Bankura, West Bengal
Jayrambati
Her birthplace and lifelong village home. The Matri Mandir now stands where she was born, and her later house is lovingly preserved.
1853 – 1920
A life of quiet radiance
The key moments of the Holy Mother’s life, and the places she sanctified.
1853
22 December · Jayrambati, Bankura
Birth at Jayrambati
Born to Ramachandra Mukhopadhyay and Shyamasundari Devi, a poor but pious Brahmin family, and named Saradamani.
Read the chapter →1859
Jayrambati
Betrothal to Sri Ramakrishna
At about five years of age she is married to Gadadhar — Sri Ramakrishna — in what was really a betrothal. She stays on with her parents.
Read the chapter →1867
Kamarpukur
First months with the Master
Sri Ramakrishna visits his native village; the young Sarada stays with him and receives his first instructions on life and spirituality.
Read the chapter →1872
March · Dakshineswar
The walk to Dakshineswar
Hearing rumours of his ‘madness’, she walks with her father to Dakshineswar, falling ill with fever on the way. The Master receives her lovingly.
Read the chapter →1872
June · Dakshineswar
The Shodashi Puja
On the night of Phalaharini Kali Puja, Sri Ramakrishna worships her as the Divine Mother Tripurasundari and offers at her feet the fruits of all his spiritual practice.
Read the chapter →1872–1885
Dakshineswar
Life in the Nahabat
In a tiny room of the music tower she lives hidden from view, cooking for the Master and his devotees, rising at three for meditation — ‘a light under a bushel’.
Read the chapter →1885–1886
Shyampukur & Cossipore
Nursing the Master
During his last illness she prepares his diet and nurses him, drawing close to the young disciples who would form the Ramakrishna Order.
1886
16 August · Cossipore
The Master’s Mahasamadhi
When she goes to remove her bracelets as a widow, she sees the Master in a vision: ‘I have only passed from one room to another.’
Read the chapter →1886–1887
Vrindavan
Pilgrimage to Vrindavan
Deep spiritual experiences; at the Master’s bidding she begins to give initiation — Swami Yogananda being the first to receive it.
Read the chapter →1888
Kamarpukur
Hardship at Kamarpukur
Living alone in poverty, she asks no one for help. When the disciples learn of it they bring her to Calcutta, where she becomes the Sangha-janani — Mother of the Order.
Read the chapter →1898
13 November · Baghbazar, Calcutta
Blessing Nivedita’s school
She performs the worship that opens Sister Nivedita’s school for girls, and prays that its girls may become ideal women.
1909
Baghbazar, Calcutta
Udbodhan — the ‘Mother’s House’
Swami Saradananda builds the Udbodhan house so that she may have a home of her own in Calcutta; thousands come here for her blessings.
Read the chapter →1911
Madras, Bangalore, Rameswaram
Pilgrimage to the South
She is received with great devotion at the Ramakrishna Math in Madras and Bangalore, and worships at Rameswaram.
Read the chapter →1912
Belur Math & Varanasi
At Belur and Banaras
She attends the Durga Puja at Belur Math and then stays at Banaras, visiting the Sevashrama of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Read the chapter →1920
21 July · Udbodhan, Calcutta
Mahasamadhi
After a long illness she passes away. Days before, she gave her last message: ‘If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others… No one is a stranger.’
Read the chapter →
Pilgrimage
Holy places
Devotees still travel to these places to feel her living presence.
Hooghly, West Bengal
Kamarpukur
Sri Ramakrishna’s native village, a few miles from Jayrambati, where she first lived with the Master and later endured years of poverty.
North of Kolkata
Dakshineswar
The Kali temple on the Ganga. In the small room of the Nahabat she lived for thirteen years, serving the Master in silence.
Kolkata
Udbodhan, Baghbazar
The ‘Mother’s House’, built by Swami Saradananda in 1909. Her shrine and room are kept as they were.
Howrah, West Bengal
Belur Math
Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Order on the Ganga. Her temple stands at the spot where her body was consigned to the flames in 1920.
Uttar Pradesh
Varanasi
The holy city where she stayed in 1912, blessing the Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service and recording some of her most memorable conversations.