Freemasonry in British India

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Joseph Golder - 06353715 HI3098 Essay 5,580 words (excluding notes and bibliography)

Freemasonry in British India 1728-1888

Wherever our flag has gone, we are able to say there Masonry has gone, and we have been able to found lodges for those who have left our shores to found fresh empires1

-Archibald Campbell,2 Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 1888

From left to right: Portrait of the Duke of Wellington [wearing some Masonic Regalia amidst military insignia], by Francisco de Goya, 1812, National Gallery, London;

3Author Unknown, Motilal Nehru, father of Jawaharlal

Nehru (Indias first Prime Minister), in Masonic regalia4

There never has yet been an institution calculated in an equal degree with Freemasonry to break

down the artificial barriers which caste, creed, priestly ambition, and political rivalry, have created

between different classes of the human family5

1 Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea: The Masonic Network, British Imperialism, and the North Atlantic

World, Geographical Review, Vol. 89, No. 2, Oceans Connect, April 1999, pp. 237-253, American Geographical Society, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/216089, [accessed] 05/12/2009, p244. 2 Author Unknown, List of Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, [online]

http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/glos/G.M.M.%27s/grand_master_masons.htm, [accessed] 28/02/2008. 3 Goya, F. De, Portrait of the Duke of Wellington, 1812, National Gallery, London, [online]

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/francisco-de-goya-the-duke-of-wellington, [accessed] 2nd

December 2009. 4 Author Unknown, Some Very Well Known Indian Freemasons, [online] http://www.rglni.org/eminentmasons.htm,

[accessed] 1st

December 2009.

2

N.B.: A good deal of this paper is based on the work of Jessica Harland-Jacobs of the University of Florida, not

only because she has thoroughly researched Freemasonry in a British imperial context, but because she often

quotes authors that now seem to be unobtainable, save in the United States (the elusive G. S. Gupta, author of

Freemasonic movement in India, Indian Masonic Publications, 1981, comes to mind). Additionally, this paper is

not strictly chronological, as themes overlap somewhat.

This paper focuses on the presence of Freemasonry in India during the East India Company

(EIC) era, although the final part extends beyond 1857. Firstly, the mechanisms by which

Freemasonry established itself in India are discussed, namely via the military and civilian networks.

Secondly, the impact of religion on British Freemasonry is assessed with regards to the aftermath of

the French Revolution, and how this relates to Masonry in India. Last but not least, we shall examine

the extent to which Indians managed to become Masons.

The Masonic network is ideal for exploring questions of identity and social structure within

the larger British Empire, as Freemasons

perceived themselves as belonging to a series of interrelated families at the local, national, imperial, and international levels. First, they belonged to their local lodge, which [...] paralleled the nuclear family. Masons were also part of an extended family that corresponded to [their] jurisdiction. [...] The extended family involved a further level of association, the British or imperial Masonic family, which included members in all parts of the empire.6

Mid-nineteenth century Masons used metaphors of family extensively when referring to

their organisation.7 Indeed, when a new lodge was formed, once its founding members had obtained

a warrant from the mother lodge, it was viewed very much as a daughter lodge. In fact, Masons

generally refer to two lodges dependent of the same mother lodge as sister lodges.8 Indeed, in

many cases Masonry took on the role of a cousin or uncle in a family, regarding finding employment

or securing a promotion for a member.9 And as we shall see, the allegories of family are useful for

understanding Masonic attitudes towards Indians.

The majority of British lodges were established first and foremost in the Americas, but there

was also a non-negligible presence in Bengal, Bombay, Madras, and later China, through Britains

trading interests. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, lodges were appearing in South Africa

and Australia too, as Britains attention shifted eastwards.10 Harland-Jacobs identifies the long

eighteenth century (1750-1815) as a crucial time in the History of globalisation, as immigration flows

5 Author Unknown, State of Masonry in Ireland, Freemasons Quarterly Review, December 1846, p411 [online]

http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/beresiner5.html, [accessed] 10/12/2009.. 6 Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family: Freemasonry and the British Empire in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, The

Journal of British Studies, Vol. 42, No. 4, University of Chicago Press, October 2003, pp. 448-482, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/3594899, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p458-p459. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire,

Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927, The University of North Carolina Press, 2007, p44: This network anticipated many others that would emerge later, such as the Rotary International. 7 Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family [...], p452.

8 Ibid, p453.

9 Ibid, p454. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p62. It also provided assurances to its members in

India that their sons would be watched over by fellow brethren whilst pursuing educations in Britain. 10

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p243.

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increased, cultural links to imperial hubs were strengthened, and Freemasonry played an

increasingly prominent role in the empire.11 It was instrumental in lubricating the [...]

administrative, military and commercial networks on which Britains power was based.12 According

to Andrew Prescott (head of Sheffield Universitys Centre for Research into Freemasonry), the

eighteenth century was a time of turbulence, tension and trouble for Masonry in Britain.13 This may

explain why at first it was rather timid in appearing in India. The map below shows that for a while

the only fixed lodges in India were in Bengal.

The Irish Grand Lodge devised most of the administrative mechanisms that facilitated

Masonrys spread abroad.14 They set up a system of certificates for travelling brethren which

effectively functioned as passports.15 Freemasonry granted its members a sort of supranational

identity.16 Harland-Jacobs, quoting Thomas Schlereth, equates Freemasonry to salons and scientific

societies that defined supranational cosmopolitanism.17 There was indeed a degree of necessity in

becoming a Mason if one was to travel relatively safely throughout the empire.18

[Map 1] Diffusion of British Freemasonry, 1727-1751 and 1752-181619

11

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p44. 12

Ibid, p13. 13

Prescott, Andrew, A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, CRFF Working Paper Series No. 1, [online] http://www.freemasonry.dept.shef.ac.uk/show_upload.php?id=181&blob_field=upload_file1, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p9-p15. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p27, and more specifically, chapters 2, 3, and 4. 14


Ibid, p25. 16

Ibid, p11, p12. 17

Ibid, p66. 18

Ibid, p1. 19

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p42-p43.

