Islam Rediscovered
24. A Case of Discovery*
~ 417 ~
movements of the day. When I was in the service of
the late Nawab Sir Viqarul Umarah Bahadur, I was
once agreeably surprised to receive through the
Nawab Saheb himself the following three books as
gifts: (1) Arnold’s “Light of Asia.” (2) Sinnet’s
“Occult World” and (3) “Esoteric Buddhism.” Who
the donor actually was, whether a Tibetan Mahatma
or a friendly English book-seller, whence the books
really came, whether from the monasteries of Lhasa
or from the bookstalls of London I have not yet
been able to discover, but the books were very
useful and interesting reading for some months to
come. I soon came in contact with some of the
leading apostles of Theosophy and read all their
books and pamphlets with great zeal. Theosophy
soon revived my old interest in the comparative
study of religion, and I now threw myself with
special earnestness into the study of Islam and of
Zoroastrianism which I had somewhat neglected
before. My studies in the old Parsee religion
culminated in a lecture on “Zoroastrianism” which
was so well appreciated by those for whom it had
been intended, that it was printed in a nice
pamphlet form under the auspices of the Parsee
Panchyat of Bombay. My Islamic studies, for which
