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{{short description|Indian freedom activist and the wife of Mahatma Gandhi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=March 2016}}
{{more footnotes|date=April 2016}}
{{tone|date=April 2016}}
}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kasturbai Gandhi
| image = Kasturba.jpg
| alt = Kasturbai Gandhi
| birth_name = Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1869|4|11}}
| birth_place = [[Porbandar]], [[Porbandar State]], [[Kathiawar Agency]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Gujarat]], [[India]])
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1944|2|22|1869|4|11}}
| death_place = [[Yerawada Central Jail]], [[Yerwada|Yerawada, Maharashtra, India]]
| other_names = Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi Kasturba Gokuldas Kapadia
| father = Gokuladas Kapadia
| mother = Vrajkunwerba Kapadia
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Mahatma Gandhi]]|1883}}
| children = {{hlist|[[Harilal Gandhi|Harilal]]|[[Manilal Gandhi|Manilal]]|[[Ramdas Gandhi|Ramdas]]|[[Devdas Gandhi|Devdas]]}}
| occupation = Activist
}}

'''Kasturbai Mohandas Gandhi''' ({{audio|Kasturba Gandhi.ogg|listen}}, born '''Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia'''; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She married [[Mohandas Gandhi]] in 1883. With her husband and son, she was involved in the [[Indian independence movement]] in [[British Raj|British India]]. She was, to a great extent, influenced by her husband. ''National Safe Motherhood Day'' is observed on 11 April every year. The day also marks the birth anniversary of Kasturba Gandhi.<ref>[https://www.aimsindia.com/blog/national-safe-motherhood-day-flowers-for-expecting-mothers/ National Safe Motherhood Day & Flowers For Expecting Mothers] ''Aims India''. Retrieved 2 October 2021</ref> Mohandas affectionately called her 'Ba' and in letters referred to her as 'Mrs. G[andhi]'

==Early life and background==
Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia was born on 11 April 1869 to Gokuladas Kapadia and Vrajkunwerba Kapadia. The family belonged to the [[Modh]] [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] caste of [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] [[Hindu]] tradesmen and were based in the coastal town of [[Porbandar]].<ref name=forgotten>{{cite book|last=Gandhi|first=Arun and Sunanda|title=The Forgotten Woman|year=1998|publisher=Zark Mountain Publishers|location=Huntsville, AR|isbn=1-886940-02-9|pages=314}}</ref> Little is known of Gandhi's early life. In May 1883, 14-year-old Gandhi was married to 13-year-old [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas]] in a [[arranged marriage|marriage arranged]] by their parents, arranged marriage being commonplace and traditional in India.<ref name="Mohanty2011">{{cite journal |last1=Mohanty |first1=Rekha |year=2011 |title=From Satya to Sadbhavna |journal=Orissa Review |issue=January 2011 |pages=45–49 |url=http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2011/Jan/engpdf/january.pdf#page=58 |access-date=23 February 2012}}</ref> They were married for a total of sixty-two years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Tarlo|first=Emma|title=Married to the Mahatma: The Predicament of Kasturba Gandhi|journal=Women: A Cultural Review|volume=8|issue=3|pages=264–277|doi=10.1080/09574049708578316|year=1997}}</ref> Recalling the day of their marriage, her husband once said, "As we didn't know much about, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives." However, as was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend the first few years of marriage (until old enough to cohabit with her husband) at her parents' house, and away from her husband.<ref name="Husband">Gandhi (1940). [http://wikilivres.ca/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth/Part_I/Playing_the_Husband Chapter "Playing the Husband"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701002125/http://wikilivres.ca/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth/Part_I/Playing_the_Husband |date=1 July 2012 }}.</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2018|reason=Gandhi implies that they 'lived together' right after the wedding : 'I can picture to myself, even today, how we (...)the newly wedded husband and wife, put the sweet Kansar into each other's mouth, and how we began to live together' 'The Story of my experiment with truth', chapter 'Child marriage'}} Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, "even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me."<ref>{{cite book|title=Gandhi before India|date=4 April 2015|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=978-0-385-53230-3|pages=28–29}}</ref> At the beginning of their marriage, Mohandas was also possessive and manipulative; he wanted the ideal wife who would follow his command.<ref name=":0" />

<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Tarlo|first=Emma|date=1997|title=Married to the mahatma: The predicament of Kasturba Gandhi|journal=Women: A Cultural Review|volume=8|issue=3|pages=264–277|doi=10.1080/09574049708578316|issn=0957-4042}}</ref> Although their other four sons ([[Harilal Gandhi|Harilal]], [[Manilal Gandhi|Manilal]], [[Ramdas Gandhi|Ramdas]], and [[Devdas Gandhi|Devdas]]) survived to adulthood, Gandhi never fully recovered from the death of her first child.<ref name="Kasturba: A Life">{{cite book|last1=Gandhi|first1=Arun|title=Kasturba: A Life|date=14 October 2000|publisher=Penguin UK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EntuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=3 November 2016|isbn=9780140299717}}</ref> The first two sons were born before Mohandas first went abroad. When he left to study in [[London]] in 1888, she remained in [[India]]. In 1896 she and their two sons went to live with him in South Africa.

