Journey of Swami Vivekananda to Raipur and His First Trance

We all know that Swami Vivekananda, during the course of his journey, visited different parts of India and subsequently, was greatly influenced by the culture, nature and people of the regions he visited. In the same vein, while sifting through the massive reference materials vis-a-vis Journeys of Swami Vivekananda, we came across that in the year 1877, then young Narendranath Datta, at the age of fourteen-fifteen, was travelling from Nagpur to Raipur with his family members by bullock-cart. As they were passing through the dense jungle and hills of Darekasa (Gondia), he was so overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of mother Nature, experienced his "first divine trance". He regained his consciousness after several hours.

This historic travel from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Raipur (Chhattisgarh) via Nagpur and then from Raipur to Calcutta, is still obscure to great extent, because of the dearth of material, more specifically, the event during the period 1877 to 1879 when Swamiji travelled along with his family through unknown path, needed to be ascertained.

To quote the editor of Prabuddha Bharat "...presents new material on the legal work of Vishvanath Datta in these places in the second and final instalment of Attorney Vishvanath Delta, father of Swami Vivekananda... herculean and commendable effort by Debashish Roy..."

We all know that Swami Vivekananda, during the course of his journey, visited different parts of India and subsequently, was greatly influenced by the culture, nature and people of the regions he visited. In the same vein, while sifting through the massive reference materials vis-a-vis Journeys of Swami Vivekananda, we came across that in the year 1877, then young Narendranath Datta, at the age of fourteen-fifteen, was travelling from Nagpur to Raipur with his family members by bullock-cart. As they were passing through the dense jungle and hills of Darekasa (Gondia), he was so overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of mother Nature, experienced his "first divine trance". He regained his consciousness after several hours.

Darekasa, for reader's convenience, lies roughly around the midpoint of a straight line connecting Mumbai and Calcutta is in Gondia District of Vidarbha region. It is somewhere here that Swami Vivekananda had a glimpse 'of the infinite "Bhavasamadhi". So, Darekasa is the "First Trance Place of Swami Vivekananda".

This is a part of my original work to give fuller accounts of the various old books and gazetteers with which I have come in contact with, I have, therefore, to a great extent limited my references, under these headings to facts which have come under my own personal observation. Similarly, I had intended giving more comprehensive sketches of Swami Vivekananda's journey to Raipur from Calcutta based on authentic materials. There is a great, an indescribable pleasure in being the first to take up the historical exploration of a hitherto quite unknown facet of Swamiji's life, in being the first to interpret the past history of a portion of above journey. I developed a deep interest in this journey right from my student days. What I have come across during my research period, I wanted to share it with you all, with the Blessings of Thakur Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarda Devi and Swami Vivekananda.

My work is a "chronological account of the event in early life of Swami Vivekananda" from his birth (1863) and up to the demise of his father Shri Vishwanath Datta (1884). This historic travel from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Raipur (Chhattisgarh) via Nagpur and then from Raipur to Calcutta, is still obscure to great extent, because of the dearth of material, more specifically, the event dining the period 1877 to 1879 when Swamiji travelled along with his family through unknown path, needed to be ascertained. So, in this connection, I have striven to provide a large data base of that period. Readers can easily understand and conclude the whole matter.

Here I have also included a brief chapter (CH.16) regarding Swamiji's admission as a Freemasonite, and original ledger leaf where his name enrolled in Anchor and Hope Lodge 234.