Esther Lichtmann (Likhtman) (1892-1990) was one of the closest associates of Nicholas and Helena Roerich, a member of their esoteric Circle in New York between 1921 and 1935. She visited their home in northern India's Kulu Valley in 1929-1931 and 1934, residing with the couple for long periods of time and becoming an eyewitness to everything that happened inside their "Himalayan Ashram." The diary she kept during these two visits--unpublished and practically unknown to scholars today--is a valuable source of information about the Roerichs' life and activities during their early Indian period. Day after day, Lichtmannn recorded the visits of various people, her intimate conversations with Helena, and Helena's lively recollections of her past life. She also recounted or quoted some of Nicholas's letters to his wife and those of other members of the Roerich Circle, completely unknown to us. Most importantly, she portrayed the everyday life of Madame Roerich in all its minute and intriguing details, recreating the image of that remarkable woman in her critical years--shortly before the collapse of the Roerich Institutions in America, the fiasco of the artist's utopian Great Plan and the break-up of the Circle. This essay dwells in detail on the scandalous story of the denial of a visa to Nicholas Roerich by the British-Indian authorities in 1930 and assesses the role of Esther as Helena's assistant and protector. There is also a discussion of the dramatic break-up of the Roerich Circle in 1935, with an explanation of the event coming from the "adversary's" side--that of Louis Horch (the Roerichs' chief "banker") and Esther herself. Of no small interest is Esther's account of the "miraculous" appearance of the legendary "Buddha's Chalice" in the Roerichs' sanctum on 3 March 1934. In conclusion the essay briefly describes the structure of Lichtmann's diaries, which consist of 9 notebooks, totaling over 1500 pages, written in both Russian and English.
