Family of Mahatma Gandhi

Not to be confused with Nehru–Gandhi family.

Family of Mahatma Gandhi
Current regionIndia
Place of originGujarat, India
Members
Connected members
Connected familiesC. Rajagopalachari, Mashruwala, Kapadia, Dhupelia, Bhattacharjee, Menon
Distinctions(Mahatma Gandhi)
TraditionsGujarati, Hindu
Estate(s)Gandhi Smriti

The Gandhi family is the family of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi; Mahatma meaning "high souled" or "venerable" in Sanskrit; [1] the particular term 'Mahatma' was accorded Mohandas Gandhi for the first time while he was still in South Africa, and not commonly heard as titular for any other civil figure even of similarly rarefied stature or living or posthumous presence.[2]

Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Mohandas Gandhi has been called contemporary, post-colonial sovereign India's Father of the Nation, a title first given to him by Subhas Chandra Bose on 6 July 1944 during Bose's address on the Singapore Radio. On 28 April 1947, Sarojini Naidu too referred to Gandhi with the title Father of the Nation.[3] Mohandas Gandhi is also referred to as Bapu (Gujarati: endearment for "father") in India, as prime minister Nehru called him at his funeral. In common parlance in India he is often called Gandhiji; 'ji' being a honorific suffix. Gandhi has also been referred to (mostly by British officials) as Gae-ndy or Ga-ndhi as in Hindi the a makes an "ah" sound.

In 1883, Mahatma Gandhi married Kasturba (née Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia).[4] They had their first baby in 1885, who survived only a few days.[5] The Gandhi couple had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900. Mohandas and Kasturba being third generation members of the cogent strata of this clan in a modern continuous descent, following upon a notable first generation progenitor who was first in the family to hold the office of full Diwan, Prime Minister as the Mahatma translates it, in a princely state, their issue now has notable and active members in their family's seventh generation and continue to be steadily prolific. The Mahatma writes that "The Gandhis belong to the Bania caste and seem to have been originally grocers."[6] [7]

Prior to the Mahatma's grandfather being a Prime Minister in two different monarchial states, after a principled falling out with a royal faction in his first state, several generations of the Gandhi men had been Deputy Prime Ministers, if their career status is considered sufficiently notable in this family of political officials, then numeration of their generations as a 'dynasty' of ministers would be several numbers higher. Five generations before the Mahatma's grandfather, Lalji Gandhi (born circa 1674) was the first of 5 successful generations of Naib Diwans of the Princely state of Porbander.[8]

Family tree of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. Source: Gandhi Ashram Sabarmati

The Nehru-Gandhi family, India's other significant family with surname Gandhi, is unrelated by biology and marriage to the family of Mahatma Gandhi, however the same spelling of 'Gandhi' came into the Nehru-Gandhi family when Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter Indira married politician Feroze Gandhi who had changed the spelling of his surname Ghandy to Gandhi precisely to match that of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, revered as the 'father of the Indian nation'.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Mahatma name". behindthename.com. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Mahatma title to Bapu". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Father of The Nation". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  4. ^ Mohanty, Rekha (2011). "From Satya to Sadbhavna" (PDF). Orissa Review (January 2011): 45–49. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  5. ^ Guha 2015, p. 29
  6. ^ Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand. "Memoir of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi". Chapter 10: Birth and Parentage. Columbia University. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  7. ^ Mohanty, Rekha (2011). "From Satya to Sadbhavna" (PDF). Orissa Review (January 2011): 45–49. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  8. ^ "Lalji Gandhi". Geni. Geni.com. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  9. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (2011). India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. Pan Macmillan. p. 33, footnote 2 (chapter 14). ISBN 978-0330540209.: "Feroze Gandhi was also from the Nehrus' home town, Allahabad. A Parsi by faith, he at first spelt his surname 'Ghandy'. However, after he joined the national movement as a young man, he changed the spelling to bring it in line with that of Mahatma Gandhi."
  10. ^ Vishnu, Uma (2010). Idea Exchange: Opinion Makers, Critical Issues, Interesting Times. Penguin Books India. p. 87. ISBN 978-0670084890.