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Harland-Jacobs identifies regimental lodges as the primary mechanism for spreading

Freemasonry, as military lodges gradually included local civilians too.20 The Grand Lodge of Ireland

even developed travelling warrants, which allowed Masons to congregate on the frontiers of the

Empire, without having to petition their Grand Lodge every time they changed location, as lodges

were usual founded in specific towns.21 By these means, some lodges operated in Europe, Egypt,

Malta and India, exposing over a dozen host communities to Freemasonrys practices, charity, and

even buildings.22 The first lodge to serve with a British army regiment (instead of an EIC Regiment)

in India was Irish, warranted in 1742.23 Soon the other grand lodges followed suit, and by 1813, the

Scottish had given warrants to twenty one regimental lodges.24 For Gould, the Seven Years War

(1756-1763) was the earliest period during which military lodges were present in the field.25 Indeed,

nearly every regiment had at least one lodge at work during the eighteenth century, with the Royal

Artillery claiming to have the most.26 Interestingly Gould points out that in practice, regimental

lodges were confined to the Queens troops, excepting only the (Bengal and Bombay) Artillery.27 As

Harland-Jacobs puts it:

In India, [...] Freemasonry was [...] an exclusively European institution that flourished among East India Company servants, government officials, the merchant and professional classes, and army officers.28

Because so many lodges were regimental, war often proved very detrimental to their

activities. The Second Mysore War (1780-1784), for example, forced Bengal lodges into abeyance,

and the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal ceased all activity for three years. The Third Mysore War

(1790-1792) produced a similar effect, and lodges in Madras were also affected. War with the

Marathas in 1803 was equally disruptive for Masonic meetings, although they did extend their

influence into new parts of India as the EIC and then the Raj advanced during the nineteenth

century.29 This could be what Gould is referring to when he argues that lodges prospered most on

the Coast of Coromandel, not Bengal, around 1800 (it is unclear if he means they were in greater

numbers there or if they simply lived in luxury).30 Harland-Jacobs, quoting G. S. Gupta, mentions the

main centres of Masonic activity in India during the first third of the nineteenth century being

around Bengal and Bombay. Terence Gahagan, the chief Masonic authority for the Coast of

Coromandel (southern India) in the late eighteenth century, contributed significantly to the spread

of Masonry in his jurisdiction and abroad.31 Masonic growth in India during the 1770s seems to be

non-negligible, as one lodge reported sixty five members in the late 1770s; the following year they

20


Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p241. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p32, p33. On p33:The Irish Grand Lodge granted the first travelling warrant to the First Battalion in the Royal Scots (the oldest Regiment of the Line) in 1732. 22

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p242. 23


Ibid, p34. 25

Gould, Robert Freke, Military Lodges: the Apron and the Sword of Freemasonry Under Arms, Kessinger Publications, 2003 (first published 1899), [online] http://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ7h3sGAJYC&pg=PP1&dq=military+lodges&ei=GU4lS9ScOZDqkQTPqrjkCw&cd=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p129. 26


Gould, Robert Freke, Military Lodges [...], p190. 28

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p467. 29



Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p39.

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had ninety five members. Another Calcutta-based lodge reported two hundred members in 1785. A

Madras-based lodge also counted seventy eight members in 1796; however this case is hardly

representative of Masons in India, as many members lived in Denmark and England.32 Apparently, in

1837, when Lord Elphinstone became governor of Madras, Masonic activity in the South increased

radically.33 He became Provincial Grand Master in 1840, and through increased patronage, lodges

began to multiply.34 Lodges in India seemed to be rather vulnerable to war, as during the second half

of the eighteenth century, most of them were affiliated with the military.35 This may explain the

sudden development of a plethora of fixed lodges in India from the end of the eighteenth century

onwards. A Masonic hall (that often doubled as a lodge) was sometimes a settlements first

community structure.36 Indeed, Masonic halls were used as gathering places for recreational

activities, business transactions, and civic meetings. They functioned like taverns, with the added

bonus that they could be used for official meetings and religious services [...].37

The first fixed lodge founded in the entire British Empire was the Star of the East Lodge of

Fort William, in Bengal, in 1728, just over ten years after the Grand Lodge of England formed in

1717.38 Although there seems to be some contention over this as Gould claimed the first lodges in

India were established in Calcutta in 1730.39 The provincial grand lodges of Madras and Bombay

were formed in 1752 and in 1758 respectively.40 This leads one to assume that enough lodges were

already present for there to be a need for provincial grand lodges. The first lodges in the Punjab

appeared in the 1830s.41 This is particularly interesting as it means that lodges spread in a manner

that anticipated British expansion (the First Anglo-Sikh War was only in 1845-184642). Several lodges

were constituted amongst the brigades stationed at Fort William in the early 1770s, which is

significant as at the time the Provincial Grand Master of Bengal, Samuel Middleton, only had a dozen

or so fixed lodges under his jurisdiction in Bengal, which means that a high percentage of Masons in

Bengal were military men.43 For Gould, by the end of the eighteenth century, civilian and military

lodges in Bengal were on a par.44

Interestingly, these lodges sometimes acted as backchannels by which nations could

communicate. Masonry provided a place for men from different nations to meet, even during times

of conflict.45 During the 1780s, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal often organised balls and

suppers for Calcutta Masons and their guests. This is highly relevant as apparently Masons from

Danish, Dutch and French settlements were also welcome. The Madras Masons organised similar

32




Ibid, p36. 36

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p13. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p245: Masonry was a very important spiritual guide for colonists in India, as often there would be a lodge where there was not yet a church. 37


Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p241. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p31. 39


Author Unknown, Freemasonry Comes to India, MasterMason.com [online] http://www.mastermason.com/hempstead749/india.htm, [accessed] 12/12/2009. 41


Singh, Bawa Satinder, Raja Gulab Singh's Role in the First Anglo-Sikh War, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1971, pp. 35-59, Cambridge University Press, [online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/311654, [accessed] 15/12/2009, p35. 43




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events.46 In fact, Masons from different European nations would often take part in the same

processions, as was the case in Bengal in the 1770s and at the Cape in the 1790s, when Britons and

Dutchmen marched together. French Masons also corresponded significantly with English Masons.

Even in 1789, French and British Masons across the Bay of Bengal attended each others grand

balls. In India, one of the reasons European Masons were keen to interact with one another, even

during times of tension, was to make the stay in foreign custody for prisoners of war a bit easier.47

[Table 1]48

There were far more English than there were Scottish or Irish lodges in India (see [Table 1]).

This is surprising as the Scots somewhat ran the British Empire49 and the Irish made up most of the

armed forces.50 Was it that Bengal was an English sphere of influence that caused Freemasonry to

grow there? Lodge composition evolved from military men to include a wide variety of members as

fixed lodges became more common:

Merchants and colonial administrators, soldiers and officers, and ordinary colonists of all types joined the brotherhood because membership offered a passport to convivial society, moral and spiritual refinement, material assistance, and social advancement in all parts of the empire.51

When there were enough colonist Masons, petitions were sent to a grand lodge in Britain for

a warrant to form a colonial lodge. As the amount of colonials grew throughout the Empire, the

Grand Lodges decided, by the mid-eighteenth century, to appoint Provincial Grand Masters to

oversee the growth of Masonry in their regions.52 In many respects the Governor of a province had

very similar functions to a Grand Master.53 The eighteenth century was a troubling time for British

Masonry, as a feud between Ancients and Moderns erupted mid-century.54 Their political war seems

to have had little negative effect in India, as both Ancients and Moderns there associated with each

46


Ibid, p85, p86, p87. 48

Ibid, p4. 49

Smout, Christopher, The Culture of Migration: Scots as Europeans 1500-1800, History Workshop Journal, No. 40, Autumn, 1995, pp. 108-117, Oxford University Press, [online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/4289390, [accessed] 12/12/2009, p108. 50

Karsten, Peter, Irish Soldiers in the British Army, 1792-1922: Suborned or Subordinate?, Journal of Social History, Vol. 17, No. 1, Autumn, 1983, pp. 31-64, Published by Peter N. Stearns, [online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3787238, [accessed] 15/12/2009, p34-p40. 51



Ibid, p243. 54

See Bennett, John R., Freemasonry Ancient to Modern, Kessinger Publishing, 2005 (original publication date unknown). For more on the quarrel between Ancients and Moderns.

