The Lost Civilization of Lemuria/Mu

Author: Mikayla Bledsoe

 Map of Lemuria

We’ve all heard of the lost city of Atlantis.  Atlantis has gotten so much attention that Disney even made a movie about it.  However, how many of us have ever given much thought to what other “lost cities” could be out there in the depths of ocean?  Lemuria is one of these lost civilizations. 

            It all began when 19^th century scientists were looking for a way to explain the unusual distribution of plant and animal life around the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  Lemurs and other strange animals were found, having migrated from Madagascar to India, an exodus that seemed quite illogical.  Seeking to end the debate, scientists simply conveyed it was all because of a massive land-bridge that once connected the two countries, and, in 1864, zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater coined the name “Lemuria” in his article “The Mammals of Madagascar” (Haughton). 

            After the buzz about this “lost continent” finally died down, occultist Helena Blavatsky reincarnated the talk when she mentioned Lemuria in her novel, The Secret Doctrine.  

Madam Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine

Instead of referring to Lemuria as a physical place, Blavatsky and her group of followers labeled Lemuria as a “spiritual place.”  It was said that Lemuria was the “Mu,” or Motherland, of all civilization and home to “an advanced and highly spiritual culture, perhaps the mother of mankind” (Haughton).  Blavatsky also discusses in her tome the idea that some creatures from Lemuria survived the catastrophe that left the continent submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean and are the ancestors of some of the Aboriginal tribes in Australia (Haughton).  Blavatsky does not discuss Lemuria on much more than a spiritual level.

            As far as geological evidence is concerned, there are few things that support the fact that Lemuria existed.  In an article written by an anonymous researcher, it is discussed that the flora and fauna found in India or Madagascar were neither “Asiatic nor African, but quite different from either...”(The Lost Lemuria...).  The article also says that it is not uncommon for new continents to reveal themselves over time: “The history of the earth's development shows us that the distribution of land and water on its surface is ever and continually changing”(The Lost Lemuria...). 

            There hasn't been much research done on the lost civilization of Lemuria to decide whether or not it existed those 18,000,000 years ago (Taffinder).  Some researchers say that it vanished to the bottom of the ocean because some cataclysmic event; some say it was never real.  Only time and more research will tell.  But for now, how does it feel knowing that mankind could have evolved from such a creature as below? 

Works Cited:

"The Lost Lemuria: Evidence Supplied by Geology and by the Relative Distribution of Living and Extinct Animals and Plants." N.p. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/tll/tll02.htm>.

Haughton, Brian. "The Lost Lands of Mu and Lemuria." Red Ice Creations. Red Ice Creations, 02 Sept. 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=1759>.

Taffinder, Adelia H. "A Fragment of the Ancient Continent of Lemuria." . The Overland Monthly,Folklore of Mount Shasta: Lemuria 2001. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/lem/taf.htm>.

“Map of Lemuria.” Real Hula, inc. 2009. Web. 26 October 2012.

“Secret Doctrine Cover.” Excerpt: The Secret Doctrine. Tarcher/Penguin. 2009. Web. 26 October 2012.