In 1893 Swami Vivekananda went to the United States to join the
Parliament of the World's Religions where he had an overwhelming success and public attention. For next four years, from 1893 to 1897, he travelled through various cities of the United States and England, and gave a series of lectures on religion and
Vedanta. He returned to India in 1897 via Colombo. Vivekananda reached Colombo on 15 January 1897 where he was given a warm welcome. Vivekananda mentioned this welcome in a letter written to Mary Hale on 30 January 1897: Things are turning out most curiously for me. From Colombo in Ceylon, where I landed, to Ramnad, the nearly southernmost point of the Indian continent where I am just now as the guest of the Raja of Ramnad, my journey has been a huge procession — crowds of people, illuminations, addresses, etc., etc. A monument forty feet high is being built on the spot where I landed. The Raja of Ramnad has presented his address to "His most Holiness" in a huge casket of solid gold beautifully worked. Madras and Calcutta are on the tiptoe of expectation as if the whole nation is rising to honour me. So you see, Mary, I am on the very height of my destiny, yet the mind turns to quietness and peace, to the days we had in Chicago, of rest, of peace, and love; and that is why I write just now, and may this find you all in health and peace! On 16 January 1897 he gave a lecture titled "India, The Sacred Land." and on 19 June he reached there. The lectures he delivered in different places during this period were compiled into the book
Lectures from Colombo to Almora. == Lecture locations ==