2016-10-28 Fri

Margaret Elizabeth Noble, better known as Sister Nivedita, was born in Ireland on 28th October 1864.

When she was six, she learnt to read the Bible, and offered to visit the old and sick people and read the holy book aloud to them.

She met Swami Vivekananda in England and was immensely influenced by his ideas and speeches. She came to India in 1898 and stayed in a house of the Ramakrishna Mission at Baghbazar, Calcutta. Since then, she came to be known as 'Sister Nivedita'.

Nivedita started a girls' school in the locality and began to teach young girls who were in those days not allowed to study in a school. Besides, she devoted herself to many other social works and became closely connected with Indian nationalism, as she loved India.

Sister Nivedita loved India as her motherland, and the Indians as her brothers and sisters. She died in Calcutta at the age of forty-four.

Swami Vivekananda wrote a poem to Sister Nivedita:

“The mother's heart, the hero's will
The sweetness of the southern breeze,
The sacred charm and strength that dwell
On Aryan altars, flaming, free;
All these be yours and many more
No ancient soul could dream before-
Be thou to India's future son
The mistress, servant, friend in one”.

In order to celebrate her birth anniversary, India Post issued a commemorative stamp of 20 Paisa on 27th Oct 1968. It portrays Sister Nivedita in standing pose.