7

other, despite directives from London demanding them not to.55 The Ancients seemed to be more

successful at setting up lodges than the more exclusive Moderns as they were less upper-class and

paid more attention to the needs of their members56. Furthermore, they were far friendlier with the

Irish and the Scots, perhaps due to their Irish roots.57 They were also very popular with the army,

due to their administrative flexibility.58 In 1779, they set up a Provincial Grand Lodge under John

Sykes, in Madras.59 These problems caused Masons in India to urge for a unification of the Craft,

which it did twenty five years later.60 In 1786 though, Masons in Madras, Ancient and Modern,

united to form a single body.61 At Fort St George, after the unification of the Modern and Ancient

lodges, members would include a tavern keeper, a coach maker, a schoolmaster, a carpenter and a

jeweller. Another lodge in the region was mainly composed of men identified as labourers.62

Freemasonry played an essential role in providing support, relief, and a friendly setting for

brothers travelling and settling throughout the Empire (Masonry was one of the first organisations

to operate like contemporary insurance companies).63 Indeed, Andersons Constitutions mention

that brethren in need had to be relieved, through help in securing employment amongst other

things.64 Lodges also comforted brethren and looked after their mental and emotional health,

creating a familiar setting and a connection to home.65 This was especially important for bachelors.66

Freemasonry provided the ideal framework for colonialism, as it is based on family values around a

patriarchal structure.67 Indeed, the emphasis on the patriarch in its Victorian sense was made

strongly in the acknowledgment of the lodges Worshipful Master as a father figure.68The very

structure of the brotherhood was a model from which colonial administrators could copy elements

to implement in their governorships.69 Indeed, the prominence of some of the Orders members,

often governors and governor-generals, was an additional reason for colonists to join: Lord William

Hastings, Lord Dalhousie (former Scottish Grand Master), Prince Edward (Duke of Kent), General

Amherst, Lord Clive, General Wolfe, Captain Cook, Lord Cornwallis and Warren Hastings were all

Freemasons, according to Harland-Jacobs.70

55


Ibid, p49. 57

Ibid, p50. 58

Ibid, p51. 59

Ibid, p46. 60

Ibid, p46, p47. 61

Ibid, p47. 62

Ibid, p49. 63

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p449. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p58. 64

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p60. See also: Anderson, James, Consitutions [...], Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, [online] http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/anderson/index.html, [accessed] 01/12/2009. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p24. Anderson was the first to draft a set of rules and policies in 1728 that all lodges would abide by. Incidentally these would be amended by Benjamin Franklin in 1734. Interestingly, Anderson was educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen. 65


Ibid, p246. 67


Ibid, p455. 69

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p239. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p40: It would seem that like colonial administrators, Provincial Grand Masters also suffered from communication problems with London, often complaining about not receiving answers to questions in their letters. 70

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p4, p72, p168.

8

This is substantiated elsewhere too: Clive (victor at Plassey in 1757), was a Mason of the Lodge

of Rock No. 260,71 which although only founded in 1816, existed informally much earlier on.72

Charles Cornwallis (Commander-in-Chief in India, 1786-1793), was a Freemason, according to

Denslow.73 Warren Hastings (first Governor-General of Bengal, 1773-1785)74 was a Freemason,

according to Cheshire Mark Masons.75 Richard Wellesley (Governor-General of India, 1798-1805)

was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland (1782-1783).76 Lord Minto (Governor of India, 1807-

1813) was a Freemason, according to Mackay and Haywood.77 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington,

was initiated into the family lodge, Lodge Trim No. 494 in 1790,78 having just been elected MP of

Trim, according to Sives.79 Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnavaron (Undersecretary for the Colonies,

185859; Colonial Secretary, 186667 and 187478)80 was an English Pro Grand Master, according to

Harland-Jacobs; and the list goes on.81 Interestingly after Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Earl of

Moira82 (who was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland from 1806 to 180883) there wasnt a

Masonic Governor-General until Dalhousie, apart from Amherst. James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin

(Viceroy in 1863) may have been one. Evidence suggests that like many Masons, it was in the

family.84

71

Halleran, Michael, Bro. Brothers Journal: Ignorance Abroad, Part the Second, Scottish Rite Journal, The Supreme Council, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, [online] http://www.scottishrite.org/ee.php?/journal/pastarticles/bro_brothers_journal_ignorance_abroad_part_the_second/, [accessed] 6

th December 2009.

72 Author Unknown, About the District Grand Lodge of Madras, [online] http://www.dglmadras.org.in/about_dgl.htm,

[accessed] 6th

December 2009. 73

Denslow, William, R., 10,000 Famous Freemasons, from A to J Part One, Kessinger Publications, 2004 (reprint, edition number unknown), p251. 74

Author Unknown, Warren Hastings, [online] http://www.indianetzone.com/37/warren_hastings_first_governor_general_bengal.htm, [accessed] 10/12/2009. 75

Author Unknown, Stayley Lodge Centenary, The Cheshire Mark Mason, December 2008, [online] http://www.cheshiremarkmasons.co.uk/issue10.pdf, [accessed] 10/12/2009. 76

Author Unknown, Richard Wellesley, 1st

Marquess Wellesley, [online] http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-wellesley-1st-marquess-wellesley, [accessed] 28

th November 2009.

77 Mackey, Albert, G.; Haywood, H., L., Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Vol. 3, 1909 (2003 edition), p1368.

78 Author Unknown, Famous Masons in History, Matawan Lodge, New Jersey, [online]

http://www.matawanlodge.org/famous.htm, [accessed] 26th

November 2009. Also of interest: Beresiner, Yasha, Wellington: Soldier, Politician and Initiated Freemason, Masonic Papers, [online] http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/beresiner13.html, [accessed] 10/12/2009. 79

Sives, Alexander, A Brother in Arms Arthur, Duke of Wellington, April 2009, [online] http://www.masonicnetwork.org/blog/tag/lord-wellington/, [accessed] 29

th November 2009. This is equally substantiated

elsewhere, however Sives presents one of the more complete accounts. 80

Author Unknown, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert 4th

earl of Carnarvon, [online] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/96256/Henry-Howard-Molyneux-Herbert-4th-earl-of-Carnarvon, [accessed] 07/12/2009. 81


Author Unknown, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, [online] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256745/Francis-Rawdon-Hastings-1st-Marquess-of-Hastings-2nd-Earl-of-Moira, [accessed] 4

th December 2009.

