Autobiography

Gandhi’s autobiography, which he had titled ‘My experiments with Truth’ can be

rated as one of the most popular and the most influential books in the recent

history. It was written at the instance of Swami Anand. It appeared in the Weekly

‘Navjivan’ during 1925-28. It covers Gandhi’s life up to 1920. He did not cover

the period after that as it was well known to the people and most of the

concerned persons were alive. Besides he felt that his experiments in that period

were yet to yield definite conclusions.

Gandhi’s autobiography is very different from other autobiographies. The

autobiographies normally contain self-praise by the authors. They want to

criticize their opponents and boost their own image in the people’s eyes.

Gandhi’s autobiography is completely free from all this. It is marked with humility

and truthfulness. He had not hidden anything. In fact, he is rather too harsh on

himself. He did not want to show to the world how good he was. He only wanted

to tell the people the story of his experiments with Truth.

Truth, for Gandhi, was the supreme principle, which includes many other

principles. Realization of the Truth is the purpose of human life. Gandhi always

strove to realize the Truth. He continuously tried to remove impurities in himself.

He always tried to stick to the Truth as he knew and to apply the knowledge of

the Truth to everyday life. He tried to apply the spiritual principles to the

practical situations. He did it in the scientific spirit. Sticking to the truth means

Satyagraha. Gandhi therefore called his experiments as ‘Experiments with Truth’

or ‘Experiments in the science of Satyagraha.’ Gandhi also requested the readers

to treat those experiments as illustrative and to carry out their own experiments

in that light.

Gandhi: An Introduction

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a man considered one of the great sages and

prophets. He was held as another Buddha, another Jesus, Indians called him the

‘Father of the Nation’. They showered their love, respect and devotion on him in

an unprecedented measure. They thronged his way to have a glimpse of him, to

hear one world from his lips. They applied on their foreheads the dust on the

path he had trodden. For them, he was almost an incarnation of God, who had

come to break the chains of their slavery. The whole world bowed to him in

reverence. Even his opponents held him in great respect.

Mohandas Gandhi was, however, not a great scholar, nor was he a great warrior.

He was not born with exceptional faculties. Neither was he a good orator, nor a

great writer. He did not claim anything exclusively divine in him. He did not claim

being a prophet or having superhuman powers. He considered himself an

average man with average abilities. Born in a middle class Bania family in an

obscure princely State in a corner of India, he was a mediocre student, shy and

nervous. He could not muster courage to speak in public. His first attempt at

legal practice miserably failed.

But he was a humble seeker of Truth. He was a man with exceptional sincerity,

honesty and truthfulness. For him, understanding meant action. Once any

principle appealed to him, he immediately began to translate that in practice. He

did not flinch from taking risks and did not mind confessing mistakes. No

opposition, scorn or ridicule could affect him. Truth was his sole guiding star. He

was ever-growing; hence he was often found inconsistent. He was not concerned

with appearing to be consistent. He preferred to be consistent only with the light

within.

He sacrificed his all and identified himself with the poorest of the poor. He

dressed like them, lived like them. In the oppressed and the depressed people,

he saw God. For him, they too were sparks of the divine light. They might not

have anything else, but they too had a soul. For Gandhi, soul-force was the

source of the greatest power. He strove to awaken the soul-force within himself

and within his fellowmen. He was convinced that the potentialities of the soul-

force have no limit. He himself was a living example of this conviction. That is

why this tiny and fragile man could mobilise the masses and defeat the mighty

British empire. His eleven vows, his technique of Satyagraha, his constructive

programme - all were meant to awaken and strengthen the soul-force. He

awakened and aroused a nation from semi-consciousness. It was a Herculean

task. For, India was not a united country, it was a sub-continent. It was a society

divided in different classes, castes and races, in people with different languages,

religions and cultures.

It was a society where almost half of the population i.e., women, was behind

purdah or confined to the four walls of houses, where one-fourth of the

population - the depressed classes - was living marginalised life, where many did

not have a single full meal every day. Gandhi made the oppressed sections wake

up and break their chains. He mobilised the people and united them to work for

the cause of Swaraj, which gave them a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose.

Gandhi wanted to win Swaraj for the masses. For him, Swaraj did not mean

replacement of White masters by brown masters. Swaraj meant self-rule by all.

He said: ”Real Swaraj will come, not by the acquisition of the authority by a few,

but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused.”

He worked to develop such a capacity. Development of such a capacity involved

transformation of the individual.

Transformation of the individual and transformation of the society - they were not

separate, unrelated things for Gandhi. Revolutionary social philosophies had

concentrated on changing the society. On the other hand, spiritual seekers had

concentrated on the inner change. Gandhi not only bridged the gap between

these extremes, he fused them together. Gandhi was thus both a saint and a

social revolutionary. For Gandhi, unity of life was great truth. His principle of non-

violence stemmed from this conviction. Non-violence was not a matter of policy

for him; it was a matter of faith. He applied the doctrine to all the departments of

individual and social life and in so doing revolutionized the doctrine, made it

dynamic and creative. He believed that a true civilization could be built on the

basis of such non-violence only.

He rejected the modern civilization. For him, it was a disease and a curse. This

civilization leads to violence, conflicts, corruption, injustices, exploitation,

oppression, mistrust and a process of dehumanisation. It has led the world to a

deep crisis. The earth’s resources are being cornered by a handful of people

without any concern for others and for the coming generations. The conventional

energy sources are getting depleted. Forests are being destroyed. Air, water, soil-

everything has been polluted.

We are living under the shadow of nuclear war and environmental disasters.

Thinking men the world over are looking to Gandhi to find a way out of this crisis

and to build an alternative model of sustainable development. Gandhi knew that

the earth has enough to satisfy everybody’s need but not anybody’s greed. He

had called for the replacement of greed with love. Gandhi is, therefore, now a

source of inspiration and a reference book for all those fighting against racial

discrimination, oppression, domination, wars, nuclear energy, environmental

degradation, lack of freedom and human rights- for all those who are fighting for

a better world, a better quality of life. Gandhi is, therefore, no longer an

individual. He is a symbol of all that is the best and the most enduring in the

human tradition. And he is also a symbol of the alternative in all areas of life-

agriculture, industry, technology, education, health, economy, political

organisations, etc. He is a man of the future - a future that has to be shaped if

the human race has to survive and progress on the path of evolution.

Biography Of Mahatma Gandhi

We hereby give a short version compiled from his Autobiography. We cover the

period of his life from 1869 to 1922.

Birth and Parentage

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbandar, a coastal city in

Kathiawad (now a part of the Gujarat State) on the 2nd October 1869. He was the

youngest child of his parents, Karamchand and Putlibai.

Gandhis belonged to the Modh Bania community. They were originally grocers.

However, Uttamchand, Mohan’s grandfather, rose to become Dewan of the

Porbandar State. Mohan’s father. Karamchand, also served as the Dewan of

Porbandar, Rajkot and Vankaner States. Kathiawar then had about 300 small

States. Court intrigues were the order of the day. At times, Gandhis became their

victim. Uttamchand’s house was once surrounded and shelled by the State

troops. Karamchand was once arrested. However, their courage and wisdom

earned them respect. Karamchand even became a member of the Rajashanik

Court, a powerful agency to solve disputes among the States.

Karamchand had little education, but had shrewdness of judgment and practical

knowledge acquired through experience. He had little inclination to amass wealth

and left little for his children. He used to say that “My children are my wealth’. He

married four times, had two daughters by the first two marriages and one

daughter and three sons by his fourth marriage. Putlibai, his fourth wife, was

younger to him by 25 years. She was not much educated but was well-informed

about practical matters. Ladies at the palace used to value her advice. She was

deeply religious and superstitious and had strong will-power. She used to visit the

temple daily and regularly kept difficult vows. Mohan loved his mother. He used

to accompany her to the Haveli (Vaishnav temple).

Mohan had a great devotion for his father and he often used to be present at the

discussions about the State problems. Gandhis had Parsi and Muslim friends and

Jain monks used to make regular visit. Mohan thus had occasion to hear

discussions about religious matters also. Being the youngest, he was the darling

of the household.

Childhood

Mohan attended Primary School at Porbandar. When he was seven, his family

moved to Rajkot. He was a mediocre student, was shy and avoided any company.

He read little besides the text books and had no love for outdoor games. He had

no love for outdoor games. However, he was truthful, honest, sensitive and was

alert about his character. Plays about Shravan and Harishchandra made a deep

impression on him. They taught him to be truthful at any cost and to serve his

parents with devotion.

He was married along with his brother and cousin for the sake of economy and

convenience. He was only 13 then. He enjoyed the festivities of the marriage.

Kasturbai, his wife, was of the same age. She was illiterate but strong-willed. His

jealousy and immature efforts to make her an ideal wife led to many quarrels. He

wanted to teach her but found no time. His experience later made him a strong

critic of child-marriages.

Mohan joined High School at Rajkot. He was liked by the teachers and often

received prizes. But he neglected physical training and hand-writing. Habit of

taking long walks made up for the first neglect, but he had to repent later for the

neglect of handwriting. He was devoted to his father and considered it his duty to

nurse him during his illness. In the High-School, he made friends with one Sheikh

Mehtab, a bad character. He stuck to the friendship despite warnings from

family-members. He wanted to reform Mehtab but failed. Mehtab induced him to

meat-eating, saying that it made one strong and that the British were ruling India

because they were meat-eaters. Mohan was frail and used to be afraid even to go

out alone in the dark. The argument appealed to him. Later, he realized that lying

to his parents was worse than not eating meat, and abandoned the experiment.

Mehtab once sent him to a brothel, but God’s grace saved him. He induced

Mohan to smoking. This once led to stealing. But all this became unbearable for

Mohan. He confessed his guilt to his father, who did not rebuke him but wept

silently. Those tears cleaned Mohan’s heart and taught him a lesson in

nonviolence.

Mohan’s father died when Mohan was 16. He had nursed him daily. But at the

time of his death, Mohan was with his wife. He always felt ashamed for this lapse.

Mohan passed the matriculation examination in 1887. He attended the College at

Bhavnagar, but left after the first term. At that time, the idea of his going to

England for studying law came up. Mohan was fascinated. He made up his mind

and overcame resistance from the family-members. He took the vow not to touch

wine, women and meat at the instance of his mother to remove her fears. He

then sailed from Bombay in September 1888, leaving behind his wife and a son.

The caste elders were against his going to England. They excommunicated him

from the caste.

Gandhi in England

Gandhi reached England by the end of September 1888. Everything was strange

to him. He was shy and diffident, could not speak English fluently and was

ignorant of British manners. Naturally, loneliness and homesickness gripped him.

Gandhi became a vegetarian for life. It was difficult to get vegetarian food.

Friends persuaded him to break the vow of vegetarianism but he stuck to it. He

began searching vegetarian restaurants and found one ultimately. He purchased

Salt’s book ‘Plea for Vegetarianism’, read it and became vegetarian out of

conviction. He studied other literature and joined the Vegetarian Society.

He came in contact with the leaders of that radical cult, became a member of the

Society’s Executive Committee and contributed articles to the Society’s paper.

He even started a Vegetarian club in his locality and became its Secretary. This

experience gave him some training in organising and conducting Institutions.

Experiments about diet became a life-long passion for him.

Gandhi tries to play the ‘English Gentleman’

For a brief period, Gandhi tried to become ‘The English Gentleman’ to overcome

lack of confidence and to make up for the ‘fad’ of vegetarianism. He wanted to

become fit for the British elite society. He got clothes stitched from an expensive

and fashionable firm, purchased an expensive hat and an evening suit and learnt

to wear the tie. He became very careful about his appearance. He even joined a

dancing class, but could not go on for more than three weeks.  He purchased a

violin and started learning to play it. He engaged a tutor to give lessons in

elocution. But all this was for a brief period of three months only. His conscience

awakened him. He realised that he was not going to spend his whole life in

England; he should rather concentrate on his studies and not waste his brother’s

money. He then became very careful about his expenses.

Study of religions

Gandhi also started the study of religions. Before that, he had not even read the

Gita. Now he read it in the English translation. He also read Edwin Arnold’s ‘The

Light of Asia,’ Blavatsky’s ‘Key to Theosophy’ and the Bible. Gita and The New

Testament made a deep impression on him. The principles of renunciation and

non-violence appealed to him greatly. He continued the study of religions

throughout his life.

Gandhi becomes a Barrister

Bar examinations were easy. He therefore studied for and passed the London

matriculation examination. Becoming a Barrister meant attending at least six

dinners in each of the twelve terms and giving an easy examination. Gandhi,

however, studied sincerely, read all the prescribed books, passed his

examination and was called to the bar in June 1891. He then sailed for home.

A Period of turmoil

Gandhi’s three year’s stay in England was a period of deep turmoil for him.

Before that, he knew little of the world. Now he was exposed to the fast-changing

world and to several radical movements like Socialism, Anarchism, Atheism etc.

through the Vegetarian Society. He started taking part in public work. Many of his

ideas germinated during this period.

Gandhi in South Africa

Gandhi returned to India as a Barrister, but he knew nothing about the Indian

law. Lawyers used to pay commissions to touts to get cases. Gandhi did not like

this. Besides, he was shy and an occasion to argue in the Court unnerved him. He

became a disappointed and dejected ‘Bridles Barrister’. At that time, a South

African firm Dada Abdulla and Co. asked for his assistance in a case. Gandhi

eagerly agreed and sailed for South Africa in April 1893.

Problems of Indians in South Africa

The small Indian community in South Africa was facing many problems at that

time. It consisted mainly of indentured labourers and traders. The indentured

labourers were taken there by the European landlords as there was acute labour

shortage in South Africa. The condition of these labourers was like slaves. During

1860-1890 around 40,000 labourers were sent from India. Many of them settled

there after their agreement periods were completed and started farming or

business.

The Europeans did not like it. They did not want free Indians in South Africa. They

also found it difficult to face competition from Indian traders. Therefore the White

Rulers imposed many restrictions and heavy taxes on the Indians. They were not

given citizenship rights, like right to vote. They were treated like dirt and

constantly humiliated. All Indians were called ‘coolies’. The newspapers carried

out the propaganda that the Indians were dirty and uncivilized. The Indians could

not travel in the railways and could not enter hotels meant for Europeans. They

were hated and radically discriminated in all matters by the dominant White

community.

Gandhi fights racial discrimination

Right since his arrival, Gandhi began to feel the pinch of racial discrimination in

South Africa. Indian community was ignorant and divided and therefore unable to

fight it. In connection with his case, Gandhi had to travel to Pretoria. He was

travelling in the first class, but a White passenger and railway officials asked him

to leave the first class compartment. Gandhi refused, whereupon he was thrown

out along with his luggage. On the platform of Maritzburg station. It was a

severely cold night. Gandhi spent the night shivering and thinking furiously. He

ultimately made up his mind to stay in South Africa, fight the racial discrimination

and suffer hardships. It was a historic decision. It transformed Gandhi.

He had also to travel some distance by a stage-coach. During this travel also, he

was insulted and beaten. On reaching Pretoria, Gandhi called a meeting of the

local Indians. There he learnt a lot about the condition of Indians. It was there

that he made his first Public Speech and suggested formation of an association.

He offered his services for the cause. Gandhi later settled the case, for which he

had come, through arbitration. He then decided to return home. But at the

farewell party, he came to know about a bill to restrict Indian franchise. Gandhi

thought that it had grave implications. The people then pressed him to stay for

some time. He agreed.

Gandhi’s first major fight had started. He addressed meetings petitioned to the

legislative assembly, conducted a signature campaign. He also started regular

legal practice there and soon became a successful and leading Lawyer. For

sustained agitations, a permanent organisation was needed and the Natal Indian

Congress was born. Illiterate indentured labourers also joined the struggle. A

proposed tax on them was fought and got abolished after a fierce battle.

In1886, Gandhi visited India for a brief period. In India, he met renowned leaders

and gave wide publicity to the South African struggle. Rumours reached South

Africa that Gandhi had maligned the Whites there and that he was coming with a

large number of Indians to swamp the Natal colony. It was wrong. But it made

the Whites furious. Gandhi had to face the fury, when he returned with his wife

and children, he had to enter the port town secretly, but he was found out and

assaulted. The Whites wanted to hang him but he was saved by the Police

Superintendent and his wife. He forgave his assailants.

The Boer War

Gandhi, however, remained a loyal citizen of the British Empire. In that spirit, he

decided to help the British during the Boer War. The Boer were the Dutch

colonizers who ruled some of the South African colonies. They were simple and

sturdy people with strong racial prejudices. The British wanted to rule whole of

the South Africa. The British-Boer broke out in 1899. Gandhi’s sympathies were

with the Boers. But being a British citizen, he considered it his duty to help the

British. He also wanted to show that Indians were not cowards and were ready to

make sacrifices for the empire while fighting for their rights.

Gandhi raised an ambulance corps of 1100 persons. The work consisted of

carrying the wounded on stretchers. At times, it required walking more than 20

miles. The corps had sometimes to cross the firing line. The Indians worked hard,

their work was praised and the leaders of the corps were awarded medals. Indian

community learnt a lot from this experience. Its stature increased. British won

the war, although the Boers fought with determination, which made a deep

impression on Gandhi.

The Fight continues

In 1901, Gandhi returned to India. He travelled widely and worked closely with

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, whom he considered his guru. He was about to settle

down in Bombay, when he received an urgent telegram from South Africa to rush

there. Gandhi again went to South Africa. He found that the condition of Indians

had worsened. Gandhi had to devote himself to public work. In 1904, Gandhi

started the journal ‘Indian Opinion.’

The Phoenix Settlement 

In 1904, Gandhi happened to read Ruskin’s book ‘Unto This Last.’ He was deeply

impressed by Ruskin’s ideas and decided to put them in practice immediately.

They were: (I) That the good of the individual is contained in the good of all. (ii)

that all work has the same value and (iii) that the life of labour is the life worth-

living.

Gandhi purchased some land near Phoenix station and established the Phoenix

settlement in mid-1904. The settlers had to erect structures to accommodate

themselves and the printing press. ‘Indian Opinion’ was transferred to Phoenix.

The settlers had to go through many trials to print the issue in time. Everyone

had to join in the work. The settlers were divided in two classes. The ‘Schemers’

made their living by manual labour. A few were paid labourers. To make a living

by manual labour, land was divided in pieces of three acres each. Stress was on

manual labour. Even the printing press was often worked with hand-power.

Sanitary arrangements were primitive and everyone had to be his own

scavenger. The colony was to be self-supporting and the material needs were to

be kept to the minimum. A spirit of self-reliance pervaded the colony. Gandhi,

however, could stay there only for brief periods. He had to be in Johannesburg in

connection with his work.

The Zulu Rebellion

The Zulu ‘rebellion’ broke out in April 1906. It was not in fact a rebellion, but a

man-hunt. The British wanted to crush the freedom-loving Zulu tribals. The

operation to massacre them was, therefore, started under a flimsy pretext. Out

of a sense of loyalty to the British empire, Gandhi offered the services of the

Indian community, though his heart was with the Zulus. An ambulance corps of

24 persons was formed. Its duty was to carry the wounded Zulus and nurse them.

