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Images - Photographs - Personalities - Kasturba Gandhi
Kasturbai "Kasturba" Mohandas Gandhi (born Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia on 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She married Mohandas Gandhi in 1883. In association with her husband and son, she was involved in the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. She was very influenced by her husband Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a.k.a. Mahatma Gandhi.
Kasturba born the daughter of Gokuladas Kapadia and Vrajkunwerba Kapadia. The family belonged to the Modh Bania caste of Gujarati Hindu tradesmen and were based in the coastal town of Porbandar. Little is known of Kasturba's early life. In May 1883, 14-year-old Kasturba was married to 13-year-old Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in a marriage arranged by their parents, in the traditional Indian manner. They were married for a total of sixty-two years.
Although their other four sons (Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas) survived to adulthood, Kasturba never fully recovered from the death of her first child. The first two sons were born before Gandhi first went abroad. When he left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India. In 1896 she and their two sons went to live with him in South Africa.
Later on, in 1906, Gandhi took a vow of chastity, or brahamacharya. Some reports indicated that Kasturba felt that this opposed her role as a traditional Hindu wife. However, Kasturba quickly defended her marriage when a woman suggested she was unhappy. Kasturba's relatives also insisted that the greatest good was to remain and obey her husband, the Mahatma.
Kasturba Gandhi first involved herself with politics in South Africa in 1904 when, with her husband and others, she established the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. In 1913 she took part in protests against the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa, for which she was arrested and on September 23, 1913 was sentenced to hard labour. While in prison, she led other women in prayer and encouraged educated women to teach the uneducated women how to read and write.
Kasturba and Gandhi left South Africa in July 1914 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 helping out and serving in ashrams. Here, Kasturba was referred to as "Ba" or Mother, because she served as mother of the ashrams in India. A point of difference between Kasturba and Gandhi was the treatment of their children in their ashram. Gandhi believed that their sons did not deserve special treatment, while Kasturba felt that Gandhi neglected them.
In 1917, Kasturba worked on the welfare of women in Champaran, Bihar where Gandhi was working with indigo farmers. She taught women hygiene, discipline, health, reading and writing. In 1922, she participated in a Satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) movement in Borsad, Gujarat even though she was in poor health. She did not take part in Gandhi's famous Salt March in 1930, but continued to take part in many civil disobedience campaigns and marches. As a result, she was arrested and jailed on numerous occasions.
In 1939, Kasturba took part in nonviolent protests against the British rule in Rajkot, after the women in the city specifically asked her to advocate for them. Kasturba was arrested once again, and kept in solitary confinement for a month. Her health worsened but she continued to fight for independence. In 1942, she was arrested again, along with Gandhi 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 completely and she died at the detention camp in Pune.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasturba_Gandhi
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