Death Anniversary of Kasturba Gandhi – 22 Feb 1944.

Kasturba Gandhi, Wife of Father of Nation Mahatama Gandhi, was born in 11 April 1869 Porbandar to Gokuldas Nakanji, a trader in food grains and cotton textiles in Saurahstra. She was not given formal education, as was the custom in conservative families of the period. She was given in marriage in 1882 to Mohandas, the younger son of Karamchand Gandhi, the dewan of Porbander. Both the bride and the bridegroom were of the same age, 13.  The husband taught the wife to read and write in their mother tongue, Gujarati and she picked up enough language to go through the daily newspapers. During the early period of their married life, the husband insisted that the wife obeyed strictly what all was told by him to which the wife was not willing to oblige and this resulted in occasional wrangles between the two. Brought up in conservative style, she could not compromise with many of the progressive styles of Gandhi. But later she obliged and there was no problem.

Kasturba gave birth to a male child in 1885, but it died soon. They had four more sons – Hiralal (1896), Manilal (1897), Ramdas (1898), and Devadas (1900). When Gandhi went to South Africa, Ba accompanied him with the two kids. They lived in Durban, South Africa for more than 19 years.

The frequent fastings that Gandhi undertook ate into her health also and her own internment in prisons added fuel to this malady. Medical attention was there but to no avail; and on 22 February 1944 in Aga Khan Palace, Poona,, this great lady who was the shadow of her husband who became the Father of the Nation and one of the greatest men of all times, breathed her last, lying on the lap of her beloved