Encyclopedia of Hinduism

Chronology xxxiii J

1836

¶ Birth of Sri Paramahansa Ramakrishna (1836–

1886), God-intoxicated Bengali saint, devotee of

goddess Kali, and guru of Swami Vivekananda.

1837

¶ Britain formalizes importation of Indian inden-

tured laborers throughout the Commonwealth.

1838

¶ Birth of Keshab Chunder Sen (1838–1884),

Hindu reformer.

1840s

¶ Hindus from India enter the Caribbean region as

indentured laborers.

1841

¶ First U.S. chair of Sanskrit and Indology estab-

lished at Yale University.

1850

¶ First English translation of the Rig Veda,^ by H.

H. Wilson.

1851

¶ Sir M. Monier-Williams (1819–1899) publishes

English-Sanskrit Dictionary.

1853

¶ Birth of Sri Sarada Devi (1853–1920), wife of

Sri Ramakrishna, lineage holder in the Ramak-

rishna tradition and inspiration for the Sarada

Math convent for women.

¶ Max Müller (1823–1900), German Sanskrit

scholar in England, advocates the term Aryan to

describe speakers of Indo-European languages.

1857

¶ First major Indian revolt against British rule, the

“Sepoy Mutiny.”

1860

¶ First indentured servants from Madras (Chen-

nai) and Calcutta (Kolkata) arrive in Durban,

South Africa to work on sugar plantations.

1861

¶ Birth of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore

(1861–1941), awarded the Nobel Prize in litera-

ture in 1913.

1863

¶ Birth of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902),

dynamic missionary to West and catalyst of

Hindu revival in India.

1869

¶ Birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

(1869–1948), Indian nationalist and Hindu

political activist, who develops the strategy

of nonviolent disobedience that leads to the

independence of India (1947) from Great

Britain.

1872

¶ Birth of Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), Ben-

gali Indian nationalist and yoga philosopher.

1873

¶ Birth of Swami Rama Tirtha (1873–1906), who

lectures throughout Japan and America spread-

ing “practical Vedanta.”

1875

¶ Madame Blavatsky, with others, founds Theo-

sophical Society in New York, later headquar-

tered at Adyar, Madras (Chennai).

1876

¶ British queen Victoria (1819–1901) is pro-

claimed empress of India (r. 1876–1901).

¶ Birth of Dada Lekhraj (1876–1969), Hindu

founder of Brahma Kumaris, an international

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