Who was the first Indian initiated into Freemasonry?

Omdat-ul-Omrah, the eldest son of the Nawab of the Carnatic, was the first Indian initiated into Freemasonry in the Craft. He was regularly initiated at Trichinopoly in Lodge No. 355 by Surgeon Terence Gahagan 1.

The Grand Lodge of India records that this initiation took place in 1775 or 1776. Following his initiation, his status was formally reported and registered at a quarterly meeting of the Grand Lodge in London, whereupon an apron was sent out to his Highness as a mark of approbation and brotherly esteem 1.

Brother Ranganath Sastry was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge Perfect Unanimity No. 233, Madras, in 1857, making him the first Hindu initiated into the fraternity, as recorded by the Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India.

In Bengal, Prosonno Coomar Dutt (P. C. Dutt) became another early Hindu Mason following his initiation into Lodge Anchor & Hope (No. 234) in 1872, a milestone noted by the District Grand Lodge of Bengal.

Wider admission of native Indian candidates holding local creeds developed through the practice of placing non-Christian sacred texts upon the lodge altar during initiations 2. In lodges operating in India under the English Constitution, the universality of the fraternity was extended by allowing the "Sacred" books of the East to substitute for the Holy Bible when initiating candidates of local faiths who held a belief in a Supreme Being 2.

This adaptation generated debate among Masonic scholars and observers in England 2. Writing on the extension of Freemasonry in India, Henry Josiah Whymper argued against this practice, maintaining that Craft Masonry under the English Constitution was fundamentally connected to the Bible as its Volume of the Sacred Law 2. Whymper contended that substituting other sacred texts undermined the allegories and symbols inherent in the ritual, whereas supporters of the practice viewed it as an exemplification of Masonic universality to accommodate non-Christian candidates 2.