The Satyagraha or Sabarmati Ashram, as it is better known, stands humbly across the banks of the broad Sabarmati river  from the city of Ahmedabad. It's a different feeling that sets in as you make your way into it. This is a historical place, one that the world recognizes or atleast acknowledges. This is where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Bapuji made his headquarters, during the long struggle for India's Independence. It is from here that he came to be known as 'Mahatma'.  It signifies a struggle, a resistance to times of apartheid, a mute witness to a bygone era of discrimination. You anticipate it to be so much and then some. There is an urgency to satisfy that expectation in the mind. Is Sabarmati Ashram all that you want  or have pictured it to be?

The entrance is through a small but neatly kept path beside a small garden. To the left are three clay monkeys. They signify the proverb that became synonymous with the Mahatma: Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. It is  late morning and there are a few visitors, some of them Japanese tourists, who have brought a guide along. Mahatma Gandhi does feature in the subject of World History abroad, so perhaps they are here to get a first-hand education. There is no admission fee. Just walk into the main building in front of you. It is the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, which was opened in 1963. It has been designed by Charles Correa and houses three major galleries. The building is a large and airy red brick walled structure with Mangalore tiled roofs, the galleries, all at ground level, connect together to a central water pond. As you enter the walls have  quotes by the sant expressing his ideology.

"If blood be shed let it be our own.
Let us cultivate the calm courage to die without killing."
                                                                            - M K Gandhi

The galleries portray major events in the life of the man, from 1915 to 1930. They are well-documented with photographs, paintings and write-ups covering Gandhi's activities from the foundation of the Ashram, Majdoor Mahajan, Navjivan Press and Gujarat Vidyapeeth, the promotion of the charkha and the boycott of foreign cloth, up to the historic salt march.

On the first wall is a collage of letters addressed to the Mahatma. They are a delight. One of them simply reads: To Gandhi, India. That was sufficient to get the mail to its receiver. Another says: To Mahatma Gandhi, Mahabaleshwar. Now, that is interesting for the man never resided there. Was Mahabaleshwar considered a winter capital of the city in British times? It gets you thinking about the power of Gandhi.

The hallway leads into another room which is a museum, with more photographs enclosed in glass displays. One portrays the ashram as it was, when it was first established. A simple thatched roof house, enclosed by bamboos and a little vegetation.

The large garden just behind the main museum is lush. A statue of Gandhi sits serenely on a mound by the river. No one wanders on to the grass or tries touching the statue. Looking at it from afar really feels like Gandhiji is  sitting there meditating by the Sabarmati…

A walk down the stretch of a stone path leads you the house where Gandhi lived from 1918 to 1930, Hridayakunj. Hriday means heart and this was the central part of the ashram, hence the name. It is a smallish austere house. One has to remove one's shoes before entering the cottage as a mark of respect to the great man. The house itself is quite stark, nothing much here, save an old arm chair, a few mud pots and pans and the latticed doors and windows. Except his famous charkha, there is nothing that alludes to what might have been a part of his life. But then that is how the man lived, with nothing much to his name. This house itself has been witness to so much activity. Several national and international leaders came here to meet Gandhi. Fervent planning and a fierce national pride must have taken root here. The walls are bare now; you struggle to make the connection yourself. In a corner a clay urn contains Gandhi's ashes. Small panels on the side have placards that bear dates and history. It is interesting to read the timeline. It throws light on the man's journey from being Mohandas to Mahatma. The year he was born at Porbandar - 1869, his marriage to Kasturba in 1881 and  became a barrister in England and went to South Africa as a Legal Advisor in 1893. His return to India when he founded the Satyagraha Ashram at Kotchrub in Ahmedabad, to when he started the Non-Co-operation Movement in 1920, his fast unto death for Harijans in 1932 and finally the year he was assassinated -1948.

A little away, the Upasana Mandir is where the ashram inmates gathered for their morning and evening prayers. To Gandhi, prayer was the ultimate food for the soul. He was rigorous in following it and it helped him take important personal and national decisions. Hence, before starting work in the morning and in the evening, he  prayed here with the rest of the ashramites. They listened to bhajans or religious hymns and at times, read from the Holy Quran, Gita and the Bible.

To the world, the Ashram is better known for the historic Dandi Yatra or Salt March. It is from here on 12th March, 1930 that Gandhi set off on foot to the village Dandi, near Surat to defy the Salt Act imposed by the British. It is on this land that he took a vow before setting off, not to return till he achieved freedom for India.

In the years that encompassed the freedom struggle, the British Government began to seize nationalists' property. A request by Gandhi to leave his premises alone was turned down. Finally, on 30th September, he handed it over to the Harijan Sewa. After Indian independence and the Mahatma's passing away, the Sabarmati Ashram Memorial Trust came into existence to preserve the Ashram as a national heritage.

The block after Hridayakunj is a special place too. Two ardent followers of the Mahtama lived here, Acharya Vinoba Bhave who led the Bhoodan Andolan, a revolutionary movement and Madeleine Slade, a British admiral's daughter, whom Gandhi called Mira. She remained devoted to Gandhi's ideology all through her life.

Other buildings here, include the guest house where many of Gandhi's foreign guests stayed and an important edifice - the Udyog Mandir, that came to be founded during the strike of the mill workers in Ahmedabad. The charkha was spun into action here, setting off an industry that symbolized self-reliance and dignity. Historical data suggests this was Gandhi's first place of residence. A small property is Somnath Chhatralaya.  Ashramites who forsook family affairs and shared a community life lived here.   
  
A sound-and-light show takes place at the ashram to present these and more historical data to visitors. The programmes are in Gujarati and English with separate timings for both.  Quite near the exit, is Teachers' Niwas where prominent associates of Bapu like Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Kishorelal Mashruwala and Laxmidas Ashar stayed.

Everyone you meet in Ahmedabad,  tells you that it is a must to visit the Sabarmati Ashram and revel in the absolute calm and peace that prevails there. And as your tour ends, you realise they were so right. It is inspiring to have tread the Gandhian path. In an age of new ideas, successes and new failures, here you find the standard Gandhi set. History comes alive and makes you take a pledge to contribute to world peace and cast violence aside.

Sabarmati Ashram Preservation
and Memorial Trust
Mr Amrut Modi, Secretary
Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya,
Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad  380027, India
Tel: 079 27557255
Email: [email protected]