Those who reverently remember and talk about Mahatma Gandhi today also believe in his legacy of ahimsa , secularism, peace and diversity. And the temple town has a strong community of old and young Gandhians who aspire to remain connected to virtues like simplicity, frugality and patience. Through various programmes and activities of the Amman Sannathi Gandhi Jayanti Committee, they try to build bridges with today’s generation in order to keep alive the Mahatma’s ideals and principles. After all Madurai has a rich history as an epicentre of Gandhiji’s activities during the revolutionary times in pre-independent India.
There are several firsts to the city. Gandhiji renounced his traditional attire here and became a half-naked fakir to identify himself with the masses. His entry into the Meenakshi Temple with Harijans was a landmark event. The first Harijan Sevalaya was set up at Mathichiyam (behind the Government Hospital in Shenoy Nagar). Madurai gave the first Gandhi memorial museum to the country.
The cotton-growing belt of Tirumangalam emerged as a major centre of khadi after Tirupur. Centres of Gandhian studies and research like the Gandhi Niketan in T,Kallupatti and Gandhigram near Dindigul were set up in the then composite Madurai district.
Gandhi's five historic visits to Madurai
March 26 to 28, 1919 – Gandhiji's maiden visit to Madurai was to mobilise satyagrahis against Rowlatt Act. He stayed in the bungalow of his close aide Barrister George Joseph, in Alwarpuram on the northern bank of river Vaigai. Currently, the plot has a multi-storeyed textile showroom on it. However, the busts of Gandhi and George Joseph can be seen on a traffic island at Yanaikkal, symbolising their friendship.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 24/01/2018: For Metroplus: The building on West Masi Street in Madurai, which has the spot where Mahatma Gandhi adopted 'Khadi', as seen at present. Photo: R. Ashok
September 20 to 22, 1921 – The second trip marked by the historic gesture of the Mahatma taking to the loin cloth. He first stayed as Karumuttu Thiagarajar Chettiar’s guest at his residence, 175 A West Masi Street. On September 21, he shifted to the residence of north Indian merchant Ramji Kalyanji on 251A West Masi Street. Also called the Sangoyi Maligai, it was from here that Gandhiji saw a poor peasant walking on the road with just a dhoti under his waist and decided to give up his traditional attire. The building currently houses Khadi Bhavan and a plaque there explains the significant event.
September 28 to 30, 1927 -- The third visit was to strengthen Khadi and swadeshi movement. Gandhians say he stayed in a compound on Krishnarayar Tank Street near Madura Coats. But there is no record of it.
January 25 to 27, 1934 – Gandhiji came with the objective of collecting funds for the Harijan movement. He stayed at the NMR Subbaraman House, also called as Manalmedu veedu near Kamarajar Salai. Presently, the bungalow is occupied by members of the NMR family and a plaque testifies the VIP stay.
February 2 and 3 , 1946 – This was Mahatma's last visit to Madurai when he came to worship Goddess Meenakshi after the temple was thrown open to Harijans. The Raja of Sivagangai hosted him in his residence near Kalpalam, which is now inside the Meenakshi College campus. The building now houses the Department of History and the room where Gandhiji stayed is now converted into a classroom. A statue of sitting Gandhi is installed inside the college.
Quotes:
MADURAI, TAMILNADU, 20/07/2014: T. Ravichandran, in Madurai.
Photo: R. Ashok
“Madurai played a major role in implementing Gandhian principles. Contrary to the popular portrayal of the city as a place of violence, the temple town had once nurtured non-violence and been a platform for Gandhian ideologies,” -- T Ravichandran, Assistant professor of Gandhian Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute and Deemed University
“Madurai holds a special place in Gandhiji's journey. We organised a rally 'Gandhi adigalin kaaladi thedi' in 2015 and mapped the 16 places visited by Gandhiji during his five visits. Many of these sites have changed beyond recognition and we are planning to put memorial plaques in future” -- Chidambara Bharathi, President of Amman Sannadhi Gandhi Jayanti Committee.
MADURAI, 31/03/2010: K.M. Natarajan, chairman, Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, in Madurai.
