The special fascination Indians have with Nazism has always been a pecuiliar curiosity of mine. I used to speak with a highly articulate and knowledgable Indian National Socialist who lived in Britain. It came as a surprise to me to learn that political leanings of his kind from Indians was common to an extent one would not expect.

There seems to be an entwining of many elements of Indian mysticism with Nazi mysticism, and Himmler himself was captivated by the Hindu concept of Yugas. There was an extremely incendiary French writer who assumed the pseduonym 'Savitri Devi'. She conjoined National Socialism with Hinduism in her writing. One of her strangest books, 'Sun & Lightning', chronicled three historical figures that to her, represented the elemental forces of sun and lightning respectively. Genghis Khan was representative of lightning, or the power of destruction, while the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaton represented sun, the power of life. The book was concluded with a chapter on a historical figure that, to her, synthesized both powers into a single being; Adolf Hitler. The book from memory opens with a couple of quotations from Hindu scriptures and one of the strangest literary dedications I have ever seen:

"To the god-like Individual of our times; the Man against Time; the greatest European of all times; both Sun and Lightning: Adolf Hitler, as a tribute of unfailing love and loyalty, for ever and ever."

It is an odd world.