Freemasonry In India.

FREEMASONRY IN INDIA .

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23 GBEAT QUEEN STREET , W . C .

"TTTHATEVER may be said of the freethought Lodges VV in Belgium and the semi-political Lodges elsewhere , there is no doubt that in India Freemasonry is unostentatiously doing good work in breaking down the barriers of caste . " This union of union , " as a German writer says ,

" which joins all good men into one family , in which the principle of equality , together with that of brotherly love , that is , love of the human race , is the predominant one ,

and the end and aim of all its moral influence upon othersthis is Freemasomij . " Under the influence of this Freemasonry it has for the first time in India been possible to abolish the distinctions of castes and creed in social

intercourse , and the Freemason , like the Jesnit missionary , is doing something towards progress . The very name " Freemason " comes from the time when the companies or guilds of Steinmetzen threw off the yoke of the clergy under whose control they had formerly acted , and began to lend their

own services on their own terms to their clerical employers . From Germany the Steinmetzen carried their organisation to England , and the religious fervour which followed the welcome discovery that the year 1000 was not to be ushered in by the Day of Judgment gave a singular impetus

to the erection of churches in Western Europe . These Masonic guilds , which gradually spread throughout Central and Western Europe , had their wooden Lodges outside the churches they were building . They had apprentices , fellow Craftsmen , and Masters . They had a secret

sign and a password , and were all vowed to secrecy . They had a set of questions and answers precisely like the lectures of the three degrees of modern Freemasonry . But here all resemblance ceased . The building of churches declined , however , with the Reformation ; and just to keep

the associations going , noble and wpaltb y men were sometimes admitted , as honorary members , or " Accepted Masons . " In this way , Sir Tnigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren patronised the Lodses , and in the reign of Queen Anne it was resolved " that the privileges of Masonry

should no longer he restricted to operative masons , but extended to men of every profession , provided they wore regularly approved and initiated into the Order . " This was the end of ancient and the beginning of modern Freemasonry , pnd we have no need to so back to the days of

King Solomon and Hiram Abiff , to the " Collpgin Fabrorum " and the mysteries of the Elensinians and Essenes , for a connected history of this interesting

organisation . The new -movement , at all events , dates only from St . John ' s Day 1717 , when the new leaders constftvred th emselves a Grand Lodg-p . pro tern , and electpd Anthony Sayer their first Grand Master . From this time

Freemasonry has continued to flourish in England , from whence it has spread not only to Germanv , from whence it came , but to every civilised country on the gloTie . Scotch Freer ™ - 8 otiry , though it dates back only to 1736 , had to a certain extent an independent history . Ireland received its

Masonry from England in 1730 , in which year it wns also jronsplfintpd into Fmnre . But there the sale of dfigrnes . the impositions of Casrlinstro , who induced the brethrenfto hftlieye in the , philosopher's stone nnd the plixir of life , and "e singnlar exriprimpr \ t of admitting- women to fake part

'th men in the mysterips , prevpnfed it artm ' ning any hfo-h dignit y 0 r visefnlness . Thp Germans received back Freemasonry from Ens-land in 17 S 7 , and it must be confessed , says Willoughby , "that Freemasonry is now more select , 3 Sweater inherent streno-th . nnd is morn of n . renlifrv in ¦ i -- •" ¦ -- "

fl ^ ••--- . * ermany than in any other conntry . " Tn America thpre a yp more Lodgps and more dpgrees than in thp whole of the ° y'd combined . In Russia alone is Freemasonry pro .

cr'hed by law , though it is everywhere denounced by the Jtomisb hierarchy as an impious association , thp members ° t which are ipso facto excommunicated . Willoughby , ^ hom we have quoted before , says that over 1600 Lodges

Freemasonry In India.

in England and the Colonies are in connection with the English Grand Lodge , and considerably over 5 , 000 with the forty odd Grand Lodges in the United States . In Germany there are not more than 400 Lodges , but they are

stronger than elsewhere . There are probably between * , 000 and 0 , 000 Lodges in the world , comprising about 450 , 000 working members , and the initiated Masons may , it is believed , be reckoned at about ten times that number , or four millions and a half .

