Sri Besant Lodge getting facelift

Tanjore:Front elevation of the main building being renovated in Thanjavur.Sri Besant Lodge here, which is more than hundred years old, has been given a facelift.The lodge has two buildings. The main building was declared open by Dr. Annie Besant in 1904 and another called Sri Ram Hall that was added in 1960.The two buildings have been catering to the needs of voluntary organisations, theosophical society and the public for conducting meetings.

According to R. Sivasankar, an engineer, the front elevation of the main building has been renovated without disturbing its originality. Stuckoo works and paintings have been done in the main building, which has six pillars in front. The Sri Ram hall has been fully renovated.G. Swaminathan, former MP and president of the lodge, said that there is a plan to add one more hall to the existing two buildings.

"There is a need for another hall as a lot of meetings take place in Thanjavur now. Nominal donation is collected from the organisers for using the halls," Mr. Swaminathan said.There is a good library in the lodge. It houses 2,350 books in Sanskrit, English and Tamil."There are many rare and old books older than the ones found in the Saraswathi Mahal Library. They need to be preserved. Library also will be renovated and computerised," Mr. Swaminathan said."We have also decided to form Sri Besant Lodge Literary Association and conduct literary meetings. Membership is collected for the purpose."The library is open to the public and no fee is charged for reading books.It is open every day in the morning and evening. On payment of small subscription, members of the public are allowed to take books home for study.

The objectives of the Sri Besant Lodge at Thanjavur, according to Mr. Swaminathan, are to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without race, creed, sex, caste and colour discrimination. It is aimed at encouraging the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science to investigate the unexplained laws of nature.Many theosophical events took place in the lodge from 1985 to 2004. The centenary of the lodge was celebrated in 2004 when the former home secretary T.V. Venkatraman and Radha Burnier, international president of Theosophical Society, participated, he said.Yoga classess are conducted in the lodge by various organisations. Sri Thyagabrahma Sabha celebrates its annual music festival in the lodge every year.