Swami Vivekanand in Khandwa

A NEW DISCOVERY RELATED TO  FREEMASON OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Recently a news published in Hindi Newpaper “Nai Duniya” dt 18th of January 2018 that 

“Khandwa is associated with the inspiration of the youth.  Swami Vivekananda come to Khandwa before going to Chicago conference and stayed  for 18 days ,he was a  guest of  Babu Haridas Chatterjee’s the than president of Municipal Council of Khandwa.

Now there is a private nursing home where he was a guest. The bed on which he rested and kept the luggage in the closet, was given by Chatterjee family to Dr. Yuji Rathore, a resident of Lalchauki Road in 1980, which is still kept by Rathore family as a heritage.

During this stay Swami Vivekananda gave a lecture in Khandwa's MASONIC LODGE. 

The house in which Swami Vivekananda was a guest was sold to Dr. B.P Mishra in 1982 and Chatterjee family went to Kolkata. Dr. Mishra is operating a private nursing home here. ..Chatterjee family used to tell in their discussion that during Swamij’s stay  at Khandwa, he received a notice from the Chicago conference. After spending nearly 18 days in Khandwa, he left for Mumbai .

ABOUT KHANDWA MESONIC HALL AND SOME CLUE ABOUT WESTERN FREEMASONIC LOGES 

In this connection “The Times of India” dt Jan 9, 2013 wrote that “with the title “Freemasons celebrate grand lodge of western India's golden in MP.”

Freemasonry was a well-kept secret in Madhya Pradesh since 18th century. Until 2005 when its members initiated a legal battle against state government after the latter ‘seized’ one of their oldest lodges (lodge of central India No. 84)  along with its valuable land citing violations of lease deed…Masonic centres like Rajkot, Vadodara, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad  KHANDWA, Raipur, Nagpur, Jabalpur have old Masonic buildings in fairly good condition. Some other centres have either purchased  or are in process of purchasing properties for holding meetings. High cost of land is causing some problems in this direction. Grand lodge of India and regional grand lodge of western India  provide substantial aid for maintenance and repairs of old properties. 

In another “Times of India” news dt  Feb 10, 2013, Published a interview with “Fiction writer and best-selling author of the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, first put Freemasons in the public domain. One of the oldest yet little-known fraternities, they are slowly opening up to the rest of the world, Largely regarded as a secret society and eyed mysteriously by the layman, it’s newly elected Grand Master Vasudeva J Masurekar, India, talks to TOI, debunking the myths associated with the organization. He is the chief of the Indian freemasons and is currently in the Bhopal to attend the golden jubilee celebration of the Western Lodge, Excerpts: 

Q. What is the Grand Lodge doing to ensure security of the Masonic properties including the ancient lodge in the Western India like in Indore and KHANDWA?

A. We taking care of the properties. The Indore lodge dispute is currently subjudice. KHANDWA LODGE HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A HOSPITAL.

In the book “Kharshedji Rustamji Cama 1831-1909” by Edwardes, S.m, Publication date 1923 , in the chapter  Two, A Great Masonic Career,  wrote “..Kharshedji Rustamji Cama’s connetion with Freemasonry in Western India dated from the year 1854, when he joined the Lodge ‘ Rising Star of Western India No. 342 S.C. This Lodge commenced its career under a warrant dated 15th December 1843, and was founded specially for the admission of Indian candidates for the Craft…..

 In his capacity of Grand Master Depute he paid official visits to many lodges outside Bombay, as for example in 1893, when he employed his spare time in lecturing on Zoroastrian religious matters at Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and in 1896 when he paid a visit to Chapter ‘ Faith and Charity ’ at Karachi. He also assisted at the consecration of several lodges, such as Lodge ‘ Coronation ’ at KHANDWA.

Image Courtesy: Nai Duniya (News Paper 18th of January 2018 please see the previous post)

Swamiji Swami Nikhileswarananda

Blessed privilege of touching the cot used by Swami Vivekananda while he was the guest of Shri Haridas Chatterji at the house of Shri Anurag Thakur during my visit to Khandwa yesterday