Built on the banks of the Sabarmati River, the Gandhi Ashram, was home to the Mahatma for over a decade. The cottage where he lived has been preserved as it was during his lifetime
Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai It was in Madurai on September 22, 1921, that Gandhi resolved never to wear stitched clothes and gave up his turban, long coat and dhoti. A plaque commemorating this decision greets visitors at the Madurai Railway Station. The museum here is housed in the magnificent Tamukkam Palace. Its library has copies of about 27,000 letters pertaining to Gandhi and a remarkable collection of paintings and sculptures. ‘Fights for Freedom’ gallery has over 265 illustrations depicting the freedom movement. Among the items displayed in the Hall of Relics is the shawl Gandhi wore in London to attend the Second Round Table Conference and the blood-stained dhoti he wore on the day of his assassination. The Mahatma’s ashes are kept at the Peace Park in the museum.
IN LOVING MEMORY : (clockwise from above left) Office of the Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai; Gandhi Ashram, Sabarmati, Ahmedabad; the library at Mani Bhavan, Mumbai; and statues of Gandhi and his wife Kasturba at National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi
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Gandhi Ashram, Sabarmati, Ahmedabad Built on the banks of the River Sabarmati, the Gandhi Ashram was home to the Mahatma for over a decade. A neat little cottage in the centre of the ashram, where Gandhi stayed, has four rooms, including a kitchen. These rooms are kept just as they were 80 years ago during the Mahatma’s lifetime. Also preserved are the Udyog Mandir, a workshop for spinning khadi and Upasana Mandir — a spot under a tree where Gandhi offered morning prayers. Close associates, Vinoba Bhave and Madeleine Slade (renamed Mira by Gandhi), stayed in the spartan Vinoba-Mira Kutir. And the guest house — Nandini — was where many eminent personalities from India and abroad came to absorb the simple life. It is from this ashram that Gandhi launched the Dandi March against the British Salt Law. In 1963, a museum, the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalay designed by famous architect Charles Correa, was built adjacent to the ashram. One of the exhibits here is a portrait of Gandhi made with groundnut shells.
Mani Bhavan, Mumbai The most visited spaces in this museum are Gandhi’s room, the library and the terrace where he lived in a tent and from where he was arrested in 1932. Gandhi’s room houses his low desk and spinning wheel. It is in Mani Bhavan that Gandhi learned to use the spinning wheel, started drinking goat’s milk and launched several of his struggles — the non-cooperation movement, the Swadeshi movement and the Khilafat movement. On display are his passport issued in 1931, his eye test report and an identification chart describing the marks on his body and his exact height. Martin Luther King Jr., who visited Mani Bhavan in 1959, was so taken by the place that he cancelled his hotel reservations and decided to stay where the Mahatma did. Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Barrackpore Around 25km from Kolkata is a quaint museum that houses a collection of 800 photographs documenting events and aspects of Gandhi’s life. It also has a mural — 81 feet long — depicting different phases of India's freedom struggle. Rich in research material, the museum runs courses and programmes on Gandhi’s philosophy. Here one can browse through the poems on Gandhi written by eminent Bengali poets. Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi The Mahatmai’s last 144 days were spent in a bungalow that is now Gandhi Smriti. The Samiti operates from another campus and runs as an international centre for Gandhian studies. The Smriti building preserves the room where Gandhi lived, exhibiting all his possessions — his spectacles, walking stick, fork and spoon, the rough stone he used as a soap and a copy of the Gita. Visitors can pay homage to the Mahatma at the Martyr’s Column, the exact spot he was assassinated. The Samiti has a treasure trove of photographs, sculptures, paintings, frescos, inscriptions on rocks and relics connected to Gandhi’s life.
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