The Zulus were flogged and tortured and left with festering wounds. Whites were

not ready to nurse them. Gandhi was happy to nurse them. He had to work hard

and walk miles through hills. It was a thought-provoking experience. He saw the

cruelty of the British and the horrors of the war. While marching through

Zululand, Gandhi thought deeply. Two ideas became fixed in his mind-

Brahmacharya and the adoption of voluntary poverty.

Birth of Satyagraha

The White rulers were bent on keeping South Africa under their domination. They

wanted as few Indians there as possible and that too as slave-labourers. In

Transvaal, Indians were required to register themselves. The procedure was

humiliating. The registration was proposed to be made stricter in 1906. Gandhi

realised that it was a matter of life or death for the Indians. A mammoth meeting

was held in September 1906 to oppose the bill. People took oath in the name of

God not to submit to the bill at any cost. A new principle had come into being -

the principle of Satyagraha. The bill about registration was however passed.

Picketing against registration was organised. A wave of courage and enthusiasm

swept the Indian community. The Indian community rose as one man for the sake

of its survival and dignity.

The agitation was first called ‘passive Resistance’. Gandhi, however, did not like

that term. It did not convey the true nature of the struggle. It implied that it was

the weapon of the weak and the disarmed. It did not denote complete faith in

nonviolence. Moreover, Gandhi did not like that the Indian struggle should be

known by an English name. The term ‘Sadagrah’ was suggested. Gandhi changed

it to ‘Satyagrah’ to make it represent fully, the whole idea. Satyagraha means

asserting truth through non-violence. It aims at converting the opponents

through self-suffering.

Gandhi was ordered to leave the colony. He disobeyed and was jailed for two

months. Indians filled the jails. Repression failed to yield the results. General

Smuts called Gandhi and promised that the law would be withdrawn if the Indians

agreed to voluntary registration.

An attempt of Gandhi’s life

Gandhi agreed. He and his co-workers were set free. Gandhi exhorted Indians to

register voluntarily. He was criticized for this by some workers. A Pathan named

Mir Alam was unconvinced by Gandhi’s arguments and vowed to kill the first man

who would register himself. Gandhi came forward to be the first man to register

himself. When he was going to the registration office, Mir Alam and his friends

assaulted him with lathis.

Gandhi fainted with the words ‘He Ram’ on his lips. It was 10th February 1908.

His colleagues tried to save him otherwise it would have been the last day for

him. Mir Alam and his friends were caught and handed over to the police. When

Gandhi regained consciousness, he inquired about Mir Alam. When told that he

had been arrested, Gandhi told that he should be released. Gandhi was taken by

his friend Rev. Doke to his house and was nursed there. Rev. Doke later became

his first biographer.

Gandhi betrayed

Smuts however, betrayed Gandhi. The agitation was again resumed. The

voluntary registration certificates were publicly burnt. Meanwhile, Transvaal

passed Immigration Restriction Act. This too was opposed by the Indians. They

crossed Transvaal border illegally and were jailed. Gandhi, too, was arrested and

convicted. The fight continued in spite of the repression.

Tolstoy Farm

Gandhi realised that the fight would be a long one. He, therefore, desired to have

a center where the Satyagrahis could lead a simple community life and get

training for the struggle. Phoenix was at about 30 hours distance from

Johannesburg. Gandhi’s German friend Kallenbach therefore bought 1100 acres

of land at a distance of about 20 miles from Johannesburg, where Tolstoy Farm

was established. The community was named after Tolstoy to pay respect to the

great Russian writer whose book ‘The Kingdom of God is within You’ had greatly

influenced Gandhi and made him a firm believer in non-violence.

The inmates numbered about 50-75. It was a heterogeneous group. It was a

tribute to Gandhi’s leadership that they remained together happily under hard

conditions. The inmates erected sheds to accommodate themselves. They did all

their work themselves. Drinking, smoking and meat-eating were prohibited. All

ate in the community kitchen. Small Cottage Industries were started for self-

sufficiency. Gandhi and his colleagues learnt shoe-making. A school was started.

Gandhi himself undertook the responsibility of educating the children. The life

was simple, hard, but joyful. Experiments at Tolstoy Farm proved to be a source

of purification and penance for Gandhi and his co-workers.

The last phase of Satyagraha

Satyagraha continued for four years. Gandhi discontinued his legal practice in

1910. After many ups and downs, the last phase of Satyagraha began in

September 1913. A Black Law imposing three pounds tax on Indians provided

occasion for it. Satyagrahis crossed Transvaal border defying the law. Even the

women were invited to join. Indian workers in the Natal coal-mines struck work

and joined the struggle. Gandhi led a large contingent of these workers. They

were about 2200 in number. It was on epic march.

It aroused sympathy for Satyagraha and indignation for the South African

Government throughout England and India. Indian National Congress supported

the Satyagraha. Gandhi was arrested. The Satyagrahis marched to Natal without

their leader. There, they were arrested and jailed. Thousands of labourers struck

work in sympathy. The public outcry in India forced the Indian Government to

express sympathy for the Indian cause. The repression having failed, General

Smuts had to bow ultimately. Indian demands were accepted. The fight was over.

Gandhi now could return to India where a great work awaited him.

It was South Africa which made Gandhi. He had gone there as a young, shy,

Briefless Barrister. He returned as an extra-ordinary leader who had mobilised

masses to an unprecedented extent for a novel fight. In South Africa, Gandhi’s

ideas were shaped. He was influenced by Ruskin, Tolstoy and Thoreau. He made

a deep study of religions there and became a staunch believer in nonviolence.

The principle of Satyagraha was born in S. Africa.

Gandhi in India: Rise of leadership

Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. He was welcomed and honoured as a

hero. He spent a year touring the country at the instance of Gokhale, his guru. He

travelled mostly in third class railway compartments. He saw the conditions in

the country first-hand. He founded the Satyagraha Ashram in May 1915 and

started getting involved in the social and political life of the country. The

Champaran Satyagraha was his first major struggle.

Champaran Satyagraha

Champaran was a district in Northern Bihar. When Gandhi was called there, it

was virtually under the rule of European indigo planters. They cruelly exploited

and terrorised the tenants. Under the ‘tinkathia’ system, the tenants had to

cultivate indigo in 3/20th part of the land. The tenants were oppressed and fear-

stricken. The British administration supported the planters.

Gandhi was invited to visit Champaran by Rajkumar Shukla, a peasant from the

area, in December 1916. Gandhi was first reluctant. But Shukla’s persistent

requests made him change his mind. He went to Champaran in April 1917 to

know the conditions there and the grievances of the peasants. Before visiting the

district, Gandhi visited Muzaffarpur and Patna. He discussed the matter with

lawyers and social workers. Gandhi declined to seek legal remedies as he felt

that law courts were useless when the people were fear-stricken. For him,

removal of fear was most important. He made request to the lawyers for clerical

assistance. Many of them gladly offered the same.

Gandhi first met the planters and the District Commissioner. They were hostile.

Gandhi was ordered to leave the area. He ignored the order. He was then

summoned to the court. The news electrified the area. Crowds gathered at the

court. Gandhi pleaded guilty, saying that he was obeying a higher law, the voice

of conscience. The case against him was later dropped. Gandhi and his co-

workers met thousands of the peasants. They recorded about 8000 statements.

Efforts were made to ensure that they were true. Recording was done in the

presence of police officials. Undue publicity and exaggeration were avoided.

Planters’ campaign of slander was ignored. The masses in Champaran overcame

their fear. Public opinion in the country was aroused. The Government ultimately

appointed an enquiry committee in June 1917, with Gandhi as a member. The

committee recommended abolition of tinkathia system and partial refund of

money taken illegal by the planters. The Satyagraha was thus successful.

Champaran Satyagraha was the first Satyagraha on the Indian soil. It was

Gandhi’s first major political work in India. It was carried out strictly in

accordance with the principles of Satyagraha. Attention was paid to constructive

work like sanitation, education and primary health-care.

Ahmedabad Satyagraha

A dispute between the textile mill-owners and the labourers at Ahmedabad arose

in 1918, about the grant of bonus and dearness allowance. The labourers wanted

50% increase allowance due to steep rise in prices. The mill-owners were ready

to give only 20% increase. Gandhi was approached to find a solution. He

persuaded both the parties to agree to arbitration. But after a few days, some

misunderstanding led to a strike. The mill-owners seized the opportunity and

declared lock-out. Gandhi studied the case. He thought that 35% increase would

be reasonable. He advised the labourers to demand the same. Regular strike

began on the 26th February 1918. Thousands of labourers struck work. They took

a pledge not to resume work till their demand was met or arbitration was agreed

upon. They also decided to observe non-violence and maintain peace.

Gandhi had friends in both the camps. The mill-owners being led by Shri Ambalal

Sarabhai. His sister Ansuyaben was leading the labourers. During the struggle,

Gandhi’s co-workers regularly visited the labourers’ quarters to solve their

problems and to keep high their morale. Daily meetings and prayers were held.

Bulletins were issued. Gandhi did not like charity. Efforts were made to find

alternative employments for the workers. However, after a fortnight, the workers

started getting tired. It was difficult to face starvation. It was unbearable for

Gandhi that they should break the vow. He then decided to undertake an

indefinite fast. This strengthened the workers. It brought moral pressure on the

mill-owners. They consented to arbitration after three days. Gandhi broke his

fast. The Satyagraha was successful. The arbitrator studied the case for three

months and recommended 35% increase in dearness allowance. The workers’

demand was thus fully met. However, Gandhi’s fast did involve in an element of

coercion. But it was a spontaneous decision. The situation demanded some

drastic action. The Satyagraha was significant in many respects. It was the first

Satyagraha by industrial workers. It was wholly peaceful. It showed how workers

could fight non-violently. It also gave rise to a strong Gandhian Labour Union.

Kheda Satyagraha

Kheda was a district in Gujarat. In 1917, there was a crop failure due to famine.

Peasants were unable to pay the land revenue. The rules permitted suspension of

revenue collection when the crops were less than four annas. According to the

peasants’ estimate, the crops were less than four annas. Gandhi’s inquiries, as

well as inquiries by independent observers, showed that the peasants were right.

The Government, however, thought otherwise. It even turned down a suggestion

of an impartial enquiry. It started coercing the peasants to collect revenue.

Petitions etc. were of no avail. Satyagraha was therefore started on the 22nd

March 1918.

Gandhi advised the peasants to withhold payment to revenue. Satyagrahis took a

pledge not to pay the same and resolved to be ready to face the consequences.

Volunteers went to villages to keep up the morale of the peasants. As in

Champaran, Gandhi’s main concern was to remove the fear from the peasants’

minds. The officials started attaching the property of the peasants including

cattle and even standing crops. Notices were sent for attachment of the land. An

occasion for civil disobedience arose when standing onion crop was attached at

one place. Gandhi advised one Mohanlal Pandya and a few volunteers to remove

the crop. This was done. The volunteers were arrested. Pandya earned the

nickname ‘Onion Thief.’

The struggle went on for about four months till July 1918. It tested the people’s

patience. The Government discontinued coercive measures. It advised that if the

well-to-do peasants paid up, the poor ones would be granted suspension. In one

sense, the Satyagraha was thus successful. The peasants’ demand was not,

however, fully met. Gandhi was not satisfied. He wanted people to come out

stronger after Satyagraha. However, the Satyagraha resulted in awakening the

peasants. It educated them politically. It was the first peasant struggle under

Gandhi’s leadership, the first nonviolent mass civil disobedience campaign

organised by Gandhi in India. The peasants became aware of their rights and

learnt to suffer for them.

Rowlatt Act

British Government appointed a Committee in 1917 under the chairmanship of

Justice Rowlatt, (1) to enquire and report to the Government about the nature

and extent of anti-government activities, and (2) to suggest legal remedies to

enable the Government to suppress those activities. The Committee submitted

its report in April 1918. Its work was carried out in secrecy. The Committee’s

recommendations were embodied in two bills.

The first bill sought to make a permanent change in the Criminal Law. The

second bill intended to deal with the situation arising out of the expiry of Defence

of India Rules. The first bill made punishable the possession of an

antigovernment document with mere intention to circulate it. The second bill also

gave sweeping powers to the officers. There were other harsh provisions also.

The bills shocked the entire country. All the leaders considered the bills unjust,

unwarranted and destructive of elementary human rights and dignity. The

second bill was eventually dropped and the first one passed as a Law in March

1919.

Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act

India had helped the British in the World War. She expected substantial political

rights. Instead, she received the Black Rowlatt bills.

Gandhi had decided to help the British war efforts during the war. He undertook a

recruiting campaign and worked hard which ruined his health. While he was

recovering, he heard about Rowlatt bills. He was shocked. He took up the matter

and started propaganda against the bill. Gandhi carried out propaganda against

the bill. A separate body called Satyagraha Sabha was formed. A Satyagraha

pledge was drafted and signed by selected leaders. The Government was,

however, adamant. It then suddenly it occurred to Gandhi that a call for nation-

wide hartal should be given. Everybody in the country should suspend his

business and spend the day in fasting and prayers. Public meetings should be

held everywhere and resolutions passed for withdrawal of the Act.

The programme was taken up. 30 March was fixed as the day of the hartal, but it

was later postponed to 6th April. The notice was very short. Still the masses rose

to the occasion. The country rose like one man. Hartal was observed throughout

India. Communal prejudices were forgotten. All fear disappeared. In Delhi, Swami

Shraddhanand, the Hindu sanyasi was invited to Jama Masjid. It was also decided

that civil disobedience should be offered to selected laws which could easily be

disobeyed by the people. Gandhi suggested breaking of the Salt law and the sale

of the banned literature. The civil disobedience was a great success. Throughout

India, meetings were held and processions taken out.

The public awakening was unprecedented. It startled the British. Repression was

let loose. Processions were broken up by mounted police and firing was done at

several places. Many persons were killed. At some places, people lost balance in

the face of repression. In such a situation, Gandhi thought it fit to suspend the

Civil Disobedience Campaign. It was done on the 18th April. Satyagraha against

the Rowlatt Act was historic. It was the first nation-wide struggle, in which crores

of people participated and showed exemplary courage. The Indian freedom

movement was transformed into a truly people’s movement. The period also

witnessed Hindu-Muslim friendship to an extent that was never surpassed

thereafter.

Jallianwala Bagh

Satyagraha in Punjab was also quite successful. Its leaders Dr. Satyapal and Dr.

Kitchlew were arrested. People observed hartal and took out a procession in

Amritsar to demand their release. It was fired upon, and many persons were

killed. The crowd therefore became violent and killed 5-6 Englishmen. Some

public buildings were burnt. Army troops were rushed in to stop the violence. This

was on April 10th 1919. On April 11, a peaceful funeral procession was taken out.

General Dyer then took command of the troops. Meetings and gatherings were

prohibited. Still a large meeting was held on April 12th at Jallianwala Bagh.

General Dyer took no steps to prevent the meeting. But when the meeting was

taking place, he surrounded the place and without any warning, gave orders of

firing. The crowd of nearly 10,000 men and women was peaceful and unarmed.

They had no idea that they would be fired upon. When the firing started the

people became panicky. There was only one exit. Bullets were showered on the

trapped people. 1650 rounds were fired. About 400 persons were killed and 1200

injured. General Dyer did this deliberately to teach the Indians a lesson.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre shocked the country. It showed how brutal the British

power could get. It was followed by many more atrocities. They turned Gandhi

fully against the British Empire.

Amritsar Congress

The annual session of the Indian National Congress was held at Amritsar in

Punjab in December 1919. Most of the leaders in jails were released before or

during the session. The session was attended by 8000 delegates including 1500

peasants. It was the last Congress session attended by Lokmanya Tilak. The

Moderates, however, did not attend it. Pandit Motilal Nehru was in the Chair. The

Congress was now acquiring a mass character. The proceedings were conducted

mainly in Hindustani.

The Congress passed a resolution for removal of General Dyer, the butcher of

Jallianwala Bagh. Recall of the Punjab Governor and the Viceroy was also

demanded. It was decided to erect a memorial for the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs.

Gandhi moved a resolution condemning violence on the part of the people and

got it passed. It was a very significant event. The resolution also urged the

people to remain peaceful. The Congress also reiterated the demand for

responsible Government. The Montague Reforms were considered inadequate,

disappointing and unsatisfactory. But it was decided to work the reforms. Revival

of hand-spinning and hand-weaving was recommended. The Congress appointed

a subcommittee for reconsideration of the Congress Constitution with Gandhi as

the Chairman. It was the first Congress session in which Gandhi took an active

part. His leadership was strengthened in Amritsar Congress.

The Khilafat question

During the First World Way, Turkey sided with Germany against the British. The

Sultan of Turkey was the Khalifa, the religious head of the Muslim world. The

future of Khalifa, therefore, became a matter of concern for Indian Muslims. The

British Government promised them that the Khilafat would not be violated and

favourable peace terms would be offered to Turkey. But when Turkey was

defeated in the war, the promises were forgotten. Turkish Empire was broken.

Indian Muslims felt agitated over this.

Gandhi sympathised with the Khilafat cause. He felt that Hindus should help the

Muslim in their need. For him, it was an excellent opportunity to forge communal

unity, bring Muslims in the freedom movement and form a common front against

the British. The Khilafat Committee was formed. It demanded that terms of treaty

with Turkey should be changed to satisfy the Indian Muslims. Gandhi suggested

the programme of Non-Cooperation with the British Government. This

programme was adopted by the Committee in May 1920.

The Non Co-operation Movement

The redressal of injustice of Punjab and Khilafat and the attainment of Swaraj

became the key issue. The masses were getting awakened. Gandhi announced

the inauguration of Non-violent Non-Co-operation Movement on the 1st August

1920. A special session of Congress in September accepted the programme. The

Nagpur Congress in December 1920 endorsed it enthusiastically.

The programme consisted of the following points -

Surrender of titles and honours given by the British Government

Boycott of law-courts

Boycott of educational institutions

Boycott of councils and elections

Boycott of foreign cloth

Boycott of Government functions

Picketing of liquor shops

Refusal to get recruited in the army

The programme was not just negative. It included the building of new

institutions. National Education was encouraged. Stress was laid on Khadi.

Charkha became the symbol of freedom.

The Congress was completely reorganised and a new constitution drafted by

Gandhi was adopted to make it a mass organisation and a useful tool for the

struggle. The movement started with hartal, fasting and prayers. It soon spread

like wildfire. The freedom movement had become a mass movement. Gandhi

declared the Swaraj could be won within one year if the programme was fully

implemented. People showed great unity, determination and courage. Hundreds

of National schools were established. Tilak Swaraj Fund was over-subscribed.

About 20 lakh charkhas began to be plied in the country. The boycott shook the

Government.

