All About Mahatma Gandhi

Martyrs' Day Programme 2012 at Mani Bhavan

Gandhiji's articles suffer from condensation

Non-violent nationalism

Misquotes of Gandhiji

Misquotes that Bapu is forced to wear

The Significance of Indian Opinion

Adopt-a-book hoarding at Kemps Corner, Mumbai . Supported by Air India

Adopt-a-Book @ Mani Bhavan

Salt Satyagraha, 1930 - One of the 10 Most Influential Protests

M.K.Gandhi's perspective

National Week Programme - April 6 to 8, 2011

Understanding Gandhi

Letter written by Gandhiji on third class travelling on Indian Railways.

Martyrs' Day Programme 2011 at Mani Bhavan

Programmes to mark the 63rd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

May the New Year bring prosperity and happiness

From the Pages of History

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, visits Mani Bhavan on 12 November 2010

Shri Prithviraj Chavan's Visit to Mani Bhavan on 11-11-2010

President Obama & Mrs. Obama's comments in the Visitors Book of Mani Bhavan

Gandhi and Rumi

Gandhi Jayanti Programme, October 2, 2010

15 August 1947

Gandhiji's Talisman

9th August 1942 - Historic Quit India Movement

Indo-Pak Shanti Yatra

Photograph of Gandhi published in Life Magazine

Governor of Riyad, Salman Bin Abdul Aziz in Mani Bhavan, April 14, 2010.

Ruth Simmons, President, Brown University visited Mani Bhavan on 1st April, 2010

Time Magazine: Man of the Year, 1930

International Women's day

Mrs. Eva Luise Kohler, wife of Horst Köhler,President of Germany , visited Mani Bhavan to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi

School children singing Bhajans on Martyrs' Day at Mani Bhavan

Martyrs' Day Programme 2010

Dr Otis Moss in Mani Bhavan

Gandhi Jayanti Competitions Awards, 2009

Book Launch

Lecture on 'Mahatma Gandhi and Terrorism' by Prof. Douglas Allen

Relevant article written by Shri K.G.Mashruwala

Bhajan Programme on Gandhi Jayanti 2009

Gandhi and Parsis

National Week Programme 2009

Martin Luther King III in Mani Bhavan

Martin Luther King III's visit to Mani Bhavan

A Blot On Bombay

Martin Luther King III visits Mani Bhavan

Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagavat Gita

New Year Greetings

Gandhi on Terrorism

Is Gandhian Philosophy Relevant today?

Celebrating 60 years of Independence

Salt Satyagraha, 1930 - One of the 10 Most Influential Protests

2012-01-23T15:06:00.000+05:30

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai

&
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya

has organised programme for Martyrs' Day
to mark 64th Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi)
on Monday , January 30th, 2012

at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007

Programme:

	7.30 - 8.00 a.m.	Mass Spinning
	8.00 - 9.00 a.m.	Prayers & Bhajans by:
		Smt.Gita Yannamandi, Saraswati Vrindagaan Mandal, Gamdevi.
		Shrimati Sonali Borkar Shri Sunil Varankar J.B.Vachcha High School, Dadar


	9.00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.	Sarva Dharma Prarthna

You are invited to please join us to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

Shri Vasant Pradhan

President

Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.

Srimati Usha Gokani

President

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi,

Mumbai.

2012-01-13T14:16:00.000+05:30

" I own that often my articles suffer from condensation. They are made to yield a meaning I had never intended. The Ajmer illustration quoted by my correspondent is clinching. This matter of copy-right has been often brought before me. But I have not the heart to copyright my articles. I know that there is a financial loss. But as Harijan is not published for profit I am content so long as there is no deficit. I must believe that in the end my self-denial must serve the cause of truth. "
- M.K.Gandhi
Harijan, 15-6-1940.

2011-12-02T12:53:00.000+05:30

" Violent nationalism, otherwise known as imperialism, is the curse. Non-violent nationalism is a necessary condition of corporate or civilized life ." - M.K. Gandhi

Young India, 27-11-1924.

2011-10-19T10:00:00.000+05:30

Paul John, TNN | Oct 3, 2011, 01.00AM IST

Times Of India , Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: "Be the change you want to see in the world," "There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone's needs, but there is not enough to satisfy everyone's greed," "Customer is God,"... And, the list of what are said to be some of Mahatma Gandhi's most quotable quotes is much longer.
However, those exchanging greeting cards, key chains and posters with these quotes printed on them would be disappointed to know that Mahatma never uttered these words.
Scholars who have been pouring over more than 50,000 pages of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) have not found any references to these quotes in these voluminous works. And, it is none other than Gandhiji's great grandson Tushar Gandhi, who endorses their stand and calls for a serious need to clear any aberrations in Bapu's work and sayings.
"The 'Be the change...' quote is not Gandhiji's. It can be considered a paraphrase of what he may have said," said Tushar Gandhi. " Customer is an important visitor..." is again not Bapu's quote, but a highly condensed portion of a speech that he made at an inaugural function of a Khadi outlet.
The CWMG is a collection of Bapu's personal correspondences, articles that he wrote for journals and newspapers, speeches, interviews, letters to editors and even telegrams in his lifetime prepared in 98 volumes since from July 4, 1888. The only reference that one finds to the "Be the change..." quote are interviews of Bapu's grandson Arun Gandhi by Carmella B'Hahn and Michel W. Potts in early 2000. Arun Gandhi indirectly quoted Gandhiji.
In an article that appeared in the Harijan in 1940 Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "I own that often my articles suffer from condensation. They are made to yield a meaning I had never intended. . ." Mahatma Gandhi had strong reservations of anyone modifying his language without his prior permission.
The quote, 'There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone's needs, ...' is actually credited to an American pastor of Swiss origin Frank Buckman, founder of the Moral Rearmament movement. The famous quote 'Customer is an important visitor...' which appears on every traders and businessman's desk is a highly condensed paraphrase of one of Bapu's speech. Bapu never said "Western civilization is a good idea....". It is not mentioned in his autobiography or the CWMG.
The only persons authorized to write or modify what Gandhiji wrote when he was alive were his two personal assistants, Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal Nayar. Their memoirs and diaries are considered authentic sources of Bapu's quotes apart from CWMG and the Bapu's autobiography.

2011-10-17T14:48:00.000+05:30

The Significance of Indian Opinion by Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie

Department of History, University of the Western Cape

Address to Conference on the Alternate Media to Commemorate the Centenary of the Founding of Indian Opinion, 4 June 2003, Durban

On 4 June 1903 a very tired but fired up young man worked till 3am in the morning in the central business district of Durban. He then walked to his home in Sydenham as the last tramcar had long departed. On 5 June again he worked till 11pm - there was an urgency with which he worked. His goal was to get a new newspaper before the public. The first issue of Indian Opinion was dated 4 June but it was only on 6 June that it could be released. The young man was relieved but he could not relax. He had the next issue to think about and it was due in five days time. He wrote `I am now anxious about the second number. With a small staff, and lack of materials - types, etc., and facilities, we have to keep the paper up to the mark!'

