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Madras Day Celebrations - 2005 As part of the Madras Day celebrations, Mr. S. Muthiah was invited to speak at Freemason's Hall on 4th September 2005. The following articles appeared in The Hindu on 12th September 2005. Ravi Varma midst the Masons S. MUTHIAH
There was a delightful cartoon I saw the other day. It featured a child looking rather upset after its birthday party was over and wondering, "Appa, how come I get to celebrate my birthday for only one day while Chennai gets to celebrate it for a whole week?" Indeed, Madras's celebration went on into a second week and I was present at what might have been the last of the celebratory occasions, a get-together by the Freemasons to remember the founding of the city. That was my first visit to the Freemasons' hall on Commander-in-Chief Road, and I found its interior rather splendid after some meticulously executed restoration. But more than the restoration — which reflected that the City in parts is at last catching on to the idea of wanting to care for its living heritage — I was happy to make two discoveries during my visit. One was a Ravi Varma portrait — — adding one more to the few Ravi Varma originals in the city that I know of — and the other that the Masons have long had a connection with St. George's School and Orphanage, the ancient organisation still having a representative on the School's Board of Management. There's quite a treasure-house of antiquities in the Hall, ranging from portraits in oils and photographs of the Grand Masters who have headed the organisation in South India from the 1780s to the antique Master's chairs, other furniture and the ornamentation in the three Temples the Hall houses, all carefully preserved. Amongst those portraits is one of Lord Ampthill, Governor of Madras 1901-1906. Ampthill, the son of the diplomat Lord Odo Russell, was the Private Secretary of Joseph Chamberlain, a major figure in late 19th Century British politics, and father of Neville Chamberlain, a latter Prime Minister. Joseph Chamberlain of Birmingham, who was president, Board of Trade and later Colonial Secretary, was best known for his advocacy of the British Empire becoming a united trading block. Lord Ampthill acted as Viceroy in 1904 when Lord Curzon was on Home Leave. I, however, remember Ampthill for having been an enthusiastic patron of Raja Ravi Varma, that great artist who might be considered the father of Modern Indian Art. To find Ampthill painted by Ravi Varma was, therefore, a happy discovery. It was in 1873 that Ravi Varma came to the art world's attention when he was awarded the First Prize for his "Nair Lady at her Toilet" at the Madras Fine Arts exhibition. Prize followed prize at subsequent Madras exhibitions - and so did the patronage of the Governors of Madras. In the 1904 exhibition, by when his exhibits were not for competition, Ravi Varma exhibited a striking portrait of Lady Ampthill. The next year, he exhibited at the Madras show the portrait of Lord Ampthill in his Masonic regalia. The Governor invited him to accompany him and the Prince of Wales (later to be King George V) to Mysore and paint the highlights of a visit where royalty entertained royalty. One of the most memorable pictures that came out of that tour was the impressionistic "Mysore Khedda". Ravi Varma died in October 1906. By then, Lord Ampthill had returned to England but he wrote from there to Ravi Varma's son, "A more gentle, kindly, courteous nature I have never known, and added to that there were the lofty ideas and pure motives which inspired him in the Art to which he devoted his life which so much resultant benefit to Indian life. It would be difficult to ever estimate the influence for good which your father's paintings, widely popularised as they were, had among all kinds and conditions of your countrymen. They spread a refined taste in Art and they must have done much to influence religious thought... " Indeed, recognition of that has been emerging in the last couple of years to judge by the several books on Raja Ravi Varma that have been coming out. The St. George's connection Adjacent to the Ampthill painting in the Freemasons' Hall is a burst of Sir Archibald Campbell, Governor of Madras 1786-90. It was Sir Archibald and Lady Campbell who were responsible for the founding of the Male and Female Orphans' Asylums. Both evolved from the school for orphans founded in St. Mary's in the Fort in the 1680s and which became St. Mary's Charity School in 1715. Encouraged by Lady Campbell, the Rev. Wilhelm Gericke founded the Female Orphans' Asylum in 1787 and this was followed by the Male Orphans' Asylum, headed by Dr. Andrew Bell, who introduced in it the gurukulamsystem of education that he, later, in the 1790s, introduced in Britain with fair success as the Madras System of Education. The two orphanages were run separately in which was known as the Egmore Redoubt, the small fort to the rear of what is now the Egmore Railway Station. In 1871/2, the two orphanages were merged together with St. Mary's Charity School and became known as the Civil Orphans' Asylum. In 1904, the Asylum moved into Conway Gardens, opposite where Pachaiyappa's College now is. And in 1954, it took the name by which it is today known, St. George' Higher Secondary School and Orphanage. Given its roots, this is the oldest Western style school in the country. And given the Campbell Masonic connection, it is no surprise that the Freemasons of Madras have long been associated with the running of this institution. Note: The bust referred to is that of Past DGM Sir Archibald Campbell and not that of the Past Governor of the Madras Presidency as stated in the article. This has been notified to Mr. Muthiah.
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