Vivekananda Rock

VIVEKANANDA ROCK MEMORIAL, KANYAKUMARI


After traveling through the length and breadth of India for three years as a Parivrajaka
[Wandering mendicant], Swami Vivekananda arrived at Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country in December 1892. This place of pilgrimage contains a temple dedicated to Goddess Kanyakumari, an aspect of the Universal Mother. About two furlongs from the shore, two rocks jet out from the sea. After worshipping at the Mother’s temple, Vivekananda swam through the turbulent, shark-infested waters to the farther of the two rocks. He remained for three days and nights on the solitary rock, meditating intensely on the condition of India—her present degradation and the misery of the people, her past glory and future potentialities. In this meditation his ideas for the regeneration of the nation took shape,
ideas, which eventually found concrete expression in the Ramakrishna Mission. At the same time, he decided to accept the advice of several of his followers to go to America the following year to attend the World’s Parliament o Religions at Chicago. He would seek material aid for his country while sharing India’s spiritual wealth with the Western world.
It was on this simple rock at Kanyakumari, the simple monk was transformed into a great
Master-builder of the nation, a great inspiring world teacher and a patriot. Recalling these three momentous days, Swamiji writes “ At Capecomorin [Kanyakumari] sitting in Mother Kumari’s Temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rock, I hit upon a plan”.

The Rock is thus closely related to Swamiji’s life and has become a sacred spot for the whole of our country, nay, for the whole world. Situated at the confluence of three seas
namely the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, this spot has gained an added significance as the seat of Swamiji’s meditation. Just as Lord Buddha’s attainment of ‘Supreme Knowledge’ at Gaya beneath the Bodhi Tree has made the spot sacred for the world, so too Swamiji’s meditation and Self-Realization on the Rock have turned it into a historic spot, a place of pilgrimage for all times

Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th January 1863 and the entire period from his 100th birthday to the 101st birthday was celebrated as the Centenary Year. In January 1962 the people of Kanyakumari thought that it would be in the fitness of things that in the Centenary Year they put up a Memorial on the Rock where the Swamiji meditated and discovered the mission of his life. It occurred to them that there must be some access to that place especially as it was known as “ Sripada Parai”[Foot-print of the Goddess] where Goddess Kanyakumari meditated, did her Sadhana to obtain Lord Shiva as her husband. This would enable the people to go to the sacred spot. To finalize plans for implementing such a programme, some leading Hindus of Kanyakumari formed a committee. It is sheer good fortune of the country that the Ramakrishna Mission at Madras got a similar ides at the same time, of putting up a Memorial on the Rock. Many leading intellectuals of Madras ably supported the Mission.

Soon news spread all over Tamilnadu that some sort of Memorial was being contemplated on the Rock. A section of the Catholic Christians of Kanyakumari did not take kindly to the contemplated scheme and thought of a plan to thwart it. Under the instigation of a local Christian priest, a section of the Catholics put up on the Rock a huge Cross which was visible even a distance away from the shore. That was on 4th April 1962. Immediately there were protests and demonstrations all over Kanyakumari, as the Rock was sacred to the Hindus since the ‘Sripadam’ is imprinted there and installation of a Cross there was a trespass. Protest telegrams were at once sent to the Collector, Chief Minister, Prime Minister and the President.

In the meanwhile, the Kanyakumari Temple Committee claimed that the Rock was their property since it had the Sripadam imprint on it. They claimed that they have a right to put up a Memorial on the Rock and connect the same to the shore by means of a pedestrian bridge. It also sought permission to start a ferry service from the shore to the Rock till a bridge was built. They applied for permission to the Devaswom Board and got it. They wanted to start a ferry service first. As the boatmen in the vicinity were all Christians they would not help in running the ferry. The Committee then got about 15-20 energetic and young men from Calicut who volunteered to go to Kanyakumari and run the ferry service. The ferry service was commissioned. With easy access to the Rock, people started pouring from all parts of the country to visit the ‘Sripadam’ on the Rock and offer prayers. When they saw both the legendary ‘Sripadam’ and the newly put up Cross on the Holy Rock, their emotions were stirred. In the meanwhile, as there were too many claimants for the ownership of the Rock, the Madras Government ordered a judicial probe and declared that the Cross was a trespass and it should be removed and unequivocally declared that it was Vivekananda Rock. The Cross was removed. There was some agitation from some of the local Christians but it got subsided soon.

