Genesis & Brief History
Shri Shri Saradeswari Ashram & Free Hindu Girls' School :
Sannyasini(Nun) Sri Sri Gauri Puri Devi very modestly established and started Brahmacharya Ashram with Hindu Balika Vidyalaya including boarding facilities under the name “Shri Shri Saradeswari Ashram and Hindu Girls’ School” adjacent to the holy river Ganga at Barrackpore(Palta), North 24-parganas, West Bengal in 1895. She took this venture as ordered by Her Guru Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deva. She dedicated the hermitage in the name of most sacred Sri Sri Saradamoni Devi, wife of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deva. Due to multifarious reason and hindrances the Ashram with ancillary transferred to North Kolkata on 30th July 1911 at rented houses of different postal address embracing indigence and poverty.
The Holy Mother, Sri Sri Sarada Devi, used to come to those places of rented houses very often. She gave Her intimate blissful company to the girls addressing valuable instructions to them. Ultimately, on getting the green signal from the Holy Mother, a permanent abode for the inmates of the Ashram a plot of land, about four kattahs was settled and purchased at Shyambazar, North Kolkata near the river Ganga and near “Udbodhan”, the dwelling place of the Holy Mother. Due to paucity of fund, the amount was paid in instalments. The major share of the purchase price of the land was contributed by Sri Sri Durga Puri Devi, the second Mataji of the Ashram which she acquired by succession. The Holy Mother Herself performed the “Bhumi Puja” and blessed the yet-to-be erected Ashram. The progress of construction of the building had been kept in suspension as the Holy Mother left this world on 1920. On the day of Jagadhatri Puja in 1923, Sri Sri Gauri Puri Devi performed religious rituals of laying the foundation stone at the purchased premises of 26, Maharani Hementa Kumari Street. Subsequently, the name of the road had been changed in commemoration of the establisher of Ashram to 26, Gauri Mata Sarani by Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Towards November 1924 on the auspicious day of Jagadhatri Puja, Sri Sri Gauri Puri Devi and Sri Sri Durga Puri Devi entered the newly constructed building with a Black-Geode worshipped as the symbol of Vishnu named ”Damodarlal” and other Ashram Deities.
Since the setting up of the Ashram to shifting at Kolkata, proprietary right of the said belongings was of Sri Sri Gauri Puri Devi. On 27th August 1922 through a register deeds, the Ashram with allied girls’ school was declares as a private Trust by Sri Sri Gauri Puri Devi and handed over all rights and the power of the Trust to Sri Sri Durga Puri Devi proclaiming Her as a sole Trustee of the Deeds. For the sake of future development of the said organization and affaires, Sri Sri Durga Puri Devi make a testament on 19th June 1936 registered by the Registerar of Assurance, Calcutta on 29th June 1936.
As annexed to the main Ashram Building, Durga Puri Devi on the contiguous plot of 24 Gauri Mata Sarani completed a building and opened it on pious day of Akshay Tritiya of 1950. It was She, acquired a vacant land across the road of the main Ashram Building and constructed a separate building for the relocation of Balika Vidyalaya (Girls’ school) at premises no. 2 Hemanta Kumari Street in 1963.
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