Swami Vivekananda
Also: Narendranath Datta
Background and evolution
Narendranath grew up in a professional family in north Calcutta and studied at the General Assembly's Institution (now Scottish Church College). He read Western philosophy, including Mill, Spencer and Hume, and was drawn for a time to the Brahmo Samaj. Restless about whether anyone had directly experienced God, he met Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar in 1881. The meeting changed his life, and after his teacher's death in 1886 he and other young disciples took monastic vows at Baranagar.
From 1888 to 1893 he travelled across India as a wandering monk, mostly on foot, from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. What he saw of poverty, caste divisions and the neglect of the masses shaped his later message that religion must serve the poor. With support from admirers, including the Raja of Khetri, who is credited with suggesting the name Vivekananda, he sailed to America to attend the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago.
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Last reviewed: 23 October 2026 · Original UPSCPrep.in content.