what is the purpose of freemason in india

In Craft Masonry, George Pomfret received a deputation to open a lodge in Bengal in December 1728, introducing the Craft into the English settlements 2. The earliest lodge constituted under the English Constitution was Lodge East India Arms in Bengal in 1730 2. English warrants were subsequently granted across the region, establishing lodges at Madras in 1752 and at Bombay in 1758 1. Under the Irish Constitution, the Grand Lodge of Ireland chartered a lodge at Kurnaul in 1837, though it proved short-lived 1. Scottish Craft Masonry gained formal structure when Dr. James Burnes was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Western India in 1836, becoming Provincial Grand Master for all India under the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1846 1.

Early Indian lodges were maintained almost exclusively by British merchants, military personnel, and sailors, with native Indians admitted only later and in limited numbers 1. To encourage native membership within the Craft, Rising Star Lodge in Bombay and Saint Andrew's Lodge in Poona were established in 1844 specifically to initiate Indian candidates 1. Prominent early Indian Freemasons included Umdat-ul-Umara (son of the Nabob of Arcot), Prince Keyralla, Khan of Mysore, Prince Shadad Khan, Maharajah Duleep, and Maharajah Rundeer Sing 1.

Although certain writers speculated that the origins or symbols of the Craft derived from ancient Indian traditions, Mackey dismisses these claims, holding that strict caste divisions and social structures in historical India were incompatible with Masonic fraternalism, and that Indian philosophies share no historical connection with Craft symbol or doctrine 1.

In present-day practice, an article on the Grand Lodge of India's website presents Freemasonry as a system of morality founded on belief in a Supreme Being, stating that its primary purpose is to improve the character of the individual Mason so that he may apply its principles in wider society.