Bengaluru's Floral Tribute to Swami Vivekananda

A unique form of floral tribute was offered to Swami Vivekananda in January 2020 in the city of Bengaluru. A brief description of this Flower Show is presented here.

- SURESH MOONA

Since the time Kempe Gowda-I, a chieftain under the Vijayanagara Empire built Bengaluru in 1537, the city with its salubrious climate, greenery, and kind-hearted people has been steadily growing, attracting people and organizations from across the country and even abroad.

For the devotees and admirers of the Ramakrishna Order, there are two significant events in the history of Bengaluru: the first is Swami Vivekananda’s visit in 1892 and later Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s visit in 1911. These two visits, along with the visits of other direct-disciples of Sri Ramakrishna – Swamis Brahmananda, Ramakrishnananda, Abhedananda, Shivananda, and Vijnanananda, made Bengaluru an important center for spreading Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement across Karnataka. One of the great maxims of Swamiji: “They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive” was written to Chamaraja Wadiyar, the Maharaja of Mysore. For more than a century, the people of Bengaluru have been paying tributes in various ways to Swami Vivekananda, the patriot-monk. Last January, a unique tribute was offered in the form of the Republic Day Flower Show, 2020 at Lalbagh. It was called Viveka Pushpa Namana or ‘Floral Respect to Vivekananda’ and held from 17th to 26th January 2020.