Dear friends,
I am inspired to share this story, thanks to fellow reader and subscriber, Mohan, who reminded me about this Eureka moment between a Zoroastrian industrialist and a Hindu ascetic—both great Indian leaders—that led to the birth of one of India’s premier science institutions in the early 1900s. The story has so many layers to it, all of which make you feel good about humanity, especially during these times that feel rather apocalyptic.
Above all, it’s a reminder that with an open heart and an open mind, not only is anything possible, but the world looks more beautiful from this perch.
The story is about an unlikely meeting of the two men on the sea in 1893. Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata was an iconic Zoroastrian entrepreneur, builder, and philanthropist from 19th century India, and founder of the $300 billion Tata group, India’s largest conglomerate. Swami Vivekananda was an Indian philosopher and monk who brought the Vedanta philosophy and Yoga to the West and is particularly notable for his 1893 address to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago with the unusual opening line, “Sisters and brothers of America” that evoked a 2-minute standing ovation.
Left: Jamshetji Tata. “No Indian of the present generation had done more for the commerce and industry of India," said Lord Curzon, the viceroy of India, following Tata's demise. Swami Vivekananda, right, was offered academic positions at Harvard University and Columbia University, but he declined both, since his duties would conflict with his commitment as a monk.
When Wise Minds Meet, Magic Happens
Jamshetji and Vivekananda met aboard the steamer SS Empress of India, a 16,992-ton luxury steamship, headed from Yokohama, Japan to Vancouver in 1893. They essentially fell in love with each other’s ideas and remained staunch supporters, despite their different backgrounds.
Jamshetji was a son of a poor Zoroastrian priest from Navasari, Gujarat, who had established himself as an accomplished businessman starting with a mere capital of Rs. 21,000 ($260). He was deeply touched by Vivekananda’s desire to better lives of his fellow citizens with his travels through the country as a wandering monk in the quest of truth, familiarizing himself firsthand with the oppression of Indians at the hands of the British colonial powers.
On the ship, they both discussed Jamshetji’s plan of laying the foundations of the steel industry in India—an idea conceived in his head on a previous trip to Manchester, England to check out new machinery for his steel mills in India. Vivekananda enthusiastically endorsed Jamshetji’s vision of India as a strong industrial nation, and added that instead of importing matchsticks from Japan, Jamshetji should manufacture them in India and provide employment to the rural poor. He also explained his reason for visiting the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago: no part of the world could prosper in isolation and hence, the upliftment of India and the progress of the whole world were directly related to each other, and he was traveling to raise the profile of India and Hinduism.
The places Vivekananda visited across India from 1890-92 as a “parivrajaka” or a monastic wanderer. He met kings and merchants and the poorest of the poor, and accepted the hospitality of Hindus and Muslims alike. After having seen the plight of the poor in India, in December 1892, he sat in meditation on a rock in Kanyakumari, the southern tip of the country, and received enlightenment. A Vivekananda Rock Memorial still stands at this spot today.
Impressed by Vivekananda’s views on science and his deep-rooted patriotism and spirituality, Jamshetji asked if he could guide him in establishing a research Institute in India. Swami Vivekananda blessed his endeavor and said:
“How wonderful it would be if we could combine the scientific and technological achievements of the West with the asceticism and humanism of India!”
Let’s pause on that thought.
Not only are the words characteristic of Swami Vivekananda’s attempt to combine Indian spirituality with Western material progress as the two complemented one another, it was a classic religion meets science moment, with no shame attached to it.
The meeting eventually landed up transforming the history of science in India by establishing the noted Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
Pioneers of Human Development, Lovers of Mankind
Swami Vivekananda, born into an upper middle-class family, had a Western style education, and delved into both David Hume and the Bhagavad Gita while in college and had his fair share of boyhood defiance questioning the existence of God until he became a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and eventually took up monkhood.
As an ascetic, Vivekananda traveled sparse, with his customarily water pot, staff, and his two favorite books, Bhagavad Gita and The Imitation of Christ. He joined the Brahmo Samaj dedicated to eliminating child marriage and illiteracy and was determined to spread education among women and the lower castes. It might not be a coincidence that at his World Congress speech, he placed the word sisters ahead of brothers of America.
Self-perfection and service were his ideals. He once said:
“Kicking a football will take you closer to the Divine than any amount of prayer.”
You cannot play football unless you are absolutely involved in the game, and the present mindfulness takes you closer to divinity more than anything else. His ideas did not have a strictly traditional ring to them but had a contemporary twist.
Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, captured him well:
“Rooted in the past, full of pride in India’s prestige, Vivekananda was yet modern in his approach to life’s problems, and was a kind of bridge between the past of India and her present.”
Swami Vivekananda at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions meeting in Chicago.
Jamshetji Tata dedicated his life to improving the industrial and intellectual welfare of his fellow citizens in India. Here was a visionary who doggedly pursued setting up a hydroelectric plant at a time when renewable energy was not on the radar of many. Fresh from winding up an article for work on how critical renewable energy is to the future of South Asia, I was particularly impressed at his remarkably contemporary epiphany on the banks of the Roha creek in Maharashtra, “We must harness this water. We must turn it into power.”