83 Author Unknown, List of Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, [online]

http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/glos/G.M.M.%27s/grand_master_masons.htm, [accessed] 28/02/2008. 84

Author Unknown, A Brief Historical Sketch, The Provincial Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland for the United States of America, Puerto Rico, Republic of Panama, Guam and the US Virgin Islands, CONSTITUTED 1878, [online] http://www.yorkrite.com/roos/info.html, [accessed] 1/12/2009; Luckhurst, Tim, Lord Elgin: Defender of aristocratic adventure and national treasures, The Independent, [online] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/lord-elgin-defender-of-aristocratic-adventure-and-national-treasures-573486.html, [accessed] 4

th December 2009; Author

Unknown, The Right Honourable 11th

Earl of Elgin and 15th

Kincardine Lord Elgin, [online] http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/Portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b282-c6475cdb7ee7/COUNCIL_documents/Approved_Bio_and_Photo_Lord_Elgin.doc, [accessed] 3

rd December 2009; Baldwin,

Richard, B., The Royal Order of Scotland, [online] http://srjarchives.tripod.com/1998-08/BALDWIN.HTM, [accessed] 5th

December 2009.

9

In the years after Clive, when India was seen as a quick way to wealth, Freemasonry became

very attractive, as it was seen as a door to polite society.85 Furthermore, Freemasonry will have

been a welcome source of order in eighteenth century Bengal, as according to Steadman, life there

for the average Briton was rather chaotic.86 Steadman portrays eighteenth century British Calcutta

as no place for Christianity, as it was rather overshadowed by vice.87 Later, men like Dalhousie,

Moira and Elphinstone, contributed significantly to maintaining the respectability of the

brotherhood. They also began to allow middle-class men to join, as local elites made it more

attractive to those who had found wealth in India.88 As settlements grew, Masonry helped rising

men become powerful local power brokers.89 This is substantiated by Prescott (with a slight nuance),

who argues that between 1856 and 1874, English Masonry became overwhelmingly middle class,

whilst Scottish Masonry retained its strong working class membership, as did the Ancients.90

Harland-Jacobs, quoting Paul Rich, mentions Freemasonry as part of a secret curriculum in public

schools, that eventually gave access to the ultimate old boy network.91 Thus the brotherhood was

instrumental in making the colonial middle-class.92

Harland-Jacobs, quoting Stockwell, mentions the importance of imagery and performance in

upholding the idea of empire, a task that Freemasonry performed admirably.93 Quoting Rich,

Harland-Jacobs argues that as the Britons ability to enforce politics by force was limited

(especially after 1857), they used ceremonies as a substitute for gunboats.94 In fact, Freemasons

were [...] the shock troops of imperial ceremony.95 Indeed, Masonic processions increased in

frequency throughout the nineteenth century.96 They were literally builders of empire, laying the

foundation stones, during very public processions, to various imperial buildings, schools, hospitals,

canals, jails, lighthouses, hotels, theatres, monuments, libraries, courts and orphanages.97 Masonic

processions in India, as well as stone-laying events, were almost always reported in local

newspapers, in order to best display the grandeur of Britannia and her subjects.98 In 1824, the

Calcutta Gazette would report on a stone-laying ceremony for the New Hindoo College, being built

for the moral and intellectual improvement of Britains Hindu native subjects. The Masonic

procession and speeches were watched on by a crowd, dense to the extreme with Europeans and

Indians. A few months later a similar event took place for a New Mahommedan College.99 This is

relevant to the last part of this paper, as it shows the colonials mentality regarding Indians.

85


Steadman, J. M., The Asiatick Society of Bengal, Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4, Summer 1977, pp.464-483, The John Hopkins University Press, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/2738568, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p464. 87

Steadman, J. M., The Asiatick Society of Bengal, p465. 88


Ibid, p13. 90

Prescott, Andrew, A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, p22. 91


Ibid, p6. 93

Ibid, p13. 94

Ibid, p13, p14. 95

Ibid, p14. See also: p13: During the age of high imperialism (1870-1914), the institution encouraged its members to give their energy, money, and even their lives to uphold the imperial power and prestige of the motherland. 96

Ibid, p56. 97

Ibid, p14. 98

Ibid, p55. See also p245: Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Masonic newspapers developed considerably. There was even one entitled the Indian Freemason. 99

Ibid, p162.

10

Left to right: Lord Moira100

; Lord Dalhousie101

Moiras administration is rather interesting, as not only was he to be the first Governor-

General to administer India since the Company Charter Act of 1813 ended the EICs monopoly, but

he would act as Acting Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and

Accepted Masons in and over the whole of India [...]. Under his rule, vast amounts of territory were

conquered from the Ghurkhas (1814-1816) and the Marathas (1816), and the amount of immigrant

Britons increased, causing Masonic membership to diversify throughout India.102 With such an

illustrious Mason in their midst, Britons rejoiced, as he enhanced the positive image of Masonry

within the empire.103 After his departure, Freemasonry experienced a downturn, but this was soon

rectified as further buildings displaying Britains greatness and for the education of native Indians

were erected (the Hindoo and Mahommedan Colleges mentioned previously).104 Speeches on both

these occasions reflect Masonrys commitment to the increasingly popular interventionist and

Utilitarianism-inspired governors.105

Under Dalhousie, British power was increasingly centralised and enhanced: he annexed the

Sikh state (1849) and part of Burma (1852). He introduced the telegraph, railways, postal system,

and irrigation works. He also focused on anglicising Indian society and was committed to mass

education and missionary Christianity. His reforms, amongst other things, arguably caused the 1857

100

Ibid, p146. 101

Author Unknown, Frontespiece, taken from Lee-Warner, Sir William, The Life of the Marquess of Dalhousie, Vol. 1, London, 1904. 102

Ibid, p172. Lord Moira observed that Freemasonry was a Body spread throughout all classes of Society. According to Harland-Jacobs, Madrass Lodge Perfect Unanimity was composed of civil servants, advocates, merchants, attorneys, and army officers, as well as a chaplain, a surgeon, member of council, deputy commercial resident, master of the ceremonies, and secretary. 103

Ibid, p173. 104

Ibid, p174. 105

Ibid, p174.

