Just to head back on topic, from a post to Sindh-l mailing list talking of the Sindhis of Hyderabad.
I would like to add more elsewhere, but I think there is a connection between Lekhraj Kirpalani and Dialdas Bulchand in whose Father's memory the Dialdas Club was founded. Both the Dialdas Club and the Besant Hall are currently threatened with demolition and re-development.
I have spoken to a member of the community that Lekhraj Kirpalani came from and can pretty much put a full stop onto any direct connection between the Theosophical Society and Om Mandli.
Lekhraj Kirpalani membership of the Bhaibund caste separated him almost entirely from the educated Amil and British. Although there were very active Theosophical Societies in Calcutta and Hyderabad and a Besant Lodge in Hyderbad which held regular meetings, these were almost entirely limited to the educated classes.
As a member of the merchant caste, it is suggested that Lekhraj Kirpalani would not have gone. The Bhaibunds talked and dressed differently and were into business.
These Amils did not excercise any influence in the affairs of state after the partition of India. The Amils in business and zamindari did well in terms of material riches, while others were mostly working class professionals. Every family dutifully followed their traditional values of acquiring knowledge, and passing an ethical, cultured and honest life within their means no matter what circumstances were confronted. They weathered Italian style changes of governments (1947-58 ), the martial law ... (1958-69) and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haque (1977-88 ), prejudiced democratic orders of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971-77) ... Bhutto and Nawaz Shariff (1988-99) and now ... Musharaf.
Throughout this period they have seen the systematic and gradual decline of social order in Hyderabad since 1947. Their once Paris of Sindh has been converted into a congested slum like settlement. The intellectual Hyderabad where people used to regularly visit Besant Lodge for theosophical discussions, walk hand in hand in Prem Park of cantonment area, enjoy evenings at Dialdas club, attend Sadhu Vaswani's satsangs in Miran Bai Girls High School, or Brahmu Mandir, get absolutely world class medical treatment in Civil Hospital Hyderabad, is only part of the faded memory of few living Amils in the city of their birth.
I would like to add more elsewhere, but I think there is a connection between Lekhraj Kirpalani and Dialdas Bulchand in whose Father's memory the Dialdas Club was founded. Both the Dialdas Club and the Besant Hall are currently threatened with demolition and re-development.
I have spoken to a member of the community that Lekhraj Kirpalani came from and can pretty much put a full stop onto any direct connection between the Theosophical Society and Om Mandli.
Lekhraj Kirpalani membership of the Bhaibund caste separated him almost entirely from the educated Amil and British. Although there were very active Theosophical Societies in Calcutta and Hyderabad and a Besant Lodge in Hyderbad which held regular meetings, these were almost entirely limited to the educated classes.
As a member of the merchant caste, it is suggested that Lekhraj Kirpalani would not have gone. The Bhaibunds talked and dressed differently and were into business.