Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Shillong in 1901 set in motion the Ramakrishna Movement in the hilly terrains of Meghalaya that took shape two decades later.
In this episode of Shillong’s iconic structures, we are featuring the Ramakrishna Mission, a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which started its social activities in Meghalaya in 1924. The initial activities of the Mission like the setting up of schools and health centres was traced in Shella, then a small hamlet, located about 29.8 km from Sohra or Cherrapunjee.
The Ramakrishna Mission Shillong is one of the oldest organisations in the state that has been serving the people in the field of education, health and spiritual enlightenment. It runs three establishments in the city namely the Ashrama at Sebastian Road in Laitumkhrah, the dispensary located next to the Laitumkhrah Presbyterian Church and the Vivekananda Cultural Centre at Quinton Road in Khyndai Lad.
Let us dig deeper into the history of the Ramakrishna Mission in Meghalaya and its social services:
Swami Vivekananda visited Shillong on April 19, 1901, at the invitation of Sir Henry Cotton, the then Chief Commissioner of Assam. It was said that despite his ill health, Swami Vivekananda agreed to travel to Shillong all the way from Guwahati on a horse-drawn carriage. Mesmerised by the enchanting hills, the salubrious climate and the hospitality of the locals, Swami Vivekananda stayed for about 20 days at the house of Rai Saheb Kailash Chandra Das located at Batti bazaar in Laban.
Did you know that a plaque was installed at Batti Bazaar to mark the visit and stay of Swami Vivekananda?
Two decades later, the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission in United Khasi and Jaintia Hills were started in 1924 when Swami Prabhananda popularly known as Ketaki Maharaj, pioneer of the Ramakrishna Movement in the Northeast region stepped into Shella from the adjacent plains of Sylhet (now in Bangladesh). With cooperation from the villagers, he started a small primary school as well as a health centre just within a few days. Hence, the first Ramakrishna Movement in Northeast India started at Shella with an aim to assist the tribals preserve their culture through education with the advent of westernisation in the first quarters of the 20th century.
Slowly the work got its momentum and a network of schools started coming up, covering many villages with Shella as its centre. Its network expanded to Sohra, resulting in the establishment of an Ashrama in the area in 1931 and in 1934, the acclaimed Ramakrishna Mission School in Sohra came into existence.
Gradually, Ketaki Maharaj’s pioneering activities reached the Shillong, the then capital of Undivided Assam and in 1937, the Shillong Ashrama was registered under Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission.
In 1936, the authorities at Belur Math sent Swami Bhuteshanandaji to take charge of the proposed branch centre at Shillong. Swami Bhuteshanandaji, who later became the 12th President of the Order, led the development and furthered the tribal welfare services, originally developed by Ketaki Maharaj to spread out across the hilly terrain. In 1938, a small temple of Sri Ramakrishna was built in Shillong with the help of Raja Jugal Kishore Birla of Kolkata.
Here’s something that might interest you – during the decade-long tenure of Swami Bhuteshanandaji in Shillong from 1936 to 1945, he used to travel to Sohra and Shella from time to time. From Shillong, the Swami would take a coal truck till Sohra and from there, he would walk on foot along the hilly terrain till he reached Shella centre.
The monks have been serving the people of Khasi Hills and helped in fostering a sense of ownership and pride for their own culture among tribal children through education. With time, as the number of monks and devotees increased, a need was felt to build a spacious centre to hold different prayer and cultural services.
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