Swami Vivekananda’s
Home-A Heritage Site
Kolkata has added
another glory to its cultural heritage. Just before the ‘Puja’, the renovated
ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda at 3, Gourmohan Mukherjee Street , in North Kolkata , was opened to the public few years back.
It took nearly
five years to complete the restoration work of Swamiji’ ancestral home, though
the decision of turning it to a memorial-cum-museum was taken in 1962. The
edifice standing on 30 cottahs of land along with the newly constructed
research and cultural center, the textbook library and the social and philanthropy
building would soon turn into a notable site like Belur Math. According to
Swami Bishokananda, who was in the charge of this project, the President has
not only inaugurated the research-cum-cultural centre, he has also formally
opened the textbook library meant for students of Higher Secondary and those
who are pursuing graduate and post-graduate studies.
The 18th century
building was in a dilapidated condition, worsening day by day. The Ramkrishna
Mission acquired it, along with an adjacent plot, in May 1999 through State
government. A committee was set up- comprising, among others, conservation
engineers of Archaeological Survey of India sto advise on the renovation and
coordinate with the agencies involved in the process.
The Centre, the
State government as well as public donation to Ramakrishna Mission, funded the
Rs. 20 crore restoration project in which the Central grant was Rs. 9 crore 90
lakh.
Ramakrishna Mission restored Swamiji’s ancestral house without
changing any of its original architectural features. It houses Swamiji’s
birthplace, meditation hall (first floor) and museum, where some of the
articles used by Swamiji, his father, mother and brothers are preserved.
Swamiji was born
in this house on January 12, 1863 as the eldest son, Narendranath, of Viswanath
Dutta and Bhubaneswari Devi. His great grandfather Rammohan Dutta originally
built the house.
During Swamiji’s
time, the house was surrounded by a garden and beyond that there was a large
open space. But in later years, owing to the city’s growth and its ever
increasing buildings, the approach road to the house got narrowed into a lane,
now known as Gour Mohan Mukherjee
Street .
Earlier a massive
doorway opened to the street outside. The spacious courtyard was bordered on
two sides by the main building, which had two parts. To the right was a
single-storey structure having rooms for men-folk. Facing the doorway and
across the courtyard, was the two-storey ladies’ apartment. The ground floor of
this was used as a kitchen and dining hall. Above this were dwelling chambers.
The roof of this building served as the place where the ladies met, talked and
moved freely. It was a small temporary shade on this roof that Swami
Vivekananda was born. This is now being turned to a beautiful shrine, where a
rosewood simhasan carrying the photograph of Swamiji has been placed.
The untimely
demise of his father made Vivekananda take the responsibility of his mother and
his two younger brothers-Mahendranath and Bhupendranath. Mahendranath was an
avid traveller, while Bhupendranath, was a patriot and was deeply involved in
the Indian freedom struggle for which he had to take refuge outside the
country. Their rooms too have been preserved with due honour.
In one of the
rooms in the ground floor, several musical instruments like tabla, khol and
tanpura were displayed. Swamiji sang well and had lerned the Indian Classical
music from his father as well as renowned singers of the day like, Pt. Beni
Adhikary and Ustad Ahammad Khan. He even wrote poetry for which he often
composed music himself. Swamiji quite often played these instruments.
The textbook
library comprises books prescribed for college students. Textbooks following
the syllabii of five Universities, viz. the Universities of Calcutta, Jadavpur,
Burdwan, Rabindra Bharati and Kalyani are kept here. The library already has
5,000 titles on different branches of science, commerce and arts. The research
center named Vivekananda Research Centre is meant for conducting studies on
various aspects of Indian culture, history, spirituality, the message of Shri
Ramakrishna, Swaradama and Swami Vivekananda. It will have three main
departments - Ramakrishna-Vivekananda studies, Religious Studies and Cultural
and Scientific Studies. The building where philanthropic activities will be
carried on is Rural and Slum Development Centre. This center will undertake
studies on the problems of unemployment, health and sanitation in rural areas
of Bengal .
An eminent
British historian has described Swami Vivekananda as ‘one of the main moulders
of the modern world’. Indeed, many thought processes and social attributes of
the 20th century show direct or indirect influence of Swamiji, although it may
not have been always recognized as such. He was essentially a man without frontiers
and must be honoured as one of the architects of global unity in the years to
come. The present generation is fortunate enough to be able to maintain his
birthplace as a heritage building.
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