Swami Vivekananda's Visit To Shillong

Swamiji’s last public lecture and the man who captured it

- Asim Chaudhuri

Swamiji’s last public lecture and the man who captured it

The public lecture—the only one on the record that Swamiji gave in Shillong—was delivered at the famous Quinton Memorial Hall on April 27, 1901. Rai Saheb Kailash Chandra Das, Swamiji’s host, was the secretary of the Quinton Memorial Hall Committee. A day or two after Swamiji’s arrival, the Rai Saheb and other prominent citizens expressed their wish to have Swamiji give a public discourse on religion. Swamiji said, ‘What’s the need for a public meeting? We are already having these nice parlor talks every day. Moreover, considering my physical condition, will your Civil Surgeon or the Chief Commissioner give permission to have such a public meeting involving me?’ The group said that they had already talked to Sir Henry about it and that he was even willing to chair the meeting. They assured him that the meeting would only be scheduled depending on the prognosis of Swamiji’s health condition.23

Swamiji’s only lecture at Shillong was not reported by any local Bengali or English newspapers (daily, weekly, or monthly), and it is doubtful if one in either language was extant at that time. It was not until 1935 that the Shillong Mail came into being. It was also Swamiji’s last public lecture, and that is why it is so important. But the May 1901 edition of a Khasi monthly magazine, U Khasi Mynta (The Khasi Today), reported on the lecture, which was delivered to a packed audience; some of the people had to stand outside for want of space. The report was probably written, or at least edited, by Hormurai Diengdoh, a prominent Khasi journalist who brought out, in 1895-96, the first Khasi monthly magazine that was secular in nature. It was translated by Swami Gokulananda and appeared in The Vedanta Kesari in 1998.