11

Sepoy Uprising.106 As a response to this, Article 55 was enforced throughout lodges in India,

obliging them to refer to a provincial grand lodge if they wanted to admit a non-European

member.107 Interestingly, it was noted during this period that many a lodge would not even receive

fellow brothers, should they be of Asiatic descent. Perhaps to ease tensions, the next Grand Masters

(such as Sandeman) were drawn from civil society instead of the military.108

Eighteenth century imperial Masonry was somewhat inclusive of other groups such as

Jews, Muslims and South Asians.109 South Asians wished to join British Masonic lodges for the

contacts and social status they provided, and there is also the notion that the knowledge withheld

by Masons was so secret that it increased its value dramatically.110 During the eighteenth century,

the brotherhood had indeed counted some Asians, Native Americans, and Africans in its ranks. The

numbers werent very significant but the idea that Masonry was crossing racial boundaries was

indeed potent.111 Omdat-ul-Omrah Bahadur, son of the Muslim Nawab of Arcot (the Carnatic), was

the first Indian Freemason, joining in 1775 or 1776.112 The Grand Lodge of England attached an

exceptional amount of importance to the event, going as far as sending its new member a

specifically made apron and copy of Andersons Constitutions. Obviously, Britain wished to stress

how inclusive it was of elite native Indians. Harland-Jacobs uses Cannadines Ornamentalism to

describe how Britons governed their empire: as an authoritarian and collaborationist entity that

always took for granted the reinforcement and preservation of tradition and hierarchy.113 The

same year Bahadur joined, Joseph Brant, the Mowhawk leader, also joined in London. What these

two men had in common was the fact that they represented the highest rank of their indigenous

order, and thus allowed for an extra layer of control for Britain. Indeed, the Nawab of the Carnatic

had sided with the British in the war with the French for Southern India, and his sons initiation was a

means of strengthening that alliance.114 British Masons were less racist (and racialist) in the late

eighteenth century than they were in the first half of the nineteenth century. Harland-Jacobs partly

blames this surge in racism on the extensive expansion undergone at the turn of the nineteenth

century, particularly in India, which brought a variety of peoples hitherto widely unknown, under

British rule. Exclusionary practices became increasingly widespread within this predominantly white

institution. Thus a tension between the fraternitys inclusive rhetoric and its exclusive practices

became increasingly evident and difficult to explain.115 Men of the mid-nineteenth century became

imbued with social Darwinism, and the belief that colonials were part of the master races, whilst the

106

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p468. See Also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p227: Masonry was dealt a blow by the Uprising, as subsequently a good deal of their funds was used for relief for European victims of the Uprising. 107

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p225, p226. 108

Ibid, p227. 109


Urban, Hugh B., The Torment of Secrecy: Ethical and Epistemological Problems in the Study of Esoteric Traditions, History of Religions, Vol. 37, No. 3, February 1998, pp. 209-248, The University of Chicago Press, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/3176606, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p210. 111


Ibid, p466; Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p78. See also: Prescott, Andrew, A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, p15, p16; Gould, Robert F., History of Freemasonry Throughout the World, Vol IV, printed by Charles Scribners Sons, 1936, [online] http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/gould_history_freemasonry.html, [accessed] 08/12/2009, p226. According to Prescott, the admittance of Prince Omdit-ul-Omrah Bahaudar (admitted in 1776, according to Gould), was partly to allow the Grand Lodge of England to claim to be the Supreme Grand Lodge of the World. 113

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p78, p79. 114

Ibid, p79, p80. 115

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p466.

12

colonised belonged to subject races.116 Historians identified this shift as a result of the imperial

debacles in Jamaica and India.117 In some respects, Masonry became compatible with the racial

discourse of the mid to late nineteenth century, as Europeans saw themselves as patriarchs leading

childlike Indians to Enlightenment and civilisation.118

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, a handful of Muslims were admitted to the

brotherhood, but it was only around 1840 that discussions about whether or not Hindus should be

allowed to join took place.119 The Masonic debate about Hindus provides us with an interesting

insight when correlated with the various mutinies and uprisings that took place in India during the

first half of the nineteenth century, culminating in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857.120 On one side of this

debate stood a few vocal advocates, British and Indian, who were willing to include any Indian

candidate, provided he gain acceptance into a local lodge. They used the ideology of universal

brotherhood and the family metaphor as their primary arguments. On the other side of the debate

were the vast majority of English Masons in India who did not want to welcome Hindus into their

family.121 They believed Hindus simply did not fit the mould and could not be considered as

brothers. Additionally, their argument was emboldened in the aftermath of the 1857 Rebellion as

the racialised discourse of imperialism strengthened.122

In order to understand Masonic reticence regarding admitting Indians (particularly Hindus),

we need to consider the religious nature of British Masonry by the mid-nineteenth century. Olive

Anderson argues that it was the Crimean War that began a dramatic change in the attitude towards

the army of British society in general, and the religious public in particular.123 She focuses primarily

on literature from the period. Harland-Jacobs and other Masonic Historians paint a very different

picture. The concept of family in Britain underwent significant changes at the beginning of the

nineteenth century.124 The French revolution and the Vaticans war on Masons caused British

Freemasonry, like the army, to become far less radical, far more protestant, and far more exclusive

of these other groups.125 Indeed, British Masonry became very different to French Masonry, which

habitually exhibited sympathy towards Jacobin ideology (a good deal of competition between

116

Ibid, p475. 117

Ibid, p476. 118

Ibid, p479. 119

Ibid, p467. 120

Ibid, p468. 121

Ibid, p468. 122

Ibid, p469. 123

Anderson, Olive, The Growth of Christian Militarism in Mid-Victorian Britain, The English Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 338, January 1971, pp. 46-72, Oxford University Press, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/563655, [accessed] 08/12/2009, p46-p52. 124


Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p5, p6. See also: Chevallier, Pierre, Histoire de la Franc-Maonnerie Franaise, Vol III, La Maonnerie : Eglise de la Rpublique (1877-1944), Fayard, 1975; Faucher, Jean-Andr, Les clubs politiques en France, Editions John Didier, Paris, 1965; Faucher, Jean-Andr, Les francs-maons et le pouvoir, de la rvolution nos jours, Perrin, 1986; Gayot, Grard, La Franc-Maonnerie Franaise, texts et pratiques, XVIIIe-XIXe sicles, Gallimard, 1980; Kayser, Jacques, Les grandes batailles du radicalisme des origines aux portes du pouvoir, 1820-1901, Paris, 1962; Nordmann, Jean-Thomas, Histoire des radicaux, 1820-1973, La Table Ronde, 1973. It would be out of place to go into in any amount of detail here, but to illustrate how unique, religiously speaking, British Masonry was (and somewhat still is) when compared to French Masonry, these authors are highly relevant regarding the radicalism, and later, socialism of French Masonry.

13

English and French lodges arose, as shown by Wissa regarding nineteenth century Egypt126).127 After

the French Revolution and vocal accusations that Freemasons played a key role in its undertaking,

British Masonry became extremely politicised and religious, in an effort to distance itself from the

French and other radicals, such as in Ireland. It is during this period that being a British Mason

became synonymous with loyalty and allegiance to the Crown.128 Masons in India were aware of this

situation and responded by writing to the Crown to assert their allegiance, before the grand lodges

requested them to do so. It was in these conditions that Francis Rawdon-Hastings (Lord Moira) took

over as acting Grand Master of the Moderns, due to his close affiliation with the Prince of Whales.129

One can draw a parallel between this and the advent of a very religious-minded middle class.

