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Entstehungsgeschichte der Österreichisch-Indischen Gesellschaft
Die Österreichisch-Indische Gesellschaft wurde am 17. Juni 1963 von Professor Arnold Keyserling und seiner Gattin Wilhelmine gegründet. Obwohl es zuvor schon einige kleinere Freundschaftsvereine gab, ist die Österreichisch-Indische Gesellschaft die erste offiziell registrierte bilaterale Freundschaftsgesellschaft der Länder Österreich und Indien und sie ist Mitglied im Dachverband PaN-Partner aller Nationen.
Von 1963 - 1970 war Professor Arnold Keysering Präsident der ÖIG. Große Konzerte und Tanzaufführungen fanden damals statt: Rukmini Devi, Ravi Shankar (Sitar), Bismillah Khan (Shenai), Ali Akbar Khan (Sarod), Vija Vetra (Bharatanatyam). Zahlreiche Vorträge und Seminare über indische Philosophie, über Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, indische Musik, vor allem Yoga-Seminare und Kurse mit Ma Yogashakti und Swami Satyananda fanden statt
Viele bedeutende Persönlichkeiten aus Diplomatie, Kunst und Wissenschaften, darunter auch Rudolf van Leyden, waren Präsidenten der ÖIG. Viele Jahre war Dr. Kurt Eichinger (Fa. Plasser und Theurer) Präsident und unter der gemeinsamen Führung mit Vizepräsident Peter Jurkowitsch erlebte die ÖIG eine Hochblüte. Sehr viele bedeutende Künstler kamen nach Wien wie Kama Dev, Bhimsen Joshi, Aruna Sairam, Nandkishor Muley uva.
Es erweiterte sich das Interressens- und Betätigungsfeld der ÖIG und es bildete sich eine Sektion für kulturelle Themen und eine für wirtschaftliche Themen.
Im Jahr 1993 kam die Industrie Ministerin Krishna Sahi für das 30-jährige Jubiläum der Gesellschaft, das im Gebäude der Bank Austria, Gigergasse, stattfand.
Im Jahr 2003 fand das 40-jährige Jubiläum der Gesellschaft statt, welches mit einem Kulturprogramm und einem IT Seminar begangen wurde und in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der indischen Botschaft und dem Innenministerium stattfand.
Seit 2008 ist Radha Anjali ist die Präsidentin der Gesellschaft. Seit dieser Zeit hat die Gesellschaft einen eigenen Sitz im 1. Wiener Gemeindebezirk am Börseplatz. Dort finden regelmäßig viele Veranstaltungen statt.
History
„Yes, we have been the founders of the Austro Indian Association. My husband Arnold, who later became Professor at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Vienna and who was working for many other institutions in the field of Philosphy of Religions, and myself Wilhelmine Keyserling.“
Arnold was familiar with Indian thoughts since his early childhood. His father Hermann Keyserling lived in Darmstadt Germany and was the founder of the „School of Wisdom“. There Arnold met the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore who made a deep impression on him. Another important influence was the book of Paul Brunton about Shri Ramana Maharshi.
After the publication of Arnolds first book „Das Rosenkreuz“ he was invited to Shantiniketan to give lectures. In Shantinekatan several subjects were taught including dance, music, yoga and meditation. We lived for five years in Kolkata.
Back to Vienna my husband was often asked to give lectures about India. Once the dancer Rita Devi came. She gave a dance performance in the Konzerthaus in Vienna. Unfortunately the hall was almost empty. My friend Maria Bilger, a sculptor, who came with us was fascinated and regreted that not enough people had come. She said: „ What a pity that my friends could not see this. If I had told them the hall would have been full.“
There was already a small indian friendship group founded by students but no officially registered association. Therefore we founded the „Austrian Indian Association“ and for seven years I worked to propagate Indian music and dance with cooperation of the Konzerthaus and other cultural institutions. At that time Indian music was not part of the regular concert schedules as it is today. Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan came for the first time to Austria with the help of the Austro-Indian Association. On a special request of a few very interested people Ravi Shankar gave an introduction to the Raga system – free of cost!
I can´t remember all the names of the dancers who came here but I know that the Austrian Music Society and the the Society for Literature helped us in forwarding our advertisements. Posters and flyers were distributed in dance and music schools, jazzclubs, student homes and other institutions.
After seven years of work which I really enjoyed, I was also asked to arrange social gatherings, but I did not feel capable of doing this as well and so we handed the leadership over to Mr. Rudolf van Leyden. He was a boardmember of the association and had been working for many years as a businessman in India. For me and Arnold it was time to dedicate our work to other projects.
I forgot to say that in those seven years a letter from Bihar came to us. We should arrange a lecture for Ma Yogashakti. I called the Yoga Institut Dr. Schmida but there was no reply. Therefore we rented a hall and organised the yoga seminar ourselves. At that time yoga was not known as it is today where lots of yogis, musicians, dancers, trustable and not so trustable were coming here to settle down.
In the last 30 years the situation has changed and the Austro-Indian Association has now other aims as before at the time of its inception. Meanwhile many young Austrians have travelled to India and build up their own personal relationships with the country.
Wilhelmine Keyserling
Arnold Keyserling
Arnold Keyserling (1922-2005) was a prominent philosopher and scholar of religions. His personal teachers were Georges I.Gurdjieff, the musician Josef Matthias Hauer and the Indian Yogi Ramana Maharshi. Among other other places he also taught in Kolkata, India. Since 1964 he was a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Some of his popular books are: Geschichte der Denkstile, Durch Sinnlichkeit zum Sinn, Metaphysik der Sinne. He puplished the magazine Pleroma.
Wilhelmine Keyserling his wife, born as Auersperg is a Yoga teacher and art therapeut. She continues the work of the association Kriterion which was founded by her husband.
Photo: Maria Schmid Miejska, Svami Satyanandana, Wilhelmine Keyserling und Arnold Keyserling