This man was M.H. Nazar, a secretary of the Natal Indian Congress. His letters for this early period indicate that there were two other key individuals involved in the production of this new journal. Madanjit Viyavaharik, the owner of the International Printing Press and Mohandas Gandhi, the Johannesburg lawyer. Nazar and Madanjit saw to the practicalities of producing the newspaper - this was no mean task for the paper was to be produced in four languages - English, Hindi, Gujerati and Tamil. The translation of the articles was difficult as individuals proficient in two languages were required. Nazar would report `The translators are not particularly clever, and they will not work at day time'. Some translations were simply `shocking'. Then there was a shortage of types. Virji Damodar Mehta (who would one day found his own printing press, Universal Printing Press) asked Nazar not to use too many of the Gujerati letter `a'. The editor himself did not know Tamil and had to explain the spirit of articles to translators whose English was not too good. Madanjit in the meanwhile had been running around getting the licence, advertisers and subscribers. The first issue which was some two months in the planning was finally out.

I start deliberately with Nazar, the first editor, and Madanjit the actual owner, to illustrate the point that there were many dedicated workers who made Indian Opinion a possibility. It was Nazar, in fact, who would set a high standard for those who would succeed him in the editor's chair. There was no question of taking money for his work, it was all for a `cause'. However there is no doubt that the main figure in the production of the paper was the thirty-four year old lawyer whose office was based in Rissik Street in Johannesburg. Nazar would suggest various lead articles but lest Gandhi should not understand he clarified the position. He expected these to be written by Gandhi. Over the years, Gandhi would direct the policy of Indian Opinion from Johannesburg, write articles, give direction and above all divert his earnings from his prospering practice to help sustain the paper. And over the years there were many dedicated workers and editors.

My task this evening is to explain what is the significance of this journal which by its second year had 887 subscribers. Over its entire 58 years existence its subscribers averaged at about 2000. The highest number in any one year was 3500. Compare this with the Guardian which in the 1930s began with a circulation of 1000 but grew rapidly over the years to top 50 000 by the mid-1940s. When Indian Opinion was reaching its dying days in 1961, the Guardian now published as New Age had a circulation of 20 000. The significance of Indian Opinion lies not in its size (which may be explained only partly in terms of the size of the Indian population) but in its content.

Indian Opinion was also not the first Indian newspaper in Natal. It had been preceded by a short-lived Indian World in 1898 and in May 1901 P.S Aiyar a Tamil journalist began a Tamil-English weekly Colonial Indian News. Aiyar's ventures reflected the precariousness of such undertakings as this too lasted for just a few years. Africans in colonial Natal had also been publishing newspapers for some time. There had been Inkanyiso yase Natal, Ipepa lo Hlanga and in April 1903 John Dube began his Ilanga lase Natal. In the eastern Cape where black journalism had an even longer history there was Imvo Zabantsundu run by John Tengo Jabavu and the more radical paper Izwi Labantu published by Walter Rubusana and Alan Soga from East London. Indian Opinion was launched at a time when just after the South African War all blacks felt disappointed with British rule and were concerned about the failure of the new order to bring about improvements in their political, social and economic status. The years after the war were marked by a proliferation of papers. Sol Plaatje . one of our most talented elites of the time began a Tswana-English weekly that served the northern Cape and Free State. Later, in 1909, in Cape Town Dr Abduraham would start the APO. These were just a few of the many papers emerging. The important point I would like to make is that Gandhi belongs to this generation of rising black journalists and editors who were all committed to improving the position of black people especially at a time when whites were moving towards forming a Union of South Africa within which blacks had such limited rights. Indian Opinion marked Gandhi's apprenticeship as a journalist. In India he would go on to publishing many other journals, Young India, Navajivan, Harijan and his experience with Indian Opinion would prove crucial.

Indian Opinion began its life by adopting a very moderate tone. The editor proclaimed `we have unfailing faith in British justice' . It was by `well-sustained continuous and temperate constitutional effort that Indians would seek redress'. That is how the paper began and in colonial Natal there was reason to be cautious. The owners of Ipepa lo Hlanga chose to close down after it offended the Natal government with an article urging people Vukani Bantu! Rise Up you people'. For the time being Gandhi was anxious not to offend white officialdom but to secure their support to improve the position of Indians. The pages of Indian Opinion provide a valuable historical record of the disabilities that Indians suffered under. It also provides an invaluable record of the life of the political life of the Indian community. It represents an alternate voice to that of newspapers such as the Natal Mercury which were often hostile to Indian interests. Soon Gandhi would move from political petitioning to active resistance and his paper changed too.

One significant moment in the paper's history came in 1904 when Gandhi relocated it to a one hundred acre farm named Phoenix just 24 kms from Durban. This reflected the influence of Leo Tolstoy and John Ruskin on Gandhi. Gandhi drew on Tolstoy's distaste for city life, his praise of agricultural labour and his renunciation of wealth. From Ruskin he drew the idea that all labour whether that of the professional or the manual labourer was equal but also that `the life of a tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman, is the life worth living.' At Phoenix the press workers were governed by a new work ethic - they would all have a share in the land, in the profits if there were any, they would grow crops to sustain themselves and they would work jointly to produce Indian Opinion. Thus the history of Indian Opinion becomes intertwined with Phoenix, Gandhi's first communal settlement. While at Phoenix the rhythm of life was dictated by the production of the paper, in India it was the spinning wheel which was the centre of ashram activity.

Indian Opinion played a very significant role in the early years of the twentieth century by fostering the idea of one united Indian community and a national identity. This was no mean task for Indians were divided by religion, caste, class, and even Indian regional affiliations. `we are not, and ought not to be, Tamils or Calcutta men, Mohammedans or Hindus, Brahmins or Banyas, but simply and solely British Indians'. Indian Opinion especially highlighted the poor conditions under which indentured labourers worked. Editorials asked `Is all well on the Estates', cases of harsh treatment by employers were publicised and the astoundingly high rate of suicide was pointed out. A campaign to end the system was launched and editor Henry Polak, a friend of Gandhi's went to India to mobilise support. Indian Opinion was a means of bringing news about Indians in the colonies before the public in India.

Indian Opinion and political activism on the part of its editors became an established tradition. This is what would, throughout the 20th century distinguish Indian Opinion from other newspapers that would arrive on the scene during the 20th century. All but one of its editors spent some time in jail. This tradition began during the satyagraha campaign between 1906 and 1913 which began because of attempts to impose passes on Indians in the Transvaal. The newspaper came into its own. In 1904 its aims had simply been to educate whites in South Africa about Indian needs and wants. From 1906 onwards it became a vehicle for challenging state laws and urging defiance of these when these were clearly unjust. It is this that elevates this tiny newspaper produced from a farm to one of world significance for it became linked with Gandhi's transformation to a mass movement leader and his philosophy of satyagraha which can be interpreted as active non-violent resistance. The law was translated into Gujerati, readers were urged to defy the law, from Johannesburg Gandhi wrote a regular Johannesburg Letter explaining to anxious Indians what steps they should take and what the reaction of the authorities would be. Inspirational stories of resistance were published such as the life of Socrates who chose death rather than bow to the Athenian officials. The paper played a fundamental role on defeating the registration drive of officials. Its pages paid tribute to local resisters and Brian Gabriel, one of Natal's earliest Indian photographers, provided visual coverage. Gandhi who by 1909 had spent 177 days in jail - and there would be more to come - extolled the virtues of prison life, a life of poverty, and urged readers not to pursue wealth at a time when there was higher moral calling.