Indeed, nineteenth century Masons often described their organisation as the handmaid of

religion.130 In the 1820s, the Duke of Sussex attempted to reform Masonry so that it gave a new

religion to the world by transcending Christianity. This attempt was met with failure, as Robert

Crucefix and George Oliver, preaching a more evangelistic version of the brotherhood, eventually

triumphed over Sussex.131 Apparently British Masons in India would rejoice at Crucefixs and Olivers

work when they were finally obliged by London to admit Hindu members, as they could take solace

in their view that only Christians would ever truly understand Freemasonry.132

The head of English Masonry in India argued in 1840 that the Masonrys progress was

shaped by sympathy with the whole family of man.133 This is ironic because Christianity was used

as an argument to exclude Indians. This is interesting as Freemasonry and the religions of India may

have more in common than nineteenth century Masons would have liked to admit. According to

Urban, at the turn of the eighteenth century an esoteric sect called the Kartbhajs (part of broader

Vaisnava-Sahajiy and other Bengali Tantric traditions) emerged in Bengal as a result of the

censorship and repression caused by the implementation of British rule.134 Many parallels between

Freemasonry and the Kartbhajs can be drawn, such as the fact that being a member enhanced

ones contacts, prestige, and social standing.135 This is highly relevant as it somewhat demonstrates

that Freemasonry, structurally, was not as alien a concept to Indians as most Britons assumed, and

may not have been at all incompatible with Indian society, as many European Masons argued. The

Kartbhajs were controversial to mainstream Indians due to their operating in secret, and their

126

Wissa, Karim, Freemasonry in Egypt 1798-1921: A Study in Cultural and Political Encounters, Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 16, No. 2, 1989, pp.143-161, Published by Taylor & Francis, Ltd., [online] www.jstor.org/stable/195148, [accessed] 05/12/2009. 127

Prescott, Andrew, A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, p15. See also on p25: Throughout the nineteenth century, and especially after the foundation of Frances Third Republic in 1870, British and French Masonry became ever more distant, as a result of the French penchant for Jacobin ideology and of British religious zeal. 128

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p127, p128, p130. 129

Ibid, p135, p136, p137. 130

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Hands across the Sea, p244. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p69: Harland-Jacobs mentions Prestons Illustrations of Freemasonry as explaining the dynamics of Masonic spirituality. This is pure speculation but it wouldnt be at all surprising if the upper echelons of the Order opened the door to revelations regarding the divinity of Man along the lines of American Masonry (thus in direct contradiction with mainstream Christianity). Of course, here is not the place to discuss this issue; however it could prove fundamental to understanding how Masons viewed the various religions of the world. 131

Prescott, Andrew, A History of British Freemasonry 1425-2000, p18-p21. Incidentally this battle between Sussex and Crucefix included misreporting minutes from Grand Lodge proceedings to use as ammunition against one another; this led to the keeping of detailed minutes in the Grand Lodge, not unlike the East India Companys obsession with records. 132

Ibid, p23. 133


Urban, Hugh B., The Torment of Secrecy [...], p211. 135

Ibid, p212.

14

indulging in immoral (ritualistic sexual) behaviour.136 For Masons, operating in secret also fuelled

scandalous accusations, such as the Leo Taxil hoax in late nineteenth century France.137

Moreover, the Kartbhajs had a vision of a universal religion of humanity, open to men

(and women) of all classes. This correlates somewhat with Masons ideology of the spiritual oneness

of mankind.138 Furthermore, the Kartbhajs were interested in concepts such as the worship of

Man139. It is unclear whether this was a tenet of British Masonry (unlikely given its Christian

element); one look at Brumidis Apotheosis of Washington though, tells us that some American

Masons definitely thought along these lines.140 In fact, in Masonic Enlightenment, Frank C. Higgins

draws an interesting parallel between Hindu mythology and Masonic initiation: he maintains that

the meaning of Masonic initiation is that of spiritual rebirth, along the same lines as Agrouchadas

vision of the second birth being about the entrance into a spiritual life.141 It would be interesting to

determine if the Kartbhajs were somewhat a competitive reaction to the implementation of

British Masonic Lodges and indeed if other sects emerged in Madras and Bombay around the same

time, as the Kartbhajs were but one of many Indian sects of the era.142 It would also be interesting

to determine whether or not those Indians who sought to join British lodges did so partially out of

disgust for the Kartbhajs, as powerful Brahmins often sought to marginalise and belittle them.143

There is very little information pertaining to the idea that Sir William Jones was a

Freemason. He founded the Asiatic Society (modelled on the Royal Society of London144) and was

closely linked to the brotherhood, according to some. In fact many a Mason regularly proposed

their Masonic colleagues to the Royal Society,145 as the brotherhood encouraged its members to

engage in intellectual pursuits.146 After Jones came John Shore. Whilst it is unclear whether or not he

was a Mason, he was the founder of the British and Foreign Bible Society,147 which apparently had

close ties to Freemasonry.148 Incidentally, the Asiatic Society was organised in a very similar fashion

136

Ibid, p223. 137

Author Unknown, A Hoax, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, [online] http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/taxil_confession.html, [accessed] 15/12/2009. See also: Faucher, Jean-Andr, Les francs-maons et le pouvoir, de la rvolution nos jours, Perrin, 1986. 138

Urban, Hugh B., Songs of Ecstasy, Tantric and Devotional Songs from Colonial Bengal, [online] http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/religion/9780195139013/toc.html, [accessed] 9/12/2009, 2003 (made available online; first printed in 2001), p1 (abstract). 139

Urban, Hugh B., The Torment of Secrecy, p226, p227. Curiously, this ties in neatly with Hermetic teachings. 140

Brumidi, The Apotheosis of Washington, 1865, [online] http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/rotunda/apotheosis/Overview.cfm, [accessed] 09/12/2009. One might even argue that American Masons had more in common, at least ideologically, with French Masons than they did with their British brothers. 141

Poll, Michael R. (edited by), Masonic Enlightenment, The Philosophy, History and Wisdom of Freemasonry, Cornerstone Book Publishers, 2006, p18. For more about Agrouchada and Indian occultism, see Jacoilliot, L., Occult Science in India, Publisher Unknown, 1919, p80-p95. 142

Bendall, C., Ancient Indian Sects and Orders Mentioned by Buddhist Writers, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1901, pp.122-127. 143

Urban, Hugh B., The Torment of Secrecy, p223. 144

Steadman, J. M., The Asiatick Society of Bengal, p466. On p470: Steadman argues that it was no coincidence that the Society was founded at the same time the East India Companys track record was being discussed in parliament; it was an attempt to show that it was not merely a bellicose organisation. 145

