Kasturba Gandhi
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| Kasturba Gāndhi | |
|---|---|
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| Born | April 11, 1870 |
| Died | February 22, 1944 (aged 74) |
| Other names | Ba |
| Known for | Wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi |
| Religious beliefs | Hinduism |
Kastürbā Gāndhi (April 11, 1869 – February 22, 1944), affectionately called Ba, was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, marrying him in an arranged child marriage in 1883.
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[edit] Early life and background
Kasturba Gandhi was born in Gujarat into a Vaishnav family. She had 4 children.
[edit] Political career
Kasturba Gandhi joined her husband in political protests. She traveled to South Africa in 1897 to be with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturba was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labor prison. Later, in India, she sometimes took her husband's place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and writing to women and children.
[edit] Personal
Kasturba suffered from chronic bronchitis. Stress from the Quit India Movement's arrests and hard life at Sabarmati Ashram caused her to fall ill. Kasturba fell ill with bronchitis which was subsequently complicated by pneumonia. In January 1944, Kasturba suffered two heart attacks. She was now confined to her bed much of the time. Even there she found no respite from pain. Spells of breathlessness interfered with her sleep at night. Yearning for familiar ministrations, Kasturba asked to see an Ayurvedic doctor. After several delays (which Gandhi felt were unconscionable), the government allowed a specialist in traditional Indian medicine to treat her and prescribe treatments. At first she responded—recovering enough by the second week in February to sit on the verandah in a wheel chair for a short periods, and chat… then came a relapse. The doctor said Ayurvedic medicine could do no more for her. To those who tried to bolster her sagging morale saying "You will get better soon," Ba would respond, "No, my time is up." Shortly after seven that evening, Devdas took Mohandas and the doctors aside. In what he would later describe as "the sweetest of all wrangles I ever had with my father," he pleaded fiercely that Ba be given the life saving medicine, even though the doctors told him her condition was beyond help. It was Mohandas, after learning that the penicillin had to be administered by injection every four to six hours, who finally persuaded his youngest son to give up the idea. "Why do you want to prolong your mother's agonies after all the suffering she has been through?" Gandhi asked. Then he said, "You can't cure her now, no matter what miracle drug you may muster. But if you insist, I will not stand in your way."[1]
Gandhi and his son Devdas Gandhi had a fight over the treatment. Devdas had arranged for penicillin from Calcutta, but Gandhi refused to give it to Kasturba as it had to be injected.[2]
After a short while, Kasturba stopped breathing. She died in Gandhi's arms while both were still in prison.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Gandhi, Arun (1998). Daughter if Midnight: The Child Bride of Gandhi. Blake Publishing Ltd.. pp. 296–299. ISBN 85782 2005.
- ^ Von Tunzelmann, Alex (29 July 2008). Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Emblem Editions. pp. 126–127. ISBN 9780771087424.
- ^ Manas: History and Politics, Kasturba Gandhi