More than a century ago, Jamsetji resolved to provide pollution-free, clean power to Mumbai, a city that was choking on the fumes of the boilers of textile mills. Though he passed away before he could accomplish this task, his sons Dorab and Ratan subsequently laid the foundation for affordable and clean power for the city of Mumbai. The hydropower units near Mumbai and the first grid connection around Lower Parel are, a century later, still functional. Featured above is the Bhira plant was the third hydropower plant installed by the Tata Power Company Ltd. in 1927.
Deeply patriotic, whenever he came across anything new on his frequent foreign visits, he would not only purchase it, but also introduce it in India. For example, Jamshetji tried cultivating peach trees that he had brought from California in Panchgani, close to Mumbai and in Bangalore, he established an experimental fruit farm. When he met Swami Vivekananda on his sea voyage, he was returning from a trip to Japan where he was studying scientific methodologies in Japanese sericulture to revive the fledgling silk industry in Mysore and establish it as a silk trading city (even today, I can vouch that Mysore silks, especially saris, are the best in kind). Jamshetji even gave India its first planned city of Jamshedpur where his iron and steel mill was located and built the iconic Taj hotel in Mumbai to give the city a facelift after the 1895 Bubonic plague.
He wrote to his son Dorab about his vision for the planned township that would eventually become Jamshedpur:
“Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick-growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens. Reserve large areas for football, hockey, and parks. Earmark areas for Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques and Christian churches."
Jamshetji and Vivekananda never met after that journey. But Vivekananda’s words blending science and spirituality struck a chord in Tata’s heart and five years later, he wrote a letter to Vivekananda. Here is what it said:
Dear Swami Vivekananda,
I trust, you remember me as a fellow traveler on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India, and the duty, not of destroying, but of diverting it into useful channels.
I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read. It seems to me that no better use can be made of the ascetic spirit than the establishment of monasteries or residential halls for men dominated by this spirit, where they should live with ordinary decency and devote their lives to the cultivation of sciences –natural and humanistic.
I am of opinion that if such a crusade in favour of an asceticism of this kind were undertaken by a competent leader, it would greatly help asceticism, science, and the good name of our common country; and I know not who would make a more fitting general of such a campaign than Vivekananda.
Do you think you would care to apply yourself to the mission of galvanizing into life our ancient traditions in this respect? Perhaps, you had better begin with a fiery pamphlet rousing our people in this matter. I would cheerfully defray all the expenses of publication.”
With kind regards,
I am, dear Swami,
Yours faithfully,
Jamshetji Tata
The letter is a clear sign of a humanist in the industrialist and is testament to the progressive principles on which Tata ran his factories back in the late 1800s. These included an eight-hour working day, free medical aid, well-ventilated workplaces, a crèche for young mothers, and provident fund and gratuity long before they became statutory in the West.
Jamshetji’s factories had separate dispensaries for men and women. His vision for Jamshedpur and facilities for Tata Steel's workers included a school for children of employees.
Unfortunately, Swami Vivekananda was unable accept Jamshetji’s offer since he was in the throes of setting up the Ramakrishna Mission, but he sent his faithful disciple, Sister Nivedita, an Irish teacher, author, and social activist to meet met Jamshetji. Working together, they formulated a detailed plan for the research institute.
The plan met many hurdles, including getting the axe from Viceroy Lord Curzon, who had once famously said, "As long as we rule India, we are the greatest power in the world. If we lose it, we shall drop straightaway to a third-rate power.” However, Jamshetji persevered and finally, the Regent Queen, Maharani Kempananjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana provided 371 acres of land in Bangalore to build the Institute. In addition, Jamshetji put in half of his personal wealth and thus, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) was born, and still stands today in the heart of green Bangalore. IISc was later headed by Nobel laureate CV Raman in 1933, and counts many eminent scientists as its graduates, including Homi J Bhabha, the founder of India’s nuclear program and Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space program.
Stalwarts of Diversity
I was mesmerized by the va et vient in this story between opposites. An industrialist seeks guidance from a monk on establishing a first premier scientific institute; a Zoroastrian and a Hindu philosopher overlook their personal faiths to embrace each other’s life goals; Vivekananda travels to the West to spread understanding of Eastern religions and shows firm desire to bring industrial ideals from the West to better India, that too in the throes of British colonial rule.
The world was the playground for Jamshetji and Vivekananda, two global thinkers, even as they remained deeply patriotic—truly a tribute to embracing diversity.
Such as it should be. With a magnanimous mind, the world becomes a small place. We start seeing people as more alike than different. These men saw that interconnectedness between us beings, in their vision of the world. It offers me hope that even we can see through our connectedness more, and not be stymied by dogmatic beliefs and prejudices that pigeonhole us into thinking one way or the other about another race, religion, profession, or belief system. Truly, with an open heart and an open mind, anything is possible, and the world is more beautiful.
Meaningfully yours,
Anu Prabhala
PS: These words from Swami Vivekananda’s 1893 speech at the Art Institute of Chicago are hauntingly relevant in today’s political landscape:
“Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”
Thank you, Anu! I knew nothing of the relationship between these two great men.
This is a feel-good origin story on so many levels.
A regent queen donates 371 acres of land for an institute of science.
A humane industrialist donates half his personal wealth for this institute.
A chance meeting with a monastic wanderer serves as the inspiration for this seat of learning
Loved the historical nuggets in this post, it is very well researched. And yes, an open heart and open mind does make the world a beautiful place. That's how the world is meant to be.