Julius Evola first met the young Mircea Eliade during a trip to Bucharest to meet Corneliu Codreanu. Evola refers to that meeting decades later in his spiritual autobiography, The Cinnabar Path. By that time, Eliade had become a widely respected historian of religions in the West and kept his early affiliations a secret. Henceforth, Eliade cut off contact with Evola, which they had maintained sporadically until the 1960s.

Nevertheless, Eliade kept up with all of Evola’s (and Guenon’s) writings as they were published. We translated Eliade’s review of Revolt against the Modern World.

In this letter Evola makes the rather surprising admission that he had been considering moving permanently to India to undergo some spiritual practice, believing he had accomplished all he could in the West. Evola brings up an important point which should be heeded by all. The most authentic centers in India are remote, difficult to find, and closed to foreigners. India today is replete with spiritual frauds and charlatans which makes it extremely difficult for Westerners to encounter a fully traditional teaching; besides, they are prone to be “gamed”, much like Margaret Mead. Those Hindus who come to the West are often suspect.

28 May 1930
Rome

I received your letter. I remember you perfectly. One of your friends here [in Rome] had already told me that you had gone to India [in November 1928].

I would very much like to know what you found there in the natural order of things that are of interest to us: that of practice, more than that of doctrine or metaphysics.

I was thinking, and am still thinking (since I am at the point of having finished what I had attempted to do in the West) of going to India to stay there. One of my correspondents convinced me that it would not be worth the trouble, unless I go to Kashmir or Tibet and I have a way to introduce myself into some of the rarest centers that still conserve the Tradition but are excessively suspicious of any foreigners.

Nevertheless, I would be grateful if you could inform me of what you found in addition, with the understanding not from the cultural or metaphysical point of view.

I am sending you:

• One of the last existing copies of the complete Ur collection from 1928.
• The complete Krur collection from 1929.
• My book on Tantra [Man as power]

My books that have appeared since then are:

• Pagan Imperialism
• Theory of the Absolute Individual
• Phenomenology of the Absolute Individual

The last two constitute the systematic and definitive exposition of my doctrine. Currently, I am editor of “La Torre”, two issues of which I include. I didn’t edit any journals before Ur.

Aside from what you received, there is only the Ur collection of 1927 which is out of print. If you want, I can let you know if there is anyone who can sell it and at what price.

If professor Dasgupta, with whom you stayed [January to September 1930], is the author of the books on Hindu philosophy, please ask him if Sir Douglas Ainslie, whom he knows very well and is my friend, remembered to write to him—as he had promised me—so that he has his publisher send me the two volumes that have already appeared, which I could talk about in Italy or Germany.

Letter II ⇒