Sister Nivedita’s 155th birth anniversary was celebrated on Friday 28th October in her family grave at Great Torrington, Devonshire. Torridge District Council and Great Torrington Town Council commemorated her on her birthday for the first time in Britain’s history.
Great Torrington Town Council Mayor Cllr Doug Smith garlanded the statue and was joined by Chair of Torridge District Council Cllr Doug Bushby and Torridge District Council Lead Member for Community, Culture and Leisure Cllr Cheryl Cottle Hunkin.
Cllr Hunkin said, “The statue and the cemetery is like a site of pilgrimage for not only Indian people but also for her English and Irish admirers. It would be great to keep up this connection and continue to welcome more and more people to Great Torrington.”
Mayor Smith said, “I was fortunate enough to be present as deputy mayor and take part in the unveiling of Sister Nivedita’s statue in 2019 and meet with the monks and devotees of the Ramakrishna Mission who travelled to Torrington for the unveiling. It’s a privilege to be here again, as mayor this time, to celebrate and remember everything that she achieved. We reach out to our friends in the UK and India who are here with us in spirit and were able to join us online and on social media to celebrate this gathering and thank them for their kind words and contributions towards the event.”
The statue was donated by West Bengal Government on Sister Nibedita’s 150th birthday. The statue was placed in Great Torrington’s cemetery by Ramakrishna Mission and Sister Nivedita Celebrations UK in 2019. It was installed where Sister Nivedita’s ashes were interred in the family grave in 1912. The ashes were sent by Sir JC Bose to Mrs May Wilson here in the UK.
Sister Nivedita was born as Margaret Noble, who spent a part of her childhood in Great Torrington, as her father worked in a church there as a priest. Her younger brother Richard Noble died at the age of 18 months. As this was the first death in the family, this became their family grave. Sister Nivedita along with her both parents and siblings are interred here.
Great Torrington is a beautiful holiday spot and an ideal English serene seaside village, only peace prevails there. Now it’s, even more, to see there as the beautiful bronze statue of Sister Nivedita is attracting a lot of visitors.
Sarada Sarkar from the Sister Nivedita Celebrations UK said this is indeed a remarkable event in history.
Sarada also added that they have finally got permission for a statue of Sister Nivedita in Wimbledon too, and hopefully by March 2023 everything will be ready. Tushar Maharaj of Ramakrishna Mission is building the statue.
