Swami Vivekananda at meditative posture

Swamiji returned from the West for the first time in January 1897. It was a triumphal time of great rejoicing. He never expected such a tremendous reception from his countrymen. Arriving in Colombo on January 15, he left on the nineteenth for Kandy. Sometime during this four-day period three photographs of Swamiji were taken (nos. 54, 56, and 57). An early print of no. 54 bears the name of the photographer “A. W. Andree, Columbo.” Since Swamiji was in Colombo such a short time, it seems reasonable that the other two photos were taken at the same sitting. His appearance also suggests this. In all three pictures the tail of his turban, which is draped over his left shoulder, is tucked under his chaddar. Upon request Mrs. Poomani Gulasingam, a devotee of the Ramakrishna Mission in Colombo and a lecturer at Colombo University, researched the provenance of Swamiji’s photos taken in Colombo. Mrs. Gulasingam reviewed newspapers of the period and tried to contact Andree’s descendants with no luck. For months she, along with others, exhaustively pursued various avenues of information about the photos, including contacting some of the descendants of the families who had come into close contact with Swamiji during his visit, some of whom had participated in the reception accorded to Swamiji. Collections of old photographs and documents, both public and private, as well as the Colombo Archives were thoroughly searched. Mrs. Gulasingam had said earlier: “There is a strong belief among old devotees that one of these photographs was taken on 16 January 1897 during the public lecture in the Floral Hall and the others on 19 January 1897 at the Public Hall.” So far her research has not substantiated this. Although it is true that Swamiji gave talks in both of these places in Colombo, it remains to be seen if the photographs were actually taken in these halls on those occasions. From all appearances they seem to be studio photographs. ❊ ❊ ❊ “That which exists is One; sages call It by various names.” It is not that Shiva is superior to Vishnu, not that Vishnu is everything and Shiva is nothing, but it is the same one whom you call either Shiva, or Vishnu, or by a hundred other names. The names are different, but it is the same one. (CW [1973] 3:113)