ÉDITO

In this editorial, I wish to pay tribute to two great personalities who have died since our last newsletter. Necessarily, His Majesty Mohammed Zaher Shah, King of the Afghans, and the choreographer Maurice Béjart had few points in common, except that they were both Muslims, both friends of Alain Daniélou, and both visitors at the Labyrinth at Zagarolo
The King spent several years with Alain Daniélou’s family at the time when his father, the ambassador in Paris, was recalled to Afghanistan to succeed to the throne after the assassination of his predecessor. It was at this time that he was led by Alain Daniélou, his elder, into sporting enterprises, including an adventure in a canoe. The King decided to settle in Rome when he was exiled, and thus was able to renew the ties of this youthful friendship. He would come quite frequently to lunch, accompanied by his son, Prince Mir Wais, or a kinsman, at the country house that has now become the Alain Daniélou Study Centre. On each of these private visits, I was struck by his extreme courtesy, by this sovereign’s extreme simplicity, his devotion to his people and his impartial analysis of his country’s geopolitical situation. The indifference of western governments to this king was dumbfounding, considering that he had managed to keep his multi-ethnic country intact and at peace for forty years. Despite the tragic hazards life had in store for him, he was always good-humoured and very kind, and was amused by the flag of independent Brittany that fluttered over the house : shouldn’t it have been replaced by the Afghan royal flag while he was staying at there ?

Maurice Béjart very early on used the Indian music recorded by Alain Daniélou for his ballets, and particularly for Bhakti. During the ’eighties, his relations with Daniélou became closer through their mutual friend Savitry Naïr. So it was that after his hip operation, he came to spend a few days’ convalescence at Zagarolo accompanied by Eiji Mihara. I recall their last meeting, when Maurice Béjart came to see Daniélou at the Clinique de la Source at Lausanne where Daniélou had been hospitalised. Eiji, Eric Vu An, Béjart and I stood round the bed. Béjart gazed at the sick man, who was to leave us a few days later, with extraordinary intensity, as though he wanted to merge with him and discover the mystery of passing to the other world, which I believe was one of the basic questions that interested him.