This June marked the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. How the ashram evolved and became a guiding light of India's freedom struggle, is an interesting story
June 2017 marked the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. How it evolved and became a guiding light of India’s freedom struggle is really interesting and worth a share. The Mahatma left the shores of India for london in 1888. Minor interludes not withstanding, he mostly stayed away, primarily in South Africa, to return to India in January 1915. He was 45 then and had spent more than 25 years overseas. Rightly so, Gopal Krishna Gokhale advised the Mahatma to desist from taking questions on India before acquainting himself with his country.
The Mahatma followed Gokhale to India. From Cape Town, he came to london in transit; fell ill; and had to perforce extend his stay in Britain. His relatives and colleagues from Phoenix settlement, his advance party to India, had already arrived and were put up at Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, West Bengal. Tagore agreed to bear their expenses. The Mahatma and Kasturba arrived in Santiniketan on February 17, 1915, and were accorded a warm public reception. The Mahatma set about introducing changes in the everyday routine of Santiniketan and was allowed by Tagore who removed himself from the scene. Servants and kitchen staff withdrew too from the manual task. But these changes could not sustain. The austerity introduced by the Mahatma left little time for Santiniketan inmates to pursue literary and extracurricular interests. The Mahatma realised that Santiniketan could not become another Phoenix.
The death of Gokhale in 1915 forced the Mahatma to move out of Santiniketan. Gokhale wanted him to join his ‘servants of Indian society’. He was supportive of the Mahatma’s idea of a community living on the pattern of Phoenix. However, with Gokhale gone, the Mahatma could no longer expect to receive funds from the ‘servants of Indian society’. The Mahatma was not appreciative of the work being done by the society and felt that he would become “a disturbing factor” if he took its membership. He, therefore, withdrew his application to join the society. Honouring Gokhale’s desire, the Mahatma did set about touring India immediately. After his Calcutta and Burma visit, he participated in the kumbh mela organised at Haridwar where the Phoenix party was requested to assist the organisers. Their past experience ensured that the work of scavenging become the party’s special function. But Haridwar left the Mahatma unimpressed. His experience there helped him decide where he should live and what he should do. He felt the necessity of establishing a permanent settlement which gave practical vent to his ideas.
The first site of the ashram was Kochrab, founded on May, 25 1915. Jivanlal Desai, a barrister in Ahmedabad, offered to let his bungalow to the Mahatma’s party of 35. An important issue was to settle the name of the ashram. Among the names suggested were Seva Ashram, Seva Mandir and Tapovan. The Mahatma initially liked ‘Seva Ashram’ but then thought otherwise. Taking on the name of Tapovan would make them all tapasvees. He then settled on ‘Satyagraha Ashram’ for it aptly conveyed his goal and method of service.
To regulate the conduct of the ashram, the Mahatma decided to formulate rules. This was promptly printed and circulated. At Kochrab, there were no servants and members were expected to follow a strict regime of vegetarian food, manual labour, social service, celibacy and prayer. At the Mahatma’s behest, the ashram inmates took vows which amounted to a demanding code of asceticism. Far from being an expression of Hindu orthodoxy, they challenged the basic tenets of caste ideology. No caste distinctions were to be tolerated. The issue that generated great controversy was the admittance of an untouchable family in the ashram.
The Mahatma took in a Gujarati Dhed family at Kochrab posing a direct challenge to Hindu orthodoxy. This issue afforded the Mahatma an opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy of Satyagraha. When supporters who had provided monetary assistance withdrew in protest, the Mahatma threatened to shift the ashram to where the untouchables lived. The financial situation of the ashram improved unexpectedly when the Mahatma received a donation from a wealthy textile magnet, Ambalal Sarabhai, who became his friend and a generous supporter.
Plague broke out around Kochrab and the Mahatma found himself unable to ensure the well-being of children. With assistance from a merchant, Punjabhai Hirachand, an alternative site was found on the banks of Sabarmati. As jail going was an expected outcome of Satyagraha, the Mahatma thought that the choice of site in the vicinity of the jail was appropriate. The area around the goal was comparatively cleaner and the open grounds provided place for construction of simple buildings by the party which now numbered 40.
The responsibility of setting up and constructing the new ashram fell on Maganlal, the Mahatma’s nephew. The early phase of Sabarmati ashram is reminiscent of hardships associated with the establishment of Phoenix and Tolstoy farm. Simple structures of mud, bricks, tiles and wood painted with coal tar were erected, including a school building, a dining hall, kitchen, library and a room in which handlooms were installed. Initially the Mahatma lived in the room with the looms but later shifted to Hridya Kunj, adjacent to the river bank.
Maganlal Gandhi played a vital role in managing the ashram. Many a times he faced resistance from the ashramites. On one occasion, he had to deal with a full-scale revolt. However, the Mahatma stood by him and made it clear that the fate of Maganlal and ashram were bound together. The shortcoming of people attracted to the ashram was a constant source of worry to the Mahatma. He had hoped to attract self-motivated people but soon realised that a large many can flocked to the ashram enamoured by the Mahatma’s persona.
In 1926, the Mahatma decided to retire from public life for one year and attend to the affairs of the ashram. It was the longest period he would stay at Sabarmati. He decided to register the ashram as a trust and transfer the management to a committee, significantly reducing Maganlal Gandhi’s workload. Unfortunately, Maganlal died in April 1928. His death was a crushing blow to the Mahatma which also brought down the standards within the ashram.
There was high incidence of rule violation in the ashram. Vows pertaining to observances such as non-stealing, non-possession and control of palate were frequently broken. The Mahatma insisted that all members of the ashram, young and old, married and unmarried, observe ‘brahmacharya’. This aroused controversy. The Mahatma failed to foresee that many of his followers were either unprepared or unsuited for the arduous discipline and observing absolute vows. Violation of the vows of the ‘brahmacharya’ was a common problem. The only alternative to avoiding a public scandal was to arrange marriage for offenders. Chhaganlal Gandhi, his cousin, was once found guilty of petty larcenies. Once Kasturba, it was learnt, had retained a number of cash gifts over the years for her personal use, which under the rules of the ashram, amounted to theft. Another incident was the seduction of a widow by a young man in the ashram.
Workers of Sabarmati had taken part in campaigns such as Champaran, Ahmadabad Mill Strike and Kheda. During the Dandi March, 78 men from the ashram were given the opportunity to prove their worth towards the cause of swaraj. On March 12, 1930, they formed a column inside the ashram and began their walk towards Dandi. The 24-day march was a triumph for the Mahatma’s grassroots activism. About the ashram contribution, the Mahatma wrote to one of the women ashramites, “How fortunate you are. You got beaten and also awarded jail sentence!”
(The writer is Director-General, National Archives of India. Views expressed here are personal)
