Kasturba gandhi death

Kasturba Gandhi

Indian freedom activist; wife of the Mahatma Gandhi (–)

Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi[a] (listenⓘ, born Kasturba Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April – 22 February ) was an Indian political activist who was involved in the Indian independence movement during British India.

She was married to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi.[1]National Safe Motherhood Day is observed in India annually on April 11, coinciding with Kasturba's birthday.[2]

Early life and background

Kasturba was born on 11 April to Gokuladas Kapadia and Vrajkunwerba Kapadia.

The family belonged to the ModhBania caste of GujaratiHindu tradesmen and were based in the coastal town of Porbandar.[1] In May , year-old Kasturba was married to year-old Mohandas in a marriage arranged by their parents.[3]

Recalling the day of their marriage, her husband once said, "As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives."[citation needed] However, as was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend the first few years of marriage at her parents' house, and away from her husband.[4][failed verification] Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, "even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me."[5] At the beginning of their marriage, Mohandas was also possessive and manipulative; he wanted the ideal wife who would follow his command.[6]

Kasturba became pregnant at the age of The first child was born prematurely and did not survive the first year.

Although their other four sons survived to adulthood, Kasturba never fully recovered from the death of her first child.[7] Mohandas decided to go to London to study and departed in , soon after their second child was born, a son named Harilal. Kasturba remained in India. Mohandas returned from London in , and in Kasturba gave birth to another son, Manilal.

Unable to find a successful career in India, Mohandas left for South Africa in , once again leaving behind Kasturba and his children. In the family joined Mohandas in South Africa.[citation needed]

In , Mohandas took a vow of chastity, or brahamacharya.[6] Some reports indicated that Kasturba felt that this opposed her role as a traditional Hindu wife.[6] However, Kasturba quickly defended her marriage when a woman suggested she was unhappy.[8] Kasturba's relatives also insisted that the greatest good was to remain and obey her husband, the Mahatma.[6]

Ramachandra Guha's biography Gandhi Before India described the marriage, saying, "They had, in the emotional as well as sexual sense, always been true to one another.

Perhaps because of their periodic, extended separations, Kasturba deeply cherished their time together."[9]

Political career

Kasturba first involved herself with politics in South Africa in when, with her husband and others, she established the Phoenix Settlement near Durban.

In she took part in protests against the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa, for which she was arrested and sentenced to hard labour. While in prison, she led other women in prayer[10][11] and encouraged the educated women to teach the uneducated women how to read and write.[11]

The Gandhis left South Africa in July and returned to live in India.

In spite of Kasturba’s chronic bronchitis she continued to take part in civil actions and protests across India and often took her husband's spot when he was in prison. The majority of her time was dedicated to serving in ashrams.[12] Here, Gandhi was referred to as "Ba" or Mother, because she served as mother of the ashrams in India.[13] A point of difference between Kasturba and Mohandas was the treatment of their children in their ashram.

Mohandas believed that their sons did not deserve special treatment, while Kasturba felt that Mohandas neglected them.[14]

In , Kasturba worked for women's welfare in Champaran, Bihar where Mohandas was working with indigo farmers. She taught women hygiene, discipline, health, reading and writing.[citation needed] In , she participated in a Satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) movement in Borsad, Gujarat even though she was in poor health.

She did not take part in her husband's famous Salt March in , but continued to take part in many civil disobedience campaigns and marches. As a result, she was arrested and jailed on numerous occasions.[12]

In , Gandhi took part in nonviolent protests against the British rule in Rajkot, after the women in the city specifically asked her to advocate for them.[12] Gandhi was arrested once again, and kept in solitary confinement for a month.

Her health worsened but she continued to fight for independence. In , she was arrested again, along with Mohandas and other freedom fighters, for participating in the Quit India movement. She was imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. By this time her health had severely deteriorated and she died at the detention camp in Pune.[7]

Mohandas wrote of his wife in terms which showed that he expected obedience from her.

  • Kasturba gandhi school vacancy
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    • "According to my earlier experience, she was very obstinate. In spite of all my pressure she would do as she wished. This led to short or long periods of estrangement between us. But as my public life expanded, my wife bloomed forth and deliberately lost herself in my work."[15]

    Health and death

    Kasturba suffered from chronic bronchitis due to complications at birth.

    Her bronchitis was complicated by pneumonia.[16] In January she fasted while her husband was in prison, and she became gravely ill. She came so close to death that Mohandas apologised to her, and promised he would not remarry if she died. Kasturba would later undergo a major surgery.[17]

    In January , Gandhi suffered two heart attacks, after which 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. She asked to see an Ayurvedic doctor, and after several delays, the government allowed a specialist in traditional Indian medicine to attend to her. At first she responded well, recovering enough by the second week in February to sit on the veranda in a wheelchair for short periods and talk with him.

    Kasturba gandhi school vacancy: It also made public the planned resistance activities. In August , the Transvaal government proposed a new law that required all Indians and Chinese over the age of eight to apply for registration certificates. The government took drastic steps in crushing the civil disobedience campaigns. The latter agreed that the Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act would be repealed after the voluntary registration of Indians.

    Later she suffered a relapse. Her son Devdas ordered penicillin, but her doctors did not want to use it because the final failure of the kidneys could not be relieved by penicillin. The doctors informed the Gandhi family that the condition of Kasturba had already deteriorated enough that penicillin would not be helpful.[18][19]

    She died at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, at PM local time on 22 February , aged [20]

    The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust Fund was set up in her memory.

