The Turbaned Superman 43
go each year to Zenanas? India was a hot land where snakes abounded
and “the heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone.” It is
astonishing how little an eager reader like myself knew about the history
or literature of that great country... . To talk with a real Indian would
be a chance indeed... . Of the lecture that evening I can recall nothing.
The imposing figure on the platform in red robe, orange cord, and yellow
turban, I do remember and the wonderful mastery of the English language
with its rich sonorous tones, but the ideas did not take root in my mind or
else the many years since then have obliterated them.^57What Fincke does remember was the symposium that followed, in which
Vivekananda faced down a “row of black- coated and somewhat austere gentle-
men” who, with their volleys of biblical references and philosophical allusions,
argued for the superiority of Christianity. To this onslaught, Vivekananda replied
with his own quotes from the same, leaving Finke wondering :
Why were my sympathies not with those of my own world? Why did
I exult in the air of freedom that blew through the room as the Swami
broadened the scope of Religion till it embraced all mankind? Was it
that his words found an echo in my own longings, or was it simply the
magic of his personality? I cannot tell, I only know that I felt triumphant
with him.^58Fincke’s account does hint at one ideological tactic that was crucial to
Vivekananda’s appeal: his universalism. However, the majority of her memo-
ries are nevertheless dominated by physical and emotional impressions. Other
observers were even more direct about the extent to which Vivekananda’s pres-
ence overwhelmed the content of his discourse. One older English woman, for
instance, observed: “I love the Swami talk ... I can’t understand much of the
philosophy but his voice and gestures charm me. I seem to be seeing someone out
of the Bible.”^59 Another woman was simply “fascinated by his turban.”^60
Vivekananda himself was not oblivious to the fetishism with which he was
often treated. He wrote to a friend in India in 1894: “Just now I am living as the
guest of an old lady in a village near Boston... . I have an advantage in living with
her ... and she has the advantage of inviting her friends over here and showing
them a curio from India.”^61 He clearly understood the extent to which he was
indebted to the American women— and they were overwhelmingly women—
who patronized him, and he made frequent moves both publicly and in letters
to praise them for their virtue, education, and spirituality. At times, however, his
façade would break, which happened all the more often after he returned to India.