1921 was the year of the rise of Indian Nationalism Gandhi became a Mahatma,

the most loved and revered figure in the country. Masses looked to him as a

saint, as an incarnation of God who had come to free them from slavery and

poverty. The Government started repression. Arrests were made. Firing took

place at some places. The country boycotted the visit of Prince of Wales, the

British Prince in November 1921. Disturbances broke out at Bombay and Gandhi

had to fast to control the situation. By the end of 1921, the number of prisoners

had risen to 30,000. Processions and meetings were being broken up.

The masses were getting impatient. Call was given for Civil Disobedience. Gandhi

wanted to start the campaign step-by-step. He chose Bardoli in Gujarat for

starting the campaign. Notice was given to Government on the 1st February

1922. However, the movement had to be called off within a few days. On the 5th

February, a mob including Congressmen set fire to a police station at Chauri

Chaura in U.P., killing about 22 policemen. Gandhi was shocked. He realised that

people had not fully accepted non-violence. He persuaded the Congress to

suspend the agitation. Gandhi was arrested in March and was sentenced to 6

years’ imprisonment. He was kept in the Yeravda jail near Pune.

The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (1922-1948)

Gandhi was freed from jail in 1924 on the ground of health. The country was

witnessing a wave of communal riots. Gandhi fasted for 21 days in October 1924.

He toured the entire country. He laid stress on the charkha and the removal of

untouchability. Political atmosphere in the country began to change slowly. There

was a wave of labour strikes in 1928-29. Armed revolutionaries stepped up their

activities. There was widespread discontent among the peasants. The historic

Satyagraha at Bardoli in Gujarat showed its intensity.

Bardoli Satyagraha

Bardoli was a tehsil in Gujarat. Government increased the land revenue

assessment there by 30%. Protests brought it down to 22%. The peasants

thought it unjust. Vallabhbhai Patel studied the case. He was convinced that the

peasants were right. The peasants decided to withhold the payment until the

enhancement was cancelled or an impartial tribunal appointed for setting the

case. Gandhi blessed the Satyagraha. It started in February 1928.

Vallabhbhai Patel led the struggle. He organised sixteen camps under the charge

of 250 volunteers. His organisation was superb. It earned him the title ‘Sardar’.

The government tried its best to terrorise the people and extract the payment. It

tried flattery, bribery, fines, imprisonment and lathi-charge. Pathans were

brought in to threaten the people. The cattle was taken away and lands

auctioned at several places. Patel kept up the people’s morale. His volunteers

were arrested. People imposed a social boycott on the Government officials and

against those who bought auctioned property. Seven members of the Legislative

Council resigned in protest against the Government repression. Several village

officials, too, resigned their posts.

1) The Government issued an ultimatum for payment. Patel demanded that 

2) The Satyagrahi prisoners should be released.

3) The lands sold and forfeited, should be returned.

4) The cost of seized movables should be refunded.

All the dismissals and punishments should be undone. Gandhi and Patel promised

to call off the agitation if these demands were met and an inquiry ordered. The

Government ultimately yielded. An Inquiry Committee was appointed. The

Committee recommended an increase of 5.7% only. The satyagraha was thus

successful. The Bardoli struggle was very well organised one. The peasants

remained united against all odds. Women took part in the struggle on a large

scale. The struggle became a symbol of hope, strength and victory for the

peasants in the country.

Rising discontent

The discontent against the British Government was increasing. The Government

appointed Simon Commission to decide about the grant of political rights of India.

Indian leaders had not been consulted. There was no Indian Member in the

Commission. The country boycotted Simon Commission.

Gandhi had regarded himself as a ‘Prisoner’ and refrained from political activities

till 1928, when his jail term was to expire. He thereafter took the reins of

Congress in his hands. Congress resolved in 1929 to fight for complete

independence. Confrontation with the Government became imminent. Gandhi

launched Civil Disobedience Campaign-the famous Salt Satyagraha.

The Salt Satyagraha

Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy, listing eleven demands which, according to him,

formed the substance of self-government. They were rejected. Gandhi then

decided to start Civil Disobedience by breaking the Salt Law, which heavily taxed

the salt, an article of daily consumption for the poorest of the poor. He started his

epic Dandi March on the 12 March 1930 from Ahmedabad.

A carefully selected band of 78 Satyagrahis accompanied Gandhi in this March to

Dandi, a deserted village on the sea-coat, at about 240 miles from Ahmedabad.

As the March progressed, the atmosphere in the country was electrified. Several

village officials resigned their posts. Gandhi declared that he would not return to

Sabarmati Ashram till Independence was won. Congress Committee met on the

21st March to plan the strategy.

Gandhi reached Dandi on the 6th April and broke the Salt law symbolically by

picking up a pinch of salt. It was signal for the nation. Civil Disobedience

campaign was started throughout the country. Salt Law broken at many places

by illegal production of salt and its sale. Gandhi went to the surrounding places

and started a campaign to cut toddy trees. Picketing of liquor and foreign cloth

shops was started. Women were on the forefront in picketing the liquor shops.

The whole country was stirred. Some other laws like Forest Laws were also taken

up for disobedience at some places.

Government intensified the repression. Most of the important leaders including

Gandhi were arrested. But the agitation grew in strength. People bravely faced

police brutalities and even firing at many places. A wave of strikes and hartals

swept the country. At Peshawar, soldiers of Garhwali regiment refused to fire on

the unarmed people. They were court-martialled. Before his arrest, Gandhi hit

upon a novel idea to raid salt depots. The Dharasana raid, in which several non-

violent Satyagrahis were mercilessly beaten, sent shock-waves throughout the

world. It lowered the British prestige. The movement progressed till January

1931. The boycott of foreign cloth, liquor and British goods was almost complete.

Gandhi and other leaders were subsequently released from jail. Government

started negotiations. Gandhi-Irvin Pact was signed in March. The Satyagraha was

discontinued. This was a major Satyagraha, during which 111 Satyagrahis died in

firings and about one lakh persons went to jail.

A phase of repression

Gandhi took part in the Round Table Conference in England in 1931 as the

representative of the Congress. It was a frustrating experience for him. The

British were bent on prolonging their rule by following the policy of Divide and

Rule’. Gandhi stayed in London in a poor locality. He even met the unemployed

textile mill-workers who had lost the jobs due to Gandhi’s movement of Swadeshi

and Boycott. He explained to them the rationale behind Khadi. The workers

showered love on him.

The Round Table Conference yielded nothing. Gandhi returned in December

1931. He was arrested and the Civil Disobedience Campaign was resumed. The

Congress was declared illegal. The Government was determined to crush the

movement. The leaders and a large number of workers were arrested.

Ordinances were issued to arm the Government with wide powers. Gandhi was

lodged in the Yervada jail.

Yeravda Pact

While Gandhi was in Yeravda jail the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

announced the provisional scheme of minority representation, known as the

Communal Award. The depressed classes (now known as Scheduled Castes) were

recognised as a minority community and given separate electorates.

Gandhi was shocked. It was an attempt to divide and destroy the Hindu Society

and the Nation and in turn to perpetuate India’s slavery. It was not good for the

depressed also. Gandhi announced his decision to fast unto death from the 20th

September 1932. He was fully for the representation to the depressed classes,

but he was against their being considered as a minority community and given

separate electorates. Gandhi’s decision stirred the country. Indian leaders began

hectic efforts to save Gandhi’s life. But Dr. Ambedkar described the fast as a

political Stunt. Gandhi’s decision awakened the Hindu Society. It dealt a blow to

the orthodoxy. Hindu leaders resolved to fight untouchability. Several temples

were thrown open to the Harijans.

The fast began on 20th September. Attempts to evolve an alternative scheme

were continuing. Gandhi’s health started deteriorating. He had several rounds of

discussions with Dr. Ambedkar. At last, an agreement was reached on the 24th

September. The Government was urged to accept the same. The British

Government ultimately gave its consent. Gandhi broke his fast on 26th

September. The agreement is known as the Yeravda Pact or the Poona Pact. It

provided for doubling the number of representatives of depressed classes.

Separate electorates were however, done away with. It was decided that for

every reserved seat, members of the depressed classes would elect four

candidates and the representative would be elected from them by joint

electorate. The system of primary election was to be for ten years.

Anti-untouchability Campaign

Yeravda Pact gave a great boost to the anti-untouchability work. Harijan Sevak

Sangh was established. ‘Harijan’ Weekly was started. After his release, Gandhi

put aside political activities and devoted himself to Harijan service and other

constructive work. All-India Village Industries Association was also formed.

Gandhi gave the Sabarmati Ashram to the Harijan Sevak Sangh and later settled

at Wardha. He toured the entire country and collected Harijan Fund. The massive

anti-untouchability propaganda launched by him had spectacular results. He had,

of course, of  face opposition. Even a bomb was once thrown at him. The

campaign destroyed the legitimacy of untouchability. It cleared the way for legal

ban. In 1936, Gandhi settled down at Sevagram, a village near Wardha. In 1937,

he presided over the Educational Conference, which gave rise to the scheme of

Basic Education.

India and the War

While Gandhi was busy in the constructive work, elections to the provincial

assemblies were held in 1937. Congress Ministers were formed in several

provinces. the Second World War began in 1939. The British Government

dragged India into the War without consulting Indian leaders. Congress Ministries

resigned in protest. The Congress expressed expressed sympathy for the Allied

powers’ fight against Nazism and Fascism and offered co-operation provided

responsible Self-Government was granted. Gandhi was however against any co-

operation in war efforts on the ground of Nonviolence. When the Government

turned down the Congress demand, Gandhi was requested to resume the

leadership.

Gandhi decided to launch Anti-War individual Satyagraha against curtailment of

freedom. It was inaugurated by Vinoba in October 1940. Pandit Nehru was the

Second Satyagrahi. The Satyagrahis were arrested. By May 1941, the number of

Satyagrahi prisoners had crossed 25000.

Cripps Mission

The War was approaching India’s borders with the advance of Japan. England was

in difficulties. It could not afford any agitation in India. There were various other

pressures on the British Government to make political concessions. As a result,

Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India in March 1942.

Cripps discussed the matter with the Indian leaders. He proposed Dominion

Status with power to the States and the provinces to secede and convening of a

constitution-making body after the War. But the adherence to the constitution

drafted by that body was not to be obligatory. Indian leaders including Gandhi

found the Cripps Proposals disappointing. They were aptly termed as post dated

cheque on a crashing bank. The Muslim League wanted a definite

pronouncement about Pakistan and therefore criticised the Cripps proposals.

Congress rejected the Cripps scheme because it did not provide for the

participation of the people of the states and the principles of non-accession was

against Indian unity. The Cripps Mission failed.

‘Quit India’ Movement

The country wanted nothing but Complete Independence. The Congress passed

the historic ‘Quit India’ resolution on 8th August 1942. Gandhi and other leaders

were arrested. The country now rose in revolt. With most of the leaders in jail, it

fought in the way it thought fit. Railway lines and telegraphic communications

were interfered with. Government property was burnt or destroyed in several

places. The people displayed unprecedented courage and heroism. Unarmed

people faced police lathis and bullets. Young boys suffered flogging without

flinching. Government machinery was paralysed and parallel Government was

set up at some places.

Many workers went underground. About 1000 people died in firings during the

movement. About 1600 were injured and 60000 people were arrested. It was

noteworthy that violence was done to Government property only. Englishmen

were safe throughout the Movement. There was little personal violence. Thus,

while the masses rose to great heights of heroism, they also displayed

remarkable restraint. It was surely Gandhi’s contribution. The rebellion was,

however, gradually put down.

Gandhi was in Agakhan Palace jail. He was blamed by the British for the

disturbances. He could not tolerate questioning of his faith and honesty and

fasted for 21 days. Gandhi lost his wife Kasturba and his Secretary Mahadev

Desai in the Agakhan Palace. It was a great blow to him. His health was not in a

good condition. He was finally released in May 1944 on health grounds. He then

started efforts to break the political stalemate.

Background of the Partition

The Hindu-Muslim unity, forged at the time of the Khilafat agitation, collapsed

thereafter. The country witnessed a wave of communal riots. The British

encouraged Muslim communalism and used it to obstruct the path of the

Freedom Movement. M. A. Jinnah, an erstwhile liberal leader, who had been

sidelined when the Congress became a mass organisation, assumed the

leadership of Muslim communalism.

The Muslim League under his leadership became more aggressive, unreasonable

and violent. The two-nation theory-that Hindus and Muslims were two separate

Muslim homeland called ‘Pakistan,’ consisting of the Muslim-majority provinces.

Jinnah’s shrewdness, ambition and ruthlessness, communalisation of large

sections of society and the British support for Jinnah, brought about such a

situation that the Muslim demands became an obstacle in the way of India’s

Independence. Jinnah kept the demands fluid and utilised every opportunity to

frustrate the Nationalist Movement and further his end with the support of the

British rulers.

The two-nation theory was an untruth. The Hindus and Muslims had lived

together in India for centuries. Gandhi fought this untruth with all his might. He

did everything possible, including meeting Jinnah several times. But he failed.

Jinnah wanted recognition of the League as the sole representative of the

Muslims. It was not acceptable to the Congress.

Cabinet Mission

The War ended in 1945. After an election, Labour Party’s Government came to

power in England. England had been extremely weakened financially and

militarily. The Azad Hind Sena had shown that even the army was not untouched

by nationalism. Mutiny of the naval ratings in February 1946 gave the same

indication. The people were in an agitated mood. The British rule had lost

legitimacy in the eyes of the people. The British, therefore, decided to withdraw

from India.

Cabinet Mission was sent to India to help in the formation of Interim Government

and to purpose a scheme regarding the transfer of power. The mission proposed

that the provinces be divided in three groups, in one of which Hindus were in the

majority while in the other two Muslims. Subjects like defence, foreign affairs,

communications etc, were to be with the Central Authority and the groups were

to be free to frame constitutions about other subjects. Gandhi found the

proposals defective. Muslim League declared ‘Direct Action’ to get Pakistan.

‘Direct Action’ meant unleashing of violence. The Hindus retaliated. In Calcutta

alone, over 6000 people were killed 4 days. The Hindu communalism too became

stronger.

The Noakhali massacre

In the Noakhali area of East Bengal, where Muslims formed 82% of the

population, a reign of terror was let loose in a planned and systematic way in

October 1946. The Hindus were killed and beaten, their property was burnt,

thousands of Hindus were forcibly converted and thousands of Hindu women

were abducted and raped. Temples were defiled and destroyed.

The League Government in Bengal aided the goondas. Even ex-serviceman

joined in committing the atrocities. In Noakhali, about three-fourth of the land

belonged to the Hindu landlords and the tenants were mostly Muslims. The

peasant unrest was naturally there. It was now turned along communal channels.

The Noakhali massacre had few parallels in the history. It showed to what level

communal politics could stop to. It was meant to terrorise, kill, convert or drive

away the Hindus from Muslim-majority areas so that Pakistan could become a

reality.

Gandhi’s Noakhali March

Gandhi was deeply shocked. He could not bear the defeat of his long-cherished

principles. On 6th November 1946, he rushed to Noakhali. It was to be his final

and perhaps the most glorious battle.

Gandhi reached Shrirampur and camped there for a few days. He sent his

associates including Pyarelal and Sushila Nayyar to different villages which were

mostly deserted by the Hindus. He did all his personal work himself. He worked

like a possessed man. He walked barefooted, went from house to house, talked

to Hindus and Muslims, heard their points of view, and reasoned with them and

addressed meetings.

He wanted to instill fearlessness into the Hindus. He exhorted them to die

nonviolently, if need be, but not to submit to terror. He did not appease the

Muslim. He told the truth bluntly. He wanted to win their confidence and make

them see reason and earn the confidence of the Hindus. He did not only preach,

he served the village poor. He was testing his Nonviolence. It was very difficult to

establish mutual trust. The League had made poisonous propaganda against him.

But Gandhi’s mission began to yield results. It boosted the morale of Hindus.

Passions began to subside. Some evacuees started returning home. Some even

returned to their original faith. Gandhi gradually succeeded in earning the love

and confidence of even the Muslims.

India wins Independence

Noakhali had its reaction in Bihar, where Hindus resorted to violence. The country

was seized by communal madness. Gandhi went to Bihar and brought the

situation under control.

The situation in the country was explosive. Civil War was imminent. The Congress

ultimately consented to the partition of India. Despite Gandhi’s bitter opposition,

he could not do anything to prevent the partition.

While the country was celebrating the Independence. Day on 15th August 1947,

Gandhi was in Bengal to fight communal madness. Partition was followed by

riots, a massacre of unparalleled dimensions. It witnessed movement of about

one crore persons and killing of at least six lakh persons. Calcutta was once more

on the verge of riots. Gandhi under-took a fast which had a magical effect. Lord

Mountbatten described him as ‘one-man peace army’. Gandhi continued to plead

for sanity in those turbulent days.

Gandhi’s death

It was January 1948. Communal feelings were high due to the partition of the

country. Hindu communalists thought that Gandhi was pro-Muslim. His fast for

communal amity which resulted in the Government of India honouring its

obligation of giving Rs. 50 Crores. to Pakistan had further angered them. Gandhi

was staying at the Birla house in New Delhi. He used to hold evening prayer

meetings regularly. He used to speak on various issues. Once a bomb was thrown

during his prayer meeting. Still, Gandhi did not permit security checks.

On 30th of January 1948, about 500 people had gathered for the prayer meeting

on the lawns of the Birla House. Gandhi was a bit late as Sardar Patel had come

to see him. At 5.10 p.m. he left the room and walked to the prayer ground. He

was supporting himself on the shoulders of Abha and Manu, his grand daughter-

in-law and granddaughter respectively. People rushed forward to get his darshan

and to touch his feet.

Gandhi folded his hands to greet them. When he was a few yards away from the

prayer platform, a young man came forward. He saluted Gandhi, suddenly took

out a small pistol and fired three shots. The bullets hit Gandhi on and below the

chest. He fell to the ground with the words. ‘Hey Ram’ on his lips. He died within

minutes. The crowd was shocked. The assassin was Nathuram Godse,’ a worker

of Hindu Mahasabha. He was caught and handed over to the Police.

Gandhi's body was taken to Birla House. People thronged the place and wept

bitterly. The whole world was plunged in sorrow. The next morning, Gandhi’s

body was placed on a gun-carriage and taken to Rajghat. Millions of people

joined the procession to have the last darshan (glimpse) of the Mahatma. His son

Ramdas lit the funeral pyre. The Mahatma had become a martyr for communal

unity

Acharya Vinoba

"I know of nothing which is of greater value than reading the Gita. And yet, I have

found a living person who follows the philosophy of Gita in his own life. He is my

master and lives in an Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati river in Gujarat" said

Vinoba Bhave, while concluding his fiftieth talk on Gita. Perhaps these were the apt

words in which a disciple could pay tribute to his master. Acharya Vinoba Bhave is

not known for wasting words superfluously, for he doesn't possess even a gram of

sycophancy in him. Being a student of mathematics and also having a scientific

temperament, he knew the worth and significance of the word as a medium of

expression. His estimation of Mahatma Gandhi was as good as any judicious person

could give. Not only does it shed proper light on the character of the Mahatma, but

also speaks volumes on the character of his follower.

