Founding of Ashram at Segaon 1936
Founding of Ashram at Segaon 1936
A presentation on the occasion of Foundation Day of the Sevagram Ashram
April 30, 2023
By
Dr.
Siby K. Joseph
Director, Sri Jamnalal Bajaj Memorial Libraryand Research Centre for Gandhian Studies,
Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan,Wardha-442102, Maharashtra
Gandhi returned to Wardha again on August 7, 1934 and stayed in Satyagraha Ashram of Vinoba Bhave at Wardha, which is presently known as Mahila Ashram. It was during this period Gandhi decided to retire from the Indian National Congress.
Jamnalal Bajaj and Mahatma Gandhi at Satyagraha Ashram 1934
It goes to the credit of Jamnalal Bajaj, who is
regarded as the fifth son of Mahatma, for persuading Gandhi to settle down in
Wardha
Gandhi decided to devote all his energies for the
uplift of villages. On December 15, 1934, the All India Village Industries
Association was formed at Wardha. Jamnalal Bajaj had donated twenty acres
of land and a house to Gandhi which was later renamed as Maganwadi in the memory
of Maganlal Gandhi, which became the headquarters of All India Village
Industries Association
Maganvadi August 1935
Gandhi taking food with Paramhansa Yogananda at Maganvadi August 1935
My Idea of Living in a Village
Delhi, March 19, 1936
Addressed to Jamnalal Bajaj
If Ba desires
then with her, otherwise I would live alone in a hut in Segaon.
Mirabehn’s [hut] may not suffice for me.
As little expense as possible should be incurred in
building the hut and in no case should it exceed Rs. 100.
Whatever help I might need, I should obtain from
Segaon. I should pay visits to Maganwadi as often as necessary. For that I
should use whatever vehicle I can get.
Mira . . . She must not give her time to attend
personally on me but she can help me in
my village work.
If necessary, Mahadev, Kanti and others might stay
in the village. For them a simple hut should be erected.
Along with this, I will continue my other outside
activities. Unless there is some special reason, people from outside should not
come to see me at Segaon. They may see me only at Maganwadi on the days fixed
for my going there. Bapu
Speech to Villagers
of Segaon
After April 17, 1936
Mirabehn who is here in your midst came here with
the intention of settling down for good. But I find that she is not in a
position to carry out her intention. Even if she stayed on, she could do so not
without considerable mental struggle. The will is not lacking but perhaps the
flesh is weak. Now as you know an unbreakable bond of common service binds us
both, and so I thought it my duty to do what she could not do. God willing,
therefore, I shall come to stay in your midst. Maybe God will give me the
strength that He did not vouchsafe to her.But even God’s will is expressed
through various agencies and unless I have your goodwill even I may fail in my
mission. Ever since my childhood it has been a principle with me that I should
not think of inflicting myself on those who view my going in their midst with
mistrust, misgivings or apprehension. I should not think of coming here, except
to serve you. But in many places my presence and the programme I stand for are
viewed with considerable dread. At the back of this dread is the fact that I
have made the removal of untouchability a life’s mission.You must have known
from Mirabehn that I have cost out all untouchability from myself, that I hold
all classes of people- Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra, Rajput, Mahar,
Chamar -all alike, and I regard these distinctions based on birth as immoral.
We have suffered because of these distinctions, and this sense of high and low has vitiated our lives. But I may tell you that I should not think of imposing these convictions on you. I should try to do so by persuasion, above all by my own example. I shall tryto serve you by cleaning your roads and your surroundings, by trying to render such help as I can if there is illness in the village, byteaching you self-help by way of helping you to revive your handicrafts. If you will co-operate with me I shall be happy, if you will not I shall be content to be absorbed among you as one among the few hundreds that live here.
I hope I shall come to settle here. But it depends on His will. For I did not know that He would move me from India to South Africa,and from South Africa I should come to Sabarmati, and from Sabarmati to Maganwadi,and now from Maganwadi to Segaon.
Speech at Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad ,Nagpur April 24, 1936
From the Speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad ,
Nagpur,April
24, 1936
I am here
neither for a brief while for the limited purpose I have told you, but you may
know that my heart is neither here nor even in Wardha. My heart is in the
villages. For days I have been striving with the Sardar to let me go to a
village near Wardha. He is still unconvinced, but my mind won’t rest, and God
willing, I hope to go and settle in a village near Wardha in a short while. But
that does not mean that I will not do the work I am doing now, or that I shall
cease to be available for consultation to friends, or for advice to those who
will seek it. Only my address will be a village where I would be living
ordinarily. I have been asking all my co-workers who are doing village work to
go and settle in villages and to serve the villagers. I feel that I cannot do
so effectively until I go and settle in village myself.
Segaon
The first village development work under the
guidance of Mahatma Gandhi was started
at a small village known as Sindi. But he was in search of a typical
village and it was Madeleine Slade (Mirabehn), a disciple of Gandhi from
Britain, who selected the village Segaon, about four miles to
the east of Wardha town. This village is in the central part of India around 75
kms. away from Nagpur.
Letter to Mirabehn
Wardha,
April 29, 1936
Chi. Mira,
God willing I am coming tomorrow. The paper is being
sent. More when we meet. I expect to be with you at about 7 a. m.