According to Gandhi `Satyagraha would have been impossible without Indian Opinion'. Gandhi recalled `the paper generally reached Johannesburg on Sunday morning. I know of many, whose first occupation after they received the paper would be to read the Gujerati section through from beginning to end. One of the company would read it, and the rest would surround him and listen. ' So as we acknowledge the importance of satyagraha as a weapon that evolved on South African soil, that inspired many anti-colonial, anti-imperial, anti-apartheid movements and movements in a quest for justice, a weapon that would ultimately bring the mighty British Empire to its heels in India, so we should acknowledge Indian Opinion. It was a key mobilising device. Gandhi also had a bigger campaign in mind - he had his eyes on India and in the pages of Indian Opinion he published his book Hind Swaraj which set out his vision for an independent India. Indian Opinion faced its first banning order - these issues were prohibited in India.

Although Indian Opinion began by advocating Indian rights it also focussed on the disabilities of other blacks in South Africa - the devastating provisions of the Land Act of 1913, the pass struggles of Africans were publicised and African achievements too were celebrated. In the 1950s especially under the editorship of Manilal Gandhi, Gandhi's second son, the newspaper became more focussed on human rights rather than the rights of Indians only. It became a central medium for disseminating the meaning of satyagraha and of propagating Gandhism. In a significant move in 1957 the English section of IO was renamed Opinion. In the words of Sushila Gandhi who took on the editorship after Manilal's death, the name change was to reflect the "Oneness of Man", the belief in `a new sense of nationhood &http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/artsmediaculture/arts/media/#8230; [that] transcends cultural and racial barriers and holds before all the ideal of a unified nation whose various people shall be bound together by their love of their country and their belief in the ideals on which their freedom should be founded. Gandhi she asserted belonged to not just "India and Indians only &http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/artsmediaculture/arts/media/#8230; the greatest teachers of humanity do not belong to their tribes or national groups they belong to humanity'. And this is what we commemorate today that great belief in fundamental human rights and the constant striving and vigilance to ensure its attainment.

Gandhi left behind a tough legacy for his successors at Indian Opinion to follow. This was not a commercial undertaking, it was a paper for political, social and moral education. It would be very remiss of me to not pay tribute to those who helped Gandhi shape his legacy in those early years and those who continued that legacy for several decades thereafter. There were the trustees of Phoenix Settlement and all those who on a regular basis who saved Indian Opinion from its dire financial straits. These names would be too numerous to mention. We need to recognise though in a roll call of honour at least the family of Parsee Rustomjee. There were many editors - Nazar, Hebert Kitchin, Henry Polak, Albert West, Manilal Gandhi who was the paper's longest serving editor for 36 years and Sushila Gandhi. There were many contributors, assistants and acting editors too - Gandhi's nephews, Chhaganlal and Maganlal Gandhi, Lewis Walter Ritch, Albert Christopher, Pragji Desai, Surendra Medh, Shantilal Gandhi, P.R. Pather, Jordan Ngubane, Christopher Gell, Homer Jack, Arun Gandhi, Sita Gandhi-Dhupelia, Ranjith Nowbath , Pat Poovalingam and Natoo Babenia. When Indian Opinion published its last issue on 4 August 1961, Alpha Ngcobo had served for 41 years after coming to the press as a young man of twenty years. Perumalsamy Rajoo served for 27 years, D. Gangabissoon sixteen , S. Ramdhar and R. Baijnath thirteen years each. They made up the small staff that daily gathered in the International Printing Press.

Sushila Gandhi above all ended a 34 year old link with the paper. She had come as a young bride of 20 years in 1927 and began in the press by composing types - each letter had to be handset - for over 58 years advances in printing technology were deliberately avoided. Time stood still and manual labour was favoured over machines. Sushila soon progressed to writing and editing the Gujerati sections and then took over after her husband's death. A photograph shows a lone woman in the printing press working amongst the handful of men. Indian Opinion provided a place where women could work as equals and be freed of cultural and traditional restraints and that was Gandhi's doing and teaching. And that too is what we celebrate and commemorate today. I thank you.

2011-10-07T13:29:00.003+05:30

Adopt-a-Book, a project by Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya . Air India supported this project by putting this hoarding at the prominent location of Kemps Corner, Mumbai during Gandhi Jayanti Week.

2011-10-03T16:42:00.000+05:30

http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/adoptabook/adoptabook.htm

2011-06-29T13:38:00.001+05:30

By ISHAAN THAROOR Tuesday, June 28, 2011

2 of 10

MANSELL / TIME & LIFE PICTURES / GETTY IMAGES

Britain's centuries-long rule over India was, in many ways, first and foremost a regime of monopolies over commodities like tea, textiles and even salt. Under colonial law, Indians were forbidden to extract and sell their own salt and instead were forced to pay the far higher price of salt processed in and imported from the U.K. In March 1930, Mohandas Gandhi, the charismatic and enigmatic independence leader, embarked on a 24-day march from the city of Ahmedabad to the small seaside town of Dandi, attracting followers along the way. The assembled throngs watched as he and dozens of others dipped into the sea to obtain salt. That act — for which more than 80,000 Indians would be arrested in the coming months — sparked years of mass civil disobedience that came to define both the Indian independence struggle and Gandhi himself. Known as the saltsatyagraha — a Sanskrit term loosely meaning "truth-force" — it carried the emotional and moral weight to break an empire.

2011-04-29T13:56:00.000+05:30

It has been my experience that I am always true from my point of view, and am often wrong from the point of view of my honest critics. I know that we are both right from our respective points of view . And this knowledge saves me from attributing motives to my opponents or critics.
M.K. Gandhi

2011-03-25T13:04:00.000+05:30

Dr. Usha Thakkar Hon. Secretary Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya	Shri Vasant Pradhan Hon. Secretary Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai

2011-03-07T14:26:00.000+05:30

2011-02-25T14:56:00.000+05:30

A very interesting letter written by Gandhiji to Indian Press on third class travelling on Indian Railways.

LETTER TO THE PRESS ON THIRD CLASS TRAVELLING ON INDIAN RAILWAYS

RANCHI,
September 25, 1917
TO
THE EDITOR,
THE LEADER.

