Hindu Tantra – Sir John Woodroffe

Sir John Woodroffe went by the popular nom de plume Arthur Avalon.



He was a famous British Orientalist who is well accepted and well known in Hindu Tantra and Tantra Yoga. His work has helped to unleash a deep and wide interest in Hindu Tantra and Tantra Yoga in Western countries

Sir John Woodroffe was born on December 15th, 1865.



He was the eldest son of one James Tisdall Woodroffe – who happened to be the then Advocate-General of Bengal – and his wife Florence. Sir John Woodroffe got his education from the Woburn Park School and University College, Oxford.



There he graduated in jurisprudence and the Bachelor of Civil Law examinations.

Together with his judicial duties Sir John Woodroffe studied Sanskrit, Hindu Tantra and Tantra Yoga in India. He was more interested in the esoteric Shakti system of the Hindu Tantra and Tantra Yoga philosophies. Sir John Woodroffe translated around20 original Sanskrit scriptural texts, and under the nom de plume Arthur Avalon, he published and lectured prolifically and authoritatively on Indian philosophy. Besides, Sir John Woodroffe also spoke and wrote on a wide range of Yoga and Tantra subjects.

Sir John Woodroffe’s most popular and influential work is a major contribution to the appreciation of Indian philosophy and spirituality. It is titled The Serpent Power – The Secrets of Tantric and Shakti Yoga. This elaborate work happens to be the source of many modern Western appropriations of Kundalini practice.

In 1890, Sir John Woodroffe relocated to India. In India he enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court and was soon appointed as a Fellow of the Calcutta University. Later he was appointed Law Professor of Calcutta University. Not long after, in 1902, he was promoted to Standing Counsel to the Government of India and, two years late, was raised to the High Court Bench. Following 18 years of service at the bench, Sir John Woodroffe became Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 1915. Sir John Woodroffe retired to England where he became Reader in Indian Law at the University of Oxford. He finally shifted to France in his retirement days where he died in 1936.