B. P. Wadia

rdf:langString B. P. Wadia

rdf:langString Bahman Pestonji Wadia or Bomanji Pestonji Wadia (BP Wadia, B.P. Wadia or BPW) (* 8 October 1881 in Mumbai, India; † 20 August 1958 in Bangalore, India) was an Indian theosophist and labour activist. He was first a member of the Theosophical Society Adyar (TS Adyar), later of the United Lodge of Theosophists (ULT). On 13 April 1918, along with V. Kalyanasundaram Mudaliar, Wadia founded the Madras Labour Union, one of India's first organised labour unions. In 1903 he joined the Theosophical Society in Mumbai and moved to Adyar in 1908. He worked for the journal The Theosophist. He became president of the Madras Textile Workers' Union and engaged himself for worker's rights. In 1919 he visited the ULT in Los Angeles and was very impressed. When he returned to Adyar in 1919, he tried to work for a change of direction in the TS Adyar, based on the ideals of the ULT, but didn't succeed. He became disappointed and left the TS Adyar to work for the ULT in Los Angeles. In 1923 he founded several lodges on the east coast of the States. In 1925 he founded a lodge in the UK. In 1928 a lodge was founded in France, in 1929 in Mumbai, and in 1930 he began publishing the journal The Aryan Path.In 1928 he married Sophia Camacho (1901-1986). In 1945 he founded The Indian Institute of World Culture (IIWC) in Bangalore. Other lodges of the ULT were founded in the States, Europe and India. A street in Bangalore, B.P. Wadia Road, is named after him.