Kasturba Gandhi, affectionately called Ba, was the wife of Mohandas Gandhi, whom she married at the age of 13. Born to wealthy businessman Gokuladas Makharji of Porbandar, Kasturba married Mohandas Gandhi in May 1882. At the time, she was illiterate, and so Gandhi taught her to read and write—a potentially radical move, given the position of women in India at that time.
When Gandhi left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their newborn son Harilal. She had three more sons—Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), and Devdas (1900). In 1906, Mohandas Gandhi decided to practice brahmacharya, and the couple became celibate. Although she stood by her husband, she did not always easily accept his ideas. Gandhi had to work hard to persuade her to see (and agree to) his side of the viewpoint.
Kasturba was deeply religious. Like her husband, she renounced all caste distinctions and lived in ashrams. Kasturba often joined her husband in political protests. She travelled to South Africa in 1897 to be with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturba was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labour prison. Later, in India, she sometimes took her husband’s place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and writing to women and children. Kasturba suffered from chronic bronchitis. Stress from the Quit India Movement’s arrests and ashram life caused her to fall ill. After contracting pneumonia, she died from a severe heart attack on February 22, 1944.
Vocabulary
Affectionately—fondly
Renounced—gave up
