To present “Fifty Years Long Term Service Jewel” to city’s senior-most Freemason

 Mysore/Mysuru: Free-masonry is an ancient institution and is said to have emerged out of the stonemason guilds of the Middle Ages. Modern  Freemasonry began in 1717 with the founding of the Grand Lodge — an Association of Masonic Lodges — in England. The first American Lodge was founded in Boston in 1733. Freemasonry came to India in 1730 with officers of the East Indian Company holding their meetings in Fort William, Calcutta. It was also patronised  by military officers and Bengali elite class. The Association of Freemasons are called Lodges and the place of their meetings are called Temples.

Freemasonry has always attracted eminent men to its fold. Of the men who signed the American Declaration of Independence, twenty-eight  were Freemasons. In the Masonic Monument in Washington, there is a huge mural showing George Washington in full Masonic regalia laying the foundation for the new capital named after him. Thirteen of the US Presidents have been Freemasons. In India too, many renowned men like Swami Vivekananda, the first Governor General of free India C. Rajagopalachari and the last Nizam of Hyderabad were Masons.

Freemasonry is said to have been brought to Mysore by the company military officers who came here after the defeat of Tipu. The Lodge Mysore was started in 1878 and has been in the present Lodge building opposite the Silver Jubilee Clock Tower which was built in 1898. One of the most notable Masons in Lodge Mysore has been Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, who became the Master of the Lodge in 1952. His son Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar too was a Mason. The present scion of the Mysore royal family, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar is a Mason and will be installed as the Master of Lodge Jayachamaraja in March this year.

Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest secular fraternal societies. It is a worldwide organisation based on the principle of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. It is a society of men concerned with  moral and spiritual values. Freemasonry is not a religion, nor is it a substitute for religion. There are more than 150 Grand Lodges functioning all over the world. 

M.W. Bro. Rajeev Ramkrishna Khandelwal is the head of the Grand Lodge of India, which was consecrated as a Sovereign Grand Lodge with full Masonic Jurisdiction over the territories of the Republic of India in November 1961.  

As of now, there are 440 Masonic Lodges and over 200 other Masonic bodies located in different parts of the country under the Grand Lodge of India with a total membership of about 22,000 Freemasons. 

M.W. Bro. Rajeev R. Khandelwal, OSM, is a Practicing Chartered Accountant in Nagpur. He is also a Bachelor of Law from Nagpur. He is among the 73 highly decorated prominent Freemasons to receive the highest honour — ‘Order of Service to Freemasonry’ — in the past six decades. Khandelwal  says “People have their own reasons as to why they enjoy Freemasonry. Many come for the Brotherhood and others for self-improvement. Freemasonry is an ocean. You can learn many things — brotherhood, charity, education, values, discipline, character building, knowledge etc. In one word, it offers a journey of personal discovery.”

M.W. Bro. Rajeev R. Khandelwal is visiting Mysuru tomorrow (Jan.28) and will be accompanied by Abraham Marcos, Regional Grand Master of Southern India. Grand Master Khandelwal will present Mysore’s senior-most Freemason and renowned Physician and Cardiologist Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa  Murthy, “Fifty Years Long Term Service Jewel” at a Masonic ceremony tomorrow evening at Country Inn & Suites by Radisson in Hebbal.

Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy