Senzar

An ancient sacerdotal language mentioned in the Secret Doctrine which is unknown to modern philologists. According to Helena P. BLAVATSKY, the Stanzas of Dzyan, upon which The Secret Doctrine was based, were written in Senzar. The language, “besides an alphabet of its own, may be rendered in several modes of writing in cypher characters, which partake more of the nature of ideographs than of syllables” (The Voice of the Silence). The language was apparently known to the then ®a‰kar€c€rya of India during the time of Blavatsky and T. Subba Row. In a letter to Subba Row, the ®a‰kar€c€rya refers to a certain manuscript:

If the manuscript [the “Hieratic Code” in question] is written in Senzar Brahmabhâshya [secret sacerdotal language], it can only be read or understood by initiated BrâhmaŠas, who have already received the revelation of Atharvan and Angiras [the last and supreme initiation] (CW 5:62).

It has been suggested by Gottfried de PURUCKER (Studies in Occult Philosophy, TUP, 1973, p. 442) that Senzar may have the same root as Zend, the language of the ancient scripture of ZOROSTRIANISM. Annie BESANT agreed with this suggestion (cf. Besant, Zoroastrianism, p. 7; first published in Four Great Religions, 1897).

V.H.C.

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