More Letters of Sister Nivedita- In Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita

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A collection of letters written by Sister Nivedita is published here. Most of them were addressed to Sara Bull. Some of them are not published in the two volumes brought out by Sankari Prasad Basu. Of the others, some portions are found in the second volume mentioned above. But it is not mentioned to whom these letters were written. We have produced some such letters in full written to Sara Bull. The portions already published in Sankari Prasad Basu's volumes are given within box brackets . A few of the letters are not in full with pages missing. Some of these were in our archives and others were collected by Pravrajika Prabuddhaprana from various sources which she has acknowledged in her book Saint Sara.

One of the main subjects of these letters was Dr. J. C. Bose. His struggles to establish a laboratory, his amazing capacity in scientific discoveries, the injustice perpetrated against him-to hinder his work, attempts not to recognize his achievements, his personal bereavements-all are vividly described. Also how Sara Bull silently and generously contributed money for his scientific research and laboratory, how she looked upon him as her own son-all these we find in Nivedita's letters. Nivedita on her part helped J. C. Bose in writing his papers. Her passion for art, history, gardening, love for children, animals and so on is also revealed.

We also find how cautiously and cleverly she evaded the British government's possibility of preventing her from re-entering India in July 1909 from Europe where she had gone in the later part of 1907. The British government was aware of her sympathy and support for the freedom fighters of India.

As for herself and Sister Christine, we find Sara Bull and Josephine MacLeod and Lady Betty sending their gowns and other clothes. Sara Bull's munificence helped the two sisters to buy food items and so on. We feel sad, how we Indians never tried to know how and from where they managed to have their food and clothes.

Several persons, places and events are mentioned in these letters. We have given some explanatory notes and pictures of some of these which we could gather. Hope this will help the readers understand better the contents of these letters.

In Appendix I we have given the full text of Sister Nivedita's Tribute to Ole Bull, the late husband of Sara Bull. He was a renowned violinist and an ardent patriot of Norway and was adored by the people of that country. He had passed away in 1881 and twenty years later, his statue was installed in Bergen, Norway on 17 May 1901. On that occasion, Sister Nivedita, Dr. J. C. Bose and his wife, Abala Bose were present there as guests of Sara Bull and all the three signed the Tribute written by Nivedita who added the words `From Three Indian Patriots'. She had stitched a small twig with three leaves of the Bo tree from Dakshineswar temple garden. Nivedita was really a world citizen.

In this Tribute she identified herself with the people of Norway and at the same time, she was an 'Indian Patriot' devoted to Sri Ramakrishna's Dakshineswar. Appendix II is the draft of a letter made by Sister Nivedita on behalf of the Calcutta agent of Messrs. Longmans & Co.

Appendix III is the declaration made by Sister Nivedita regarding Swamiji's will.

By bringing out this book we hope to fulfill our duty of presenting a part of Sister Nivedita's multi-faceted life to the public on the occasion of her 150th birth anniversary.

**Content and Sample Pages**