Kasturbai Gandhi

Kasturbai Mohandas Gandhi (, born Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She married Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, in 1883. With her husband and her eldest son, Harilal, she was involved in the Indian independence movement in British India. ''National Safe Motherhood Day'' is observed on April 11 every year in India, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Kasturbai Gandhi. Mohandas affectionately called her ''Baa'' and in letters referred to her as ''Mrs. Gandhi''.

Early life and background

Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia was born on 11 April 1869 to 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 Katsurbai's early life. In May 1883, 14-year-old Kasturbai was married to 13-year-old Mohandas in a marriage arranged by their parents, arranged marriage being commonplace and traditional in India. They were married for a total of sixty-two years.

Recalling the day of their marriage, her husband once said, ''"As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives."'' However, as was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend the first few years of marriage at her parents' house, and away from her husband.Gandhi (1940)
Chapter "Playing the Husband"
. Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, ''"even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me."'' At the beginning of their marriage, Mohandas was also possessive and manipulative; he wanted the ideal wife who would follow his command.

Although their other four sons ( Harilal, Manilal , Ramdas, and Devdas) survived to adulthood, Katsurbai never fully recovered from the death of her first child. The first two sons were born before Mohandas 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, Mohandas took a vow of chastity, or brahamacharya. Some reports indicated that Katsurbai felt that this opposed her role as a traditional Hindu wife. However, Gandhi quickly defended her marriage when a woman suggested she was unhappy. Gandhi's relatives also insisted that the greatest good was to remain and obey her husband, the Mahatma.

Ramachandra Guha's biography ''Gandhi Before India'' described the marriage, saying, "They had, in the emotional as well as sexual sense, always been true to one another. Perhaps because of their periodic, extended separations, Kasturba deeply cherished their time together."

Political career

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 23 September 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.

Gandhi and Mohandas 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