15 August 1947

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.

Gandhiji's Talisman

" 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

9th August 1942 - Historic Quit India Movement

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".

Indo-Pak Shanti Yatra

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.

Photograph of Gandhi published in Life Magazine

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

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

Foreign News: Man of the Year, 1930

International Women's day

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."

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

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.

Dr Otis Moss in Mani Bhavan

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.

Gandhi Jayanti Competitions Awards, 2009

Book Launch

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.

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

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.'

Relevant article written by Shri K.G.Mashruwala

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

Bhajan Programme on Gandhi Jayanti 2009

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

Gandhi and Parsis

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

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