SIR,
I have now been in India for over two years and a half after my return from South Africa. Over one quarter of that time I have passed on the Indian trains travelling 3rd class by choice. I have travelled north as far as Lahore, down south up to Tranquebar, and from Karachi to Calcutta. Having resorted to third class travelling among other reasons for the purpose of studying the conditions under which this class of passengers travel, I have naturally made as critical observations as I could. I have fairly covered the majority of railway
systems during this period. Now and then I have entered into correspondence with the management of the different railways about defects that have come under my notice. But I think that the time has
come when I should invite the Press and the public to join in a crusade against a grievance which has too long remained unredressed, though much of it is capable of redress without great difficulty.
On the 12th instant I booked at Bombay for Madras by the mailtrain and paid Rs. 13-9. It was labelled to carry 22 passengers. These could only have seating accommodation. There were no bunks in this carriage whereon passengers could lie with any degree of safety or comfort. There were two nights to be passed in this train before reaching Madras. If not more than 22 passengers found their way into my carriage before we reached Poona, it was because the bolder ones kept the others at bay. With the exception of two or three insistent passengers, all had to find their sleep, being seated all the time. After reaching Raichur the pressure became unbearable. The rush of passengers could not be stayed. The fighters among us found the task almost beyond them. The guards or other railway servants came in only to push in more passengers. A defiant Memon merchant protested against this packing of passengers like sardines. In vain did he say that this was his fifth night on the train. The guard insulted him and referred him to the management at the terminus. There were during this night as many as 35 passengers in the carriage during the greater part of it. Some lay on the floor in the midst of dirt and some had to keep standing. A free fight was at one time avoided only by the intervention of some of the older passengers who did not want to add to the discomfort by an
exhibition of temper.
On the way, passengers got for tea tannin-water with filthy sugar and a whitish-looking liquid miscalled milk which gave this water a muddy appearance. I can vouch for the appearance, but I cite the testimony of the passengers as to the taste.
Not during the whole of the journey was the compartment once swept or cleaned. The result was every time you walked on the floor or rather cut your way through the passengers seated on the floor, you
waded through dirt. The closet was also not cleaned during the journey and there was no water in the water tank. Refreshments sold to the passengers were dirty-looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and weighed in equally unattractive scales. These were previously sampled by millions of flies. I asked some of the passengers who went in for these dainties to give their opinion. Many of them used choice expressions as to the quality but were satisfied to state that they were helpless in the matter; they had to take things as they came.
On reaching the station, I found that the ghariwala would not take me unless I paid the fare he wanted. I mildly protested and told him I would pay him the authorized fare. I had to turn passive resister before I could be taken. I simply told him he would have to pull me out of the ghari or call the policeman.
The return journey was performed in no better manner. The carriage was packed already and but for a friend’s intervention, I could not have been able to secure even a seat. My admission was certainly beyond the authorized number. This compartment was constructed to carry 9 passengers but it had constantly 12 in it. At one place, an important railway servant swore at a protestant, threatened to strike him and locked the door over the passengers whom he had with difficulty squeezed in. To this compartment there was a closet falsely so called. It was designed as a European closet but could hardly be used as such. There was a pipe in it but no water, and I say without fear of challenge that it was pestilentially dirty. The compartment itself was evil-looking. Dirt was lying thick upon the wood work and I do not know that it had ever seen soap or water.
The compartment had an exceptional assortment of passengers. There were stalwart Punjabi Mahommedans, two refined Tamilians and two Mahommedan merchants who joined us later. The merchants related [about] the bribes they had to give to procure comfort. One of the Punjabis had already travelled three nights and was weary and fatigued. But he could not stretch himself. He said he had sat the whole day at the Central Station, watching passengers giving bribes to procure their tickets. Another said he had himself to pay Rs. 5 before
he could get his ticket and his seat. These three men were bound for Ludhiana and had still more nights of travel in store for them. What I have described is not exceptional but normal. I have got
down at Raichur, Dhond, Sonepur, Chakardharpur, Purulia, Asansol and other junction stations and been at the Mosafirkhana attached to these stations. They are discreditable-looking places where there is no order, no cleanliness but utter confusion and horrible din and noise.
Passengers have no benches or not enough to sit on. They squat on dirty floors and eat dirty food. They are permitted to throw the leavings of their food and spit where they like, sit how they like, and smoke everywhere. The closets attached to these places defy description. I have not the power to adequately describe them without committing a breach of the laws of decent speech. Disinfecting powder, ashes or disinfecting fluids are unknown. The army of flies buzzing about them warns you against their use. But a third class traveller is dumb and helpless. He does not want to complain even though to go to these places may be to court death. I know passengers who fast while they are travelling just in order to lessen the misery of their life in the trains. At Sonepur flies having failed, wasps have come forth to warn the public and the authorities, but yet to no purpose. At the Imperial Capital a certain 3rd class booking office is a Black Hole fit only to be destroyed.
Is it any wonder that plague has become endemic in India? Any other result is impossible where passengers always leave some dirt where they go and take more on leaving. On Indian trains alone passengers smoke with impunity in all carriages irrespective of the presence of the fair sex and irrespective of the protest of non-smokers. And this notwithstanding a bye-law which prevents a passenger from smoking without the permission of his fellows in a compartment which is not allotted to smokers. The existence of the awful war cannot be allowed to stand in the way of removal of this gigantic evil. War can be no warrant for
tolerating dirt and overcrowding. One could understand an entire stoppage of passenger traffic in a crisis like this, but never a continuation or accentuation of insanitation and conditions that must undermine health and morality. Compare the lot of the 1st class passengers with that of the 3rd class. In the Madras case, the 1st class fare is over five times as much as the 3rd class fare. Does the third class passenger get one-fifth, even one-tenth, of the comforts of his first class fellow? It is but simple justice to claim that some relative
proportion be observed between the cost and comfort. It is a known fact that the 3rd class traffic pays for the ever increasing luxuries of 1st and 2nd class travelling. Surely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare necessities of life.
In neglecting the 3rd class passengers, opportunity of giving a splendid education to millions in orderliness, sanitation, decent composite life, and cultivation of simple and clean tastes is being lost. Instead of receiving an object lesson in these matters, 3rd class passengers have their sense of decency and cleanliness blunted during
their travelling experience.
Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: Let the people in high places, the Viceroy, the Commander-in-chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through
the experiences now and then of 3rd class travelling. We would then soon see a remarkable change in the conditions of the 3rd class travelling and the uncomplaining millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being carried from place to place with the ordinary creature comforts.
I am,
Yours,
M. K. GANDHI.

2011-01-28T12:44:00.000+05:30

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai
&
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya

has organised programme for Martyrs' Day
to mark 63^rd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi)
on Sunday , January 30th, 2011
at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007

Programme:

	7.30 - 8.00 a.m.	Mass Spinning
	8.00 - 9.00 a.m.	Prayers & Bhajans by:
		Smt.Gita Yannamandi, Saraswati Vrindagaan Mandal, Gamdevi.
		Shri Somnath Parab


	9.00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.	Favourite Bhajans of Gandhiji by Priti Bhatt

You are invited to please join us to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

Shri Vasant Pradhan

President

Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai.

Srimati Usha Gokani

President

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi,

Mumbai.

2011-01-28T12:40:00.000+05:30

Bhavan’s Kala Kendra will start a monthly programme “Saregama” for the lovers of music of old films and classical compositions. This programme will be a Listeners’ Club where different genre and themes will be presented in association with “The Society of Indian Record Collectors” and “Sargam” to the appreciative music lovers. It will be held at Bhavans Chowpatty on 4^th Saturday of every month from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm.

The series will be inaugurated on Saturday 29^th January 2011 at 5.00 pm at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty. The theme will be “Homage to the Mahatma”. It will feature audio-visual presentation including excerpts from the rare speeches in Gandhiji’s own voice, Gandhiji’s favorite Bhajans and songs. This special audio-visual presentation is being jointly organized with Gandhi Smarak Nidhi-Mumbai, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya and Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal and will be conducted by Dr. Suresh Chandvankar.

ALL MUSIC LOVERS ARE WELCOME.

2010-12-31T14:09:00.000+05:30

" May the New Year bring prosperity and happiness."

- M.K. Gandhi
Prayer Meeting,
December 24,1947.

2010-12-15T14:17:00.000+05:30

Gandhiji issued a call to the nation to observe 'Hartal' against the Rowlatt Act which was also known as Black Act, on April 6 1919.

