Opera Diva Goes to Tibet: The Extraordinary Life of Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David Neels, 1933
Image | Preus Museum
An outstanding orientalist, a writer, an opera singer, a feminist, a «jetsunam» (woman-lama)…the French-Belgian explorer Alexandra David-Néel had several strings to her bow, but she is first and foremost known for an impressive achievement for which she gained international recognition. In 1924 this explorer was the first European woman to enter Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, until then forbidden to foreigners. Disguised as a beggar, she succeeded in blending in among the Tibetans.
She traveled around Asia for 20 years, and at the age of 101, passed away in Digne-les-Bains, France in 1969, having just renewed her passport.
She was born in 1868 in Saint-Mandé (in the region Île-de-France), and by the age of 20, Alexandra was a feminist and anarchist. Frequenting socialist spheres, and she published a first pamphlet of revolutionary ideas. She took as her motto: «Go where your heart leads you, where your gaze falls.» A freemason, she discovered the secret societies propagating orientalist doctrines, enrolled at the university of Sorbonne, and became one of the first buddhists of Paris.
After having studied piano and singing at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Alexandra became an opera singer in 1895, and for two seasons she held have the position as first singer at the Hanoi Opera in Vietnam. She continued her work as an opera singer in Athens and Tunis until 1902.
Alexandra David Neel, 1886
Image | Mysterious People, Wikimedia Commons
In Tunis she met Philippe Néel, a chief railroad engineer, whom she married in 1904, only to regret it almost immediately, opposed as she was to the bourgeois lifestyle to which he aspired. They only had a few months living together, but their correspondence lasted for almost 40 years.
Alexandra David Néel obtained financial support from three different French ministries to further immerse herself in orientalist studies, including a study trip to Asia. She told her husband that she would be back in eight months later, but it would be 14 years before she returned to Europe.
In 1912 she arrived in Sikkim, a small kingdom in the Himalayas and was warmly welcomed by the young Crown Prince Sidkeong Tulku. He was also the religious leader of his state, was, educated at Western universities, and would become the future Maharaja of Sikkim. Thanks to the Crown Prince, in spite of the fact that Alexandra was totally unknown at that time, she obtained a private audience with the Dalai Lama, (the first time that a Dalai Lama received a white woman). She also met with other great scholars in Japan, China and India, where she received answers to her philosophical and religious questions.
She adopted a 14-year old boy, Yongden, who accompanied and helped her, particularly when, disguised as a beggar, she travelled through unexplored, unmapped regions to enter Lhasa. She stayed for two months, visiting the holy city and the large monasteries. This voyage would make her famous around the world, and when she returned to France in 1925, she was welcomed in Le Havre as a national heroine. Editors rushed to obtain the publishing rights to her adventures.
Philippe and Alexandra Néel mutually agreed to separate, and Alexandra took her adopted son with her to the Southern Alps in France. There she began her travel writings and essays to transmit the Buddhist philosophy. Yongden died suddenly in 1955, and Alexandra lived as a recluse, withdrawing for several years.
At age 91, Alexandra David-Néel sought companion for, as she put it, the few days that she had left to live. She found Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet. She became Alexandra’s secretary and her confidante…and who ended up staying with her for more than 10 years.
At the death of Alexandra in 1969, Marie-Madeleine Peyronnet dedicated herself to keeping alive the memory of a truly extraordinary woman, an adventurer of the mind. And in the town Digne-les-Bains, she turned the house «Samten Dzong» (the «Fortress of Meditation») into a museum and a foundation, the «Maison Alexandra David-Néel».
In 1973, Alexandra’s ashes were brought to Varanasi (Benares) in India to be dispersed with those of her adopted son into the river Ganges.
Her life and exploits have inspired many people, one of whom is Elise Wortley. In November 2017, Elise set out for the Indian Himalaya with an all-female team in tow to follow in the footsteps of her heroine, Alexandra David-Néel. To really understand what it would have been like, travelling through the mountains as a woman over 100 years ago, and to do Alexandra’s daring journey justice, Elise decided that she would use and wear only what would have been available to Alexandra in the early 1900s. This meant no modern trekking equipment or technology whatsoever. On top of all that, she documented this expedition on film.
Through this project, Elise Wortley and her team have been raising money for the women’s charity Freedom Kit Bags who supply reusable and environmentally friendly sanitary products to women and girls in low-income and rural areas of Nepal.
Alexandra David-Néel wrote over 30 books about her travels, Eastern religion and philosophy, and some of the titles have been translated into English:
Magic and Mystery in Tibet | Amazon, BookShop
My Journey to Lhasa | Amazon, BookShop
Biographies:
The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel: A Biography of the Explorer of Tibet and Its Forbidden Practices (1998) by Barbara Foster and Michael Foster | Amazon
Alexandra David-Néel: Explorer at the Roof of the World (2004) by Earl Rice | Amazon
