Seminar papers on contributions of Kasturba Gandhi, 1869-1944, wife of Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, to women's rights in India; published on her 125th birth anniversary.
The Woman Beside Gandhi is a biography of Kasturba, wife of the Mahatma. Though there are countless references to her in the voluminous works by and about Gandhi, Kasturba remains virtually unknown. And yet it was she who stood up to him, was his teacher in non-violent resistance and the compassionate mainstay of his austerely demanding ashrams. And yet again it was Kasturba, appointed by Gandhi to be the leader of women's resistance, who by her own example, her speeches and her tireless rounds of towns and villages, motivated women by the thousands to make rapid, radical changes in their restricted personal lives and participate in mass civil disobedience for freedom. Seeing Kasturba go fearlessly to prison in South Africa and several times in India, so inspired and empowered women, that they too went to prison, fighting for their cause. The touching stories of these unknown, unheralded women are here in this book, filling an important vacuum in the world of letters especially as it pertains to women's emancipation. Three trips to India, meetings with over 200 people who knew Kasturba in person, and a great deal of research through books and places unvisited by other scholars, has gone into the writing of this ground-breaking biography. Sita Kapadia takes the reader with Kasturba, the child bride, and her boy husband from small towns to three continents, through ashrams and prisons. Combining diligent research with engaging interviews in a free-flowing and vibrant narrative, Kapadia shows how bravely and selflessly Kasturba lived her life, unlike anyone else's in the annals of human history. Gandhian scholar Dennis Dalton calls it a unique and superlative biography.
Born in Dinga district of Gujrat in what is now Pakistan, Prof. B.M. Bhalla has had a long and distinguished teaching career in Delhi University. His works have been published in various national and international journals and his translation of the Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s celebrated verse epic Luna won him the prestigious Delhi State Sahitya Academy Award in 2003.
Kasturba Gandhi is the fictionalised biography of Kasturba Gandhi, a lady as strong and great as Mahatma Gandhi. A lady who earned a place in history because of her personal sacrifices and strength of conviction in what was right as much as on account of being the wife of Mahatma Gandhi in his fight for basic human rights for Indians in South Africa and the Indian Freedom Movement. She was the first Indian woman who voluntarily faced a jail sentence in a foreign soil – in South Africa – in her fight for basic rights for Indian women. The book gives a glimpse of how a strong woman can empower herself staying within the folds of tradition and convention. It offers a rarely portrayed facet of Gandhi – a family man, a father, a husband. It shows how his transformation from Mr Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi happened with the support of a woman who was a silent partner in the struggle. How she let him realise his larger goals at a cost to herself and family in the larger interests of mankind. How she willingly courted jail terms in Africa, an alien land with no grip on the language and keeping her vegetarian habits intact. How she took up the causes started by Bapu, when he was jailed in India and was imprisoned. How she breathed her last in jail - in Agha Khan Palace where she was jailed last.
‘I LEARNED THE LESSON OF NONVIOLENCE FROM MY WIFE. HER DETERMINED RESISTANCE TO MY WILL ON THE ONE HAND, AND HER QUIET SUBMISSION IN THE SUFFERING MY STUPIDITY INVOLVED ON THE OTHER HAND, ULTIMATELY MADE ME ASHAMED OF MYSELF AND CURED ME OF MY STUPIDITY’ —GANDHI Kastur Kapadia was betrothed to Mohandas Gandhi when they were both just seven years old. The couple married when they were thirteen and Kastur had five children, the first of whom was born when she was sixteen. Together Gandhi and Kastur laid the foundations for the movement of nonviolence to which they devoted their lives. When Gandhi was imprisoned, Kastur was often jailed with him. No obstacle was too great for this extraordinary woman who gave up a life of comfort for one of utter poverty. When Kastur died, the whole nation wept for the woman the people called simply ’Ba’ ... Mother. Kasturba: A Life is the result of a lifetime of research by Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma and Kasturba. As well as recounting historical events behind the birth of a nation, it is also a love story, which ended with the terrible tragedy of Gandhi’s assassination in New Delhi in 1948. Until now, Gandhi’s biographers have dwelled upon his legend. This biography is the powerful story of two human beings, triumphing together against overwhelming odds.
There are some wonderful monographs which deal with the issues of women at the national and global level, but no work of their equivalent has been produced so far with the exclusive purpose of analyzing and reviewing the position and predicaments of women limited to the district of Dakshina Kannada. In this book, Dr. Hegde and Dr. Gowda make attempts to describe the subject of women empowerment in the district, the hurdles in the way of materializing it, and to suggest the general lines on which the various problems that confront women should be tackled in order to get a fairly satisfactory solution. Based on the detailed analysis of the working of women organizations towards realizing the goal of empowerment, the book draws on the districts’ literary sources to explain it in a distinctive way. The work will enable the reader to understand the subject in true perspective, as it is based on impartial survey of all the available data. Carefully researched and analyzed, this book will form an essential reading for all those interested on the issues of women empowerment and the contributions of the women organisations towards it in general and the DK district of Karnataka in particular. Traditional approaches to the empowerment of women, particularly in developing countries, tend to stress the primacy of poverty alleviation; this book attempts to explain, along with poverty issue, how other factors such as illiteracy, poor health, lack of opportunity to participate politically etc. fail the goal of women empowerment set in various programmes of the governmental and non-governmental agencies.
"Women in Gandhian Ideology" is a compelling exploration of the pivotal role played by women within the Gandhian philosophy. This insightful book delves into the contributions of women who, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's principles of nonviolence, equality, and social justice, became agents of change. From leading nonviolent movements during India's fight for independence to championing women's rights, education, and economic empowerment, these women reshaped the socio-political landscape. Their inspiring stories, often overlooked in history, are celebrated here, serving as a testament to the enduring power of resilience and activism. This book offers a captivating narrative that reveals the profound impact of women within the Gandhian ideology, igniting fresh conversations about empowerment and gender equality.