paganism besides people just typing online? IMO we are in competition with most forms of Christianity and one of the successful things these X’tians do is get together in the real world, have community, it used to be the case that Christian Churches were a good place for a healthy White man to try to find a wife/mate. It hasn’t proven to be the case for me in my life in mostly urban, University communities in Blue States and the rural places I’ve tried to escape to, these X’tian churches have tended to be dominated by rather ignorant people definitely not open to reading or thinking about the subjects presented in Savitri Devi’s “The Lightning and the Sun”.
IMO we have to be able to offer our (young) White men and women something (jobs, social activities like sports and dancing, music) and not just bash their versions of Judeo Christianity or worse worshipping genetically altered giant Black Negros in the NFL Negro Felon League.
Thanks again Mr Greg Johnson Sir.
Jaye R
Left Behind outside of Chicago
@JayeRyanOD
This is in reply to your comment in the above thread about slaughter.
Should the animal be put to sleep first or instantaneously killed so the animal feels no pain?
Some Islamic scholars think it is permissible to stun/tranquilize the creature before killing it. However, the animal must not die before the process of slaughter. Its state of unconsciousness must be reversible. Its heart should not stop pumping blood.
The meat of dead animals is forbidden in Islam.
Secondly, even in the traditional way, once the carotid artery (along with the jugular vein) is cut, the brain is dead within seconds as its blood supply is severed. And since the brain is dead, animal ceases to “feel” anything let alone pain. The blood drains rapidly and the meat remains uncontaminated and healthy.
Finally, an instant, guillotine style strike destroys the whole nervous system which immediately paralyzes the heart. Consequently, the body retains the blood which contaminates the meat. Like dead animals blood too is expressly forbidden in Islam. It can’t be consumed.
…Muslim Halal slaughter of animals as a reason Muslim migrants must be kept out of Europe.
What if those Muslims are native to Europe (belonging to various European races)?
The method would still be there even if migrants are expelled.
Regards
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