Millions of Hindu devotees were taking a dip in the holy waters of the Ganga on the occasion of Makar Sankranti sending their prayers to the highest heavens when the babe who was to alter the course of history was born to Bhuvaneshwari Devi and Vishwanath Datta of Simla in North Calcutta. It was 6:33 a.m., 12 January,1863.
The Dattas were an affluent family with their line being traced back to Rammohan Datta who had made a fortune in the practice of law and settled down in 3, Gourmohan Mukherjee Lane in Simla,North Calcutta. Even today this ancestral house of the Dattas stands as a shining monument to the glory that was Vivekananda.
Rammohan had two sons,Durgaprasad and Kaliprasad. The former renounced home and hearth in 1835 after the birth of his son, Vishwanath. He was thereafter once sighted by his wife, Shyamasundari, in Varanasi and once more by his family when he paid a return visit to his home 12 years after renouncing. On both occasions the contact was fleeting and the monk, true to his vows, overcame attachment and retired to his life of solitude in God. In later years Vishwanath visited Varanasi but could not trace his father.
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