Author Unknown, The Royal Society, Deism V Idealism, [online] http://www.heardmusic.co.uk/page.asp?pid=81, [accessed] 10/12/2009. See also: Steadman, J. M., The Asiatick Society of Bengal, p465: Interestingly, the presidency of the Asiatick Society of Bengal was first offered to Warren Hastings, before Hastings mentioned his preference for Jones. 146


Author Unknown, John Shore, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, [online] http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101025452, [accessed] 10/12/2009. 148

Author Unknown, The History of Freemasons Hall, The United Grand Lodge of England, [online] http://www.ugle.org.uk/static/ugle/the-history-of-freemasons-hall.htm, [accessed] 10/12/2009. In addition to Masonic

15

to a Masonic lodge.149 The interest in deciphering Vedic and other Sanskrit-based texts150 will have

been potent not only to normal scholars, but to Masons keen to research the links of their esoteric

organisation with ancient civilizations. Indeed, Jones, amongst others believed that deciphering

some of these texts was a key to discovering hidden ancient-Egyptian knowledge.151

From left to right: Ardaseer Cursetjee152

; Prosonno Coomar Dutt (in Masonic regalia)153

According to Harland-Jacobs, Ardaseer Cursetji was the first Indian admitted to the Royal

Asiatic Society, in England.154 However, according to Kochhar, he was admitted to the Royal Society

of London.155 Also, according to the Asiatic Society itself, the first Indian members were Prasanna

Kumar Tagore, Dwarkanath Tagore, Russamay Dutt and Ram Camul Sen.156 Admitting Indians into

uses Sandby's Hall [Freemasons Halls predecessor] was to be an important centre during the 'London Season', hosting concerts, balls, play readings, literary evenings and meetings of many learned and philanthropic societies, including the Anti-Slavery Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society. For more about the links between Freemasons, the Royal Society of London, and Rosicrucians, see Bauer, Alain, Isaac Newtons Freemasonry, The Alchemy of Science and Mysticism, Inner Traditions, 2003; Beresiner, Yasha, The City of London, A Masonic Guide, Lewis Masonic Publishing, 2006; McIntosh, Christopher, The Rosicrucians, The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, Weiser Books, 1998; Sprat, Thomas, The History of the Royal Society of London, For the Improving of Natural Knowledge, Elibron Classics, 2005; Yates, Frances A., The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, Routledge Classics, 2002 (first published 1972). 149

Steadman, J. M., The Asiatick Society of Bengal, p467. 150

Ibid, p473-p477. 151

Ibid, p481. This is interesting as legends abound about secret ancient Egyptian knowledge passed down orally from generation to generation. There is also some speculation that Masons have a lot to do with this. As a starting point for more on ancient knowledge, see Freke, Timothy; Gandy, Peter, The Hermetica, The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs, Tarcher/Penguin Group, 1999 (first published 1997). See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p29: Harland-Jacobs briefly mentions the gentlemen of the Royal Academy whose attraction to Masonry stemmed from their interest in Newtonian science and the ancient world. 152

Author Unknown, Ardaseer Cursetjee, Photograph, Royal Society of London, [online] http://royalsociety.org/The-Royal-Society-and-India/, [accessed] 10/12/2009. 153



Kochhar, R. K., Ardaseer Cursetjee (1808-1877), the First Indian Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 47, No. 1, January 1993, pp.33-47, Published by the Royal Society, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/531392, [accessed] 01/12/2009. 156

Author Unknown, History, The Asiatic Society, [online] http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/history/1.htm, [accessed] 10/12/2009.

16

the Royal Society only really became fashionable at the dawn of the 20th century. The exception to

this would be Cursetjee, marine engineer in Bombay and a Parsi, who was elected in 1841.157 Indeed,

not only was Cursetjee a good poster-boy for the Empire, he also helped the British develop steam

navigation, working with the EIC.158 Cursetjee became a Freemason in 1843, according to Kochhar.159

This is most relevant, as this was after he became a member of the Royal Society; usually it is the

other way around. In some respects, he paved the way for others, showing that if one was

intellectually valuable enough to the empire, the doors to the brotherhood could be opened. As we

shall see, the British adopted the same mentality, after much debate. There was a disjuncture

between their cosmopolitan, universalist ideology and the rule of colonial difference that underlay

imperial power.160 In 1857, the Grand Lodge of England rhetorically asked:

how can western ideas make their way amongst a people whose superstitions so kindle their suspicions, that a greased cartridge may become the cause of a general rebellion? How can a man think of another as his brother, [...] when to touch him is pollution?161

Hindus, Parsis and Muslims were met with caution when they attempted to join the

brotherhood. British Masons were breaking their own rule: to extend the hand of brotherhood to all

humans without discrimination.162 Even those that were for allowing Indians to join, during this

ideological and racialist feud, only held that position because they thought that Masonry would

help raise up childlike natives to the high level of European civilization and culture.163 The

Scottish Masons of Bombay were the first to take the universal family concept seriously with

regards to Hindus in 1843. Apparently James Burnes, an EIC medical officer, was instrumental in

this development. He was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Western India in 1836 by the

Grand Lodge of Scotland. In 1840, he explained to a gathering of Masons that the inclusion of native

Indians would allow for bonds between colonists and colonised to be strengthened and for truer

knowledge of the Great Architect of the Universe without awakening religious prejudice.

However, the Scottish Bombay Masons became defensive when Maneckji Cursetji, a Parsi,

attempted to join their lodge in 1840. Turned away, he tried to join in England. This failed too and he

joined a Parisian lodge. Even when he returned to Bombay as a Master Mason, in 1843, the Masons

were still unwelcoming.164 Nonetheless, this made British Masons very aware that Indians could find

their way into Freemasonry through a back door. Thus, they reasoned it would be better to allow

Hindus to join their lodges as they would henceforth be able to regulate admission and avoid

157

Kochhar, R. K., Ardaseer Cursetjee [...], p34. 158

Ibid, p39-p42. 159

Ibid, p44. 160


Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p238. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p460: There were many differences between the Grand Lodges of Ireland, Scotland and England. Regarding Indians, it is interesting to note that the Irish and Scottish authorities had a more relaxed attitude toward their colonial brethren (in the settler colonies as well as India) than did the Grand Lodge of England. 162


Ibid, p448. See also: Meyers, Jeffrey, The Idea of Moral Authority in the Man Who Would Be King, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 8, No. 4, Nineteenth Century, Autumn 1968, pp.711-723, Rice University, [online] www.jstor.org/stable/449475, [accessed] 01/12/2009, p722.This view is somewhat violently described in Rudyard Kiplings (a Mason) The Man Who Would Be King. Meyers argues that: Peachey and Dan merely use Freemasonry as another means of tricking the natives and gaining power. Their godlike relation to the natives, whom they slaughter indiscriminately, can hardly be called one of universal brotherhood. Whilst literary and not historical, this view clearly expresses the contempt some Britons had towards Indians. 164