Photo: S. James
“I saw Gandhiji from atop Bombay Studios on East Chithrai Street when he came to the Temple. I was a student and along with friends decorated the Chithrai Streets with festoons. I went for his public meeting at Race Course. But he left after prayers without speaking because the crowd was unmanageable” -- K.M. Natarajan, Gandhian and Chairman of Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi
“Gandhiji was said to have a good sense of humour. It seems when he was to be taken in a car from the Sivagangai Raja’s palace to the Meenakshi Temple, two brothers N M R Subbaraman and N M R Krishnamoorthy offered to drive him. Gandhiji then tossed a coin and Subbaraman got the privilege of being at the wheels” -- K.R.Nanda Rao, Curator/Director, Gandhi Memorial Museum
Gandhi and Meenakshi Temple
On the ceiling of the Ashtasakthi Mandapam at the Amman Sannadhi entrance is a painting depicting the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi. The painting also shows Gandhi's face with his trademark round spectacles amidst the crowd of men and women, witnessing the event. Sundararaman of Panniru Thirumurai Mandram on the South Adi Street inside the temple, says, “The original paintings were drawn by painter Muthazhagiri Naidu in 1885. When it was repainted in 1932, the painters from Chithiraikara street undertook the job and one of them inserted Gandhi's face into the panel. Gandhiji was an iconic figure of freedom struggle and it was a trend those days to talk about freedom struggle in mediums of art.”
Near the Eastern entrance of the Meenakshi Temple, a Gandhi statue was installed in 1949 by the Amman Sannadhi Gandhi Jayanthi Committee in commemoration of dalit temple entry.
Gandhi Museum
The first Gandhi Memorial Museum in India was established in Madurai in 1959. Inaugurated by Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru, it is the only one in South India and one of the seven now in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Wardha, Sabarmati and Barrackpore.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 24/01/2018: For Metroplus: The letter written by Mahatma Gandhi on display at Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai. Photo: R. Ashok
An average of 1,000 visitors, including school and college students, tourists and foreign travellers, come daily. In 2016-2017, the museum received a footfall of 3,24,763 visitors.
It has three main sections exhibiting the freedom struggle of India in 30 panels, biography of Gandhi through a display of black-and-white photographs and a collection of 14 original items used by him and some replicas. The blood-stained loin cloth worn by Gandhi when he was assassinated is glass-cased here while the shawl with bullet marks is in the Delhi museum
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 24/01/2018: For Metroplus: The blood-stained cloth worn by Gandhiji on his last day of life on display at Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai. Photo: R. Ashok
There is a small replica of Rajghat where his sacred ash is kept (Asthi peedam) and a replica of the hut in Sevagram where he lived from 1936 to 1946, is built as Bapu Kutir in Madurai musuem. The library contains 27,232 books on and by Gandhi. Photostat copies of 28,225 letters of Gandhi and 22 reels of micro-films are the other valuable collections.
Some of the important personalities who have visited the museum are Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, H.H. Dalai Lama, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and M. Karunanidhi
Gandhi’s quote:
“All the alterations I have made in my course of life have been effected by momentous occasions; and they have been made after such a deep deliberation that I have hardly had to regret them. And I did them, as I could not help doing them. Such a radical alteration — in my dress, — I effected in Madura.”
— M.K. Gandhi. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi XXI.
The Hindu dated February 4, 1946, reported Gandhiji saying that while in the Meenakshi Temple he had realised a new spiritual significance -- From the pages (No: 864) of Tamilnattil Gandhi by A.Ramasamy
The Mahatma elsewhere in Madurai
At Madura College ground, Mahatma Gandhi delivered a talk during his first visit
Race course was his last public meeting where he met six lakh people
He made his first public appearance as a half-naked fakir at the Gandhi Pottal on Kamarajar Salai
He met women disciples under the stewardship of Tyagi Thayammal at the Chandra Theatre which later became Shanthi theatre on West Masi Street. It is now a private car parking.
He met students at Setupathi High School and Bombay Hindu traders at Victoria Edward Hall.;
He held meetings at the then Madurai Municipal Council Office, presently the Melavasal fort; Sourashtra Club at Teppakulam; Thideer Nagar slums; Hindi Prachar Sabha, near South Masi Street and Labour High school Grounds, near Madura Coats
The Mahatma also visited many rural villages in the surroundings
(Madurai Trails will periodically map the city based on a specific theme)
