Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedabad - 3Alpha Outsourcing Services
Gandhi Ashram
An ashram is a monastery that serves a religious purpose for meditation and prayer. The Ashram usually serves dual purposes as domestic quarters and workplace for those that are devoted. Gandhi settled in our city of Ahmedabad, a few miles from our office here, after his return from South Africa. After a short time spent in Kochrab area, he moved near an area of open land near the river Sabarmati.
Gandhi lived in the ashram in Sabarmati for about 13 years. For those years it served as one of the central points for the Indian freedom struggle. Like all Ashrams, Gandhi’s served a dual purpose, serving as a institution in search for the truth. Also platform for all workers who wanted to come together to non-violently bring about freedom for India. It was Gandhi’s vision to create a new society based on truth and non-violence. While at the Ashram Gandhi formed a school in an effort to become more self-sufficient. The school focused on manual labor, agriculture and literacy.
Dandi Satyagraha
This was also the start of the Salt March, a movement of Civil Disobedience that was led by Gandhi. The Salt March, also known as the Dandi Satyagraha, lasted 24 days from March 12 to April 6, 1930. The march was a protest against taxation placed by British Officials on salt production, and the use of force to stop production when it was deemed illegal. Gandhi and 78 trusted volunteers march 240 miles down the coast, walking 10 miles a day to produce salt at different parts. The march ended at the coastal town of Dandi, where more salt was produced without paying tax, as people had joined the march along the way. On last day of Salt March, when Gandhi broke salt laws it sparked a chain of civil disobedience against the British Raj Salt Laws by millions more.
After the Salt March, however, there was still a long fight for Gandhi and his followers. Over 60,000 freedom fighters were jailed, and the British Government seized the Ashram. Gandhi asked the government to forfeit the Ashram, but they refused by which time Gandhi has decided to disband it. Later on, it would become a resting place for those that had been detained, and after locales decided to preserve it.
Indian Independence
Gandhi had declared he would not return to the Ashram until Indian Independence was won. On August 15, 1947 India was free of British rule, but Gandhi was assassinated in January of 1948 before he got a chance to return.
The Ashram still stands today as a beacon of inspiration and guidance, many other nations have used it as a symbol for the ideology that brought about India’s independence. It is also testimony to Gandhi’s life and mission, and testimony to the life of those that also fought in the struggle for India’s freedom.
It is a wonderful place to visit and is one of Ahmedabad’s major tourist attractions.