Rekhas Journeys: 2023

The sunrise in Kanyakumari

The sunrise in Kanyakumari is divine.There were a large number of people who had got up early to witness the sunrise. The Vishnu temple and the Vivekananda Rock looked very beautiful with the lights on and casting their shadows on the sea waves. The sun just peeped for a short time and then disappeared in to the clouds. A group of women who looked from North due to their dress lit up a Diya and prayed to the sun god. The whole environment was filled with spirituality. I felt very happy and an internal peace descended for I had witnessed the upper most tip of India when we visited Badrinath and in Mana saw the last tea shop of India and now here the lower most tip on India.

The Vivekananda Rock memorial

In Kanyakumari the Vivekananda Rock memorial is built on a rock which is about 500 meters from the mainland and at the fusion of Arabian sea,Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. We had to take a short ferry ride to reach here. Vivekananda came here and in December 1892 and meditated for three days on 24th,25th and 26th December and attained enlightenment. Before the construction of the monument in 1970, there was a conflict with the Christian community that put up a cross here and said that this was the Saint Xavier rock.On 17 th January,1963,after a judicial probe by the Government of Tamilnadu , with the permission of the Chief Minister Bhaktavatsalam a tablet was put up on the rock claiming it to be Vivekananda Rock. Vivekananda had come to worship in the nearby rock Sripada Parai which is believed to be the foor print of Parvati.Parvati had stood here on one foot and did tapasya to obtain lord Shiva. Eknath Ranade played a significant role in getting this Rock memorial built and inaugurated in 1972. Spread over six acres, the memorial is a fusion of Bengali and Tamil architecture and the design of the Ramakrishna math of Belur on West Bengal. There is a dhyan mandapam below this.A statue of Vivekananda made of brass adorns the main hall upstairs . This statue sees towards the Shripad mandapam.On another rock nearby is built the statue of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar.This statue is 133 ft tall denoting the 133 chapters of the famous Thirukkural couplets. As one visits this place one can feel the beautiful sea breeze and become very refreshed. The mainland of Kanyakumari today is dotted with few churches and a temple.

Kanyakumari the land of three seas

KanyaKumari closely associated with Vivekananda is the land of the three seas.It is also known as Cape Comorin, Kumari and Kumari Munai. This is a ‘rocky mainland‘ on the Indian Ocean in the State of Tamil Nadu and located at the Southern most tip of the Indian Subcontinent. It is also popularly known as,Koodal, meaning it is situated at the Confluence of three oceans Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Kanyakumari is popular because it is the only places on earth, where one can see the Sun Rise and Sun Set from the ocean. It is the only place in India where one can enjoy the unique spectacle of Sunset and Moonrise simultaneously on full moon days. On Chitra Paurnami one can view both the sun and the moon facing each other on the same horizon, a rare sight of unique grandeur, which seems to happen by prior arrangement. Next to the Vivekananda Ashram is a statue of Swami Vivekananda and the Samadhi of Eknath Ranade. Indeed a very spiritual experience to visit the confluence of religions and Indian culture.