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Dandi, Porbundar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad are milestones in Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s journey to become the Mahatma
THE YEAR WAS 1930, THE PLACE DANDI, A SMALL VILLAGE on the west coast of Gujarat, the man was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. What followed was the collapse of the British empire. The image of a frail man bending to pick up a fistful of salt in defiance of the Empire is deeply embedded not just in the psyche of the Indian people but among the populace of the world. This long march, now famous as the Dandi March, commenced from an ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati and culminated in a swampy land on March 5, 1930. Hundreds of thousands of people, by their symbolic gesture of picking up salt, started the civil disobedience movement that marked the death-knell for the British Raj. The 240-mile march that began with just 79 followers of Gandhi, ended with the nation behind him.
Though Gandhi and his ideals touched every life in India, he had a profound influence on the people of Gujarat. Upon returning from South Africa on January 9, 1915, Gandhi felt the need for a place to settle himself and a small band of his relatives and associates who had supported him in South Africa. With his political agenda still unformed, he chose Ahmedabad, because he felt that being a Gujarati, he could serve his country best through the use of his own language. As Ahmedabad is the centre of handloom, the Mahatma hoped that the charkha work could be done there. Gandhi envisaged that with Ahmedabad being the capital of Gujarat, the wealthy persons will make larger contributions. And the land and its people did not let him down on any count
Not just Ahmedabad, the whole of Gujarat is suffused with the magic that was the Gandhi. His birthplace Porbundar, for example, which stands on the shores of the Arabian Sea, became world famous after the release of Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi. His old residence, Kirti Mandir, is now a memorial museum that traces his life through a series of memorabilia and a library. Rajkot that was once the capital of the princely state of Saurashtra is now best known as the town where Gandhi spent his early years. The Rajkumar College, Alfred High School, the Memorial Institute and Gandhi Smriti pay proud homage to the town’s favourite son
But the most moving place connected to Gandhi is the Sabarmati Ashram where it all began. It occupies a pride of place not just in Gujarat but the entire country and continues to attract all those who want-in some small measure-to experience the genesis of what made us a free nation. It is a sparse structure on the river Sabarmati, the shady trees here are populated by thousands of parakeets, sunbirds and squirrels. The atmosphere offers a refuge from the loud streets of Ahmedabad which is mere six miles away.
The Sabarmati Ashram replaced Gandhi’s earlier residence at Paldi, which was a bungalow that belonged to a lawyer friend. Abandoned in the wake of a plague epidemic, Gandhi then chose a site on the banks of the Sabarmati river, on land donated by Ambalal Sarabhai. On it, he built a place that offered "training for national service which is not contrary to universal well-being. The constant endeavour for such national service is the aim of this Ashram." The non-violent freedom struggle and the Gandhi’s own toil against untouchability were the guiding principles of the Ashram.
It was called Satyagraha Ashram when founded, but was soon re-named the Harijan Ashram, as Gandhi entreated his followers to continue his battle against untouchability. The Ashram was flanked by forests on one side and a prison on the other. Thunder, lightning and heavy rains marked the day when Gandhi made his final decision: "This is the right place for our activities, to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness-for, on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other, thunderbolts of Mother Nature."
Gandhi returned to the Ashram in 1925 after he was released from the Yervada prison, and it was during this period that he wrote and published his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth. The 36-acre Ashram today stands a mute testimony to the will of this man who preached non-violence and introduced the concept of satyagraha. The Ashram is spartan like the man who lived here, and houses the few possessions, as they were, of the Father of the nation. Books, chappals, a spinning wheel, a bed made up on the floor, glasses and a few dusty pamphlets are all that one gets to see here.
Last year, two young Ahmedabad architects put together a proposal to give the Ashram its rightful place in history. They have plans to make it a shrine-bright lights and pedestrian paths with guides who narrate the history of the Dandi March as tourists stroll across the bridge that Gandhi took when he left the Ashram for the last time. For this was the defining moment-when Mohandas became the Mahatma.
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