BLACK SUNDAY

GREAT POPULAR DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE BLACK ACT

The following is the programme of the demonstrations which

have been arranged for Sunday next:

SUNDAY, 6TH APRIL, 1919

SEA BATH 7 A.M.—8 A.M. CHOWPATTY

PROCESSION 8.15—10 A.M.:

Chowpatty Sea Face Girgaum Back Road

Sandhurst Bridge C. P. Tank Road

Sandhurst Road Madhav Baug

3.30—LADIES’ MEETING,

CHINA BAUG,

Mrs. Jayakar Presiding.

Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, Mahatma Gandhi: Speakers,

6.30—MASS MEETING—FRENCH BRIDGE

* **

IF YOU VALUE YOUR FREEDOM, YOU WILL JOIN

The Bombay Chronicle, 4-4-1919

CWMG Vol 15:177

2010-11-15T15:04:00.001+05:30

2010-11-12T15:04:00.000+05:30

2010-11-12T13:09:00.003+05:30

2010-10-01T18:56:00.000+05:30

Here is a very interesting and significant article by Ramchandra Guha which was published in The Telegraph, Calcutta, dt 25 September 2010.

FAITH, CYNICAL AND SUBLIME

- How would Rumi and Gandhi have resolved the Ayodhya dispute?

POLITICS AND PLAY: Ramachandra guha

In the spring of 1907, the London publisher, John Murray, published a book on Persian mystics by one F. Hadland Davis. The book appeared in a series called “The Wisdom of the East”, whose editors desired their publications to be “ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and West, the old world of Thought, and the new of Action”. Through the books in the series, it was hoped that the Western (and Christian) reader would acquire “a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought [which] may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nations of another creed and colour”.

One of the first readers of the book was an Easterner educated in the West, Mohandas K. Gandhi. Then based in Johannesburg, Gandhi may have acquired the book from a local store, or perhaps ordered it from London. At any rate, he was deeply impressed, writing about it in Indian Opinion, the journal he then edited. Of the mystics whom Hadland Davis had profiled, Gandhi was charmed most by Jalaluddin Rumi, who aspired to “a pure heart and love of God”. Gandhi quotes Rumi saying, when asked where one could find god, “I saw the Cross and also Christians, but I did not find God on the Cross. I went to find him in the temple, but in vain. I saw him neither in Herat nor in Kandahar. He could be found neither on the hill nor in the cave. At last, I looked into my heart and found Him there, only there and nowhere else.” Gandhi ended his review by saying that he would “like to recommend the book to everyone. It will be of profit to all, Hindus and Muslims alike”.

Gandhi’s meditation on Rumi was published in June, 1907. That November, the Gujarati New Year, Nutan Varsh, fell on the same day as the great Muslim festival, Eid. Gandhi used this coincidence to offer a brief homily on the significance of inter-faith understanding. “If the people of different religions grasp the real significance of their own religion,” he wrote, “they will never hate the people of any religion other than their own. As Jalaluddin Rumi has said or as Shri Krishna said to Arjun, there are many rivers, and they appear different from one another, but they all meet in the ocean.”

A hundred years ago, Jalaluddin Rumi was known only to the specialist, but because of the efforts of more recent translators and publicists this 13th-century mystic is — according to an article in a recent issue of the Times Literary Supplement — the most widely read poet in America today. As it happens, after those two occasions in 1907, Gandhi did not write about the Sufi mystic again. However, the lesson he took from Rumi he upheld and affirmed all his life.

Twenty-five years after his review of Hadland Davis’s Persian Mystics, Gandhi received an anguished letter from an English disciple named Verrier Elwin. A licensed priest of the Church of England, Elwin was threatened by his bishop with excommunication, because he refused to take the Gospel to the Gond tribals he then lived with. The priest had learnt from Gandhi that there were many paths to god; while he himself had chosen the one laid down by Christ, he would permit the tribals to follow the road of their ancestors. The bishop vehemently disagreed, saying that Jesus commanded his followers to make Christians of unbelievers.

Faced with expulsion from his Church, Elwin wrote to Gandhi for advice. The Mahatma asked him not to take to heart what the bishop had told him, since the message of Jesus was “in the main denied in the churches, whether Roman or English”. Even if he was thrown out of the Church of England, he could remain a Christian according to his own lights. For, as Gandhi consolingly told the confused young man, “Your pulpit is the whole earth. The blue sky is the roof of your own church.”

This last piece of advice is highly pertinent to the once very intense, then moribund, and now revived dispute in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya. For Jalaluddin Rumi and Mohandas K. Gandhi did not need structures of marble and stone to find god in. Nor should we. One can be good, godly and devout without ever entering a temple or mosque or church.

Twenty-four years have passed since the locks were opened in the makeshift shrine to Ram; 21 since L.K. Advani led a blood-soaked ‘rath yatra’; 18 since the Babri Masjid was brought down by a mob. In this time, a generation of Indians has come of age with no memories of the dispute that once polarized the country. Do we need to open the wounds again? When asked this question by a visiting journalist earlier this month, a student in Ayodhya answered by saying that he hoped that instead of a temple or a mosque, a hospital would come up on the disputed site.

Before and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, various suggestions were offered on how to put an end to the controversy. A well-meaning Gandhian suggested a multi-faith centre. Another gave this idea more specificity; we should, he said, build a “Ram-Rahim Darwaza”, a large archway signifying openness and dialogue. The proposal of the young student is as noble as any other, and perhaps more practical. What could be more meaningful than a structure tending to the poor, the sick and the wounded in a place whose mythic and historic resonances once provoked riot and mass murder in the name of faith?

This week the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court was to decide who owned the title-suit to the site in Ayodhya. The court’s sitting has now been postponed; however, whatever its decision, the matter will surely be taken by one or other party to the Supreme Court. The arguments will drag on. The sangh parivar will insist that a grand Ram temple come up on the site. Muslim extremists will argue that the Babri Masjid must be rebuilt.

In my view, rather than leave the matter to the courts, the Central government should intervene decisively to end the dispute. Under the Land Acquisition Act, the State can acquire property from individuals and communities in the name of the “public purpose”. This act has been grossly abused in the recent past, to allow private companies to grab land owned by peasants and tribals. (The conflicts at Singur, Nandigram, Kashipur and Niyamgiri were all sparked by the misuse of this act.) Here now is a chance for the State to redeem itself and simultaneously to put an end to this religious — or shall we say pseudo-religious — controversy. Nothing would serve the “public purpose” better than if the government of India was to acquire the land being fought over in Ayodhya, clear it of intruders, and build a new, well-equipped and adequately staffed hospital for the residents of the town.

