Associated Press

DATELINE: LEMONT, Ill.
 

Just over a century ago, a Hindu monk arrived for an international
religious conference in Chicago, penniless and lacking even an invitation to attend the gathering.

Swami Vivekananda became one of the most honored speakers at that 1893 conference.

And on Sunday, his spiritual descendants are unveiling a 10-foot bronze statue at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago that honors him as the first man to bring Hindu religion and the practice of yoga to America.

''Our original plan was to put the statue in a city park in Chicago, but apparently there's no precedent for honoring a religious leader in that way,'' said Barbara Horton, a member of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago, which raised money for the monument.

Vivekananda has been eclipsed in American memory by later Indian imports men who hobnobbed with the Beatles and Beach Boys.

But in India, Vivekananda's birthday is a national holiday. He's honored as an early champion of Indian independence and the founder of that nation's largest non-governmental charity.

The statue is based on a photograph taken of the 30-year-old Vivekananda at the World's Parliament of Religions on Sept. 11, 1893.

The gathering was supposed to involve all the world's major religions, but there was no official Hindu representative.

Vivekananda made his own way to the conclave, slept in an empty boxcar at the train station, and was only allowed to speak after a Harvard scholar he'd met went to bat for him.

Vivekananda spoke on religious tolerance and what he saw as the essential unity of the world's great religions.

Newspapers of the day reported, without explanation, that the audience gave Vivekananda a standing ovation after he'd said only five words: ''Sisters and brothers of America ...'' One called him ''undoubtedly the greatest figure of the Parliament.''

Originally named Narendranath Datta, he was from a merchant family and attended a Western-style university in his native Calcutta. He studied Christianity, law and science, and had little exposure to Hindu thought until he encountered Sri Ramakrishna, a mystic monk.

On Ramakrishna's death in 1886, Vivekananda became the leader of his movement and spoke out on social reform issues, He opposed the practice of child marriage and the caste system, and advocated public education for all Indians, including the poor and women.

He also became an opponent of British colonial rule, influencing such later nationalists as Gandhi and Nehru.

After his Chicago appearances, Vivekananda lectured for several years in the United States and Britain. He returned to India in 1897 and received a hero's welcome.

''The city of Madras essentially shut down for nine days when he passed through on his way back to Calcutta,'' said Frank Parlato, a Chicagoan who is writing a biography of Vivekananda.

In Calcutta, Vivekananda, who died in 1902 at age 39, founded a monastic order and the Ramakrishna Mission, which now runs schools, hospitals and orphanages throughout India and has 135 centers worldwide.