Vinayak was only 20 when he came to Kochrab Ashram on 7 June 1916 from Kashi,

where he had gone to study Sanskrit. The young man who had gone all the way

from Baroda to Kashi to quench his thirst for learning, suddenly left Kashi and

turned up at the doors of the Ashram. This was another story of Gandhi's magnetic

call. On reaching the Ashram, Vinoba was taken to the kitchen where Gandhi was

cleaning and cutting vegetables for the meals. The first conversation continued

between them while Gandhi was actually engaged in his daily routine. He welcomed

the young man and offered him full membership of the Ashram.

After joining the Ashram, Vinoba conformed to its rigorous and austere life. He

worked in the kitchen, in the workshop and in the garden like any other inmate.

One day he was heard loudly reciting verses from the Gita and the Upanishads early

in the morning at 4 o'clock. It was only then that the inhabitants discovered that the

new entrant was a profound scholar of Sanskrit and the religious scriptures. It is

interesting to know that Mama Phadke, an inmate of the Ashram from Maharashtra,

was the first to name Vinayak as Vinoba, in the saintly tradition of Maharashtra.

In the following days Gandhi and Vinoba worked together grinding corn, cleaning

toilets and studying the philosophy of Gita and Upanishads. Some time later,

Gandhi described Vinoba to C G Andrews as "one of the few pearls in the Ashram,

who came there not to be blessed, but to bless it". But Vinoba in all humility tried to

reduce himself to a zero. He did not give the slightest impression of 'showing off.' In

the course of a talk with an inmate Vinoba had said: "Only I can know what I have

got in the Ashram. It was an early ambition of mine to distinguish myself, by some

violent deed, in the service of my country. But Bapu cured me of that ambition. It is

he who had extinguished the volcano of anger and other passions in me. I have

been progressing every day of my life in the Ashram." Later, recollecting his first

meeting with Gandhi at the Ashram, Vinoba wrote: "When I was at Kashi my main

ambition was to go to the Himalayas. Also there was an inner longing to visit

Bengal. But neither of the two dreams could be realized. Providence took me to

Gandhi and I found in him not only the peace of the Himalayas but also the burning

fervour of revolution typical of Bengal. I said to myself that both my desires had

been fulfilled. "

One day while taking bath in the river Sabarmati, Vinoba lost his balance and fell

into a fast-moving current. He did not raise any scare for sometime, but when he

found that he was being swept away, he cried: "Convey my namaskar to Bapu and

tell him that, though Vinoba's body has disappeared, his soul is immortal." As luck

would have it, Vinoba was soon thrown up on a strip of land in mid-stream where

the water was shallow. From there he swam back to the Ashram.

Kakasaheb Kalelkar has also narrated another incident of similar nature. Once he

and Vinoba had gone to a neighbouring village and were returning in the evening

along the railway line, and as they were crossing the railway, bridge they heard the

sound of an approaching train behind them. There was no railing or foot-path on

either side of the bridge. Kakasaheb got scared and started running over the bridge

on the wooden planks with gaps in between. Vinoba had weak eyesight so he could

not see the gaping gaps between the planks. He too started running after

Kakasaheb.. The slightest mistake on his part would have thrown him down into the

gushing river below. But mathematics came to his succour and he negotiated the

planks with arithmetical accuracy even without seeing them. The engine was only a

few yards behind. Kakasaheb had already crossed the other end of the bridge but

Vinoba was still running. Seeing that Kakasaheb shouted: "Vinoba, jump to the left."

He did so and jumped into a pit nearby. Vinoba had a narrow escape. When Gandhi

learnt of this incident, he advised Vinoba to wear glasses in order to stop further

deterioration of his eye sight.

In his Ashram life, Vinoba did not rest for a minute during the day. He not only

looked after the boys in the hostel and taught various subjects to the students of

the Rashtriya Shala, but also spent a few hours in spinning, weaving, cooking,

grinding, and preparing the fields with pick-axe for cultivation. Even while teaching,

Vinoba exerted all his energy and would even perspire. Whatever he did was done

with his whole being.

In 1920, Jamnalal Bajaj came in contact with Gandhi. He was anxious about starting

a similar type of Ashram at Wardha, and requested Gandhi to shift there with other

inmates. That was not possible at that time. There upon, on Jamnalalji's insistence,

Gandhi agreed to spare Vinoba for Wardha Ashram. Maganlal Gandhi was against

the proposal, but Bapu prevailed upon him. Vinoba agreed to go to Wardha with a

few chosen colleagues and pupils.

Vinayak Narhari Bhave was born on 11 September 1895 at Gagode, formerly in

Baroda state but now in Kolaba district of Maharashtra. His father Narhari

Shambhurao was in government service at Baroda. Vinoba's grandfather

Shambhurao, though deeply religious, was quite progressive in his views. His

mother Rukminibai was a devout lady. She knew hundreds 'of Marathi Bhajans-

devotional songs- which she would keep on singing in the course of her domestic

work. Vinoba's early character was moulded mainly at the hands of his pious and

affectionate mother. She led a life of simplicity and self-restraint, and observed

religious vows with regularity. It was at her feet that Vinoba imbibed the basic

precept: 'He who gives is a god: but he who withholds is a devil.' Vinoba once told a

group of workers: "My mother was the source of strength. She had unlimited

confidence in my capacity. That living faith of hers gave me immense strength".

Vinoba's personality was shaped by the great qualities of Shambhurao, Narhari and

Rukminibai into an extra ordinary amalgam of the wisdom, devotion and action-

Jnana, Bhakti and Karma. One comes but rarely across a man who combines the

three qualities with such distinction.

In October 1940, Gandhi selected Vinoba Bhave as the first Satyagrahi-civil resister-

for the individual Satyagraha against the British, and Jawaharlal Nehru was the

second. Gandhi personally went to Pavnar Ashram to seek his consent. During the

talk Gandhi expressed his desire to see Vinoba free from the rest of his activities for

the Satyagraha. Vinoba's reply was very characteristic of him. He said: "I carry no

load on my head. I am as prepared to obey your call, here and now, even as I would

be, if the Yamaraj-God of death-had sent for me."

Both Jamnalal Bajaj and Mahadev Desai, who accompanied Gandhi to Pavnar, were

deeply touched by this rare example of voluntary obedience and dedication.

After obtaining Vinoba's consent, Gandhi issued a comprehensive statement on 5

October 1940. He introduced Vinoba in the following words:

Who is Vinoba Bhave and why has he been selected for offering individual civil

disobedience? He is an under-graduate, having left college after my return to India

in 1916. He is a sanskrit scholar. He joined the Ashram almost at its inception..... In.

order to better qualify himself he took one year's leave to prosecute further studies

in Sanskrit. And practically at the same hour at which he had left the Ashram a year

before, he walked into it without notice. I had forgotten that he was due to arrive

that day. He had taken part in every menial activity of the Ashram from scavenging

to cooking. Though he has a marvellous memory and is a student by nature, he has

devoted the largest part of his time to spinning in which he had specialized as very

few have. He believes in universal spinning being the central activity which will

remove the poverty in the villages and put life into their deadness. Being a born

teacher, he has been of the utmost assistance to Ashadevi Aryanayakam of

Hindustani Talimi Sangh.in her development of the scheme of education through

handicrafts. Sri Vinoba had produced a textbook, taking spinning as the handicraft.

He has made scoffers realize that spinning is the handicraft par excellence which

lends itself to being effectively used for basic education. He had revolutionised Takli

spinning and drawn out its hitherto unknown possibilities. For perfect spinning,

probably, he had no rival in all India.

He has abolished every trace of untouchability from his heart. He believes in

communal unity with the same passion that I have. In order to know..... Islam, he

gave one year to the study of the Koran in the original. He, therefore, learned

Arabic.

He has an army of disciples and workers, who would rise to any sacrifice at his

bidding. He is responsible for producing a young man who has dedicated himself to

the service of the lepers. Vinoba was for years director of the Mahila Ashram in

Wardha. His devotion to the cause of Daridranarayan took him to a village near

Wardha... from where he has established contact with villagers through the

disciples he has trained.

Vinoba believes in the necessity of the political independence of India. He is an

accurate student of history. But he believes that real independence of the villagers

is impossible without the constructive programme of which Khadi is the centre. He

believes that the spinning wheel is the most suitable outward symbol of non-

violence which has become an integral part in the previous Satyagraha campaigns.

He has never been in the limelight on the political platform. With many co-workers

he believes that silent constructive work with civil disobedience in the background

is far more effective than the already heavily crowded political platform. And he

thoroughly believes that nonviolent resistance is impossible without a hearty belief

in and practice of constructive work.

But this was not the first time when Gandhi had talked or written about Vinoba. As

early as June 1916, he had informed his father at Baroda in the course of a brief

letter:

"Your son Vinoba is with me. He has acquired at so tender an age such high-

spiritedness and ascetism as took me years of patient labour to do."

During the Individual Satyagraha, Vinoba courted three imprisonments and a year's

jail term. During his incarceration he wrote the Swaraj Shastra or A Grammar of

Politics, which is ranked among the very few original treatises on politics.

In 1942 Vinoba was again put behind bars on the very first day of the Quit India

movement. He was kept under detention for three years, first at the Vellore Central

Prison and later at the Seoni Jail.

On his release in 1944 Vinoba returned to his Pavnar Ashram and carried on his

constructive work.

In early March, after the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948, an all-

India conference was convened at Sevagram. Attended by many including Rajendra

Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, J B Kripalani, Shankarrao Deo and top

ranking constructive workers like Kaka Kalelkar, R R Diwakar, Dada Dharmadhikari,

P C Ghosh and Jayaprakash Narayan, Vinoba initiated the formation of the

Sarvodaya Samaj, a world-wide organization of all those who believed in Gandhi's

principle of the purity of means.

On Nehru's request Vinoba worked for some time among the refugees. He also

toured other parts of the country to spread the message of love, compassion and

sympathy.

After returning to his Ashram, early in 1950, Vinoba plunged into a new experiment

of Kanchan Mukti or liberation from money economy. He and his co-workers took a

solemn pledge to eat only what they could raise on the Ashram land and to wear

only the Khadi which was spun and woven within its premises. All donations except

in the form of labour or Shramdan were strictly ruled out.

While Vinoba was engaged in his crucial experiment of his life, a pressing invitation

came from Shankarrao Deo, to attend the second All India Sarvodaya Sammelan at

Shivarampalli near Hyderabad. Vinoba naturally demurred, but was ultimately

prevailed upon. Thereupon, Vinoba announced his decision to go to the Sammelan,

covering its 300 miles from Wardha to Shivarampalli on foot.

At the conclusion of the conference Vinoba expressed his desire to tour the

Telengana area affected by terrorist activities. He refused to accept any kind of

security arrangements. On 18 April 1951 when Vinoba reached Pochampalli village

he was surrounded by 40 families of poor Harijans. They entreated upon him to give

them land on which they could work hard and eke out their own livelihood. Vinoba

was at his wit's end and did not know how to pacify the Harijans. First, he thought

of asking the Government to consider their request. But, on the spur of the moment

and without any expectation, he asked the audience in half seriousness, whether

there was anybody amongst them who could donate land to the poor Harijans. A

young man stood up with folded hands and urged Vinoba to accept his donation of

a hundred acres. Everybody was pleasantly surprised and tears trickled down from

Vinoba's eyes. He saw God's hand in this miracle. On enquiry, the Harijans

conferred among themselves and stated that only 80 acres would suffice for their

needs. Vinoba announced this first donation of land with deep emotion at the

evening prayers.

This was the birth of the Bhoodan Movement in India. Prime Minister Nehru warmly

lauded his work in the Parliament. The New York Times special Correspondent

Robert Trumbull described Vinoba as "the God who gives away land" and "loots

people with love". President Rajendra Prasad termed Bhoodan as not merely" a gift

of land" but the "spirit behind it gives a vision of the social order that Mahatma

Gandhi envisaged, and kindles and enlivens the hope of its attainment". The Time

magazine featured this 'man on foot' in its cover story and hailed him as the

dynamic disciple of Gandhi.

The Bhoodan March of Vinoba began and continued for more than thirteen years in

different parts of India, covering a total distance of 36,500 miles, more than the

circumference of the earth. During this Padayatra, he collected 4.4 million acres of

land as free gifts, out of which about 1.3 million acres were distributed among

landless farm workers. The Bhoodan Movement was followed by Gramdan and

Jeevandan movements. Vinoba had also received 1.61akh villages as Gramdan,

especially in Bihar and Orissa. All this had been achieved single-handedly. In

Jeevandan, the person who created a thrilling joy was Jayaprakash Narayan who,

while dedicating this life; said: "Despair had seized our hearts after the attainment

of independence: Ahimsa was being treated as a negative creed. Vinoba has now

dispelled these illusions. As the light of Bhoodan Yagna spreads out, these clouds of

doubt and darkness scatter away…the task before us all is to sustain the new

outlook by concrete work and to make it a reality."

Acharya Vinoba Bhave, the founder of many movements and hermitages, and

hardly known outside India before 1940, became a world figure soon after the

Bhoodan Movement. The "Walking Messiah and Saint" was invited by Bertrand

Russell to join the Anti-Nuclear March in London in 1962, characterizing him as a

"symbol of the role of conscience in human affairs." Arthur Koestler met him thrice

and termed the Bhoodan Movement as the "greatest peace revolution since

Gandhi". Ellsworth Bunker described him as "a saint who compresses into a small

body and great  spirit the essence of ancient Indian tradition."

Hallam Tennyson, grandson of the English poet who walked with Vinoba for several

days, called him 'the embodiment of India', and remarked: "The twentieth century

may be rich in jet aeroplanes, but it is pretty poor in saints. We need to remember

that what we call 'progress' is nothing if it leads to no corresponding inner change,

and Vinoba gives us this reminder in the one way which has power to move and

impress." He ends it with a significant observation: "But with all his ascetism,

Vinoba has resisted pride of poverty-that subtlest temptation of the saints. He has

never urged anyone else to follow his way of life. And he goes his own way with a

striking serenity. To someone who asked him if his work would succeed, he replied,

'Fire merely burns. It does not care whether anyone puts a pot on it, fills it with

water and puts rice in it to make a meal. To burn is the limit of its duty'."

Vinoba Bhave died on 15 November 1982. Once in a message to the Sarvodaya

conference, Jawaharlal Nehru had said: "in the troubled but dynamic scene that was

India, the frail figure of Vinobaji stood like a rock of strength, modest and gentle,

yet with something of the vision of the future in his eyes... He represented, as no

one else did, the spirit and tradition of Gandhi and of India."

Mahadev Desai

Mahadev Desai was born on 1 January 1892 in the village of Saras in Surat district

of Gujarat. His father Haribhai Desai was a teacher in the primary school of Saras.

Mahadev's mother Jamnabehn belonged to Dihen, the ancestral place of this Desai

clan. She was sharp in intelligence as well as in her nature. The village-folk

respected her. Mahadev resembled his father in build and his mother in

appearance. He was only seven years old when his mother expired in 1899.

Haribhai was a straightforward and simple man who would not hesitate to trust

anyone readily. He had a good memory, keen intellect and beautiful handwriting.

He was fond of Gujarati literature and read books with perseverance. Although he

had not studied Sanskrit, he had read Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita and

Upanishads with the help of commentaries and explanations. Very fond of Bhajans,

he used to sing them early in the morning.

Mahadev was educated in a manner befitting a brilliant son of a poor but cultured

father. He got married to Durgabehn in 1905, when the bridegroom was thirteen

years old and the bride twelve. After the marriage, Mahadev passed his

matriculation examination the following year, precisely at the age of 14. He stood

first in the Surat High School and maintained it in the Matriculation examination.

Thereafter, he joined Elphinstone College in January 1907. Haribhai's salary at that

time was forty rupees a month; therefore, it was almost impossible for him to meet

the cost of Mahadev's higher education. In the circumstances, Mahadev applied for

free admission to Gokuldas Tejpal Boarding House and was, fortunate in getting the

admission. He unexpectedly got a college scholarship which was earlier gracefully

rejected by his friend Vaikunth Lallubhai Mehta in his favour. This enabled him to

continue his studies without being a burden on his father.

Mahadev had no inclination for games, indoor or outdoor; nor could he play any. He

liked walking. When the Navajivan was stationed at Pankor Naka and Sarangpur

Gate in Ahmedabad, he often used to walk from the Sabarmati Ashram to the office

and back. He walked briskly, at an average of four miles an hour. In the days of

army recruitment in 1918, Mahadev was staying at Hindu Anath Ashram in Nadiad.

To get accustomed to long marching practice, he always got up early in the

morning and walked a distance of nine miles to and fro. Even after such a tiresome

walk of 18 miles, he used to work for Gandhi the whole day. When Gandhi shifted

his abode from Wardha to Sevagram, Mahadev continued to live at Maganwadi in

Wardha. From there he would start on foot, at noon, for Sevagram, a distance of

five and a half miles, and walk back in the evening to his home in Maganwadi. At

times he would go and come back, twice a day, in the scorching heat of Central

India, covering twenty two miles in a single day. Even after such long walks, he did

not put away his routine activity of reading, writing and spinning.

In spite of his lack of interest in games, Mahadev was full of sportsmanship. He

overlooked defects in others, but was always ready to see and acquire their virtues.

He may be labeled a man of serious temperament but was warmhearted, jovial in

nature, and possessed the art of combining fun and humour in a natural and easy

way in the midst of serious and important work, so much so that there was always

around him an atmosphere of playfulness, mirth and enthusiasm. This quality of his

endeared him to all.

After passing B.A. degree examination in1910, Mahadev was anxious to study for M.

A. But since the subject of his choice was not prescribed that year, he opted for LLB

On the other hand, in order not to burden his father, he decided to improve his

educational qualification on his own and sought to earn his livelihood by some kind

of a job. He got one with the Oriental Translator's office. During this time the

Gujarat Forbes Society announced a prize of one thousand rupees for the best

Gujarati translation of On compromise written by Lord Morley. Mahadev offered

himself for the competition and won the prize.

He passed his LLB examination by the end of 1913. His father was then the Head

Master of a Women's Training College in Ahmedabad. So Mahadev decided to cast

his lot with Ahmedabad, with a view to save establishment expenditure. He stayed

for 15 to 18 months in Ahmedabad and when his father retired, Mahadev with the

help of his friend Vaikunth L Mehta secured an appointment as inspector in the

Central Co-operative Bank of Bombay. But his destiny was fast drawing him into the

folds of Gandhi.

In January 1915, Gandhi left South Africa and came back to India. In May 1915, he

started his Ashram in a hired bungalow near Kochrab in Ahmedabad. After some

time, he issued a draft of objectives and rules for the proposed Ashram and

requested his friends and well-wishers, all over the country, to send their opinion

and criticism. Responding to that Mahadev and Narahari Parikh offered their

criticism jointly and awaited a reply from Gandhi.

