The connection between Parsis, Zoroastrians, Shi’a-Qajar reformists, and Orientalists went beyond politics, economic wealth, and literature: the spread of Freemasonry in Iran and India at the closing of the 19th century resulted in a cult-like belief in the foundational significance of Iranian civilization. In both Tehran and Bombay, reformists were instrumental in the establishment of the first lodge. In 1842, Maneckjee Cursetjee was the first Indian to have applied and initially denied entrance to Freemasonry. Following him, many reformist Parsis, including Ardeshir Cursetji Wadia, Framji Dinshaw Petit, Rustom K.R. Cama, Sir Pherozesha M. Mehta, A.F. Moos, D.F. Karaka, and F.J. Patel, became members of the Lodge Rising Star of Western India.
By 1870, the lodge’s charity had reached to the orphans of Singapore and to poor Zoroastrians in Iran. Through the Masonic structure and its extensive global network, revivalist ideas were disseminated among the reformist elite across class, national, and religious boundaries. K. R. Cama, a staunch reformist, a community leader, scholar, philanthropist, and an overt Freemason, spoke and wrote about the connections between Freemasonry and Zoroastrianism/Mithraism both through the Masonic networks. When in 1907, prominent Iranian reformists, including Zoroastrian representative to the parliament Arbab Keikhosraw Shahrokh, prime minister and scholar of ancient Iran Mohammad Ali Forughi, ideologue and stanch advocate of revival Seyyed Hasan Taqizadeh, prime minister and ambassador to UK Hosayn Ala, and prime and cultural minister Ebrahim Hakimi formed the first official Masonic lodge in Tehran, they named it Reveil de l’Iran.
This paper seeks to bring to light the mechanics of how Orientalist and Freemasonic misconceptions of ancient Persia impacted Qajar and Parsi revival of this art as much as how Iranian and Indian agency helped inject Persian rituals and symbols into Freemasonry. How did, in turn, Freemasonic practice helped shape the mainstream communities in Tehran and Bombay through the construction of neo-Persian temples, schools, ministries, and palaces?
When Freemasonry arrived in the imperial centers, local Freemasons, deployed Freemasonry to revive ancient Persian art and architecture. In other words, Masonic organizational structure and political ideology – i.e., constitutional government, universal brotherhood, reason and tolerance – enabled these reformists to invent an artistic tradition that linked their convictions of modernity to an ancient and venerated past. This paper explores the connections between Masonic networks and the spread of the neo-Achaemenid and neo-Sassanian styles.
