Sister Nivedita Heritage Museum & Knowledge Centre

Birth of an institution. In 1872, Sri Ramakrishna worships Sri Sarada Devi as a goddess, in a radical invocation of feminine power.

Birth of an institution. 1896. Vivekananda carries forward his guru’s vision, recruiting Margaret Noble, Nivedita, to aid the empowerment of Indian women.

Birth of an institution. In 1899, Sarada Devi inaugurates the girl’s school with a puja ceremony in the Thakur Dalan of 16, Bosepara Lane.

Birth of an institution. In 1902, the school moves next door to No. 17. In the same year, Sister Christine joins Nivedita at the school.

Birth of an institution. Sister Sudhira, Sister Christine and student Sarala. Sarala left home to lead a spiritual life, serving Sarada Devi in her last days.

Birth of an institution. 1953. Sarala, now Pravrajika Bharatiprana, becomes the first president of Sri Sarada Math.

Nivedita And The Birth of Sri Sarada Math

Along with her manifold contributions to Indian arts, sciences and nationalism, Nivedita’s years at 16 and 17 Bosepara Lane also had a direct impact on the establishment of the women’s math, as envisaged by Swami Vivekananda decades ago.

It all began at the school for girls set up and run by Nivedita in 16 Bosepara Lane and later, next door in 17 Bosepara Lane. Sister Christine began assisting Nivedita at the school in 1903. Under their guidance, Sudhira Bose, sister to former revolutionary Debabrata Basu, started out as an honorary worker, helping the students with Bengali lessons while simultaneously learning English from the sisters. Sudhira would go on to mentor several generations of students, among them a young girl named Sarala.

In 1911, Sarala would initiated into the order by Sarada Devi herself. She would be known under her monastic name – Pravrajika Bharatiprana, and would become the first president of Sri Sarada Math.

For more on the history of Sri Sarada Math, please click here.

“The selfless man is the thunderbolt.”

– Sister Nivedita

“Let us strive only for selflessness, and we become the weapon in the hands of the gods.”

– Sister Nivedita

“In nation-making, there is but one ideal, carried out by different methods, and the interest is the common interest of self-sacrifice.”

– Sister Nivedita

“I believe that India is one, indissoluble, indivisible.”

– Sister Nivedita

“National unity is built on the common home, the common interest, and the common love.”

– Sister Nivedita

“Technical education, without higher research, is a branch without a tree, a blossom without any root.”

– Sister Nivedita

“By our own vision of the ideal, and by our own struggle to reach its height do we really rise; by no other means whatsoever.”
– Sister Nivedita

“It is not by teaching a Bengali girl French, or the piano, but by enabling her to think about India, that we really educate her.”
– Sister Nivedita

“We must surround our children with the thought of their nation and their country. The centre of gravity must lie, for them, outside the family.”
– Sister Nivedita

“The highest art is always charged with spiritual intensity, with intellectual and emotional revelation.”
– Sister Nivedita

“All that matters is our own struggle. By that do we rise.”
– Sister Nivedita

“Struggle is worship. What else does the Gita teach its people?”
– Sister Nivedita

“A man may be a fool in technical and academic knowledge and yet a sage in which he feels and desires.”
– Sister Nivedita

“Real life begins when we die to the world of the senses.”
– Sister Nivedita

“If we learn nothing else, let us learn to give, let us learn to serve, let us learn to renounce.”
– Sister Nivedita

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