Shortly thereafter, Gandhi came to speak at a public meeting in Premabhai Hall.

Mahadev and Narahari followed Gandhi when he started back for his Ashram.

Intercepting him on his way, they inquired if he had received their letter. In reply

Gandhi said: "Yes, I have received a letter signed by two persons. Are you the two?"

Both replied in affirmative.

Thereupon Gandhi took them to the Ashram and explained his ideals and his

concept for nearly an hour and a half. When they came out, it had began to drizzle

and at the same time something was stirring within their hearts too. Silently they

reached Ellis Bridge, and Mahadev broke the silence: "Narahari, I have a mind to go

and sit at the feet of this man". "We shall be most blessed if we can do so", replied

Naraharibhai. This was their spontaneous response, the first springing up of a desire

to join the Ashram. Mohanlal Pandya and Dayaljibhai were the two persons who

strengthened their initiation and ultimately led them both into the hands of Gandhi.

Narahari Parikh was the first to join Gandhi's Ashram in Apri11917. Kaka Kalelkar

had already started living in the Ashram when Narahari Parikh went there. Mahadev

had to make up his mind; nonetheless, he continued to remain in touch with the

Ashram and especially with Gandhi. It was during one such meeting in Bombay that

Gandhi expressed his mind, in the following words, to Mahadev Desai:

It is not without reason that I have asked you to visit me every day. I want you to

come and stay with me. I have found in you just the type of young man for whom I

have been searching for the last two years. Will you believe me if I tell you that I

have got in you the man I wanted-the man to whom I can entrust all my work some

day and be at ease, and on whom I can rely with confidence? You have to come to

me ...I am confident that you will be useful to me in various ways because of your

good qualities.

This was a clarion call. It was irresistible. Mahadev could not concentrate his mind

on any other thing. The thought of his new master was uppermost in his mind. With

a mind to join Gandhi, Mahadev with his wife Durgabehn went to meet Gandhi on 3

November 1917, at Godhra, where Gandhi was attending the first Gujarat Political

Conference. After the conference Gandhi was to go straight to Champaran. Gandhi

told the couple to accompany him on his tour to Bihar and then finally decide what

to do. Mahadevbhai and Durgabehn joined his entourage.

After his visit to Champaran, Mahadev came back to Dihen to consult his father and

get his blessings. Narahari Parikh was then with Gandhi in Champaran. They were

anxiously awaiting the news of Mahadev's arrival. Mahadev came the next day.

That was the beginning of a relationship destined to last for a quarter of a century,

till his death on 15 August 1942. Mahadev not only remained with Gandhi but also

merged himself completely with his master. He began writing his diary from 13

November 1917 and continued writing it until 14 August 1942 the day before he

died.

In 1918 he was with Gandhi during the mill workers' strike in Ahmedabad. In 1919

when Gandhi was arrested for the first time in Punjab for breaking a prohibitory

order of entering Punjab, Gandhi nominated Mahadev as his heir but Mahadev

humbly accepted to follow Hanuman's ideal of serving his master. In 1920 he came

in touch with prominent leaders like Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru and

Rabindranath Tagore.

In 1921 Gandhi sent Mahadev to Allahabad on Pandit Motilal Nehru's request to run

his paper, the Independent. After some time the government arrested Motilal and

Jawaharlal. Being unable to bear the editorial castigations, the Government also

arrested George Joseph, its second editor, and ordered the paper to pay a security

deposit. In the mean time preparations were afoot for the Congress session to be

held at Ahmedabad. For this purpose Gandhi was also in Ahmedabad. Deshbandhu

Chittaranjan Das, the president elect of the Ahmedabad Congress, was arrested in

December 1921. At Allahabad, when the security deposit of the Independent was

confiscated. Mahadev wrote:

We owe our new avatar to those who "seeing see not, hearing hear not, nor either

understand “the whole policy of repression is a deliberate, calculated dive into the

abyss of darkness. Our security was forfeited because the article Mrs. Nehru's

Message and Let Us Also See It Through were considered to be "interfering with the

administration of law and the maintenance of law and order." We may frankly say

that we do not recognize any law made by Government..... Truth, Non-violence and

other laws of our Ethical Code are sufficient to keep us true to us and to God.....

It is likely that this endeavour, like its predecessor, may also be suppressed.....The

tyrant is potent enough to arrest everyone of the activities of our mortal frame, but

he cannot touch the immortal spirit within. He may force the one to submit to his

law, he may not dream of forcing his law on the other. I may be killed which only

means, "I change, but I cannot die".

With the caption 'I change, but I cannot Die', Mahadevbhai started publishing the

paper by printing it on a cyclostyle machine. He too was arrested and convicted for

a year's jail term which he passed in Naini, Agra and Lucknow jails respectively.

In his absence, the paper was taken over by Devdas Gandhi. Durgabehn preferred

to stay back in Allahabad and help Devdas in running the cyclostyle machine,

sticking wrappers on the copies and writing addresses on them. In those days,

women rarely did such work, especially in the northern region of India. Madan

Mohan Malaviyaji was greatly pleased to see Durgabehn working like this.

Mahadev was released from Lucknow jail in 1923. In the same year his father died.

In 1924 he took over as editor of Navajivan and also saw his home blessed with a

son. From 1925 he started rendering Gandhi's autobiography into English and

published it serially in Young India. In 1926 he became the chairman of the

executive committee of Satyagraha Ashram, received a prize from the Gujarati

Sahitya Parishad for his article in Navajivan, took part in Bardoli Satyagraha along

with Sardar Patel in 1928 and then became a member of the enquiry committee.  In

1929 he traveled to Burma with Gandhi, courted arrest and imprisonment in 1930

for taking part in the Salt Satyagraha.  After his release from jail he accompanied

Gandhi to the Round Table Conference, in the company of Mirabehn, Devdas

Gandhi and Pyarelal.  Mahadev was the only person to accompany Gandhi when the

latter had a meeting with King George V. 

In 1932, he was again incarcerated with Gandhi and Sardar Patel in Yeravda Central

Prison.  He was released and re-arrested in 1933 and detained in Belgaum Jail. 

Here, he wrote Gita According to Gandhi, which was published posthumously.  In

1936, Mahadev was invited to preside over a separate session on journalism held

under the auspices of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad.  His address delivered at the

conference is relevant even today.

In 1938 the annual gathering of the Gandhi Seva Sangh was being held at Delang in

Orissa. The holy temple of Jagannath was not very far from the place.  So Kasturba,

Durgabehn, the mother of B G Kher and a couple of other women decided to go to

Jagannath Puri to worship Lord Jagannath. This temple was not open to Harijans

which meant that the managers of the temple were in favour of untouchability. 

When Gandhi came to know that the women folk had gone to Jagannath Puri he

could not contain his exasperation.  He sternly rebuked Mahadevbhai, that he could

have at least convinced Durgabehn, that the temple which believed in segregation

was not a worthy place for Darshan.  Mahadev could have defended himself but he

chose not to.  Next day, in the early hours of the morning, at prayer time, Mahadev

went to Gandhi, wept remorsefully and in a not addressed to him, offered to resign. 

It increased the anguish of Gandhi who wrote back:

What a gift in the morning?  Even before the first mistake is rectified other mistakes

follow one after the other!  I would suffer thousands of mistakes rather than bear

the separation.  It is better to die at the hands of a devotee…so there is no reason

for you to go…except cowardice there is nothing in your letter.  If you leave me, do

you think Pyarelal would live here?  If Pyarelal goes would Sushila stay with

me?...This is not the time to cry or to go on fast…etc.

Mahadev knew that to live with Gandhi was never an easy task. One always felt

being on the mouth of a volcano. Yet Mahadevbhai adjusted his bearing so well that

he became indispensable to Gandhi.

In 1939, he played an important role during the agitations in Mysore and Rajkot. In

1940, he went to Bengal and Punjab to seek release of revolutionaries who were in

prison and in 1941 to create peace and amity after the communal riots of

Ahmedabad.

On 9 August 1942, Mahadev was arrested and put in Aga Khan Palace along with

Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu and Mirabehn, to be followed by Kasturba and Dr

Sushila Nayar.

On 15 August, Mahadev did not get up as he was wont to at four o'clock for the

morning prayer. He got up after the prayer was over. He prepared juice for Gandhi

and toasts and tea for the rest of the inmates. He looked cheerful. Sarojini Naidu

saw him shaving with full involvement. She thought it unusual for Mahadev, not

because the InspectorGeneral of Prisons was to visit them that day.

After a little chit-chat Sushila Nayar went to massage Gandhi. Sounds of laughter

could be heard from the room of Sarojini Naidu. Suddenly someone shouted

"Sushila, come soon!" Sushila thought that it might be the Inspector General

eagerly waiting to meet everyone. Therefore she did. not respond to it. Then she

heard her name called out again and at the same time Kasturba rushed to them,

panting: "Something is wrong with Mahadev." Sushila rushed to Sarojini's room and

found Mahadev lying unconscious. She checked his pulse for blood-pressure. But his

heart had ceased to throb. Gandhi who came soon after stood dumbfounded. He

stared at Mahadev without blinking. He could not believe it. Mahadev was no more!

The government, in the beginning, was reluctant to give the dead body to friends

and relatives for cremation. But Gandhi was firm. He said: "How can I give the dead

body to strangers? Can a father ever think of giving the dead body of his son to

unknown persons?" The government had to ultimately concede to Gandhi demand.

They allowed Mahadev's cremation in the open ground of Aga Khan Palace.

Breaking the news of his death to his family Gandhi in a telegram to Durgabehn

said:

Mahadev died suddenly. Gave no indication. Slept well that night. Had breakfast.

Walked with me. Sushila, jail doctors did all they could. God had willed otherwise.

Sushila and I bathed body. Body lying peacefully covered with flowers, incense

burning. Sushila and I reciting Gita. Mahadev has died Yogi's and patriot's death.

Tell Durga, Babla and Sushila no sorrow allowed. Only joy over such noble death.

Cremation taking place front of me. Shall keep ashes. Advise Durga remain Ashram

but she may go to her people if she must. Hope Babla will be brave and prepare

himself fill Mahadev's place "worthily".

A sincere and disciplined man, Mahadev Desai had become what he could, passing

through all the tests of life. He had gathered everything in his final moments of

sacrifice. Handsome, good humored and noble at heart, he won the acclaim of all

the major leaders of India. Many people chose him to be the arbiter of their cause.

He was, many a times, a bridge between the rest of the world and Mahatma Gandhi

without being partial to either. But his ultimate fidelity was with his master. In his

innermost heart Mahadevbhai always thought of remaining with Gandhi and even

chose to die before him. It was a unique relationship in which the master and the

disciple had not only become complimentary to one another but also a single soul in

two separate bodies.

Gandhi was a hard taskmaster who expected a very high standard from his

personal secretary. Though there was nothing personal in this universal man,

though his life was like an open book for all those who cared to read it, Gandhi

believed that his secretary should be a living embodiment for all the values that he

stood for. Such a secretary needs to be far away from publicity. Mahadev had

passed the test. Remaining independent and aloof he had merged his personality

with the personality of his Guru. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi he had "reduced

himself to a zero."

Mahadev could do this because he was essentially a man of devotion. During his

college days, he had read the works of Swami Vivekanand and through him had got

glimpses of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. He had seen some traits of Swami

Ramakrishna in Purushottam Sevakram, a saintly person from Godhra and,

therefore, known as Godhrawala Maharaj. His method of explaining seemingly

difficult things was unique. Being a man of very meagre education the Maharaj

explained things in a very simple way. Explaining the central idea of Gita, he once

said: "If you go on repeating the word Gita Gita Gita, you will hear the word Tagi

Tagi Tagi, which means renunciation. One who has succeeded in discarding his

identity with the body has understood the Gita correctly!" On another occasion he

surprised a great Pandit by explaining him the meaning of the word Moksha thus:

Moksha contains two words: Moha (infatuation) and Kshaya (destruction); thereby,

Moksha means destruction of infatuation.

The unassuming Maharaj taught with great conviction that the way to overcome the

ego and the attachment to the body was through humility and service. He said: "All

try to walk high, but none walks humbly. But he who walks humbly shall alone

reach the Highest."

Mahadev went to Gandhi with this wealth of a character. He was at ease with

Gandhi and the surroundings. Moreover, enriched and refined through reading,

Mahadev could even infuse the same in the style of Mahatma Gandhi's writings and

yet reduce himself to zero. Describing him, Kishorelal Mashruwala had said:

In spite of his being a learned philosopher, writer, poet, singer and artist he chose

to become a sweeper not only of his master but also of his friends, wife, servants

and for that matter, of any human being. He became a nurse for tending the sick, a

washer man to wash clothes, a cook to feed others, a clerk to copy out in a neat

hand, a teacher who would correct written compositions, a colleague who would

complete unfinished tasks, a secretary who would understand your thoughts and

put down in writing, an ambassador who would accomplish delicate errands with

skill on your behalf, an advocate who would study carefully your side of the case

and fight it out for you, an arbitrator who would remove every misunderstanding his

master may have about you, a man of highest balance, who would try his best to

preserve simultaneously varied relationships like filial devotion, fidelity to the

master, faithfulness to friends, love for wife and affection for the son. He was a

comrade who would give courage and shelter to persons in distress. And in addition

to all this, he was an ever alert Sadhaka, who protected himself from allurements of

love and attachment that were born of his chivalrous temperament and love of art,

as also from emotions like ambition, lust for wealth and fame, and attraction for the

other sex.

These were the virtues for which Mahadev was sought by persons like Rabindranath

Tagore, Chittaranjan Das, Madan Mohan Malviya, Motilal Nehru, Rajgopalachari,

Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel.

In 1928, after the Bardoli Satyagraha, Gandhi had sent Mahadev Desai to assist

Sardar Patel in collecting and processing the evidences to put before the Broomfield

Committee. This was so ably and meticulously done by Mahadevbhai that

Broomfield and Reginald Maxwell soon began to treat him as their friend. Each one

of them expressed his feeling in a different way. One with a kindly affection and the

other by keeping Mahadev away and separate from other criminal prisoners in

Belgaum prison.

His public relations were par excellence. He was the harbinger of Gandhi's thoughts

and experiments. It was Mahadev's herculean task to present in minutest detail all

and sundry activities of Mahatma Gandhi, in the twenty volumes of his diary

published so far. Without the least trace of ego he had become the master builder.

It is difficult to imagine Mahadev without Gandhi or Gandhi without Mahadev. One

was incomplete without the other.

From the year 1917 to 1942, Mahadev lived with Gandhi. And Gandhi had rightly

said that Mahadev in his life span of fifty years had done the work of one hundred

years. If you look at almost the fifty books that he wrote, you would realize the

propriety of Gandhi's statement about him. These works include some of his

translations from Tagore, books written on contemporary affairs, his biographic

sketches, twenty diaries, ten books including the translations of the autobiography

of Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, into English and the

autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru into Gujarati. Besides, he also wrote articles for

Young India, Navjvan and Harijanbandhu.

This is the life story of a man "who had become what he could." Therefore, his loss

was irrepairable. After his death in Aga Khan Palace, Gandhi visited his samadhi

every day and in the course of one such visit, he told his retinue around him that

the whole life of Mahadev was a poem of devotion and he wanted them all to read

and recite Bhakti Yoga in front of the samadhi. He also said: "Remaining the

disciple, Mahadev became my Guru. I visit his samadhi to remember and emulate

his worthy example. Pray God, let us walk in his foot-steps. "

Maganlal Gandhi

Hridaya Kunj was the heart of Satyagraha Ashram, but its soul was Maganlal

Gandhi. He was known to be the first disciple of Gandhi, yet when Maganlal died

Gandhi acknowledged him as his Guru. For conducting or developing his activities,

Gandhi did not generally ask for any person, but in South Africa he asked his

brother Khushaldas to give him both his sons, Maganlal and Chhaganlal, to assist

him and to work for him.

In the Phoenix Ashram, the arrangement of the press, development of farming,

running of the community kitchen and such other duties were entrusted to these

two brothers and they in their turn did their work conscientiously. Perhaps working

for Gandhi was not as difficult as was the shaping of Ashram life in tune with the

ideals and rules initiated by Gandhi. Yet Maganlal Gandhi moulded his own life

much in the same pattern as Gandhi would have liked him to do.

He had to strive hard to maintain the discipline of celibacy but he also believed that

Gandhi should never be deceived. Therefore, he created an atmosphere of

hermitage in the Ashram. The man who was brought up in the English tradition of

South Africa had turned an ascetic in this experiment of Gandhi. Even when there

was a heavy down pour, even when the winter cold was biting, Maganlal Gandhi

would never fail to attend the morning prayer of the Ashram, which was held at 4

o’clock in the early morning. When eight hours of physical labour became a

compulsory routine at the Ashram, Maganal Gandhi attended to his daily chore of

sweeping, fanning, spinning and carding as punctually as the sun that performs its

daily work. Once when he realized the need of helping the womenfolk in their

domestic work, Maganlal started to help in cleaning utensils and washing clothes in

his homestead.

Prabhudas Gandhi, while narrating the life at the Phoenix Ashram, described the

devotion and the work culture of Maganlal Gandhi thus:

Sometimes at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, he would leave his desk and the go to green

lawns away from the Press to wallow in the green grass. If we went there he would

ask 'What do you want?', and then he would give the explanation himself: 'Look! I

began dozing in the midst of my writing, so I came here and started wallowing in

the grass. It is better to lie down on open land. The earth sucks your fatigue. In fact,

we should be immensely grateful to mother earth. In ten minutes it refreshes us

more than a three-hour sleep could do.'

He took keen interest in the development of his eldest son Keshubhai. He wanted

him to learn spinning, weaving and carding because Gandhi wanted to see Keshu as

an expert in these crafts.

In those days, at the time of the Congress session, an exhibition of Khadi was

arranged at its venue and experts from different provinces would vie with one

another to show their craftsmanship. Leaving spectators in amazement, Keshubhai

could spin 500 threads on the Bardoli spinning wheel. All experiments, small or big,

were done under the guidance of MaganIal Gandhi and the person who carried out

these experiments was none else but his son Keshubhai.

There were three noteworthy features of the community life in the Ashram:

collective prayer, collective spinning and collective dining in the community

kitchen. If prayer is to be conducted properly, one should know how best to recite

and that too directly from memory. Maganlal learnt his prayers by heart and also

learnt to recite them. Those who heard him sing these devotional songs hardly

forgot the atmosphere and the creator of that solemn atmosphere.

Maganlal was known to be a man of quick temper but frank and humane at heart.

He would see his point carried through either by command or by persuasion.

Being a great organizer, people outside the Ashram would requisition the services

of Maganlal Gandhi for hard and difficult tasks. In 1927 when the Kheda district was

inundated and many villages were washed away, it was decided to build a new

village named after Vithalbhai Patel, the speaker of the Central Assembly. This work

was entrusted to Maganlal Gandhi by the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee.