Ever since the Prince of Wales became the recognised head of English Fremasonry , the organisation has received a marked impetus throughout the world , and in India , not Anglo-Indians only , but Hindoos , Parsees , and Mahometans have loyally followed suit . From its mixed

members Freemasonry in India cannot but be more interesting than in any Western nation , and so little is known of Freemasonry in India that the following statistics , collected with some trouble , will be read with interest . There are in all 110 Craft Lodges in India , 88 of which aro English

and 22 Scotch . The English Craft Lodges are under the District Grand Lodges of Bengal , Madras , Bombay , British Burmab , and Punjab ; the Scotch Craft Lodges are under the Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India . The District Grand Lodges are under the United

Grand Lodges of England and Wales ; the Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India is under the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Pursuing our inquiries it will be seen from what follows that seventy-six different towns have one or more Lodges . As to

the Craft Lodges under the United Grand Lodge of England and Wales there are in Bengal—nine in Calcutta , two at Allahabad , and one at each of the following towns : —Dam Dum , Meerut , Cawnpore , Lucknow , Mussoorie , Fyzabad , Morar , Dinapore , Roorkee , Assensole ,

Darjeeling , Jaraalpore , Benares , Bareilly , Said pore , Nairn Tel . and Saharunpore—total 28 . Coming to Madras there are three in the Presidency town ; and one at each of the following towns : —Trichinopoly , Secunderabad , Bellary , Kamptee , St . Thomas Mount , Bangalore , Cannanore ,

Wellington , Ootacomund , Trimulgherry , Chudderghaut , Tuticortn , Coconada , Mysore , and Negapatam—total eighteen . In Bombay there are eight in Bombay city , and one at each of the following : —Poona , Knrrachee , Hyderabad ( Sind ) , Jubbulpore , Nagpore , Egutpoora , Sukkur , Budnaira , and Bhosawul—total seventeen . In British Burmah

there are three in Rangoon , and one at each of the following : —Moulmefn , Akyab , Tounghoo , and Thayetmayototal seven . In the Pnnjaub three at Lahore , and one at each of the following : —Simla , Umballa , Peshawur , Sealkote , Dera Ismail , Khan , Mooltan , Dalhousie , Delhi , Rawul

Pfndee , Palunpore ( Kangra Valley ) , Murree , Ferozepore , Meean Meer , Nowlucka ( Lahore ) , and Dngsha—total eighteen . The Grand Lodge of all Scottish Freemasonry in India is , for some reason or other , strongest on the western side . There are four Lodges in Bombay ,

three in Calcutta , and one at each of the following ; —Poona , Knrrachee , Aden , Belgaum , Mhow , Manora , Lanowlee , Neemuch , Allahabad , Calicut , Secunderabad , Kurseong , Ajmere , Julpigoli , Lucknow- —total , twenty-two . There are many other private Masonic bodies in India ,

which are not here named , as their members also belong to the Lodges above-mentioned . As the Freemasons only come before the public in the guise of a philanthropic association , we may here add the list of Masonic Charities in

Tndia . In Bengal there are the " Bengal Masonic Fund of Benevolence , " for the relief of distressed brethren and of those near akin to them ; and the " Bengal Masonic Association , " for educating children of indigent Freemasons . In Madras there are the " Madras Masonic Fund of

Benevolence , for the relief of distressed brethren and of those near akin to them ; and the " Madras Masonic Institution , " fof the maintenance and education of the children of indigent and deceased Freemasons . In Bombay there

are the " Bombay Masonic Fund of Benevolence , " for the relief of distressed brethren and of those near akin to them ; and the " Bombay Masonic Association , " for maintaining , clothing , and educating the children of indigent and deceased Freemasons . In British Bnrmah there are the

" British Burmal ) Masonic Fund of Benevolence , for the relief of distressed Masons and their widows and orphans ; and the " Greenlaw Masonic Orphan Fund , " for educating

children of indigent Freemasons . In the Punjab there are the " Punjab Masonic Fund of Benevolence , " and the " Punjab Masonis Institution , " for educating children of indigent Freemasons . The Scotch Masonic Charity iu India is