17

another Cursetji incident. Thus the Lodge Rising Star of Western India came into being in 1843, with

four Indian founding members: three Muslims and a Parsi, and still no Hindus. Of course the most

prominent positions within the lodge were occupied by Britons, with Burnes himself as Master. It is

also worth noting that the highly anglicised Parsis of Western India were deemed adequate

candidates as they had strong financial and political connections to European merchants and civil

servants. Indeed the Parsi founding member of Rising Star was none other than Ardaseer

Cursetji.165 Scottish Masonry under Burnes overtook English Masonry in prominence, as Englishmen

deserted to join Scottish lodges, which suggests that Burnes handling of the matter of admitting

Muslims and Parsis met with success.166

The English Provincial Grand Master of Bengal during the 1840s, John Grant, argued that it

was up to the Grand Lodge in London to decide on the admittance of Musselmans and Hindoos.

He adopted this stance as a way of unofficially blocking admittance. The actions of the Scottish

Bombay Masons forced him to make concessions: he consented to Indian admission as long as the

candidate was well educated and respectable, and able to acquire in some measure [...] an English

education.167 The admittance of Hindus was still unofficially hindered. The idea of admitting

Muslims and Hindus into the brotherhood made Grant very anxious. He turned to the Grand Lodge

of England for advice. Responding in 1842, Prince Edward Augustus (Grand Master) argued that

should they fit the requirements of Masonry (belief in a Supreme Being), they should be allowed to

join, as long as Grant remained cautious about who he admitted. Grant recoiled in horror, and

searching for reasons to continue the unofficial ban, he hypocritically invoked caste differences as

prohibiting Hindus from joining as they could not treat their fellow man as an equal. In the aftermath

of his administration, Harland-Jacobs argued that English Masonry in Bengal suffered from a lack of

leadership and competition from Scottish Masons in Calcutta.168 One may also assume that Indian

membership grew more in Bombay and Madras than it did in Calcutta.

The unrest of the 1850s brought this slow progress to a standstill.169 Indeed, in the

aftermath of 1857, Masonic leaders in India pulled back from the limited trend of inclusiveness

evident in the 1840s. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Bengal even enforced a bylaw requiring

provincial grand masters to approve the admission of Indians on a case-by-case basis (Article 55 of

the By-Laws of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal).170 A few Hindus petitioned against Article 55 in

the 1860s, most notably Prosonno Coomar Dutt, a Hindu merchant of Calcutta. He was refused

without so much as an adequate explanation.171 Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India, along with the Grand

Lodge of Ireland, gave Dutt their unconditional support.172 There was tremendous pressure on

Bengal officials to change their policy, as not being a Christian, they argued, was no grounds for

exclusion. The Provincial Grand Lodge was forced to capitulate and Dutt joined Lodge Anchor and

Hope in 1872, after nine years of petitioning.173

165




Ibid, p471. 169

Ibid, p471. 170

Ibid, p472. 171

Ibid, p472. 172



18

Another relevant case is that of the Muslim Prince Said-ud-Dowlah, who sought admission in

Kanpur in 1863. Having been accepted, the Provincial Grand Master suspended two lodge leaders for

their rebellious conduct,174 threatening to suspend any Mason who initiated an Asiatic [...]

without a Dispensation.175 The debate over these two cases was apparently quite intense, as it

reached London. Brother Howe was the most vocal voice against the admission of Hindus. He used

polytheism as an argument against them, claiming it counted as not believing in a Supreme Being.

He also argued that this made Hindus untrustworthy. Unsurprisingly, most English Masons sided

with him, although Charles Pilffard, a Calcutta lawyer, argued that these exclusions went against

Masonic ideology and made English Masons hypocrites.176 Interestingly, even though Said-ud-

Dowlah was a Muslim, the English seemed to put him and Prosonno Coomar Dutt in the same

category.

Most Muslims initiated in India belonged to royal families that were collaborating with the

British. For example, in 1836, the English Grand Lodge accepted the admission of the ambassador of

the Kingdom of Oudh (which Wellesley brought into the subsidiary alliance system in 1801). During

the next decade, the Duke of Sussex initiated Muslims with similar backgrounds. Nonetheless, there

is very little evidence that many more Muslims were admitted. These exceptions did however

contribute to fuelling the debate over extending membership to Parsis and Hindus.177 Eventually, the

English Grand Lodge would overturn Article 55.178

Members of Alexandra Lodge No. 1065 (English Constitution), Jubbalpar, India, ca. 1870 (all Europeans)179

174


Ibid, p473. See also: Whymper, Henry Josiah; Hughan, William James, Religion of Freemasonry. Kessinger Publications, 2003 (first published 1888). Specifically, see Chapter IX (p168 of 2003 edition). Also see Scott, Charles, Analogy of Ancient Craft Masonry to Natural and Revealed Religion, Kessinger Publications (first published 1850 or 1888). Religion of Freemasonry perfectly details the debate over the extent to which Masonry could indeed be universal. 176

Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, All in the Family, p473, p474. 177

Ibid, p221. See also: Harland-Jacobs, Jessica, Builders of Empire, p220: The admission of Muslims into the brotherhood was sometimes met with outright contempt and anger, expressed by some Masons during the ceremony. Meer Bundeh Ali Khan was initiated to the Marine Lodge in Bengal in 1812. Two members refused to attend the lodge meeting in protest, and two other Masons overtly mocked the Islamic faith during the proceedings, and were asked to leave. 178

Ibid, 229. 179

Ibid, p225.

19

Indian Freemasonry remained an overwhelmingly European institution, as racialist ideology

proved impossible to eradicate.180 Nonetheless, multiracial lodges in India gradually became more

common, as at least a fifth of all the lodges operating in India during the 1870s included an

indigenous element.181 Masonry began to serve as a meeting ground between colonisers and

colonised, and through its teachings it was thought that racial tensions could be calmed.182 The

British only made the brotherhood accessible to Indians because they thought it would help

strengthen the empire.183 This idea culminated in 1877, when the Prince of Whales (English Grand

Master) visited Bombay to lay the foundation stone of the Elphinstone docks. The Masonic

ceremony included English, Parsi, Muslim and Hindu Masons, and the Prince officially congratulated

his fellow Masons on the flourishing conditions of the Craft in India.184 By the end of the nineteenth

century, Masonry in India was facilitating European and Indian public interactions, and according to

Masons in London, this aided in making Indians loyal subjects to Queen Victoria.185

Thus Masonry was central to the expansion and maintenance of the British Empire,

especially after 1857, when mechanisms to control indigenous populations were needed more than

ever by the British state.

180


Ibid, p475. 182

Ibid, p480. 183




20

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Freemasonry in British India

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