Maganlal did this with utmost care in such a manner that the GPCC and its leader

Vallabhbhai Patel were pleased at the creation of Vithalpur village in Mehemdabad

tehsil of Kheda.

In building up this village, Maganal had chosen his own team of colleagues. Among

them was one Jagannath Joshi. from Rajkot who, leaving his fat income in South

Africa, came to work with Maganlal Gandhi on a meagre stipend of twelve rupees a

month for his livelihood. Jagannath Joshi spent, the rest of his life in Rajkot. He

resembled Maganlal Gandhi in much of his work.

Maganlal was a hard taskmaster and as such earned resentment from many of his

co-dwellers. Gradually a feeling of unrest was born in the inmates of the Ashram.

Gandhi sensed the feeling of discontent and called a meeting on 17 February 1919

and said:

The inmates are satisfied with nothing in the Ashram. The reason? Dissatisfaction

over Maganlal's ideas and conduct, over his manner of speaking and over a certain

partiality in his actions. Lack of faith in the Ashram on the part of others, those in

the school. What is my position in these circumstances?

I must place before you some strict principles. I have not invited the ladies, but

they, too feel disgusted, and are thinking of leaving. I have told them that they will

not get anywhere else what they have gained here. You may remain in the Ashram

only if you think you can put up with all that life here means. So think well before

you decide to remain or leave. Why do you stick on here despite. your

dissatisfaction? Surely, none of you is too weak to leave. It is, then, out of your love

for me and blind attachment to me.

The first principle, then, which emerges is that to be attached to a person apart

from his work is blind attachment. I knew persons in South Africa who were blindly

attached to me. I made it clear to them that, if they found Phoenix, which was my

creation, of no worth, then I too, had none. If they lacked faith in my creation, then,

naturally, they were bound to lose faith in me as well. I am a good judge of men but

I cannot prove this to you just now. Nevertheless, if you have no faith in the

Ashram, if you are dissatisfied with it, you had better leave it. Only those of you

may remain who have joined it to give something or to point out to Gandhi his

follies and errors. But I find none such. All of you have come here to give and to

receive. I t is from the whole lot of us that the worth of the Ashram will be judged.

We cannot measure a man's worth independently of his work.

In South Africa, my best creation was Phoenix. Without it, there would have been no

Satyagraha in that country. Without the Ashram here, Satyagraha will be impossible

in India. I may be making a mistake in this, if so, I ought to be deserted. I am going

to ask the country not to judge me by either Champaran or Kheda but only by the

Ashram. If you find lack of order in this place, and blindness of ignorance, then you

will find the same in all my work. I am faithful to its ideals. If I find that I cannot hold

anyone here, I will undertake a searching examination of myself and will try to

make a sacrifice which will be of the purest. Do not attribute greatness to me for

other works of mine; judge me only by the Ashram. One of my creations here in the

Ashram is Maganlal. If I have found from experience five million shortcomings in

Maganlal, I have found ten million virtues in him. Beside him, Polak is a mere child;

the blows that Maganlal has endured, Polak has not. Maganlal has offered all his

work as sacrifice, not for my sake but for the sake of an ideal. It is not for me he is

slaving; he is wedded to an ideal. Once he was ready to bid good-bye, and leave

me.

It boils down to this, that I cannot run the Ashram after sending away Maganlal. If I

sent him away, I would be the only one left in the Ashram. For the tasks we have

undertaken Maganlal, too, is fully needed. I have yet to see a better man than he.

To be sure, he is short tempered, has his imperfections, but on the whole he is a

fine man. As for his honesty, I have no doubt. You must take it as proved that I am

bad to the extent that Maganlal is bad.

Just as if I quarrelled with my brother or parents, I would not go out to complain

about it to others, so also, we should not take to outsiders our complaints against

anyone in the institution where we are members. The moment one begins to

suspect or dislike another, one should leave him. When, following this course, he

has left the entire world, he will find himself all alone; and will then commit suicide,

or, realising his own imperfections, get rid of his dislikes. One should not only not

speak ill, before others, of the institution in which one stays, but one should not

think ill of it even in one's mind. The moment such a thought occurs, one should

banish it. There should be joy in the Ashram, especially when I am out. If you think

of me as an elder, you should conduct yourselves worthily, mindful of my instruc-

tions. Now that I am here, you may take some freedom and do as you please, but

once I am out you should allow yourselves no freedom.

If there is no harmony here in my absence, some thing is lacking in me and,

therefore, you should leave me.

If I removed the cause of discontent in the Ashram, it would be to bring peace to

Maganlal; or rather, not for his peace but for the sake of the country, because I

have offered Maganlal as a sacrifice to the country.

You may persuade me to give up either the Ashram or Maganlal. I shall not send

him away so long as I have not come to feel that he goes about setting one against

another. To measure a man's worth, the world has no other yardstick than his work.

As the work, so the man. This very charge was levelled by an intimate friend of

mine, Mr. Kitchin. However, the fine, systematic work which Maganlal has done,

none else has.

[Mahadevbhaini Diary (Gujarati), Vol. V]

How the Mahatma cared for Maganlal Gandhi is seen in his speech quoted above

and also in a letter which he wrote to Kasturba Gandhi. The letter was written on his

way to Bombay on 23 April 1918, In the letter Gandhi wrote:

You have to be a mother to Maganlal He has parted from his parents and made my

work his own. At present it is Maganlal, if anyone, who has so trained himself that

he can carry on my work after me. Who will give him the needed strength? It is for

you to show concern for his suffering, to be solicitous of his meals, to save him from

all manner of worries.

[Collected Works, Vol. 14 p 367, (1965)]

Maganlal Gandhi died of typhoid at Patna on 23 April 1928. Gandhi had sent

Maganlal's daughter, Radha, to Bihar, to educate women and to get them rid of

hiding their faces behind the veil. Prabhavati, the daughter of Brijkishore Babu, was

also working with Radha. Maganlal Gandhi had gone to Champaran to see and feel

their work. He did not come back. In a telegram to Khushalchand Gandhi, his father,

Gandhi said:

Maganlal died morning at Patna. You know he was more to me than to you. You

must not give way to grief. His is a noble death. Narandas leaving tonight.

[Collected Works, Vol 36, p 255 (1970)]

In an article entitled, 'My Best Comrade Gone' Gandhi wrote in Young India on 26

Apri11928:

'He whom I had singled out as heir to my all is no more. MaganJal K Gandhi, a

grandson of an uncle of mine, had, been with me in my work since 1904. Maganlal's

father has given all his boys to the cause. The deceased went early this month to

Bengal with Seth Jamnalalji and others, contracted a high fever whilst he was on

duty in Bihar and died under the protecting care of Brijkishore Prasad in Patna after

an illness of nine days and after receiving all the devoted nursing that love and skill

could give.

Maganlal Gandhi went with me to South Africa in 1903 in the hope of making a bit

of fortune. But hardly had he been store-keeping for one year, when he responded

to my sudden call to self-imposed poverty, joined the Phoenix settlement and never

once faltered or failed after so joining me. If he had not dedicated himself to the

country's service, his undoubted abilities and indefatigable industry would have

made him a merchant prince. Put in a printing press he easily and quickly mastered

the secrets of the art of printing. Though he had never before handled a tool or a

machine, he found himself at home in the engine room, the machine room and at

the compositor's desk. He was, equally at ease with the Gujarati editing of the

Indian Opinion. Since the Phoenix scheme included domestic fanning, he became a

good fanner. His was I think the best garden at the settlement. It may be of interest

to note that the very first issue of Young India published in Ahmedabad bears the

marks of his labours when they were much needed.

He had a sturdy constitution which he wore away in advancing the cause to which

he had dedicated himself. He closely studied and followed my spiritual career and

when I presented to my coworkers brahmacharya as a rule of life even for married

men in search of Truth, he was the first to perceive the beauty and the necessity of

the practice and, though it cost him to my knowledge a terrific struggle, he carried

it through to success, taking his wife along with him by patient argument instead of

imposing his views on her.

When satyagraha was born, he was in the forefront. He gave me the expression

which I was striving to find to give its full meaning to what the South African

struggle stood for, and which for want of a better term, I allowed to be recognized

by the very insufficient and even misleading term" passive resistance". I wish I had

the very beautiful letter he then wrote to me giving his reasons for suggesting the

name (Sadagrah) which I changed to (Satyagrah) He argued out the whole

philosophy of the struggle step by step and brought the reader irresistibly to his

chosen name. The letter, I remember was incredibly short and to the point as all his

communications always were.

During the struggle he was never weary of work, shirked no task and by his

intrepidity he infected everyone around him with courage and hope. When

everyone went to jail, when at Phoenix courting imprisonment was like a prize to be

won at my instance, he stayed back in order to shoulder a much heavier task. He

sent his wife to join the women's party.

On our return to India, it was he again who made it possible to found the Ashram in

the austere manner in which it was founded. Here he was called to a newer and

more difficult task. He proved equal to it. Untouchability was a very severe trial for

him. Just for one brief moment his heart seemed to give way. But it was only for a

second. He saw that love had no bounds and that it was necessary to live down the

ways of 'untouchables', if only because the so-called higher castes were responsible

for them.

The mechanical department of the Ashram was not a continuation of the Phoenix

activity. Here we had to learn weaving, spinning, carding, and ginning. Again I

turned to Maganlal. Though the conception was mine, his were the hands to reduce

it to execution. He learnt weaving and all the other processes that cotton had to go

through before it became Khadi. He was a born mechanic.

When dairying was introduced in the Ashram he threw himself with zeal in the work,

studied dairy literature, named every cow and became friends with every animal on

the settlement.

And when tannery was added, he was undaunted and had proposed to learn the

principles of tanning as soon as he got a little breathing time. Apart from his

scholastic training in the High School at Rajkot, he learnt the many things he knew

so well in the school of hard experience. He gathered knowledge from village car-

penters, village weavers, farmers, shepherds and such ordinary folk.

He was the Director of the Technical Department of the Spinners Association, and

during the recent floods in Gujarat, Vallabhbhai put him in charge of building the

new township Vithalpur.

He was an exemplary father. He trained his children, one boy and two girls, all

unmarried still-so as to make them fit for dedication to the country. His son Keshu is

showing very great ability in mechanical engineering, all of which he had picked up

like his father from seeing ordinary carpenters and smiths at work. His eldest

daughter Radha, eighteen years old, recently shouldered a difficult and delicate

mission to Bihar in the interest of women's freedom. Indeed he had a good grasp of

what national education should be and often engaged the teachers in earnest and

critical discussion over it.

Let not the reader imagine that he knew nothing of politics. He did, but he chose

the path of silent, selfless constructive service.

He was my hands, my feet and my eyes. The world knows so little of how much my

so-called greatness depends upon the incessant toil and drudgery of silent,

devoted, able and pure workers, men as well as women. And among them all

Maganalal was to me the greatest, the best and the purest.

As I am penning these lines, I hear the sobs of the widow bewailing the death of her

dear husband. Little does she realize that I am more widowed than she. And but for

a living faith in God, I should become a raving maniac for the loss of one who was

dearer to me than my own sons, who never once deceived me or failed me, who

was a personification of industry, who was the watchdog of the Ashram in all its

aspects-material, moral and spiritual. His life is an inspiration for me, a standing

demonstration of the efficiency and the supremacy of the moral law. In his own life

he proved visibly for me not for a few days, not for a few months, but for twenty

four long years-now alas too short-that service of the country, service of humanity

and self-realization or knowledge of God are synonymous terms.

Maganlal is dead, but he lives in his works whose imprints he who runs may read on

every particle of dust in the Ashram.

[Collected Works, Vol. XXIX, pp. 923-3]

Gandhi paid another tribute to Maganlal in Gujarati, in Navjivan on 29 April 1928 :

When Vallabhbhai received the news of Maganlal Gandhi's death, he wired: “The

soul of the Ashram had departed.” There was no exaggeration in this. I cannot

imagine the existence of Satyagraha Ashram without Maganlal. Many of my

activities were started because I knew that he was there. If ever there was a person

with whom I identified myself, it was Maganlal. We often have to consider whether

certain matters will hurt another person, even if that person be one's own son or

wife. I never had to entertain such fear with regard to Maganlal. I never hesitated to

set him the most difficult tasks. I very often put him in embarrassing situations and

he silently bore with them. He regarded no work as too mean.

If I were fit to be anyone's guru, I would have proclaimed him my first disciple.

In all my life I gave only one person the freedom to regard me as his guru and I had

my fill of it. The fault was not his, as I could see; only I had imperfections. Anyone

who becomes guru should possess the power of conferring on the pupil the capacity

to carry out whatever task is assigned to him. I had not that power and still do not

have it.

But if Maganlal was not a disciple, he was certainly a servant. I am convinced that

no master could possibly find a servant better or more loyal than Maganlal. This

may be a conjecture, but I can assert from my experience that I have not found

another servant like him. It has been my good fortune always to have found co-

workers, or servants if you like, who were faithful, virtuous, intelligent and

industrious. Still, Maganlal was the best of all these co-workers and servants.

The three streams of knowledge, devotion and action continuously flowed within Maganlal and,

by offering his knowledge and his devotion in the yajna of action, he demonstrated before

everyone their true form. And because, in this way each action of his was full of

awareness, knowledge and faith, his life attained the very summit of sannyasa.

Maganlal had renounced his all. I never saw an iota of self-interest in any of his

actions. He showed-not once, not for a short time but, time after time for twenty-

four years incessantly-that true sannyasa lay in selfless action or action without

desire for reward.

Maganlal's father entrusted all his four sons to me one after another for serving the

country. Maganlal was entrusted to me in 1903. He accompanied me to South Africa

to earn a living. In 1904, I invited him along with other friends to embrace poverty

in order to serve the country. He heard me calmly and embraced poverty. From that

time on until his death, his life was an uninterrupted flow.

With each day I realize more and more that my mahatmaship, which is a mere

adornment, depends on others. I have shone with the glory borrowed from my

innumerable co-workers. However, no one has done more to add to this glory than

Maganlal. He cooperated with me fully and with intelligence in all my activities-

physical or spiritual. I see no better instance than Maganlal of one who made a

tremendous effort to act as he believed. Maganlal was awake all the twenty-four

hours, establishing unity of thought and action. He used up all his energy in this.

If I have not exaggerated, consciously or unconsciously, in this sketch, one can say

that a country in which dharma can be so embodied must triumph and so must its

dharma. Hence I wish that every servant of the country should study Maganlal's life

and if it commends itself to him imitate it with determination. What was possible for

Maganlal is possible for every man who makes the effort. Maganlal could become a

true leader because he was a true soldier and I find those who could put up with his

fire weeping around me now.

This country, as also the world, is in need of true soldiers. Service of the country,

service of the world, self-realization, vision of God-these are not separate things but

different aspects of the same thing. Maganlal realized the truth of this in his own life

and made others do so. Those who are curious can study his life and find this out.

Mirabehn

Her name was Madeleine. She was born in 1892. She has not given the date of her

birth in her autobiography. Her father, a naval officer, was often away in distant

waters for two years or more at a stretch, so her mother used to go with the

children to Milton Heath, the country home of her father. This house stood in some

twenty acres of land on high ground, beautifully laid out with gardens, paddocks for

the cows, and a rich collection of shrubs and trees. Motorcars did not exist in those

days, so there were stables full of fine horses, some for the carriages and some for

riding and hunting. At the bottom of the sloping paddocks was a cowshed with four

or five Jersey cows, chicken house and pigsties.

The house had a beautiful view up the Dorking Valley with the North Downs to the

right and the Leith Hill Range to the left. The day nursery was on the top floor, so

she got the best view of all, and the night nursery was on the middle floor, looking

out over the stable yard, which pleased her very much.

Though her life was carefully regulated she never felt it was monotonous. As she

grew older, she learned all about the correct use of saws, hammer, screwdrivers,

planes and chisels. But the place she loved most was the stable. She watched the

horses being groomed-the brushing and rubbing down, the picking out and washing

of their hoofs, were all a fascination to a child's eye. The head coachman taught her

the how and why of everything, including saddling, bridling, riding horses and

harnessing of carriage horses.

When Madeleine was still very small, her mind began to search in the region of the

'Unknowable.' There was something which, every now and then, wafted her far

away. It would come at quiet moments, and always through the voice of nature-the

singing of a bird, the sound of the wind in the trees. Though this was the voice of

unknown, she felt no fear. If at all she felt anything, it, was only an infinite joy.

In the course of her father's posting at the Naval Training College at Portsmouth,

the family settled for some time in a country house at Fareham. It was a quiet

country life. But from those peaceful surroundings, something came as to awaken

her from a slumber. Her father had bought an Angelus Pianola. Once she happened

to hear a piece of Beethoven's Sonata Opus 31, No.2. She was so enthralled by it

that she played it over and over again. The playing of it stirred her heart and awoke

it to something which lingered with her, and created a feeling of deep anguish. She,

in these moments of anguish, threw herself down on her knees in the seclusion of

her room and prayed to God: 'Why have I been born over a century too late? Why

hast thou given me realization of him and yet put all these years in between?'

This craving for Beethoven, after some years, led her to Romain Rolland, in order to

get more knowledge, about Beethoven. She met Rolland in Villeneuve, where he

lived with his sister. In this meeting Romain Rolland mentioned India in context of a

small book he had just written, called

Mahatma Gandhi, and asked if she had ever heard of him. Madeleine replied in the

negative. He told her that Gandhi was another Christ. These words went deep, but

she stored them away and went on her voyage to Alexandria.

Back from Alexandria, she came to Paris, bought the book of Rolland from a

bookshop, and finished reading it on the same day. Then she realized what that

'something' was. It was a call to go to Mahatma Gandhi. This call was so powerful

and absolute that on reaching London, she reserved a berth in a P & O Liner. She

told her parents the decision she had made. They were so sensible as not to

dissuade her. But on second thoughts, Madeleine herself felt that it was rather too

hasty. She thought that she needed to put herself through severe training in order

to be acceptable. After having come to that decision, she went through all the

chores of spinning, became a vegetarian and a teetotaler, started learning the

language, taught herself squatting and sleeping on the floor. As for reading, she

immediately subscribed to Young India. She spent a part of her training programme

in Paris, where she read Bhagvad Gita, and some of the Rigveda, both in French.

When she came back to London from Paris, she heard the news of Mahatma

Gandhi's fast for Hindu-Muslim unity. Day by day his condition was growing more

alarming. Those twenty-one days seemed never-ending to Madeleine, but at last

the fast was successfully over. She felt that she should write and send a thanks

giving offering. But she had run out of money earned through orchestral concerts

and had even sold her piano. The only thing she had was a small diamond brooch, a

gift given by her grandfather on her twenty-first birthday. She sold it and the

proceeds of 20 pounds were sent to Gandhi. This was the beginning of their

acquaintance. Gandhi was touched by this gesture and acknowledged the receipt

with thanks. Emboldened by this experience, Madeleine wrote another letter, asking

for his consent to be with him in Sabarmati Ashram. In August 1925 came his  reply

from Calcutta.

