Kasturba Gandhi

At 74 years old, Kasturba Gandhi has this physical status:

Kasturba Gandhi (listenborn Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia) was an Indian political activist and the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who died on (11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was a political protester.

She was instrumental in the British-ruled India's independence struggle in collaboration with her husband and son.

Her husband, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Mahatma Gandhi, had a major influence on her.

Early life and background

Gokuladas Kapadia and Vrajkunwerba Kapadia were born on April 11, 1869, Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia. The family belonged to the Modh Bania caste of Gujarati Hindu tradesmen and was based in Porch, Portugal. Little is known about Katsurbai's early life. In May 1883, 14-year-old Kasturbai was married to 13-year-old Mohandas in a marriage planned by their parents, arranged marriage being commonplace and normal in India. They were married for a total of sixty-two years.

"As we didn't know much about marriage, for us, it meant only wearing new clothes, eating candy, and playing with relatives," her husband said. However, the adolescent bride was to spend the first few years of her marriage at her parents' house, not far from her husband. "I used to think of her," Mohandas wrote as an adult, "and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting were all haunting." Mohandas was also possessive and manipulative at the beginning of their marriage; he wanted the right woman who would follow his orders.

Although her other four sons (Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas) survived to adulthood, Katsurbai never fully recovered from the first child's death. Before Mohandas first went abroad, the first two sons were born. She remained in India when he left London in 1888 to study in London. In 1896, she and their two sons went to live with him in South Africa.

Mohandas vow of chastity, or brahamacharya, was postponed in 1906. According to several sources, Katsurbai was annoyed that this was incompatible with her role as a traditional Hindu wife. Nevertheless, Gandhi defended her marriage immediately after a woman said she was ill. Gandhi's relatives also stated that the best thing was to continue and respect her husband, Mahatma.

"They had, in both emotional and sexual sense, always been true to one another," Ramachandra Guha's biography said of the marriage. Kasturba obviously loved their time together "despite their regular, extended absences."

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Political career

In 1904, Kasturba Gandhi first became involved in South Africa politics, when she and her husband, among others, established the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. In 1913, she participated in demonstrations against the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa, for which she was detained and sentenced to hard labour on September 23, 1913. While serving in jail, she led others in prayer and encouraged educated women to teach the uneducated women how to read and write.

Gandhi and Mohandas left South Africa in July 1914 and returned to India. Despite Kasturba's continuing bronchitis, she continued to participate in civil rights and demonstrations around India and often took her husband's place when he was in jail. The bulk of her time was devoted to serving in ashrams and helping others. Since she served as the mother of the ashrams in India, Gandhi was referred to as "Ba" or Mother. In their ashram, Gandhi and Mohandas' treatment of their children was a point of difference. Gandhi believed that their sons did not need special care, while Kasturba felt that Mohandas neglected them.

Gandhi worked on women in Champaran, Bihar, where Mohandas was working with indigo farmers in 1917. She taught women hygiene, discipline, health, reading, and writing. Despite being in poor health, she was involved in a Satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) campaign in Borsad, Gujarat, in 1922. She did not participate in Gandhi's historic Salt March in 1930, but she continued to participate in numerous civil disobedience protests and marches. As a result, she was arrested and jailed on several occasions.

Gandhi took part in nonviolent demonstrations in Rajkot, 1939, after the women in the city specifically asked her to campaign for them. Gandhi was arrested once more and placed in solitary detention for a month. Her health worsened, but she continued to fight for her rights. She was arrested again in 1942, alongside Mohandas and other freedom fighters for participating in the Quit India movement. She was detained in Pune's Aga Khan Palace. By this time, her health had dramatically degraded and she died at Pune's detention camp.

In a way that revealed that he continued to crave obedience from her, Mohandas wrote of his wife. "She was obstinate from the start, according to my earlier experiences." Despite all of my coercion, she'd do as she pleases. We all suffer from short or long periods of anxiety. But as my professional life grew, my wife rose up and deliberately lost myself in my work."

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