Mahatma Gandhi was the greatest Ram bhakt since Tulsidas; yet once he had reached adulthood, he never entered a Ram temple (or any other). Jalaluddin Rumi turned away — or was turned back — from the mosques in Herat and Kandahar. Both men knew that the path to god was independent of physical structures and self-appointed preachers. Had they been alive, I think Gandhi and Rumi would both have approved of a hospital being built at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

ramachandraguha@yahoo.in

2010-09-29T13:39:00.001+05:30

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai
&
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya
Programmes for Gandhi Jayanti Week,
2nd October to 8^th October 2010at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007

Programmes:

Date	Time	Programme	Venue
October 2, 2010	7.30a.m.	Mass Spinning	Mani Bhavan
	8.00-9.00a.m.	Bhajans by : Smt.Geeta Yannamadi, Sarawati Vrindagan Mandal, Gamdevi. SKI Jain High School , Marine Lines. Balmohan Vidya Mandir, Dadar. J. B. Vachcha High School, Dadar	Mani Bhavan
October 2, 2010	9.15 a.m.	Inauguration of Khadi Exhibition & Sale Organised by Gandhi Seva Sena, Mumbai	Mani Bhavan
October 4, 2010	11:00 a.m.	Group Singing Competition of Patriotic Songs (Marathi) for Std I to IV school children
October 4, 2010	4:00 p.m.	Lecture for the tourist guides.	Mani Bhavan
October 5, 2010	11.00 a.m.	Group Singing Competition of Patriotic Songs (Hindi) for Std. I to IV school children.	Mani Bhavan
October 6, 2010	11.00 a.m.	Singing Competition for teachers– Hindi/Marathi	Mani Bhavan
October 7, 2010	2:00 p.m.	Documentary Film on Mahatma Gandhi	Mani Bhavan
October 8, 2010	2:00 p.m.	Documentary Film on Mahatma Gandhi	Mani Bhavan

Exhibition & Sale of Khadi at Mani Bhavan , Laburnum Road , Gamdevi, Mumbai 400007. Daily from October 2 to October 8, 2010, from 11.00 am to 6.p.m.

Screening of Gandhi Film every day at 6:00 pm at Mani Bhavan.

2010-08-13T16:17:00.000+05:30

On 15 August 1947, India became free from the foreign rule. Mahatma Gandhi was in Calcutta. He pitted his whole soul against this madness of communal hatred and tried to calm the angry passions on both sides. Lord Mountbatten hailed Gandhiji as One-man Boundary Force. He wrote : " In the Punjab we have 55 thousand soldiers and large-scale rioting on our hands. In Bengal our forces consist of one man, and there is no rioting. As a serving officer, as well as an administrator, may I be allowed to pay my tribute to the One-man Boundary Force. "

Speaking at Prayer Meeting on 20 July 1947 , Gandhiji said : " I cannot rejoice on August 15. I do not want to deceive you. But at the same time I shall not ask you not to rejoice.Unfortunately the kind of freedom we have got today contains also the seeds of future conflict between India and Pakistan. How can we therefore light the lamps? "

A day before on 14 August, speaking at Marwari Club in Calcutta, Gandhi said : " Tomorrow we will be free from the slavery of British; but from mid-night India will be cut into two pieces."

15 August 1947, Gandhiji spent his day with prayers, fasting and spinning. He did not issue any formal message nor did he attend the celebrations in Delhi. Talking to the group of students, Gandhiji said : '' I am not lifted off my feet by these demonstration of joy. "

Source : Collected Works Of Mahtama Gandhi. Vols : 88 & 89.

2010-08-09T15:18:00.000+05:30

" I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when
the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall
the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen,
and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use
to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control
over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for
the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away." - M. K. GANDHI
August 1947

2010-08-06T14:56:00.000+05:30

Gandhiji arriving for the historic session of All India Congress Committee , at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Mumbai on August 1942.

Despite the police warning large crowd had gathered at Gowalia Tank Maidan. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Indian flag.

In March 1942, British Government sent Sir Stafford Cripps to

India

with proposal for a new constitution. This proposal were found unsatisfactory and were rejected both by the Congress & Muslim league.

In May 1942, Gandhi called on

Britain

to "leave

India

to God. If this is too much then leave her to anarchy."

The historic session of the All India Congress Committee began on the 7th August 1942 and was concluded after midnight of 8th/9th August 1942 at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Mumbai.

The resolution was passed unanimously. The resolution which came to be known as 'Quit India Resolution' created on 'electrifying atmosphere' in the country.

Gandhi in his stirring speech told the people "There is a mantra, short one, that I give you. You imprint it on your heart and let every breath of yours give an expression to it. The mantra is "do or die".

2010-07-28T15:05:00.002+05:30

Indo-Pak Shanti Yatra was launched from Mani Bhavan on 28 July, 2010 by Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Chagan Bhujbal. Also present were Dr. Rajan Welukar, Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, RPI leader Shri Ramdas Athavle, Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadikari and Dr. Shanti Patel. Students from Mumbai schools and colleges were also present at the function.
The peace march which started from Mani Bhavan, Mumbai will reach Wagah Border on 14th August, 2010.

2010-07-23T16:37:00.001+05:30

http://www.life.com/image/50876718

2010-04-16T13:00:00.000+05:30

2010-04-05T14:40:00.000+05:30

2010-03-15T15:06:00.001+05:30

Foreign News: Man of the Year, 1930

2010-03-08T13:15:00.002+05:30

On International Women's day , here is an excerpt from the speech given by Gandhiji, at an annual gathering of the Bhagini Samaj (a women’s welfare organization in Mumbai), held in the Morarji Gokuldas Hall., on February 26, 1918 . Gandhiji aroused the women from their state of detachment , to respond to the call of the National Movement.

" Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the very minutest detail in the activities of man and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him. She is entitled to a supreme place in her own sphere of activity as man is in his. This ought to be the natural condition of things and not as a result only of learning to read and write. By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over women which they do not deserve and ought not to have. Many of our movements stop half-way because of the condition of our women. Much of our work does not yield appropriate results ; our lot is like that of the penny-wise and pound-foolish trader who does not employ enough capital in his business.

If I am right, a good many from among you, members of this Samaj, should go out to educate your ignorant sisters about their real condition. In practical terms, this means that you should spare as much time as you can to visit the most backward localities in Bombay and give the women there what you have yourselves received. If you have joined men in their religious, political and social activities, acquaint them with these. If you have gained any special knowledge about the bringing up of children, impart it to them. If you have studied and realized in your own experience the benefits of clean air, clean water, clean and simple food, and exercise, tell these women about them too. In this way, you will raise yourselves and them."

2010-02-05T14:48:00.003+05:30

2010-02-03T14:25:00.002+05:30

2010-01-29T15:26:00.002+05:30

Gandhi Smarak Nidhi & Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya , has organised programme for Martyrs' Day to mark 62nd Death Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007.

Programme :

7:30 am to 8:00am - Mass spinning

8:00am to 9:00 am - Prayers and Bhajans by :

.Smt. Madhavi Nanal of Gwalior Gharana.
.J.B.Vachcha High School , Dadar.
.Ammulakh Amichand B.V.Vidyalaya, Matunga.

.SVDD Secondary English Vidyalaya, Ghatkoper.

9:00am to10:30am - Gandhiji's favourite Bhajans by Smt. Madhavi Nanal.

10:30am to 2:00pm - All Religion Prayers by various religious groups and organisations.

All are cordially invited .

With regards,

Shri Vasant Pradhan, President, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya.

Smt. Usha Gokani, President, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai.

2010-01-04T13:53:00.003+05:30

Dr. Otis Moss Jr., American theologian, civil rights leader and a member of President Obama’s advisory council. Moss is in India to give lectures on the role of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. in the development of human rights across the world. He visited Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya on 30th December 2009.

2009-12-23T15:11:00.001+05:30

2009-12-16T13:22:00.001+05:30

Shri Vasant Pradhan, Shri Kumar Ketkar, Dr. Shanti Patel, Dr. Rohini Gawankar at the book launch of Jinku Kinwa Maru at Mani Bhavan on 7th Dec., 2009.