Love,
Bapu
Gandhi and Co-workers walking to Segaon from
Maganwadi , Wardha April 30 1936
Settling down at Segaon
April 30, 1936
On April 30, 1936, Mahatma made this village Segaon as
his home. He stayed in a makeshift arrangement under a guava tree there as his
hut was not ready at that time. On his first visit, he stayed here only for a
couple of days. He was 67 years old and he was not in favour of creating an
ashram as a community of people away from the village. In fact he wanted to
convert the whole village into an ashram. He wanted to stay alone in the
village and Kasturba could join if she wanted. But in the course of time it was
taking the form of an ashram.
Discussion With a Worker
April 30, 1936 at Segaon
“Don't you think, Bapu,” the worker asked, “rather
than bury yourself in this village, you should undertake a tour through the
country, just for the rural reconstruction programme? I cannot tell you what a
godsend that Harijan tour was,how it worked a silent revolution in people's
minds. Nothing else could have achieved it. Couldn't you take a tour like that?”
[G.] Oh, no. There is no similarity between the two cases. In Harijan work the practical and the theoretical aspects were combined. Here I cannot combine the two. I have been talking theory all these days, talking and giving advice on village work, without having personally come to grips with the difficulties of village work. If I undertook the tour, say, after passing three seasons in a village and among the villagers, a year hence I should be able to talk with knowledge and experience which I have not got today. Yesterday I went to Sindi to see how Gajanan Naik was working. The condition of things there is scarcely better but he is carrying on his work, patiently and perseveringly. The moment I saw him last morning I said to myself: ‘If I had been working with Gajanan, I should certainly have had intimate experience of the difficulties he is meeting with.’ No. It is clearer to me than ever before that my place is in the village.
Letter to Prabhavati
April 30, 1936
….I came to Segaon today and shall be here for three
days at least. Then again, after another two or three days I shall be leaving
for Bangalore on the 8th. … Pyarelal alone has accompanied me to Segaon. Ba has
not come as she is unwell.
Blessings from
Bapu
Letter to Esther Menon
[On or after April 30, 1936]
I am writing this from the village Segaon where I
want to settle down. Mirabai is here already. She will go to some other
village, if I settle down here. I do not want any of the old co-workers with
me, if I can help it.
Love.
Bapu
Letter to Amrit Kaur
May 1, 1936
Well, I am at last in Segaon. Pyarelal is with me. I
wanted him.
Ba was to have come but she was unwell. You will be
glad to learn that I walked almost the whole distance. I was none the worse for
it. I took the bandi for the remaining ¾ of a mile because we had missed the
way and the others were getting uneasy about me. We came yesterday.
The night was glorious.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Gandhi’s first visitor at Segaon
On May 1, 1936, the day after Gandhi decided to settle at Segaon, he received his
first visitor Dr. B. R. Ambedkar at this village . Six months earlier Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar had announced that he
renouncing Hinduism and proclaiming his intention to convert to another
religion. Ambedkar had just finished a conference of Sikhs in Amritsar where he
had hinted the possibility of becoming a
Sikh because Sikh religion considers all its followers as equals.
In the conversation both of them debated
on the question of conversion.
Neither of them was happy with outcome of the discussion and they agreed to meet again.
Letter to Vallabhbhai Patel
Segaon,
May 1, 1936
Bhai Vallabhbhai,
….The air of the place is fine indeed. It was very
cool at night. My requirements about food, etc., can be met satisfactorily. But
more about this when I get some free time. Doctor (Ambedkar) and Walchand met me in Segaon. They are coming again.
Blessings from
Bapu
Letter to Amrit Kaur
Segaon,
May 4, 1936
As Mahadev is here and has brought your note, I must
send this through him. Your post generally comes in the evening in Maganwadi. I
am not, therefore, able to deal with your letters the very day. In Segaon, your
post comes late at night which is the same thing. So there is no delay about
incoming letters.
… You may depend upon it I am having a royal time in
Segaon.
Letter to Amrit Kaur
May 5, 1936
Surely by this time you have had more than one letter from Segaon. I am sure in a day or two you would have begun to like the place and the life. Ba came with me yesterday. I walked the whole distance. It took me full two hours. But then we again missed the waya little. We were all novices without a guide. And I was silent. I can comfortably do the whole distance on 1 3/4 hours. I was none the worse for the walk and was ready for the evening walk. Mahadev and Lilavati walked in at 8.30 p.m., and slept on the ground where the operations are going on. We all sleep there, surrounded on all sides by double trenches supported by the excavated earth. We eat the vegetables grown here. We do not therefore get a variety but there is more than compensation in the thought that we are taking what is grown locally. This restriction, if persisted in, will soon induce a cultivation of other vegetables. So much for Segaon
Remember the date of my departure, 8th instant. I
leave Segaon on 8th morning.
Highlights of Activities
Speech at A.I.V.I.A. Exhibition
Wardha,May 3, 1936
Speech at Khadi Yatra
Paunar, May 6, 1936
Speech At A.I.V.I.A. Meeting Wardha,
May 7, 1936
A tonga ride between Wardha and Segaon/Sevagram, May 1936
With Mirabehn 1936
Gandhi getting ready for Village Service at Segaon 1936
Mine is a madhouse
Gandhi on early days of Sevagram
Amrit Kaur :Why do you waste so much of your time
on personal affairs of the mad inmates of your Ashram?
Gandhi : “I know mine is a madhouse and I am
the maddest of the lot. But those that cannot see the good in these mad people
are blind.”
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