Last year, as part of All Indians Matter’s annual Gandhi series, we detailed the Mahatma’s final years and how pivotal they were – not just to India’s birth but also to the journey the country has travelled since then. This year, we go back to the start. This series, ‘Gandhi: The Beginning’, traces the early years of the Mahatma, starting with his grandfather and father – both great influences on his personality – as well as the family’s journey, Gandhi’s mother, his childhood and teenage, going all the way till the young boy from Porbandar turned into a political personality with his first satyagraha in South Africa.
From this, we try to understand the making of Gandhi, the mass leader and Father of the Nation. At every point, we seek to make the conversation contemporary, linking it to present issues and debates. The hope is to peel away the layers of the persona to understand how Gandhi became the man that he came to be.
Like every year, this is a series of conversations between Ashraf Engineer, host of the All Indians Matter podcast, and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, author and peace activist.
This series is based on Volume 1 of Gandhi’s biography written by his secretary Pyarelal. It is called ‘Mahatma Gandhi – The Early Phase’. Pyarelal Ji is no longer with us, but this series is as much a tribute to his labour of love as it is to Gandhi.
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Last year, as part of All Indians Matter’s annual Gandhi series, we detailed the Mahatma’s final years and how pivotal they were – not just to India’s birth but also to the journey the country has travelled since then. This year, we go back to the start. This series, ‘Gandhi: The Beginning’, traces the early years of the Mahatma, starting with his grandfather and father – both great influences on his personality – as well as the family’s journey, Gandhi’s mother, his childhood and teenage, going all the way till the young boy from Porbandar turned into a political personality with his first satyagraha in South Africa.
From this, we try to understand the making of Gandhi, the mass leader and Father of the Nation. At every point, we seek to make the conversation contemporary, linking it to present issues and debates. The hope is to peel away the layers of the persona to understand how Gandhi became the man that he came to be.
Like every year, this is a series of conversations between Ashraf Engineer, host of the All Indians Matter podcast, and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, author and peace activist.
This series is based on Volume 1 of Gandhi’s biography written by his secretary Pyarelal. It is called ‘Mahatma Gandhi – The Early Phase’. Pyarelal Ji is no longer with us, but this series is as much a tribute to his labour of love as it is to Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi’s story begins in Kathiawar, also known as Saurashtra, a land steeped in mythology and history. It is said that Lord Krishna settled here after his flight from Mathura and established the city of Dwarka, which is today a pilgrimage centre.
According to the Mahabharata, the Yadavas ruled the entire region between Prabha Patan, home to the famous Somnath temple, and the Girnar Hill just beyond Porbandar. At some stage, they earned the wrath and curse of Lord Krishna, eventually killing themselves in a drunken brawl. From this, we get the term ‘yadavi’ which means fratricidal strife. Gandhi often used to tell this tale in his final days, warning that this is what would happen to India if ethnic fires were not doused.
Muslim, Zoroastrianism, Christian and Sufi influences intermingled to form a culture of tolerance in Kathiawar. In Porbandar, for instance, there used to be a haveli in which the name of Allah was chanted along with that of Ishwar and Rama with Rahim’s. It is in this melting pot that the Gandhis lived and thrived, and where an infant named Mohandas came into the world on October 2, 1869.
Welcome to this conversation between Ashraf Engineer, host our of the All Indians Matter podcast, and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, author and peace activist.
Gandhi - The Beginning
Last year, as part of All Indians Matter’s annual Gandhi series, we detailed the Mahatma’s final years and how pivotal they were – not just to India’s birth but also to the journey the country has travelled since then. This year, we go back to the start. This series, ‘Gandhi: The Beginning’, traces the early years of the Mahatma, starting with his grandfather and father – both great influences on his personality – as well as the family’s journey, Gandhi’s mother, his childhood and teenage, going all the way till the young boy from Porbandar turned into a political personality with his first satyagraha in South Africa.
From this, we try to understand the making of Gandhi, the mass leader and Father of the Nation. At every point, we seek to make the conversation contemporary, linking it to present issues and debates. The hope is to peel away the layers of the persona to understand how Gandhi became the man that he came to be.
Like every year, this is a series of conversations between Ashraf Engineer, host of the All Indians Matter podcast, and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of the Mahatma, author and peace activist.
This series is based on Volume 1 of Gandhi’s biography written by his secretary Pyarelal. It is called ‘Mahatma Gandhi – The Early Phase’. Pyarelal Ji is no longer with us, but this series is as much a tribute to his labour of love as it is to Gandhi.
