When Vivekananda reconstructed Hinduism

The real success of Swami Vivekananda’s iconic speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 lay in his ability to rise above theological strife and the historical constraints of the times.

AS I sit down to write my column for Frontline , I am overwhelmed by a sense of urgency to catch up with news from 125 years ago. At that time, the big news in India was a speech delivered in Chicago by an obscure Indian, Swami Vivekananda. The urgency to get back to that comes from an apprehension that Vivekananda’s message to us may have been lost. How authentic is the claim of some of his followers that they alone offer the true interpretation?

When we read Vivekananda’s words once again with care today, it seems that we are yet to appreciate the full significance of his message. Consider, for instance, Vivekananda’s comments on how Christianity was elaborated “in a patronising way”. By way of a reply to the Christian missionary effort to belittle other religions, Vivekananda spoke on the tenth day of the Chicago Conference. In his speech entitled “Religion is not the crying need of India”, he said: “You Christians who are so fond of sending out missionaries to save the soul of the heathen —why do you not try to save their bodies from starvation? ...they ask for bread, but we give them stones. It is an insult to starving people to offer them religion, it is an insult to a starving man to teach him metaphysics” (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Calcutta, 1963, hereafter cited as CWSV, Volume I, page 20).

Exactly 125 years ago, on September 19, 1893, Swami Vivekananda spoke on Hinduism at the Chicago Parliament of Religions. It was a speech that would reverberate around the world. And numerous commentaries have been made, for many decades since, on the words then uttered. And yet, we may question ourselves whether we have fully realised the significance of that moment, that effort to reconstruct Hinduism by one of the many delegates from India at the world forum on September 19.

From the long view of history, what is the significance of that day and hour? It holds an import that may not be clear from the text of the proceedings at the Chicago Parliament of Religions. The import becomes clear only when we consider the context, the historical conjuncture, and ask, why did Vivekananda’s speech create such an impact?

The answer is not easy to find. After all, Vivekananda’s was not the first exposition of its kind in the Western world. One can recall, for example, the writings of Raja Rammohan Roy or the speeches of Keshab Chandra Sen, or at the Chicago Parliament itself, Reverend Dharmapal or P.C. Mazoomdar, who shared the podium with Vivekananda. Thus, Vivekananda’s celebrated success was not due to the chronological accident of being the first on the scene. Secondly, the message of classical Hindu texts was no longer new in the West when Vivekananda went to Chicago.