After the Grand Lodge of India was founded in 1961, it was felt that a concerted effort should be made to enlarge the membership in Freemasonry by bringing into our fold the many worthy men who are eligible. It was realized that this was possible only by enlarging the base, namely the Lodges that can initiate, pass and raise these men into master masons. Lodge Vidya was one of the Lodges conceived for this purpose by a group of Senior Masons spearheaded by R.W. Bro. C.A. Ramakrishnan, R.W. Bro. R. Krishnaswamy and others. Most of the spade work was done by the Late R.W. Bro. E.N. Narayanaswamy and Late W. Bro. A.R.Narayana Rao, the latter ultimately becoming the Founder Master of the Lodge. Most of the founder members of the Lodge were drawn from the Guindy/Adyar area which was the seat of many educational institutions of advanced learning. So the name 'LODGE VIDYA' was considered to be the most appropriate one for this new Lodge. W. Bro. S.R.Govindarajan, the eminent educationist is believed to have suggested this name for the Lodge.

A preliminary meeting was held on 17th August 1964 at the Cosmopolitan Club, Madras, presided over by W. Bro. C.A.Ramakrishnan and attended by about 20 brethren from various Lodges.

The next meeting of the promoters was held on 26th August 1964 at the Cosmopolitan Club, the following brethren were present.

W. Bro. C.A. Ramakrishnan
W. Bro. A.R.Narayana Rao
W. Bro. R. Krishnaswami
W. Bro. C. Santhamurthi Naidu
W. Bro. Lodd Mohanakrishna Das
W. Bro. M. Rajagopalan
W. Bro. E.N. Narayanaswamy
W. Bro. V.L. Narasimha Rao
W. Bro. S.R. Govindarajan
W. Bro. S.Krishnamurthi
W. Bro. H.G.V. Reddi
W. Bro. S.R. Das
W. Bro. N.S. Mehta
W. Bro. S.R.Das
W. Bro. T.N.C Rangarajan

It was decided at this meeting that the new Lodge will be named LODGE VIDYA. It was also agreed that the membership will not be restricted to those living in the Guindy/Adyar area but shall include those living within a radius of 25 miles from Fort St. George. The monthly subscription was fixed at Rs. 5/- for residents and Rs. 3/- for non-resident members.

It was agreed that the meeting of the Lodge shall be held on the first Monday at every month at the Freemasons' Hall. Madras and that the dress would be white closed coat and white trousers. A crest in three sectors showing respectively an open book (denoting Vidya), Square & Compass (the Masonic symbols) and a dharma chakra (to emphasis the purpose of knowledge) was accepted. It was also agreed to collect Rs. 150/- from each of the founder members which would include the cost of a founder-member jewel.

It was unanimously agreed that W. Bro. A.R.Narayana Rao be the Founder Master. A list of the other officers was also drawn up.

The next meeting of the promoters was held on 17th September 1964 at which the Regional Grand Secretary informed the members that the consecration of the Lodge would take place during the Grand Festival of the Grand Lodge of India to be held at Madras during early 1965. A Committee consisting of W. Bro. A.R.Narayana Rao, Bro. E.N. Narayanaswamy, Bro. V.L. Narasimha Rao and Bro. S.R.Govindarajan was formed to attend to the preliminary work for consecration.

The final pre-consecration meeting was held on 1st February 1965 at the Freemasons' Hall, Egmore. It was reported by the Regional Grand Secretary that the Consecration would take place at 11:00 am on Saturday, the 6th March 1965 at the Freemasons' Hall, Madras. The warrant for Lodge Vidya, dated 2nd December 1964, received from the Grand Lodge was passed round for inspection. It was reported that W. Bro. A.R. Narayana Rao had agreed to make and present the Banner of the Lodge and that Bro. Kumaran and Bro. Murugan (AVM) had agreed to bear the cost of the working tools and half of that of the collars.