When the Temple Committee got permission from the Dewaswom Board to put up a Memorial, the Board had also directed the Committee to get Government’s permission before taking any action. When the Committee approached the Tamilnadu Government for permission to put up a Memorial, the Government accorded sanction for putting up only a Tablet and not a full-fledged Memorial. Accordingly a Tablet was put up on the Rock on 17th January 1963 during the Centenary Year. This was an eyesore to some of the local Christians and some of them decided to remove the tablet. One fine morning in the monsoon season, on 18th May 1963 to be very precise, when the sea was rough, some of the Christian boatmen went there, demolished the Tablet and threw it into the sea. Still it is untraceable. On this vandalism, there were huge protests and demonstrations all over Kanyakumari.

In the meanwhile, sometime in February 1963 the General Body of the All India Committee for the Memorial had met at Madras, which was attended by stalwarts like Swami Chinmayananda of the Chinmaya Mission, Guruji Golwalkar of the R.S.S., Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan, well known Sanskrit scholar and other intellectuals and social workers. After the Committee meeting there was a huge public meeting on the Marina beach at Madras where in one voice it was decided to go in for a full-fledged Memorial and not a just a Tablet. In that meeting Swami Chimayananda made the first donation of Rs. 10,000.

It was a known fact that it would be very difficult to get Government’s sanction for a full-fledged Memorial, as it was a sensitive issue which could affect the sentiments of the local Christians. The activists for the Memorial therefore decided to mobilize public opinion in support of the Memorial. A petition was therefore prepared and got signed by 323 eminent people all over the country and representing all political parties including the Communist Party. Some of the stalwarts who signed the petition were M.S.Aney [the oldest M.P.from Maharashtra], Ram Mamohar Lohia, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mrs. Renuka Chakravarthy of the Communist Party, Mrs. Gayatri Devi etc. The petition was submitted to the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and The Government of India finally gave permission for a full-fledged Memorial.

With a view to working out and finalizing the details of the Memorial, an advisory Council was constituted comprising of 1. President Radhakrishnan 2. Prime Minister Nehru, 3.Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri 4. Justice M.C.Chagla 5. President of the Ramakrishna Mission and 6. The Paramacharya of Kanchi. All these members were of the unanimous opinion that the Memorial should be an outstanding one befitting the Great Man.

A well-known Sthapathi by name Sri S.K.Achari was engaged as the Chief Architect for the Memorial Project and Sri Ekanath Ranade, former General Secretary of the R.S.S. as the Project Co-coordinator. The Sthapathi prepared a few alternative designs in the traditional temple patterns. These designs were taken to the Paramacharya for perusal and selection. On going through them, the Paramacharya appears to have remarked “ Whatever designs you have for temple of Gods and Goddesses, you cannot have them here. You may only have a temple-like structure but it should be of a different type. Vivekananda was a man and not a God”. The Sthapathi was thereafter guided by the Paramacharya as to how to prepare a design in keeping with the principles of ‘Shilpa Shastra’ After having enough meetings with the Swamiji and after getting sufficient guidelines from him, the Sthapathi finalized the design and got it approved by the Paramacharya. The design was finally taken to the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Sri. M. Bhaktavatsalam for approval. On being told that the Paramacharya had already approved the design, he immediately gave his approval and told the Sthapathi that since the Paramacharya had already given his approval, there was no need to show it to anyone else. Thus, the Memorial took a final shape with an overall dimension of about 180ft by 60 ft. The actual construction of the Memorial commenced sometime in October 1967 and the Memorial was inaugurated on 2nd September 1970.

Even today millions of people visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which symbolizes the glorious mission of India, which the Swamiji had in his deep meditation on the Rock. Apart from the Monument, there are also two permanent Exhibitions at Kanyakumari – “Arise! Awake!” And “ The Wandering Monk” based on the Life and Message of Swami Vivekananda, which inspire the visitors to work for the nation.

“ JANANI JANMABHUMISCHA SWARGADAPI GAREEYASI”
- Ramayana



B.M.N.Murthy.










ARTICLE NO. 548--Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari
Created: Monday, January 11, 2010 9:25 PM