Madame Blavatsky claimed to have seen an ancient manuscript by this name when she was in Tibet. It became the basis for her influential occult book, The Secret Doctrine (1888). Relying heavily on symbolism, the book provides a history of cosmic evolution. One author, William Emmette Coleman, claims that she simply plagiarized other books (including the Vishnu Purana, Donnely's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, and the Rig Veda). Whatever the truth is, her book became important as a basis for the Theosophical Society.