Kasturba Gandhi: The Woman Behind Mahatma Gandhi

Kasturba Gandhi was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi, who was a prominent leader in India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule. Kasturba supported her husband in his activism and was also an activist in her own right, working for the rights of women and the underprivileged.

Kasturba and Gandhi were married in 1883 when she was just 14 years old. They had four sons, and Kasturba also helped raise many of Gandhi’s followers. Kasturba accompanied Gandhi in his various movements, including the Salt March of 1930, for which she was imprisoned for several months.

Lesser known facts

• In May 1883, Kasturba Gandhi, 14 years old, married Mahatma Gandhi, who was 13 years old at the time. That was a prearranged union.
• Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi remained married for 62 years.
• The four sons of Kasturba and Mahatma Gandhi who lived to maturity were Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas. Kasturba, however, never entirely overcame the loss of her first child.
• Kasturba didn’t have a formal education. Gandhi taught her to read and write after being married since she had a huge passion for education.
• Due to birth complications, Kasturba had chronic bronchitis. Her pneumonia made her bronchitis more difficult to treat.
• In 1906, Mahatma Gandhi vowed chastity. According to reports, Kasturba believed that this went against her position as a conventional Hindu wife.
• Gopalakrishnan previously disclosed that Kasturba’s jewellery had been auctioned in order to raise money for Mahatma Gandhi to attend law school in London.
• When she founded the Phoenix Settlement in Durban in 1904 with her husband and a few others, Kasturba Gandhi got her start in politics in South Africa.
• She participated in demonstrations in 1913 against the mistreatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa; as a result, she was detained and, on September 23, 1913, was given a hard labour term.
• In 1913, Kasturba Gandhi gathered other women in prayer while she was incarcerated and urged educated women to help the ignorant women learn to read and write.