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{{short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
'''Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai''' (1887–1951) also called '''[[Darbar (title)|Darbar]] Gopaldas Desai''' was a prince who ascended the throne of the State of Dhasa currently known as Gopalgram in [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]] and a noted [[Gandhian]] political and social activist. He is remembered as the first prince in India who gave up his principality to become a freedom fighter against the British Raj.<ref name="thehindu">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/wanderings-in-wonderland/article3818579.ece|title=Wanderings in wonderland|date=25 August 2012|newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=18 May 2018}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Gopaldas was born at [[Vaso, India|Vaso]] in the present day [[Kheda district]] of [[Gujarat]]. He was an [[Inamdar (feudal title)|''inamdar'']] or feudatory to the [[Baroda State]], the ruler of the Dhasa State and a ''[[jagirdar]]'' of the [[Rai-Sankli|Rai and Sankhli]] villages. He was a [[Vaishnavite]] and a [[Patidar]] by caste and a [[Desai]] and [[Patidar|Amin]] by title.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yog Sunder: A true Prince of Dance|url=http://www.narthaki.com/info/tdhc/tdhc7.html}}</ref> He became the ruler of Dhasa succeeding his maternal grandfather Ambaidas who adopted him as heir to the throne.<ref>{{cite book|last=McLeod|first=John|title=Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the State of Western India, 1916–1947|year=1999|publisher=Brill|location=Netherlands|page=232|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXpzWlPpE1cC&q=gopaldas+desai&pg=PA232|isbn=9789004113435}}</ref> Gopaldas had been a supporter of [[Mohandas Gandhi]] and the [[Indian National Congress]] and often gave them financial support. He was a progressive ruler and provided free education to his subjects. Impressed by the ideas of Madam Montessori, he started first Montessori school in [[Vaso, India|Vaso]] in 1915 with the help of his mentor, Motibhai Amin. It was the first Montessori School in Gujarat, and perhaps in entire India.<ref>{{cite web|title=Vaso Heritage Village|url=http://www.thevaso.com/about.html|access-date=25 August 2012|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234823/http://www.thevaso.com/about.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Indian Independence movement ==
By 1921, Gopaldas had become active in the [[Indian National Congress]]. That year he became the president of the [[Kheda district|Kheda]] District Congress Committee.<ref name="books.google">{{cite book|last=Heredia|first=Ruth|title=The Amul India Story|year=1997|publisher=Tata Mc Graw Hill|location=New Delhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYEkjpYkHrMC&q=darbar+gopaldas+&pg=PA30|isbn=9780074631607}}</ref> The following year, his [[princely state|state]] was confiscated and was deposed as ruler by the British after he disobeyed the [[British Resident|British Resident General's]] warnings against his involvement in the national movement and extending financial support to Gandhi. Gopaldas and his wife Bhakti Lakshmi, better known as Bhaktiba became active freedom fighters from 1922. After his removal, the British proposed Gopaldas' eldest son Suryakant as the new ruler. He however rejected the offer arguing that he held the same political views as his father. The British later approached Gopaldas' other three sons as they approached the age of majority. They all rejected the offer, following the footsteps of their father.<ref>{{cite book|last=McLeod|first=John|title=Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the State of Western India, 1916–1947|year=1999|publisher=Brill|location=Netherlands|page=235|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXpzWlPpE1cC&q=gopaldas+desai&pg=PA232|isbn=9789004113435}}</ref>

Following the confiscation of his estates, Gopaldas relocated to [[Borsad]] from where he participated in both the Borsad and [[Bardoli Satyagraha]]s.<ref name="books.google" /> During the 1930 [[Civil Disobedience Movement]], the entire Desai family was imprisoned including Gopaldas, his wife Bhaktiba, the two elder sons Mahendra and Suryakant, and their wives and even their newborn son, a mere six-month-old, Barindra. Thus, Barindra must have been the youngest freedom fighter. Bhaktiba was obliged to take the infant to Sabarmati jail in 1930 because he was too young to be left with anyone.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sunder|first=Yog|title= Thus Youngest Freedom Fighter in India's Struggle for Independence|url=http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/southasia/saim/recollections/Desai.pdf}}</ref> The Desais were also active participants in the [[Quit India Movement]]. Bhaktiba became a renowned social worker and Gandhian political activist in her own right<ref>{{cite book|last=Kumar|first=Ravindra|title=Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Comrade Mao Tse-Tung: A Comparative Study|year=1999|publisher=Mittal Publications|location=New delhi|page=105|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DkA3ucaJtMC&q=darbar+gopaldas+desai+the+statesman&pg=PA105|isbn=9788170997146}}</ref> while Yog Sunder went on to become a renowned dancer and choreographer and the founder of the Indian Revival Group.<ref name="thehindu" />

== Social activism==
Gopaldas and Bhaktiba worked for the Gandhian causes of eradication of [[untouchability]] and for women's education. They were the pioneers in advancing female literacy in Gujarat and Saurashtra, especially the residential schools for girls. They founded Vitthal Kanya Vidyalaya in [[Nadiad]] in 1935 and later Vallabh Kanya Vidyalaya at [[Rajkot]] in 1946, both of them residential schools for girls.<ref>{{cite news|title=When Gandhians pioneered female literacy in S'rashtra|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-21/rajkot/28128351_1_female-literacy-saurashtra-higher-education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203065611/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-21/rajkot/28128351_1_female-literacy-saurashtra-higher-education|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 December 2013|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|date=21 January 2010}}</ref> Soon after independence, it was Darbar Gopaldas who was given the honour in 1947 to lay the foundation stone of [[Kirti Mandir, Porbandar|Kirti Mandir]], the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi in his birthplace [[Porbandar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Gandhi Bapu Kirti mandir|url=http://www.gandhibapu.com/templet.jsp?sno=49}}</ref>

He was elected to the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] as a member from [[Baroda State|Baroda]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Constituent Assembly Debate on 28 April, 1947|url=http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/323093/}}</ref> Gopaldas was reinstated as a ruler of his principality after India's independence. He is remembered as the first prince among about 550 princely states to voluntarily and unconditionally merge his principality with the Indian Union.<ref>McLeod John, Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the State of Western India, 1916-1947</ref>

[[Rajmohan Gandhi]] has authored, ''The Prince of Gujarat'' (2014), a biography of Desai.<ref>{{cite news|title=Remembering a prince|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/interview-with-rajmohan-gandhi/article6658450.ece|access-date=5 December 2014|work=The Hindu|date=3 December 2014}}</ref>

== References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Indian independence movement}}

{{Mohandas K. Gandhi}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Darbar Gopaldas}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kheda district]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Indian royalty]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Maharajas in Gujarat]]

Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai - Revision history

Delphia92Y at 00:29, 8 March 2026