The other day, I came across a very interesting document - an account of Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Thiruvananthapuram in December 1892. It was written by K Sundarama Iyer, a senior officer in the education department who was a tutor to the crown prince Marthanda Varma, almost 20 years after the visit. The long narrative, named “Reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda,” is appended to the four volume book, The Life of Swami Vivekananda, published by Advaita Ashramam, in 1961.

It is a long narrative, a fascinating and evocative one, as it brings to life not only the personality of this great sage but also the life in Travancore at the turn of the 19th century: its concerns and topics of high society discussion, its aloofness to the world outside, its court life and its encounters with the modern ideas of the time.

The Swami was on his tour of south India, as every monk from time immemorial used to do, going from place to place, visiting pious householders, accepting their obeisance and giving them advice, and then moving onto the next place… Read More »