24 July, 1925

Dear Friend,

I was pleased to receive your letter which has touched me deeply. The samples of

wool you have sent are excellent.

You are welcome whenever you choose to come. If I have advice of the steamer. . .

there will be someone receiving you. . . and guiding you to the train. . . to

Sabarmati. Only please remember that the life of the Ashram is not at all rosy. It is

strenuous. Bodily labour is given by every inmate. The climate of this country is also

not a small consideration. I mention these things not to frighten you but merely to

warn you.

Yours Sincerely

M.K. Gandhi

After receiving this letter the day of departure for India was fixed. Her mother and

her elder sister saw her off at the London Station. Her father was to bid her adieu

from Paris, which he did with the words, "Be careful". From Paris Madeleine went to

say good-bye to Romain Rolland and his sister. As she left them, there was a look of

pleasant wonder in Rolland's eyes, and a ring in his voice as he said, "How lucky

you are!"

On 6 November the ship docked at Bombay. Friends were there to meet her. They

took Madeleine to Naoroji's house on Malabar Hill. Brothers, sisters and

grandchildren of Dadabhai Naoroji pressed her to stay and rest for at least twenty-

four hours but she had no thought for anything but to reach Sabarmati without

delay. In the afternoon, Devdas, Gandhi's fourth and youngest son, came and

pressed her to stay. But seeing her determination, he finally arranged for her

departure by train the same night. As the train steamed into the Ahmedabad

Station on the morning of 7 November 1925, three persons were waiting on the

platform to receive her. They were Mahadev Desai, Vallabhbhai Patel and Swami

Anand.

Vallabhbhai brought her to the Ashram and ushered her into a room. As she

entered, a brown figure rose up and came forward. Madeleine was conscious of

nothing else but a sense of light. She fell on her knees. Two hands gently raised her

up, and a voice said, "You shall be my daughter." On hearing

these words her consciousness of the physical world began to return, and she saw a

face smiling, with eyes full of love and a gentle twinkle of amusement. He was

Bapu. In all their mutual relationship he was to remain Bapu and she his daughter,

Mira.

Soon she arrived, right into the heart of Bapu's daily life. The impact of this on her

emotions was tremendous. From morning to night she lived for the moment when

she could set her eyes on Bapu. To be in his presence was to be lifted out of

oneself. Not that there was anything imposing about his physical appearance, or

striking about his manner of speech; indeed it was the perfect simplicity of both

which held one. Here, one was face to face with a soul which in its very greatness

made the body and speech, through which it manifested itself, glow with grace and

natural humility. At the same time there was a sense of spiritual strength, quietly

confident and all-pervading, while the whole presence was made intensely human

and appealing by the pure-hearted and irresistible humour which kept peeping like

golden sunshine through the leaves of a deep forest.

Here, in presence of Bapu, a strict regimen began for her which lasted for almost

thirty-four years of her stay in India. It included carding and spinning, cooking,

cleaning, learning Hindi, at times traveling with Bapu or otherwise living in the

Ashram and doing her work. Her first journey along with the retinue of Gandhi led

her to Wardha, where the learned ascetic Acharya Vinoba Bhave was running a

Brahmacharya Ashram. Gandhi used to go there for about ten days rest, each year,

before attending the open session of the Indian National Congress. Mirabehn found

Wardha Ashram quite different from Sabarmati. She saw here a small, compact

group of men all earnestly believing in the principles of the institution. Bapu's ideals

and experiments were being carried out with great thoroughness. Quietness of

atmosphere, unity of endeavour, hard work and spiritual purposefulness were the

distinct qualities of this Ashram. After a few days of quiet sojourn they went straight

to the session of Congress, where Gandhi handed over the charge of its

presidentship to Sarojini Naidu.

Mirabehn could see that Gandhi's activities had two main streams. One was the

Ashram life, by which he endeavoured to create persons who would fit in with his

search for truth and non-violence. Second was the Indian National Congress where

he would strive for independence of India with a band of workers following the line

that Gandhi enunciated in the public field in India. Living with Gandhi, Mirabehn had

to be well versed in both. Living the community life of the Ashram was a tough job

for her and so was the climate of India. But her devotion to Bapu kept her

steadfast inthe midst of her aversion. Not very long after her stay in the Ashram

she started wearing saree, all white, without a coloured border. Next, she got her

haircut and took a vow of celibacy.

Just about a year after coming to Bapu, Mirabehn received a cable from her mother

saying that her father had passed away. Bapu suggested that she go to England if

she wished to. But Mirabehn politely declined to go there. Her learning of

Hindustani was not going very well. So she sought Gandhi's consent to go to the

northern part of India and live among Hindi-speaking people. For this purpose she

was sent to Kanya Gurukul, Delhi, and thereafter to Kangri Gurukul.

When she went to Kangri Gurukul, she learnt that Gandhi was to come there in

March 1927 for its Jubilee celebrations. The thought of seeing Bapu after a long

time was inspiring. She also thought that Bapu might take her with him. But it

turned out to be a vain hope. On the contrary, Bapu was thinking of sending her to

Bhagwadbhakti Ashram, Rewari. Perhaps he was trying and training her. Soon after

reaching that Ashram, Mirabehn received a letter from Gandhi in which he wrote:

The parting today was sad because I saw that I pained you. And yet it was

inevitable. I want you to be a perfect woman. I want you to shed all angularities. All

unnecessary reserve must go.....

Do throw off the nervousness. You must not cling to me as in this body. The spirit

without the body is ever with you. And that is more than the feeble embodied

imprisoned spirit with all the limitations that flesh is heir to. The spirit without the

flesh is perfect; and that is all we need. This can be felt only when we practice

detachment. This you must now try to achieve.

This is how I would grow if I were you. But you should grow along your own lines.

You will, therefore, reject all I have said in this that does not appeal to your heart or

head. You must retain your individuality at all cost. Resist me when you must. For I

may judge you wrongly in spite of all my love for you. I do not want you to impute

infallibility to me.

In these few words Gandhi had expressed the crux of the struggle which was to face

her throughout the years to come.

Mirabehn lived in India during a most eventful period in which she saw in 1927 the

Simon Commission facing black flags everywhere, the resolve of the people for

complete independence in 1929, the Dandi March and the Civil Disobedience

movement in 1930-31 and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931; she accompanied Gandhi

and others to the Round Table Conference in London in the autumn of 1931;

prepared the people of Orissa to resist Japanese invasion non-violently in the

beginning of 1942, and was arrested and kept in detention with Gandhi in the Aga

Khan Palace, Pune, in 1942 where she saw Mahadev Desai and. Kasturba Gandhi

breathing their last. She was a witness to the Simla Conference and the Cabinet

Mission, the Interim Government and the Constituent Assembly, the partition of

India followed by holocaust and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Remaining in mid-stream she always had a role to play. As an inmate of Gandhi

Ashram she traveled far and wide for the propagation of Khadi. She wrote over a

hundred articles in Young India and Harijan, She also wrote articles for The

Statesman, Calcutta, The Times of India, Bombay, and The Hindustan Times, Delhi.

Without the least intention of taking part in the freedom movement, she courted

imprisonment a couple of times in 1932-1933, and was kept first in Arthur Road Jail

and later in Sabarmati Jail. Whenever she was with Mahatma Gandhi she looked

after him in minutest detail. At times she went to the Viceroy as a personal

emissary of Mahatma Gandhi and at other times to the Congress President and the

members of the Working Committee. To plead the case of India she went abroad-

met Lloyd George, Lord Halifax, General Smuts, Sir Samuel Hoare and Winston

Churchill, visited United States and went to New York, Philadelphia, West Chester,

Boston, Harvard and Washington, delivered a lecture at the Harvard University and

met Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House in Washington. Mirabehn took keen interest

in the formation of Sevagram Ashram and organised cleanliness campaigns in the

surrounding villages. She was always unflinching in her service to Bapu and longed

to be with him as long as possible. For such longing she earned reprimands more

than once from Gandhi, Gradually she undertook independent activities with the

help and blessings of Bapu.

For some time her mind was infatuated with a weakness for Sardar Prithvi Singh

and her emotions ran riot. When she spoke to Bapu about it, he looked at her with

unexpected seriousness and said, "If you feel like that it means to my mind that you

should marry", and added, as if thinking aloud, "perhaps marriage has been the

unspoken word in your. life." But Prithvi Singh wisely resisted all proposals whether

from Bapu or others.

Then began the period of her self-chosen seclusion and penance for her mental

aberration. She went to Haryana and then to Sivalik Hills and other places, read Rig

Veda and kept silence for a year. She came to live at Chorvad, in Gujarat, near the

sea-shore. Here, on 22 May 1941, Bapu wrote to her: An inquiry has come from

London whether the report is true that your have severed all connection with me

and are living away from me!!! How wish is father to thought!

In 1942, when she was in the Aga Khan Palace she expressed a desire to Gandhi

that after her release from detention she would start some activities of her own, at

a suitable place in northern India. Bapu agreed and gave money to plan out the

whole thing herself. Accordingly, after her release from Aga Khan Palace, she

started Kisan Ashram at Muldaspur, situated between Roorkee and Hardwar. Kisan

Ashram developed rapidly.

In 1946, Congress ministries were formed in various provinces. The United

Provinces had also a strong Congress Government headed by the veteran leader

Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant. In the new atmosphere there was a general urge to

resuscitate the Province and make an all-out drive to increase food production.

Quite a lot of good agricultural land had been requisitioned for military airfields and

camps, and the sooner these were put back into cultivation the better. With this

idea in her mind she went to Bapu and discussed the matter with him. He, in turn,

had a talk with Pandit Pant, and Mirabehn was appointed as an Honorary Special

Adviser to the U.P. Government in connection with the newly launched 'Grow More

Food' campaign.

In 1947 she started Ashram Pashulok near Hrishikesh and a settlement named Bapu

Gram. During this period the political scene had started worsening. The declaration,

of 'Direct Action' by the Muslim League in October led to a wholesale slaughter of

Hindus in the villages of Noakhali district in East Bengal.

On 30 January 1948 came the news of Bapu's assassination. It was simply stunning.

Mirabehn stood silent and still. A vast emotion held her in a trance. In the early part

of the night people came from Hrishikesh to take her to Delhi. At that moment

Bapu's words came to her mind: .

Trust God and be where you are. There is no meaning in having the last look. The

spirit which you love is always with you.

She obeyed Bapu's words fully. She stayed where she was and worked until 27

January 1959 before leaving for England. And in the interim period, Mirabehn

founded Gopal Ashram in Bhilangana in 1952. From 1954 to 1957 she kept herself

busy with experiments in breeding cows. Though she was intensely active during

these years, deep down inside her it had been a period of suspense, a kind of

hibernation. Her inner being had begun to stir. India without Gandhi or Gandhi's

ideals was not an enchanting place to live in.

One day the post brought her a parcel from Paris. It was a book of Romain Rolland

sent by his widow. She started reading the book. During this time she began writing

her reminiscences. She also read the books that Romain Rolland had given her in

Villeneuve, when Bapu had stayed there in 1931. As she read them, something

again began to stir. It was the spirit of him from whose music she had been

separated for over thirty years. She left India in 1959 to be in tune with that music.

Mirabehn's journey of life began from England. She spent the first thirty-three years

in the land of her birth. The following thirty-four years she lived in India and until

her death on 20 July 1982 the rest of the twenty-three years were spent in Vienna.

The mysterious 'something' that lingered with her led her to three great men-

Beethoven, Romain Rolland and Mahatma Gandhi. The best years of her life were

dedicated to Gandhi. She came to India well, equipped, so as to qualify herself to be

an inmate of Gandhi Ashram. She loved nature and loved her solitary musings in

the company of nature. She loved the sky and the mountains, the forests and the

streams, feeling equally at home with the animal world. Without realizing the

meaning and the concept of the word Basic Education, she had groomed herself in

the work-centered education in her grandfather's house at Milton Heath much

before Gandhi envisaged and implemented the idea of Basic Education.

After leaving India she went to England and lived there for some time, but she felt

completely out of tune with an England which was not familiar to her. So, in search

of a better and peaceful place, she went to Vienna and settled there. In 1969, on

the occasion of the Gandhi Centenary Celebrations, she was invited by Lord Louis

Mountbatten to visit England and narrate her experiences and recollections of

Mahatma Gandhi. The Albert Hall was full with nearly seven thousand people. The

Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister and many other dignitaries were present. The

talk that Mirabehn gave to the gathering was almost beyond the highest

expectation of Lord Louis Mountbatten. The audience was spell bound.

It 1981 the Government of India honoured Mirabehn with the Padma Vibhushan for

her meritorious service to India and mankind.

The life story of Mirabehn is legendary like Mirabai, the devotee of Lord Krishna,

who had left Mewar to worship Lord Krishna. Mirabehn, too, had set aside her own

Mewar to explore her new abode. She never aspired to be an interpreter of Gandhi's

thought, but she never faltered in her service of attending on him at any time.

Although Bapu had made her his daughter, she did not have the good fortune of

continuously living with him, as Mahadevbhai had. Many a time, she felt that she

was missing him in the stream of her chosen life, but she never grudged this. A

word from Bapu was almost a sermon to her and she would literally obey it. She had

her vagaries and angularities, but her heart was pure and her dedication absolute.

At times she did think that she had never been able to give full satisfaction to Bapu

for there had always been something suppressed that caused tension to her mind.

Bapu had noticed this and had warned her several times. Nevertheless, Bapu's

assessment of Mirabehn was distinct and appreciative. In a letter to a person whose

identity is not disclosed, Gandhi had written:

You have done injustice to Mira. My assessment of her is this: She is the most pious

amongst us all. If we believe that she is candid, in the sense that she is not a

deliberate liar, she has forsaken all beastly passions. This can be said for you and

Surendra. Balkrishna and Chhotelal come next to you two. Of course, as far as I

know they are trying. The rest do not matter. If I speak of myself I stand behind you

in the sequence. Mira's faith is superior to Mahadev. It is definitely superior to you.

As far as I have understood you, you have not fully absorbed with... You see his

limitations. Mahadev tries to convince him that I have none. But Mira doesn't see it

at all. To see that there is nothing wrong in a person is a gift from God. This cannot

be achieved by intellect. We should not mix up our invaluable achievement with all

that is sham around us.

Therefore, my anger against Mira is really against myself. For I know many of my

shortcomings which even my staunchest critics do not know. I am full of beastly

passions and I have to strive extremely hard to control them. I think I do not

deserve the inexhaustible faith Mira puts in me, and yet I have to find out a man

who is perfect. I shiver to accept her faith and guide her. That's why I, so often,

keep her at a distance and prevent her from advancing any further. The disease

that erupts in her is only owing to my limitations. For I do not possess the flawless

power of taking decisions that she imagines in me. Making errors, I have to try to

come to a correct decision. .

[Translated from Gujarati; Mahadevbhai’s Diary, V 01. XI, pp 392-93]

The sacrifice which Mirabehn made was more than any foreigner could think of. Just

after a year of her arrival in Sabarmati Ashram, her father passed away. Within

another five years she lost her mother. Again after a few years, Rhona her elder

sister died. But Mirabehn never turned back to look at the world she had voluntarily

renounced. During the hectic days of the Round Table Conference, Gandhi and his

aids happened to pass through Milton Heath, the home of her childhood dreams,

but Mirabehn, though eager to go and peep inside the surroundings, did not lose

her equanimity, while their car simply rushed on to its destination. Any other person

would have certainly liked to go inside the gate and re-encounter the fond

memories of his or her childhood days. But Mirabehn, like a true Sanyasin, had

wiped off her past.

Beaconed by the stirrings of an unknown call, she had come to India. The same

stirrings led her back to Vienna, via England, near the remains of Beethoven, but

into her own solitary cave. The cycle of her life had taken a full circle.

Mirabehn lived the life of an ascetic, but the life itself was illuminated with what was

best in her. The light that emanates from it will shine for a long time to come and

inspire people to selfless service to humanity. It would be a most fitting monument

to Mirabehn.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

- by Saurabh Bhattacharya

While Mahatma Gandhi was fighting against the British regime in mainland India, the northwest fringes of the country, then known as the North-West Frontier Province and now part of Afghanistan, were witnessing the rise of yet another Mahatma- Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Strongly inspired by Gandhi's strategy of nonviolence, Ghaffar Khan, or Badshah Khan as he was popularly known, amassed the world's first major nonviolent army in his region. He persuaded 100,000 of his countrymen to lay down guns and vow to fight

nonviolently against the British regime. He termed this army the Khudai Khidmatgar, the servants of Allah. It was no mean achievement, considering the bloody and barbaric history of the Pashtun community- a history that was full of invasions, massacres, conquests and occupations. The Khudai Khidmatgar movement espoused nonviolent, nationalist agitation in support of Indian independence and sought to awaken the Pashtuns' political consensus.

A devout Muslim and committed ally of Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan worked in close collaboration with his inspirer for independence. For almost 80 long years, the

Pashtun leader struggled incessantly for the rights of his people without ever raising arms. Like Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan honestly believed that the upliftment of his people was essential preparation for independence. Khan opened schools in the province, brought women into the mainstream of society, and encouraged his nonviolent soldiers to vow to do at least two hours of social work a day.

Aware of the pervasive violence in his society, Ghaffar Khan decided to invoke people on religious and humanistic grounds. To this purpose, he initiated a pledge that was to become the motto of the Afghan people in their fight for freedom. The pledge went: " I promise to refrain from violence and from taking revenge. I will sacrifice my wealth, life and comfort for my nation and people." It called people to serve God by serving other people, which helped the growth of self-respect and human dignity.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 's amazing success story will go down in the annals of nonviolent resistance not merely for its popularity but also for its innately simple and spiritual outlook. As Badshah Khan used to say: " Nonviolence is love and it stirs courage in people... No peace or tranquility can descend upon the people of the world until nonviolence is practised."

Sushila Nayyar, also spelled 'Nayar' (1914-2000), was the younger sister of Pyarelal Nayyar,

personal secretary to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the Gandhis' personal physician.

[edit]Biography

She was born in 1914 in Kunjah, Punjab now in Pakistan, and came to Delhi in her youth to study

medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College. In 1939 she came to Sevagram to join her brother, and

quickly became a close associate of the Gandhis. Shortly after her arrival,cholera broke out

in Wardha, and the young medical graduate tackled the outbreak almost singlehandedly. Gandhi

praised her fortitude and dedication to service, and with the blessing of Dr B.C. Roy appointed her his

personal physician. In 1942 she was awarded an MD and returned once more to Gandhi's side, to

take part in the Quit India Movement that was sweeping the country. That year she was imprisoned

along with other prominent Gandhians at the Aga Khan Palace in Poona.

In 1944 she set up a small dispensary at Sevagram, but this soon grew so large it disturbed the peace

of the ashram, and she shifted it to a guesthouse donated by the Birlas, in Wardha. In 1945 this little

clinic formally became the Kasturba Hospital (now the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical

Sciences). This time was, however, highly fraught; several attempts were made on Gandhi's life

by Hindu extremists, including Nathuram Godse, the man who was ultimately to kill him, and Sushila

Nayyar testified on several occasions to the attacks. In 1948 she appeared before the Kapur

Commission regarding the incident in Panchgani in 1944 when Nathuram Godse allegedly tried to

attack Gandhi with a dagger.