2009-12-09T22:13:00.003+05:30

Prof. Douglas Allen will give lecture on ' Mahatma Gandhi and Violence and Terrorism Today' , on Tuesday 15th Decmeber, 2009 at 3:p.m. at Mani Bhavan , 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai 400007.

Prof. Allen is Professor of Philosophy, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA. His most recent books are Myth and Religion in Mircea Eliade, Comparative Philosophy and Religion in Times of Terror and The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for Twenty-First Century. Prof. Allen is in India on a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship at Mani Bhavan to do research on ' Mahatma Gandhi and Violence,Terrorism and the Contemporary World.'

2009-10-26T14:51:00.003+05:30

Kishorlal Mashruwala (1890-1952) was born in Mumbai and did his early education from Akola and Mumbai. In 1909, he graduated from Wilson College, Mumbai. He was a close associate of Gandhiji. In 1930 he participated in Salt Satyagraha and Quit India Movement in 1942. He felt that constructive work is a necessary counterpart of non cooperation movement.

As an editor of Harijan in 1950, he wrote a relevant article in Harijan, dated February 12 1950, under the title ‘You Have Let Down Gandhiji’. Here is an extract from the article written by Shri Mashruwala.

“The charge of having let down Gandhiji has become a fashionable utterance because so many of us have cultivated the opposite habit of making Gandhiji and sarvodaya and truth and non-violence hackneyed phrases. Every leader and every minister seems to regard himself as on insecure ground unless he says, “This is what the Father of Nation taught us,” or, “ultimately the good of the world consists in taking to Gandhiji’s way of life.”

It will be far better if, instead of constantly referring to the Father of the Nation, we humbly rely upon Truth and Love within us. For whatever Gandhiji said or did came to him from his quest of Truth and sprang from non-violence. And though the Mahatma is no longer with us, the light which guided him is always there to guide us, if we have the will to accept it.”

-K.G. Mashruwala

2009-10-09T13:58:00.012+05:30

Smt. Neela Bhagwat, children from Happy Home School for Blind and other schools from Mumbai sang bhajans on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti 2009.

2009-09-04T13:07:00.003+05:30

Last month Mani Bhavan hosted an interesting talk on Gandhi and Parsis by Dinyar Patel. He also spoke on the role of Parsis in the Indian freedom movement. A very enthralling lecture.

Below is an excerpt from an article, Gandhiji addressed to the Parsis, published in Young India dated 23-3-1921.

DEAR FRIENDS,

I know that you are following with considerable interest the present non-co-operation movement. You may know, too, that all thoughtful non-co-operators are anxiously waiting to see what part you are going to play in the process of purification through which the whole country is passing. I, personally, have every reason to have full faith in your doing the right thing when the moment for making the final choice comes to you. And I address these few words to you because I feel that, probably, that moment has now arrived.

Apart from your being fellow-countrymen, I am bound to you by many sacred ties. Dadabhai ( Dadabhai Naoroji )was the first patriot to inspire me. He was my guide and helper when I did not know any other leader. It was to him that I bore, when yet a boy, a letter of introduction.( This was in 1888 when Gandhiji went to England to study for the Bar).
It was the late uncrowned king of Bombay, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta who led me in 1896 and showed me the way to work. It was he who, (when I wanted to give battle to a Political Agent as far back as 1892), restrained my youthful ardour and taught me the first practical lesson in ahimsa in public life. He taught me not to resent personal wrongs if I would serve India.
A Parsi merchant in Durban, Rustomjee Ghorkhodoo, was among my most valued clients and friends in South Africa. He gave freely to thepublic cause, and he and his brave son were the first among my fellow prisoners. He gave me shelter when I was lynched,and now, too, he is following the swaraj movement with considerable interest and has just donated Rs. 40,000 to it.
In my humble opinion, probably the first woman in India today is a Parsi woman ( presumably Gandhiji refers to Mrs. Jaijee Petit, wife of Jehangir Bomanjee Petit ) gentle as a lamb, with a heart that holds the whole humanity. To have her friendship is the rarest privilege of life.

M. K. GANDHI

Young India, 23-3-1921

2009-06-17T16:38:00.000+05:30

Kathryn Hadley has written two a very interesting articles in History Today Magazine, on Gandhi and Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum, Mumbai. I'am posting both the articles in this blog . Also giving the link of her site for more articles on Gandhi.
http://historytodaymagazine.blogspot.com/search/label/india

Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Gandhi's Letter to Hitler

by Kathryn Hadley
The soaring sales of Mein Kampf in India are somewhat worrying. The claims in the article on the website of The Telegraph that India and Nazi Germany influenced one another and that Gandhi corresponded with Hitler himself are also disturbing and shatter the image of Gandhi in popular imagination as a representative and fervent defender of justice and equality.
Yesterday's article does not, however, provide any details as to what the exchange of letters between Gandhi and the Fuhrer was about, nor how often the two men were in contact with one another.
Over Christmas, I visited Mani Bhavan, Mahatma Gandhi's residence in Mumbai between 1917 and 1934, where one of his original letters to Hitler was displayed. This letter was hugely significant... Written on July 23rd 1939, as Hitler's designs for German expansion in Eastern Europe became increasingly apparent, Gandhi urged Hitler to prevent the advent of the Second World War. On March 15th 1939, the German Army had notably invaded Czechoslovakia and a week later Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany. In April, Hitler renounced the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact and on May 22nd Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel, which reasserted cooperation between the two countries and encouraged a joint military and economic policy.
'It is quite clear to me that you are today the one person in the world whocan prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must youpay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you tobe?'
For more information on the period leading up to the Second World War see the 'Road to War' section of our focus page on the Second World War.

Friday, 30 January 2009

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi lives on

by Kathryn Hadley
‘History is replete with instances of men who by dying withcourage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violentopponents.’ (Gandhi)
61 years ago today, Gandhi was shot whilst taking his evening public walk around the grounds of Birla House in New Delhi. The assassin was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu radical who had links with the Hindu extremist group Hindu Mahasabha, which notably blamed Gandhi for weakening India and sacrificing Hindu interests by insisting upon payment to Pakistan. He immediately surrendered himself to the police and was put on trial. He was sentenced to death for murder and hanged at Ambala Jail, on November 15th 1949.On the night of Gandhi’s assassination, President Pandit Nehru broadcast a radio address to the nation:
‘Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country.’Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi or ‘Great Soul’, an honorific allegedly first given to him by the poet, playwright, novelist and composer Rabindranath Tagore. Gandhi is also referred to in India as Bapu ‘Father’ and is honoured as the Father of the Nation.Although 61 years ago to this day India may have been plunged into darkness, the light of Gandhi still shines brightly. In India, January 30th is observed as Martyr’s Day in remembrance of those who gave their lives in service of the Indian nation. His birthday, on October 2nd, is also commemorated as a national holiday in India. In June 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted October 2nd as an International Day of Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi was named 1930 Man of the Year by Time magazine and, in 1996, the government of India introduced the Mahatma Gandhi series of currency notes. Statues have been erected in his memory all over the world. There is notably a statue in Tavistock Square, near University College London, where he studied law.There exists a wide variety of resources devoted to Gandhi in India and worldwide. Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s residence in Mumbai from 1917 to 1934, has an extensive library with a large collection of books both read and written by Gandhi. It also has a very comprehensive website.Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai. www.gandhi-manibhavan.org

2009-04-06T13:20:00.000+05:30

Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya & Gandhi Smarak has organised programmes for National Week, from 6th April 2009 to 13th April 2009 at Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai - 400 007

Programmes:
8-4-2009, at 3:00 p.m.
Recitation of Ashram Bhajans by Smt. Madhavi Nanal.

