Thinking on native religious tradition is an integral part of a selfunderstanding in Indian thought and culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries in the context of the Indian-Western Dialogues in British India. The representative person in the process is Swami Vivekananda, who had created a new general image of Hinduism for Indians as well as the West and the entire world. Based on hermeneutical analysis of his “Lectures from Colombo to Almora” for Indian audience, the research is a reconstruction of the Vivekananda's view of Hinduism by Vivekananda. He had built the image of Hinduism on the Vedanta foundation as a spiritual part of the Vedas (the Upanishads) as well as astika darshana. The philosopher vews Vedanta is represented by Vivekananda as all-embracing ground for the religion, spirituality, culture and civilization of India. Consequently, Hinduism is interpreted as Vedantism (“the religion of the Vedas”), based on eternal principles of the Vedanta: the faith in God (Brahman), karma, the knowledge of God through the revelation of Vedas and the perception of the human soul and freedom (mukti) as the goal of religion. The Vedanta embraces all forms of faiths and worships, the Personal God and the Impersonal One, all religious paths and methods according to spiritual levels of its believers. Vivekananda described Hinduism as the religion of love and eternal humanness. The idealization of Hinduism helps him to criticize the real traditional Hinduism with the caste system, cruel customs and rigid ritualistic ordinances. The practical meaning of Vivekananda's image of Hinduism is in an attempt to unite different Hindu believers of all Indian regions for the spiritual renaissance as well as social development.

The specialist in Oriental studies, philosopher and poet Eugene Rashkovsky presents his translations from Rabindranath Tagore's “Gitanjali” and from the folklore of Cochin Jews (Kerala, South India). In both cases the paper deals with the problem of Biblical monotheism, but also influences (as well as of the Biblical poetic discourse as such on these two phenomena of the poetic heritage of the peoples of India.

The turn to humanistic ethics, which defined the image of modern Indian philosophy, significantly changed the interpretation manner of traditional texts by the thinkers-reformers. The typical example of the rethinking of scripture from moral point of view is M.K. Gandhi's article “Meaning of the ‘Gita' ”. Translation of this text into Russian is presented to the readers. The process of texts interpretation was specific ethical discipline for Gandhi, therefore his hermeneutical principles are an integral part of his views on human development. Following the path, which was showed by the Indian thinker, one could gradually open his essential connection with God and learn to hear His voice inside. Such practice makes person independent from authoritative opinions as well as from customary interpretations and helps to understand the ‘spirit' of scripture, without stopping on analyzes of its ‘letter'. Gandhi not only makes ethical demands to commentator, but also just as other reformers of Hinduism, calls to pay attention for text's quality. This way he expresses the doubt about infallibility of the most respected scriptures. According to those principles, he interprets the plot of Bhagavad-Gita allegorically and sees the essence of the poem in preaching of meaninglessness of the war and in description of the spiritual salvation paths.

The article examines the triumphal motifs in representing the image of Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, first of all, the cardinal's emblem in the form of a pyramid, presented in the works of Leonard Limosen. By example of Triumph of Faith it investigates issues of the character identification and an importance of the theme of triumph theme in the representation of the House of Guise. The article traces the dependence of the cardinal's iconography on the royal one, in accordance with general trends in the French court art of the 16th century, as well as on the humanistic treatises popular at the court. Such as, for example, the Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, which had a impact on the appearance of the pyramid as part of the ceremonial decorations at the residence of the Cardinal in Reims during the coronation of Henry II.

S.M. Eisenstein is one of the key figures of the Russian - Soviet avant-garde art. The most significant feature of that artistic direction was the desire to break out of the narrow framework of art into life itself. Therefore, Eisenstein's artistic views and projects were often large-scale and radical. Behind them one could see a super-task - changing reality itself through the transformation of the audience' s minds. Eisenstein makes every effort to capture History as a process of the masses resistance of masses to violence and slavery, as a process of evolution of freedom in the human spirit. However, in reality that turns into myth-making. Myth becomes for Eisenstein a means of overcoming History. In his films of the late period, there are all signs of a myth. In the late works Eisenstein makes an attempt of using the myth to naturalize History, Culture, Religion, transfer them to another register, the original, the natural.

The publication presents draft notes by P.A. Chistyakov, one of the leaders of the modern spiritualist movement in Russia at the beginning of the 20^th century. The document provides a glimpse of the spiritualists' views on a class structure of a society and also their estimation of the role and value of the monetary system. The commentary considers the degree of a possible influence of naturalistic sociology on the views of Russian spiritualists. It reveals the meaning of organic and mechanical metaphors in their descriptions of the society. Spiritualists, representing society as overtaken by “social disease”, believed that this disease would be finally overcome in the spiritual world by removing functional differences between individuals and social groups. The document also represents spiritualists' view on the creative work as a means of human transformation what previously has not been discussed in research literature. The commentary proposes to consider spiritualistic opinions on the nature of society in the context of the discussions held in Russian religious philosophy at that time. It believes the spiritualist ethics was the labor ethics par excellence, while spiritualists' activities to improve themselves and society were endowed with soteriological meaning. The published document is of interest to historians of religion who specialize in the study of changes in the social notions of religious communities and persons in the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries.

The published document presents a draft note written by spiritualist P.A. Chistjakov. The note contains a detailed definition of the term «nation». Explicit definitions of that term are rarely found in the writings of spiritualists, and in this respect the published text is unique. The commentary demonstrates the significance of the idea of “nation” for Russian esotericists of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It reveals the characteristic peculiarities in their interpretations of the term, and highlights the place of the concept of “nation” in spiritualist and occult teachings. According to the spiritualists' view, the idea of “nation” was essentially religious. In their understanding, the “nation”, above all, was an ethnic and confessional unity. The idea of “nation” was closely connected to spiritualists' messianism: they attributed to Russia an extraordinary role in the completion of the eschatological process. Many Russian esotericists insisted on the necessity of the preservation of national identity, drawing on their understanding of the realization of Providence in history. Chistjakov's note demonstrates the impact of G.F.W. Hegel's historiosophy on his views. He rethinks Hegel's ideas following spiritualists' teachings. The concept of history as a process of development of national spirits was essential for Chistjakov's nationalist views. The published writing shows the importance of national issues for Russian esotericists of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and and allows to get an idea of some trends in the esoteric historiosophy of that period. The document could be of interest to the scholars of the esotericism, religious nationalism, and the political dimension of religious teachings.