150th birthday of Mother Saratha Devi celebrated in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 June 2004, 18:42 GMT]
The Hindu Society of Trincomalee Sri Shanmuga Hindu Girls College Friday morning celebrated 150th birthday of Mother Saratha Devi of Ramakrishna Mission in Trincomalee town. The photograph of Mother Saratha Devi was taken in a procession along several roads in the town with large number of students joining the procession along with teachers and members of public.

A public meeting was held in Sri Shanmuga Hindu Girls College in the evening.

Swami Athmaganandaji, head of the Ramakrishna Mission in Sri Lanka, Swami Vimoorthanandaji of Tamilnadu, and Swami Sithrupanandaji of Jaffna participated in the event.

The Ramakrishna Mission founded several Tamil medium schools in the northeast province during the first part of the last century for the development of education of Hindu Tamil students. Vaitheeswara College in Jaffna town, Ramakrishna Tamil School in Kondavil, a suburb of Jaffna, Sri Koneswara Hindu College in Trincomalee, Sivananda College and Anaipanthy Ramakrishna Girls College in Batticaloa town and Akkaraipattu Ramakrishna Tamil School are some of the schools established by Ramakrishna Mission.

The Ramakrishna Mission was founded after Swami Ramakrishna who rendered yeoman service to the Hindu community in India and Sri Lanka.

Mother Saratha Devi was the wife of Swami Ramakrishna Maharaj.

Swami Vipulananda who was born in Karaitivu in Batticaloa later joined the Ramakrishna Mission and became the first Principal of Trincomalee Koneswara Hindu College.

All educational institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission in the northeast were handed over to the Sri Lanka State during 1961 when the then Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) government nationalized all private schools in Sri Lanka, sources said.