9-4-2009, at 3:00 p.m.
Sanskrit story telling on the episodes in the life of Mahatma Gandhi by students of Devwani Mandiram.

13-4-2009, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Exhibition of selected entries of ‘ Gandhi Scrapbook Competition” . Courtesy Janmabhoomi .

2009-03-30T13:40:00.000+05:30

We have posted some interesting pictures of Martin Luther King III's visit to Mani Bhavan on 19th February,2009. He was accompanied by his wife , Congressman John Louis and other dignitaries from USA. He was here to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Pilgrimage to India in 1959.

2009-03-30T13:30:00.000+05:30

2009-03-23T12:44:00.000+05:30

Here is an interesting text written by Gandhiji.

‘A BLOT ON BOMBAY’
" Bombay has been called Bombay the beautiful. If Bombay means merely Malabar Hill and Chowpati and beauty is to be referred only to the exterior, then Bombay is certainly beautiful. But if the heart of Bombay is penetrated, like most of our cities it is ugly both in appearance and reality. The indifference of city fathers to the milk supply of their city is truly criminal and the facts carefully compiled in the foregoing letter do constitute a “blot” on Bombay the beautiful. But it seems to me to be useless merely to blame the members of the Municipality. They are after all what the voters make them. If Bombay is to have a cheap supply of pure milk the education of the voters should be undertaken on a wide scale. They should be taught never to vote for any candidate who does not pledge himself to secure a proper milk supply for the city in the quickest possible time."
Young India, 29-11-1928

2009-03-16T15:02:00.000+05:30

King III feels 'the spirit of the Mahatma'
20 Feb 2009, 0223 hrs IST, Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN
Times of India
MUMBAI: Fifty years after American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott visited Gandhi museum - Mani Bhavan on
leafy Laburnum Road, Martin Luther King III retraced his parents' steps on Thursday. Accompanied by wife Andrea and prominent American civil rights leaders, King III spent about two hours at the historic wooden building, chatting with staff and the media. He came out "feeling the spirit of the Mahatma''. After Mani Bhavan's president Shanti Patel received the delegation with the traditional garland of yarn spun on a charkha, King III was taken to the room where his parents had stayed for two days in 1959. "My father said people visited India as tourists but he came to India as a pilgrim. Today my wife and I are honoured to be here,'' he said. "Gandhi told us how to love and how to forgive. The tragedy of 26/11 showed we have not learnt enough from his message.'' He heads Realising the Dream, an NGO. In order to continue with the unfinished work of his parents, King III works for civil rights even today. "I remember passing by an amusement park called Fun Town as a child and I would ask my father why I couldn't enter. "We are working on that,'' he would say,'' recalls King III, the second child of his parents. Also present was Congressman John Lewis who was racially discriminated against and was once beaten up by a white American. He said both Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr helped change the history of the US. "Had it not been for Gandhi and King Jr, America would not have an African-American as its president. Remember, 40 years ago, blacks were not even allowed to register and vote,'' said Lewis, whom speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi once called "the conscience of the US Congress''. Usha Thakkar, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya's honorary secretary, gifted copies of Gandhi's autobiography and Gandhian Usha Mehta's book `The Multi-Dimensional Thought of Mahatma Gandhi' to King III as well as other guests as mementos.

2009-03-16T14:37:00.000+05:30

"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." - Mahatma Gandhi

Your website is divine beautiful, informative and Excellent.

Mahatma Gandhi was the best Manager for the universal freedom.
Indian Vedic contribution is a reservoir of Vibrant Information and Harmonious Creativity. May the Womb of Nature Embrace all with Tranquil Blessings from this day forward. Let this attract one's attention affecting them Positively. It is a Sanctuary of the Self , a Creative Venue which serves as an Enduring Expression of Lightness, where a peaceful Atmosphere with Sunlight Flows and serene atmosphere prevail.
In the storm of life we struggle through myriads of stimuli of pressure, stress, and muti-problems that seek for a solution and answer. We are so suppressed by the routine of this every life style that most of us seem helpless. However, if we look closely to ancient techniques we shall discover the magnificent way to understand and realize the ones around us and mostly ourselves. If only we could stop for a moment and allow this to happen. May all beings be happy (Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu)
The ancient Hindu philosophy of keepiing mind and body for the well being, has entered the managerial, medical and judicial domain of the world. Today it has found its place as an alternative to the theory of modern management and also as a means to bring back the right path of peace and prosperity for the human beings. Let me bow to Indian Maharishi Veda Vysa with folded hands who helped in removing the impurities of the mind through his writings on Vedas, impurities of speech through his writings on puranas, and impurities of body through his writings on other sacred texts.LORD

Article by M.P. Bhattathiri, Retired Chief Technical Examiner , to The Govt. of Kerala.

2009-01-23T16:02:00.000+05:30

30th January is the 61st death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi .
Gandhiji was assassinated on 30th January, 1948 at 5:17 pm . He was going for his prayer meeting in the lawns of Birla House, where he was staying . Birla House is situated at Albuquerque Road now known as Tees January Marg, New Delhi. The bullets hit Gandhi directly in his abdomen and chest. He died instantly . His body was kept on the terrace of Birla Bhavan all through the night for the people to pay their homage to the great man.
Following the Hindu custom, Gandhi was cremated on the next day by the Jamuna River ( Rajghat ) New Delhi. The cortege left Birla House at Albuquerque Road, New Delhi at 11:45am , it passed through Queensway( Janpath), Kingsway( Rajpath ), Hardinge Avenue( Tilak Road ) and Bela Road ( Ring Road ) on its way to Rajghat. It reached Rajghat at 4:20p.m.
For more detail write up on The Last Journey, please click here http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/eduresources/chap3.htm.

2009-01-01T10:06:00.000+05:30

New year Greetings from Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya

" The past belongs to us but we do not belong to the past. We belong to the present. We are makers of the future, but we do not belong to the future."
- M.K.Gandhi.

2008-12-24T12:57:00.001+05:30

How significant are Gandhi's words in present scenario. Way back in 1920, Gandhi said, " We shall have to meet terrorism, their frightfulness by bravery, and it is an unbending bravery which is, today, demanded from every man, woman and child. "

2008-08-13T23:30:00.002+05:30

What do you think guys?
Does it really works?
I think it is much more relevant....

Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya
&
                   Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. Mumbai
Cordially invite you for the National Week Programme
                         April 6 to 8, 2011 at
Mani Bhavan, 19 Laburnum Road, Gamdevi,
Mumbai 400007.
Tel No 23805864 & 23803332

Wednesday, 6-4-2011

Talk by Prof. Nagindas Sanghavi on “Gujarat where Gandhi grew up “

Thursday, 7-4-2011

Get-together of Tourist Guides and discussion with them

Friday, 8-4-2011

Talk by Mr. Naresh Fernandes on “ Gandhi and Jazz Musicians

2008-08-13T23:30:00.000+05:30

Proud to be an Indian...!!!