Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari

 

Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari. The memorial has lot of history behind it & faced many hurdles when it was built. Let us look at the background and the struggles it has to encounter.

During one of his countrywide yatras, Swami Vivekanada met Raja of Ramanathapuram, Shri Bhaskara Sethupathi at Madurai. 

Bhaskara Sethupathi lost his parents at an early age and was brought up under the tutelage of British. Despite that he grew as a staunch Sanatani and did lot of work for the Hindu cause (which can be a separate thread). Due to this, he got an invite to participate in Parliament of World’s Religions at Chicago. He came to Madurai to meet the collector regarding that. Meanwhile, he got introduced to Vivekananda by his friend Justice Subramaniya Iyer. 

After interacting with Vivekananda, Sethupathi felt Swami is the right person to attend the conference at Chicago and requested him to do so. Vivekananda informed him that he will decide about it at the end of his Yatra and left for Kanyakumari.

At Kanyakumari, there is a rock bit away from the mainland. It is said that Devi Bhagavathi (Kanyakumari Amman) did penance in this rock. Devi’s Sri Padams (footprints) are also there in the rock. Hence Hindus revered this rock. 

On hearing this, Vivekananda swam across the rough sea, reached the rock and meditated for three days. After returning from Kanyakumari, he informed Sethupathi that he will attend the Parliament of World’s religions at Chicago. Sethupathi made the required arrangements. Swami’s speech at Chicago is history. 

On returning from US, Swami Vivekananda went to Pamban. Bhaskara Sethupathi received him with full honours and installed a slab at that place. The golden words from Upanishads, ‘Satyameva Jayate’ was inscribed in the slab, which had later become the slogan of Indian Governament after it got the independence. Fast forward 1962…

In 1962, during the centenary year of Swami Vivekananda, few of the prominant leaders at Kanyakumari decided to build a memorial for Swami Vivekananda in the rock where he meditated. They also decided to construct a bridge from the mainland so that the people can commute to the rock easily. They formed a committee for this. 

The news spread like wildfire. Some sections of the local fishermen opposed to this. They claimed that the rock is ‘theirs’. Suddenly a cross appeared on the top of the rock. 

Devaswam board, which managed the Kanyakumari temple claimed that the rock is their property. Hindus were upset because the rock was holy to them. Tensions rose on both sides. Suddenly the cross disappeared and things reached a flash point. Police entered and the rock came under their control. A judicial probe was ordered. It declared that the rock was indeed ‘Vivekananda Rock’.

The then Tamil Nadu CM, Shri Bhakthavatsalam told the committe that he won’t allow a memorial to be built. But he will allow a tablet to be installed mentioning that it is Vivekananda Rock. To break the impasse, the committee members agree to this and a Tablet was installed on 17 January 1963.

Howevere Ramakrishna Mission was firm in building a memorial. In 1963, they had requested Shri Eknath Ranade to take up this work. Eknath ji was a RSS Karyakarta and at that time he had given up the general secretary post. He was 50 at that time and despite the health related issues, he took up the work. 

He met the TN CM, Bhakthavatsalam who told him that it was the Union Cultural Minister Shri Humayun Kabir who objected the memorial as it was a ‘cultural place’. Eknath ji went back to Kolkatta, which was the constituency of Humayun Kabir, and addressed a conference. He informed all that it was Shri Kabir who is objecting a memorial for Vivekananda. Facing lot of criticism from the press, the minister did a volte-face and told everyone that he is not against the memorial.

Now that the issue is sorted, Eknath ji went to Delhi to meet the TN CM who was camping there. Luckily he met Shri Lal Bhadur Shastri who was a minister without portfolio in Nehru’s cabinet. Shastri advised him to take this slow as a ‘No’ from Bhakthavatsalam will put lot of hardships. 

He told Eknath ji to rally public opinion in support of the memorial. Ekanth ji acted accordingly and collected signatures of 323 MPs in support of the memorial and met Shastri. Delighted by this, Shastri took this to Nehru who readily approved the construction. Nehru also told Eknath ji that he will speak to Bhakthavatsalam for a go ahead.

Eknath ji went back to Bhakthavatsalam who now had no option but to approve the memorial. On the concern of Bhakthavatsalam that the look will be spoiled if there is a bridge from the mainland, Eknath ji agreed that he will not construct a bridge. TN CM put another condition that the statue of Vivekananda should be small and also the memorial should also be small with a 15 × 15-foot shrine. He feared that some miscreants may do some damage to the statue / structure and that may lead to a law & order situation. 

Eknath ji agreed to that for the time being and approached Kanchi Mahaswami with the design. Kanchi Mahaswami agreed that the statue should be taller according to the Shilpa Sastra and approved the original design of the memorial which is 130 feet and 1+1⁄2 inches × 56 feet.

Being a devotee of Kanchi Mutt, Bhakthavatsalam couldn’t disagree on this. After few more stuggles and conflicts, the memorial was constructed and declared open in the year 1970. It stands tall as a symbol of Bharath’s national pride, Swami Vivekananda. 

Sources : 

Mannar Bhaskara Sethupathi by S M Kamal

Story Of Vivekananda Rock Memorial, as told by Eknath Ranade