    Mohandas requested that this fund be used to help women and children in villages in India.[21]

    Legacy

    Many institutions, roads, and cities are named after Kasturba Gandhi:

    • Kasturba Gandhi College for Women
    • Kasturba Hospital (Wardha)
    • Kasturba Vaidyakiya Rahat Mandal (Kasturba Hospital, Valsad, Gujarat) Since
    • Kasturba Medical College, Manipal
    • Kasturba Nagar railway station
    • Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya
    • Kasturba Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency)
    • Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust
    • Kasturba Health Society
    • Kasturba Nagar, Chennai
    • Kasturba Nagar, Puducherry
    • Kasturba College for Women, Villianur, Puducherry
    • Kasturba Road
    • Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi.
    • Kasturba Nagar, Kochi.
    • Kasturba Nagar, Bhopal.
    • Kasturba Gandhi Primary School, Durban, South Africa

    In popular culture

    Narayan Desai wrote a play, Kasturba, based on Kasturba Gandhi.

    It was directed by Aditi Desai and was staged several times.[22]

    In the film Gandhi, the role of Kasturba Gandhi was played by Rohini Hattangadi.

    See also

    References

    1. ^ abGandhi, Arun and Sunanda ().

      The Forgotten Woman. Huntsville, AR: Zark Mountain Publishers. p.&#; ISBN&#;.

    2. ^News9 Staff (11 April ). "National Safe Motherhood Day: History, theme, significance and all you need to know". NEWS9LIVE. Retrieved 21 October : CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
    3. ^Mohanty, Rekha ().

      "From Satya to Sadbhavna"(PDF). Orissa Review (January ): 45– Retrieved 23 February

    4. ^Gandhi (). Chapter "Playing the Husband"[usurped].
    5. ^Gandhi before India. Vintage Books. 4 April pp.&#;28– ISBN&#;.
    6. ^ abcdTarlo, Emma ().

      History of kasturba gandhi birth Because of Bapu's instructions and self-denying vows she learnt the habit of taking simple food without condiments or sweets or oil. What was a regional conflict became a full-scale political crisis. Their married life in their parental home was a normal one, of mutual faithfulness and marital love. Both recovered their freedom by this voluntary renunciation of 'conjugal rights', in order to dedicate their lives for the good of all.

      "Married to the Mahatma: The Predicament of Kasturba Gandhi". Women: A Cultural Review. 8 (3): – doi/

    7. ^ abGandhi, Arun (14 October ). Kasturba: A Life. Penguin UK. ISBN&#;. Retrieved 3 November
    8. ^Tarlo, Emma ().

      Harilal gandhi Nothing is however more pathetic than the long, interrupted but persistent efforts of the husband to become the teacher of his wife up to the last. After her death a fitting eulogy was inscribed by him in a letter to Lord Wavell, "We were a couple outside the ordinary Kasturba gave birth to a male child in , but it died soon. The community succeeded in defeating registration; only Indians out of applied for passes.

      "Married to the mahatma: The predicament of Kasturba Gandhi". Women: A Cultural Review. 8 (3): – doi/ ISSN&#;

    9. ^Guha, Ramachandra (15 October ). Gandhi Before India. Penguin UK. ISBN&#;.

      History of kasturba gandhi birth name Hidden categories: Pages using the Phonos extension CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from August Use Indian English from August All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July All articles with failed verification Articles with failed verification from April Articles with unsourced statements from April This was a significant victory for human rights in India. She only chose not to master the lessons. In his autobiography he mentions in his inimitable simplicity how Ba braved death twice in South Africa and once in India and narrowly escaped it.

      Retrieved 2 November

    10. ^Hiralal, Kalpana. "Rethinking Gender and Agency in the Satyagraha Movement of ". Journal of Social Sciences. 25: 94–
    11. ^ abKapadia, Sita (). "Windfall: Tribal Women Come Through". Women's Studies Quarterly.

      17 (3/4): – JSTOR&#;

    12. ^ abcRoutray, Bibhu Prasad. "Kasturba Gandhi: Indian Political Activist". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 5 November
    13. ^Banerjee, Mita. "Kasturba Gandhi Strength of a Woman." Alive 02 ProQuest.

      Web. 27 Sep.

    14. ^"Kasturba Gandi - MANAS".

      History of kasturba gandhi birth date Although their other four sons survived to adulthood, Kasturba never fully recovered from the death of her first child. Retrieved 18 May The result was always the same. During the Bardoli Satyagraha while attempting to exercise the privilege of a leader dictating press statements, she confessed, "I was illiterate when I joined Bapu as his life's partner at the age of thirteen".

      19 August Archived from the original on 19 August Retrieved 27 December

    15. ^Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (). My Experiments With Truth: An Autobiography. Jaico Publishing House.
    16. ^"Birth Anniversary of Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi". . Archived from the original on 19 October Retrieved 1 May
    17. ^Ivanov, Alex ().

      Gandhi. New Word City. p.&#; ISBN&#;.

    18. ^Thomas, K.P. (). Kasturba Gandhi: A Biographical Study. Orient Illustrated Weekly. p.&#;
    19. ^Gandhi, Arun (). Daughter Of Midnight - The Child Bride of Gandhi. Kings Road Publishing. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
    20. ^"Death Takes Gandhi's Wife".

      Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 23 February p.&#;2. Retrieved 18 May

    21. ^Bhatt, Neela. "The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust: Plan, Development and Programme of the First nation-Wide Movement of its Kind for Dealing with the Problem of Women and Children in Rural India".

    22. Harilal gandhi
    23. Kasturba gandhi age when married
    24. Mahatma gandhi son name
    25. Mahatma gandhi children

      26. Indian Journal of Social Work. 10: 94–

    26. ^"Ahemdabad-based theatre group to perform KASTURBA in Mumbai Penned by veteran Gandhian Narayan Desai&#;: ". . 16 May Retrieved 17 November

    Further reading

    External links