After Gandhi's assassination in 1948 in Delhi, Sushila Nayyar went to the USA where she took two

degrees in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Returning in 1950, she set

up a tuberculosis sanatorium in Faridabad, the model township on the outskirts of Delhi set up

on cooperative lines by fellow Gandhian Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Nayyar also headed the Gandhi

Memorial Leprosy Foundation.

In 1952 she entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. From 1952 to 1955

she served as Health Minister inNehru's cabinet. She was Speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha (as the

State Assembly had been renamed) from 1955 to 1956. In 1957 she was elected to the Lok

Sabha and served till 1971. She was Union Health Minister again from 1962 to 1967. During the

congress regime, she fell out with Indira Gandhi and was member of the opposition (Janata party).

She briefly held a position when it was voted to power that created history by overthrowing Indira

Gandhi's government. Thereafter she retired from politics to devote herself to the Gandhian ideal. She

had set up the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in 1969, and remained committed to

confine her energies to developing and extending it. She died towards the end of 2000

[edit]Legacy

Sushila Nayyar was deeply influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of hard work and abstinence. She

felt strongly about the need for prohibition and linked this to the domestic concerns of poor women

whose lives were often blighted by alcoholism in their husbands. She was also a staunch campaigner

for family planning, once again seeing this as essential empowerment for women, especially poor

women. In her personal life she practised strict discipline and expected this also of her followers,

acolytes and students. She was one of the circle of young women who followed Gandhi and were

deeply impressed by his charisma and magnetism, such that he became the central focus of their

lives. She never married. In an age when it was extremely difficult for single young women to have

careers, she managed by sheer grit and dedication to carve out a life for herself without concessions

to her gender or status. She also believed like Gandhi that there was no such thing as a dirty job, and

that medicine required hands-on involvement with patients and their ailments, regardless of feminine

delicacy or upper caste squeamishness. However, she could also be authoritarian and unforgiving

about other people's foibles, and expected similar leves of sacrifice and ruthlessness from those

around her

Pyarelal Nayyar (1899-1982) was the personal secretary of Mahatma Gandhi in his later years. His

sister Dr. Sushila Nayyar was the Personal Physician to Mahatma Gandhi.

He received his B. A. from University of Punjab and quit his M.A. studies during the Non-cooperation

movement of 1920

Freedom Struggle

Pyarelal was active in the freedom struggle, in the footstep of Gandhi. He participated in Salt March

to Dandi.[1

Jayaprakash Narayan (Devanāgarī: जयप्रका�श ना�रा�यण; October 11, 1902 - October 8, 1979), widely

known as JP or loknayak (leader of the masses), was an Indian independence activist and political

leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving

a call for peaceful Total Revolution. His biography, Jayaprakash, was written by his nationalist friend

and an eminent writer of Hindi literature, Ramavriksha Benipuri. In 1998, he was posthumously

awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. Other

awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965. The airport of Patna is also named

after him.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Early life

2 Career

3 Sarvodaya

4 Bihar Movement and Total Revolution

5 Emergency

6 Trivia

7 Awards

8 References

9 Bibliography

10 External links

[edit]Early life

Jayprakash Narayan was born in Sitabdiara village of Ballia District of Uttar Pradesh.,[1][2] When he

was a child, he had many pets. One day, his pigeon died and he did not eat food for two days

afterward. His father Harsudayal was a junior official in the canal department of the State government

and was often touring the region. Jayaprakash, called Baul affectionately, was left with his

grandmother to study in Sitabdiara. There was no high school in the village, so Jayaprakash was sent

to Patna to study in the Collegiate School. He excelled in school. His essay, "The present state of

Hindi in Bihar", won a best essay award. He entered the Patna College on a Government scholarship.

[edit]Career

Jayaprakash Narayan joined Bihar Vidyapeeth [3] founded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad for motivating

young meritorious youths and was among[4] the first students of eminent Gandhian Dr. Anugrah

Narayan Sinha,[5] a close colleague of M. K. Gandhi who later became[6] first Deputy Chief Minister

cum Finance Minister of Bihar. In October, 1920 Jayaprakash married Prabhavati Devi, a

independence activist in her own right and a staunch disciple of Kasturba Gandhi. Prabhavati was the

daughter of lawyer and nationalist Brij Kishore Prasad, one of the first Gandhians in Bihar and one

who played a major role in Gandhi's campaign in Champaran. She often held opinions which were not

in agreement with JP's views, but Narayan respected her independence. On Gandhiji's invitation, she

stayed at his Sabarmati Ashramwhile Jayaprakash continued his studies.[7]

In 1922, Narayan went to the United States, where he worked to support his studies in political

science,sociology and economics at the University of California, Berkeley, University of

Iowa, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Ohio State University.[8][9] He adopted Marxism while

studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison under sociologist Edward A. Ross; he was also

deeply influenced by the writings of M. N. Roy. Financial constraints and his mother's health forced

him to abandon his wish of earning a PhD. He became acquainted with Rajani Palme Dutt and

other revolutionaries in London on his way back to India.

After returning to India, Narayan joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal

Nehru in 1929; M. K. Gandhi became his mentor in the Congress. He shared the same house at

kadam kuan in Patna with his close friend and nationalist Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha).[10] with whom

he shared the most cordial and lasting friendship.[10] During the Indian independence movement he

was arrested, jailed, and tortured several times by the British. He won particular fame during the Quit

India movement.

After being jailed in 1932 for civil disobedience against British rule, Narayan was imprisoned

in Nasik Jail, where he met Ram Manohar Lohia,Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok

Mehta, Yusuf Desai and other national leaders. After his release, the Congress Socialist Party, or

(CSP), a left-wing group within the Congress, was formed with Acharya Narendra Deva as President

and Narayan as General secretary.

During the Quit India Movement of 1942, when senior Congress leaders were arrested in the early

stages, JP, Lohia and Basawon Singh (Sinha) were at the forefront of the agitations. Leaders such as

Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as "the political children of Gandhi but

recent students of Karl Marx." He was also a great advocate of co.relation "SAHJEEVAN"

Initially a defender of physical force, Narayan was won over to Gandhi's position on nonviolence and

advocated the use of satyagrahas to achieve the ideals of democratic socialism. Furthermore, he

became deeply disillusioned with the practical experience of socialism in Nehru's India.

After independence and the death of Mahatma Gandhi, Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev

and Basawon Singh (Sinha) led the CSP out of Congress to become the opposition Socialist Party,

which later took the name Praja Socialist Party. Basawon Singh (Sinha) became the first leader of the

opposition in the state and assembly of Bihar and Acharya Narendra Deva became the first leader of

opposition in the state and assembly of U.P. His party is the first national party who distributed tickets

on caste line. This was the point where Jayaprakash Narayan disagreed with the party principles and

pursued Sarvodey and Lokniti.

[edit]Sarvodaya

Narayan with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv, 1958

On April 19, 1954, Narayan announced in Gaya that he was dedicating his life (Jeevandan) toVinoba

Bhave's Sarvodaya movement and its Bhoodan campaign, which promoted distributing land

to Harijans (untouchables). He gave up his land, set up an ashram inHazaribagh, and worked towards

uplifting the village.

In 1957, Narayan formally broke with the Praja Socialist Party in order to pursue lokniti[Polity of the

people], as opposed to rajniti [Polity of the state]. By this time, Narayan had become convinced

that lokniti should be non-partisan in order to build a consensus-based, classless, participatory

democracy which he termed Sarvodaya. Narayan became an important figure in the India-wide

network of Gandhian Sarvodaya workers.

In 1964, Narayan was vilified across the political spectrum for arguing in an article in theHindustan

Times that India had a responsibility to keep its promise to allow self-determination to the state

of Jammu and Kashmir. He hit back at critics in a second article, dismissing the Indian version of the

"domino theory" which held that the rest of India's states would disintegrate if Kashmir were allowed

its promised freedom. In his graceful if old-fashioned style, Narayan ridiculed the premise that "the

states of India are held together by force and not by the sentiment of a common nationality. It is an

assumption that makes a mockery of the Indian Nation and a tyrant of the Indian State".

[edit]Bihar Movement and Total Revolution

Narayan returned to prominence in State politics in the late 1960s. In 1974, he led the student's

movement in the state of Bihar which gradually developed into a popular people's movement known

as the Bihar movement. It was during this movement that JP gave a call for peaceful Total Revolution

Together with V. M. Tarkunde, he founded the Citizens for Democracy in 1974 and the People's

Union for Civil Liberties in 1976, both NGOs, to uphold and defend civil liberties.

[edit]Emergency

When Indira Gandhi was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court, Narayan

called for Indira to resign, and advocated a program of social transformation which he

termed Sampoorna kraanti [Total Revolution]. Instead she proclaimed a nationalEmergency on the

midnight of June 25, 1975, immediately after Narayan had called for the PM's resignation and had

asked the military and the police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders; JP, opposition

leaders, and dissenting members of her own party (the 'Young Turks') were arrested on that day.

Jayaprakash Narayan attracted a gathering of 100,000 people at the Ramlila Grounds and

thunderously recited Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar''s wonderfully evocative poetry: Singhasan

Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai.[11]

Narayan was kept as detenu at Chandigarh even after he had asked for a month's parole for

mobilising relief in areas of Bihar gravely affected by flood. His health suddenly deteriorated on

October 24, and he was released on November 12; diagnosis at Jaslok Hospital, Bombay, revealed

kidney failure; he would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.

After Indira revoked the emergency on January 18, 1977 and announced elections, it was under JP's

guidance that the Janata Party (a vehicle for the broad spectrum of the anti-Indira Gandhi opposition)

was formed. The Janata Party was voted into power, and became the first non-Congress party to form

a government at the Centre. On the call of Narayan many youngesters joined the J P movement.

[edit]Trivia

He died in October 1979; but a few months before that, in March 1979, his death was erroneously

announced by the Indian prime minister to the parliament as he lay fighting for his life in Jaslok

Hospital, causing a brief wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and

regular radio broadcasting, and closure of schools and shops. When he was told about the gaffe a few

weeks later, he smiled.

[edit]Awards

Bharat Ratna, 1999

Rashtrabhushan Award of FIE Foundation , Ichalkaranji [12

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyaya, February 13, 1879, Hyderabad – March 2, 1949,Lucknow),

also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India was a child prodigy, Indian independence

activist and poet. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National

Congress and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradeshstate.

She was active in the Indian Independence Movement, joining Mahatma Gandhi in the Salt March to

Dandi, and then leading the Dharasana Satyagraha after the arrests of Gandhi,Abbas Tyabji,

and Kasturba Gandhi.

Contents

 [hide]

1     Life   

o 1.1      Early life   

o 1.2      Education   

o 1.3      In the independence movement   

o 1.4      Post-independence   

o 1.5      Personal life   

2     Works   

3     Quotes   

4     References   

5     External links   

[edit]Life

[edit]Early life

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad, India to a Bengali Hindu family as the eldest daughter of

scientist, philosopher, and educator Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, and Barada Sundari Devi, a poetess.

Her father was the founder of the Nizam College, and also the first member of theIndian National

Congress in Hyderabad, India, with his friend Mulla Abdul Qayyum. He was later dismissed from his

position as Principal and even banished in retaliation for his political activities. Sarojini was a

significant poet too.

Naidu's brother, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, was also a noted Indian activist. During World War I

Virendranath was instrumental in finding the Berlin Committee and was one of the leading figures of

the Hindu German Conspiracy. He later became committed to Communism, travelling to Soviet

Russia where he is believed to have been executed on Stalin's orders in 1937.

Another brother Harindranath Chattopadhyaya was a playwright, poet and actor.

[edit]Education

In 1891, she passed her Matriculation examination from Madras University at the age of twelve, also

being first in the entire Presidency.[1]From 1891 to 1894 she took a break from her studies and was

involved in extensive reading on various subjects. In 1895, at the age of sixteen, she traveled to

England to study first at King's College London and subsequently at Girton College, Cambridge.But

she had to discontinue her studies and returned to india in 1898 due to various health problems .

Sarojini Naidu learnt to speak Urdu, Spanish, Telugu, English, Persian and Bengali. Her favorite poet

was P.B. Shelley

[edit]In the independence movement

Sarojini Naidu with Mahatma Gandhi during Dandi march

She joined the Indian independence movement, in the wake of the aftermath of partition of Bengal in

1905. During 1903-17 Sarojini came into contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath

Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Mohandas

Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

From 1915 to 1918 she lectured all over India on welfare of youth, dignity of labour, women's

emancipation and nationalism. After meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in 1916, she took up the cause of the

indigo workers of Champaran. In 1925 she was elected as the President of the Congress, the first

Indian woman to hold the post.

In March 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act by which the possession of seditious

documents was deemed illegal. Mohandas Gandhi organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to

protest and Naidu was the first to join the movement which the government worked to suppress.

In July 1919, Naidu became the Home Rule League's ambassador to England. In July 1920 she

returned to India and on August 1, Mahatma Gandhi declared for the Non-Cooperation Movement. In

January 1924, she was one of the two Indian National Congress delegates at the East African Indian

Congress.

Naidu arrived in New York in October 1928 and was concerned with the unjust treatment

ofthe Amerindians. Upon her return to India she became a member of Congress Working Committee.

On January 26, 1930 the National Congress proclaimed its independence from the British Empire. On

May 5, Mohandas Gandhi was arrested. Naidu was arrested shortly thereafter and was in jail for

several months. She, along with Gandhi, was released on January 31, 1931. Later that year, they

were again arrested. Naidu was eventually released due to her poor health and Gandhi was released

in 1933. In 1931, she participated in the Round Table Summit, along with Gandhiji and Pundit

Malaviyaji. On October 2, 1942, she was arrested during the "Quit India" protest and stayed in jail for

21 months with Gandhiji. Naidu shared a warm relationship with Mohandas Gandhi, even calling him

"Mickey Mouse".

At the Asian Relations Conference of March 1947, Naidu presided over the Steering Committee

Kastürbā Gāndhi (11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand

Gandhi, marrying him in an arranged child marriage in 1883.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Early life and background

2 Political career

3 Health and death

4 References

[edit]Early life and background

Born to wealthy buisnessman Gokuladas Kapadia of Porbandar, Kasturba married Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi through arrangement. Gandhi was thirteen and Kasturba was fourteen when

they married. When Gandhi left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their

newborn son Harilal. She had three more sons: Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), and Devdas (1900).

[edit]Political career

Kasturba Gandhi joined her husband in political protests. She traveled to South Africa in 1897 to be

with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During

the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturbai

was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labor prison. Later, in India, she sometimes

took her husband's place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to

support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and

writing to women and children.

[edit]Health and death

Kasturba Gandhi with Mohandas Gandhiin the 1930s.

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi (1902)

Kasturba suffered from chronic bronchitis due to complications at birth. While her husband could

move his mind from one thing to another, she would sometimes brood over troubles. Stress from

the Quit India Movement's arrests and hard life at Sabarmati Ashram caused her to fall ill. Kasturbai

fell ill withbronchitis which was subsequently complicated bypneumonia.

In January 1944, Kasturba suffered two heart attacks. She was confined to her bed much of the time.

Even there she found no respite from pain. Spells of breathlessness interfered with her sleep at night.

Yearning for familiar ministrations, Kasturba asked to see an Ayurvedic doctor. After several delays

(which Gandhi felt were unconscionable), the government allowed a specialist in traditional Indian

medicine to treat her and prescribe treatments. At first she responded—recovering enough by the

second week in February to sit on the verandah in a wheel chair for a short periods, and chat… then

came a relapse. The doctor said Ayurvedic medicine could do no more for her. To those who tried to

bolster her sagging morale saying "You will get better soon," Kasturba would respond, "No, my time is

up." Shortly after seven that evening, Devdas took Mohandas and the doctors aside. In what he would

later describe as "the sweetest of all wrangles I ever had with my father," he pleaded fiercely that Ba

be given the life saving medicine, even though the doctors told him her condition was beyond help. It

was Mohandas, after learning that the penicillin had to be administered by injection every four to six

hours, who finally persuaded his youngest son to give up the idea. "Why do you want to prolong your

mother's agonies after all the suffering she has been through?" Gandhi asked. Then he said, "You

can't cure her now, no matter what miracle drug you may muster. But if you insist, I will not stand in

your way."[1]

After a short while, Kasturba stopped breathing. She died in Gandhi's arms while both were still in

prison, in Poona (now Pune)

Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi/Kashmiri: जवा�हराला�ला ना हरू, pronounced [dʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru]; 14

November 1889–27 May 1964[4]) was an Indian statesman who was the first (and to date the longest-

serving) prime minister of India, from 1947 until 1964. One of the leading figures in theIndian

independence movement, Nehru was elected by the Congress Party to assume office as

independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first

general election in 1952. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an

important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. The son of a wealthy

Indianbarrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress

Party when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship ofMahatma

Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from

the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru

was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate

for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges

of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Personal life and education

2 Life and career

3 Successor to Gandhi

4 India's first Prime Minister

o 4.1 Economic policies

o 4.2 Education and social reform

o 4.3 National security and foreign policy

o 4.4 Final years

5 Legacy

o 5.1 Commemoration

o 5.2 In popular culture

6 Writings

7 Awards

8 See also

9 References

10 Further reading

11 External links

Personal life and education

Jawaharlal Nehru was born to Motilal Nehru (1861–1931) and Swaroop Rani (1863–1954) in

aKashmiri Pandit family.

The Nehru family. Standing (L to R) are Jawaharlal Nehru,Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Krishna Hutheesing, Indira Gandhi, and

Ranjit Pandit. Seated: Swaroop Rani, Motilal Nehru andKamala Nehru (circa 1927).

Nehru was educated in India and Britain. In England, he attended the independent boy's

school, Harrow andTrinity College, Cambridge.

Jawaharlal Nehru at Harrow, where he was also known as Joe Nehru.

During his time in Britain, Nehru was also known as Joe Nehru.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

On 7 February 1916, Nehru married seventeen year old Kamala Kaul. In the first year of the marriage,

Kamala gave birth to their only child, Indira Priyadarshini. Much modern speculation has revolved

around whether, during the final days of theBritish in India, Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten,the wife of

Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, were romantically involved.[11]

Life and career

Nehru raised the flag of independent India in New Delhi on 15 August 1947, the day India gained

Independence. Nehru's appreciation of the virtues of parliamentary democracy, secularism and

liberalism, coupled with his concerns for the poor and underprivileged, are recognised to have guided

him in formulating socialist policies that influence India to this day. They also reflect the socialist

origins of his worldview. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, and grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, also served as

Prime Ministers of India.

Successor to Gandhi

On 15 January 1941 Gandhi said, "Some say Pandit Nehru and I were estranged. It will require much

more than difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-

workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my

successor."