Swami Vivekananda's ancestral home

Swami Vivekananda's house was restored by the Ramakrishna Mission to a condition similar to what it was when Narendranath lived there. There are 98 photos which will give an indication of what his home was like as he lived there with his mother and father, his uncle Kaliprasad and his wife and their children, and numerous other cousins and relatives, some of whom were distant relatives.

Life of Swami Vivekananda by his eastern and western disciples describes the house:

The Datta ancestral home was built by Vivekananda’s great grandfather. This was the home Narendranath was born and grew up in. 
It is decribed in the Life of Swami Vivekananda, by his Eastern and Western Disciples.
The doorway that fronts the street is massive. The covered hall, with a room on one side and seating space on the other, leads to a second doorway, beyond which are the courtyard and the living quarters. To the right are the rooms for the male members of the family. Across the courtyard and facing the doorway rises the women's quarter, two storeys high, the lower floor containing the kitchens, the upper the living apartments. From the latticed enclosure the purdah ladies in the olden days could look onto the courtyard when religious ceremonies on special occasions were being performed to the beating of drums and the blowing of conchs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a picture of the ancestral home of the Duttas in Calcutta - the famous 3, Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street (erstwhile Simla Street)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

before us... the centre of pilgrimage - taken over by the Ramakrishna Mission in delapidated condition and restored to what it is now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The doorway that fronts the street.

Click here to see more pictures

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Frank Parlato