Rosalind Rajagopal
Encyclopedia
Rosalind Edith Rajagopal, (née Rosalind Edith Williams, 1903–1996) was a long-time director of the Happy Valley School
Happy Valley School
Besant Hill School of Happy Valley, formerly the Happy Valley School, is an American private, coeducational boarding school and day school in Ojai, California. The school has approximately 100 students and about 35 faculty and staff, all of whom live on or near campus...

 in Ojai, California
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, which she founded with Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...

, Guido Ferrando, and Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

 in 1946.

Through her family's involvement in the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...

 she became acquainted with Jiddu Krishnamurti and his ailing brother Nityananda ("Nitya", 1898–1925) in 1922. At the time, she had been asked to be a companion and nurse to the latter, who died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 in 1925. Rosalind developed close ties to the brothers and sometime after her 1927 marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 to their fellow 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 associate Rajagopal Desikacharya (commonly D. Rajagopal, or "Raja", 1900–1993), she and the philosopher Krishnamurti began a long-term romantic relationship. This relationship became a source of controversy when it was revealed in the 1991 book Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti
Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti
Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti is a 1991 memoir written by Radha Rajagopal Sloss .-About the work:The book chronicles the relationship of the author's family – her father Rajagopal Desikacharya , mother Rosalind , and herself – with the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti...

written by her daughter Radha Rajagopal Sloss.

Early life

She was born Rosalind Edith Williams on 20 June 1903 in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

, to John Williams and Sophia Waldow. She was the youngest of four daughters. During 1918, Sophia Williams left her husband and moved to Hollywood with her daughters. It was through Rosalind's Theosophist sister Erma, that she met also-Theosophist Mary Gray. In 1922 Gray enlisted Rosalind to help with the newly arrived from 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...

 Jiddu brothers, who were staying at Gray's estate in Ojai, California
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...

. Jiddu Krishnamurti, then twenty-seven years old, was being groomed by the quasi-mystical
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

, pan-religious society as the "vehicle" of a World Teacher, a sort of new Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 expected imminently by many Theosophists. His brother Nitya was charged with fulfilling administrative and organizational duties related to Krishnamurti's mission. Noted for her beauty and vivacity, Rosalind became close to both. This relationship lead to her being a witness, along with Nitya, of Krishnamurti's "life-changing" spiritual experiences of August–September 1922.

Because of her special relationship with the Jiddu brothers, Rosalind moved with them through rarefied Theosophical circles, making the acquaintances of Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...

, Charles Webster Leadbeater
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Charles Webster Leadbeater was an influential member of the Theosophical Society, author on occult subjects and co-initiator with J. I. Wedgwood of the Liberal Catholic Church...

 and authors Emily and Mary Lutyens
Mary Lutyens
Edith Mary Lutyens was a British author who is principally known for her authoritative biographical works on the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti.-Early life:...

. She accompanied the brothers to India and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1925. It was in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 that Nitya's tuberculosis grew worse, hastening the trio's return to the more beneficial climate of Ojai in July. According to her daughter Radha Rajagopal Sloss, Rosalind and Nitya were in love when he died in November 1925, leaving Rosalind permanently affected by his loss.

Marriage and friendships

In 1927 Rosalind married D. Rajagopal while in 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...

, in a wedding organized with great care and enthusiasm by Annie Besant, who was approving of the couple's relationship. D. Rajagopal, Krishnamurti's friend and editor, and Rosalind had been charged with looking after Krishnamurti's interests by Mrs. Besant following the death of Nitya. The three lived in close proximity in Ojai from the late 1920s through the 1960s, and the Rajagopals were closely involved with Krishnamurti when he broke with the Theosophical Society and began his independent speaking career in 1929.

Rosalind's marriage was not a happy one; after the birth of a daughter, Radha, in 1931, the couple became physically estranged, and their relationship was never close again. (The Rajagopals finally divorced in the early 1960s). According to Radha Rajagopal Sloss, the long affair between Krishnamurti and Rosalind began in 1932 and it endured for about twenty-five years. However the ending of the relationship was not amicable, and damaged their friendship, which never recovered.

During the late 1930s Krishnamurti and Rosalind became close friends with Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

 and his wife Maria, with frequent visits and correspondence. Huxley reputedly modeled the character of Virginia in his 1939 novel, After Many a Summer
After Many a Summer
After Many a Summer is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death; it was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan...

, on Rosalind. She was present at Huxley's deathbed on 22 November 1963.

Happy Valley School and Foundation

Rosalind became the director of the Happy Valley School
Happy Valley School
Besant Hill School of Happy Valley, formerly the Happy Valley School, is an American private, coeducational boarding school and day school in Ojai, California. The school has approximately 100 students and about 35 faculty and staff, all of whom live on or near campus...

 after its inception in 1946, and eventually became president of the Happy Valley Foundation. Krishnamurti disassociated himself from the school in the early 1960s as he became estranged from Rosalind and D. Rajagopal. Their subsequent complete break led to acrimony and lawsuits between D. Rajagopal, the older Krishnamurti organization (Krishnamurti Writings Inc. [KWINC], of which D. Rajagopal was the head), and its trustees on one side, and J. Krishnamurti, the newer Krishnamurti Foundations, and their trustees, on the opposite side. As Rosalind was involved in the disputes, her already-distant and unamiable relationship with Krishnamurti dissolved completely in the face of the legal and personality conflicts. Most of the legal matters were resolved prior to Krishnamurti's death in 1986; however, the three never made up their personal differences. Rosalind died in 1996 having shared a house in Ojai for many years with the artist Beatrice Wood
Beatrice Wood
Beatrice Wood was an American artist and studio potter, who late in life was dubbed the "Mama of Dada," and served as a partial inspiration for the character of Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron's 1997 film, Titanic...

and serving on the Happy Valley Foundation board of directors until 1988.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK