Trip to Kanyakumari: Chapter 1: Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari: Part 2 Tamil Nadu AdmirableIndia.com

Trip to Kanyakumari: Chapter 1: Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari: Part 2

3rd November 2008, 07:15 pm

After a nice boat ride we were in the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and I found profile of Swami Vivekananda and profile of Vivekananda Rock Memorial inscribed in a wall.

Profile of Swami Vivekananda

Father's Name	Vishwanath Dutta
Mother's Name	Bhuvaneshwari Devi
12 Jan 1863	Born at Calcutta and named Narendranath
1881	Meets Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa
1886	Becomes Sanyasi
July 1890-December 1892	Bharat parikrama as a Wandering Monk
24 December 1892	Reaches Kanyakumari
25-27 December 1892	Meditation on Sri Pada Parai and realization of his life's mission
31 May 1893	Departure for USA to participate in the World Parliament of religions
11 September 1893	Chicago Address
1893-1896	Travel throughout USA lecturing on Vedanta
1896	Establishes Vedanta society in USA
26 January 1897	Warm welcome at Rameshwaram (Pampan)
1 May 1897	Founding of Ramakrishna Mission
1898	Relief work at Calcutta during plague outbreak; Sister Nivedita's active participation
9 September 1898	Founding of Ramakrishna Math at Belur
March 1899	Establishes Advaita Ashram at Mayawati
June 1899-December 1900	Visit to the west and participation in the congress of the history of religions at Paris
December 1900	Return to India
4 July 1902	Mahasamdhi at Calcutta

Profile of Vivekananda Rock Memorial

1962-1963	Swami Vivekananda centenary celebrations
17 January 1963	Tablet installed on the Vivekananda Rock and negotiations with the government for a memorial
11 August 1963	Sri Eknathji Ranade joins Vivekananda Rock Memorial committee as first organizing secretary- mobilizes public support vigorously and gets government permission for the memorial
Funds for the memorial	Besides central and state government's industrial establishments and business houses, 30 lakh people donated a minimum of one rupee to make it truly a National Monument.
6 November 1964	First stone was cut for the memorial
12 October 1967	Foundation stone laid
Total working days for construction	2081
Total area	About 4 acres
Altitude	55 feet
Distance between rock and the shore	About 1600 feet
Stones Used	Red and blue granite (6000 tons weight)
Maximum weight of a pillar	13 tons
Chief Architect and Engineer	Mr. S.K. Achari, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu
Portrait for statue	Mr. S.M. Pandit, Mumbai
Statue made by	Mr. N.L. Sonavadekar from JJ School of Arts, Mumbai
2 September 1970	Consecration by Swami Vireshwarananda, president of Ramakrishna mission and opening by Mr. V.V. Giri, President of India

Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a sacred monument, built by the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee to commemorate the visit of Swamy Vivekananda to “Shripada Parai” during 24th, 25th and 26th December 1892 for deep meditation and enlightenment. From very ancient times, the rock has been regarded as sacred place. In Puranic tradition, it has been known as “Sripada Parai: meaning the rock, that has been blessed by the touch of Shripada feet of the Goddess. On the rock, is a projection similar in form to a human fort and a little brownish in complexion, which has traditionally, been revered as a symbol of Shripadam. According to legend, it was on this rock that Goddess Kanyakumari did Tapas.

The memorial consists of two main structures, Vivekananda Mandapam and Shripada Mandapam.

Vivekananda Mandapam: This 180’-11 ½ ‘ X 56’ Mandapam consists of:

Dhyana Mandapam, i.e., Meditation Hall with six adjacent rooms
Sabha Mandapam or the Assembly Hall including Pralima Mandapam (statue section) two rooms, a corridor and an open Prakaram round the Sabha Mandapam
Mukha Mandapam (Portion) and
The Front Entrance steps with two rooms and a corridor below the steps.

Shripada Mandapam: This square hall consists of:

Garbha Graham i.e., (Sanctum Sanctorum)
The Inner Prakaram
The Outer Prakaram and
(The Outer Platform all around. Both the Mandapams are so designed that the vision of Swamiji in the statue would be seen direct towards the Shripadam.

Visting Hours- 7 AM To 4 PM. Entrance Fee: Rs 10. I took 2 entry tickets for Rs. 20 and just near the entrance I found a nice lotus flower:

Lotus