[[File:Kasturba and children.jpg|thumb|Gandhi with her four sons]]

Later on, in 1906, Mohandas took a vow of chastity, or [[Brahmacharya|brahamacharya]].<ref name=":0" /> Some reports indicated that Gandhi felt that this opposed her role as a traditional Hindu wife.<ref name=":0" /> However, Gandhi quickly defended her marriage when a woman suggested she was unhappy.<ref name=":3" /> Gandhi's relatives also insisted that the greatest good was to remain and obey her husband, the Mahatma.<ref name=":0" />

Gandhi's relationship with her husband can be described by the following extract from Ramachandra Guha's novel ''Gandhi Before India''; "They had, in the emotional as well as sexual sense, always been true to one another. Perhaps because of their periodic, extended separations, Kasturba deeply cherished their time together."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Guha|first1=Ramachandra|title=Gandhi Before India|date=15 October 2014|publisher=Penguin UK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XS7UAAAAQBAJ|access-date=2 November 2016|isbn=9789351183228}}</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Gandhi-Tagore.jpg|upright|300px|thumb|Bengali poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]] with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and Kasturba Gandhi at [[Santiniketan]], 1940.]]
Kasturba Gandhi first involved herself with politics in South Africa in 1904 when, with her husband and others, she established the [[Phoenix Settlement]] near Durban. In 1913 she took part in protests against the ill-treatment of Indian immigrants in South Africa, for which she was arrested and on September 23, 1913 was sentenced to hard labour. While in prison, she led other women in prayer<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Hiralal|first=Kalpana|title=Rethinking Gender and Agency in the Satyagraha Movement of 1913|journal=Journal of Social Sciences|volume=25|pages=94–101}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Kapadia|first=Sita|title=Windfall: Tribal Women Come Through|jstor=40003104|journal=Women's Studies Quarterly|volume=17|issue=3/4|pages=140–149|year=1989}}</ref> and encouraged educated women to teach the uneducated women how to read and write.<ref name=":1" />

Gandhi and Mohandas left South Africa in July 1914 and returned to live in India. In spite of Kasturba’s chronic bronchitis she continued to take part in civil actions and protests across India and often took her husband's spot when he was in prison. The majority of her time was dedicated to helping out and serving in ashrams.<ref name="EncyclopediaBritannica">{{cite web|last1=Routray|first1=Bibhu Prasad|title=Kasturba Gandhi: Indian Political Activist|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kasturba-Gandhi|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=5 November 2016}}</ref> Here, Gandhi was referred to as "Ba" or Mother, because she served as mother of the ashrams in India.<ref>Banerjee, Mita. "Kasturba Gandhi Strength of a Woman." Alive 02 2013: 32-4. ProQuest. Web. 27 Sep. 2017</ref> A point of difference between Gandhi and Mohandas was the treatment of their children in their ashram. Gandhi believed that their sons did not deserve special treatment, while Gandhi felt that Mohandas neglected them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/gandhi/kasturba-gandi/|title=Kasturba Gandi|website=MANAS|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-09}}</ref>

In 1917, Gandhi worked on the welfare of women in Champaran, Bihar where Mohandas was working with indigo farmers. She taught women hygiene, discipline, health, reading and writing.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}} In 1922, she participated in a ''Satyagraha'' (nonviolent resistance) movement in Borsad, Gujarat even though she was in poor health. She did not take part in Gandhi's famous Salt March in 1930, but continued to take part in many civil disobedience campaigns and marches. As a result, she was arrested and jailed on numerous occasions.<ref name="EncyclopediaBritannica" />

In 1939, Gandhi took part in nonviolent protests against the British rule in Rajkot, after the women in the city specifically asked her to advocate for them.<ref name=EncyclopediaBritannica /> Gandhi was arrested once again, and kept in solitary confinement for a month. Her health worsened but she continued to fight for independence. In 1942, she was arrested again, along with Mohandas and other freedom fighters for participating in the [[Quit India movement]]. She was imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. By this time her health had severely deteriorated completely and she died at the detention camp in Pune.<ref name="Kasturba: A Life"/>

Mohandas wrote of his wife in terms which showed that he continued always to expect obedience from her. "According to my earlier experience, she was very obstinate. In spite of all my pressure she would do as she wished. This led to short or long periods of estrangement between us. But as my public life expanded, my wife bloomed forth and deliberately lost herself in my work."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gandhi|first1=Mohandas Karamchand|title=My Experiments With Truth: An Autobiography|year=1926|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.935|publisher=Jaico Publishing House}}</ref>

==Health and death==
[[File:Gandhi and Kasturba seated.jpg|thumb|right|Gandhi with [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas]] in the 1930s]]
[[File:Gandhi and Kasturbhai 1902.jpg|left|thumb|Kasturba and her husband [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]], 1902]]
[[File:kasturba gandhi burial.JPG|thumb|right|Kasturba Gandhi memorial stone (on the right) with the memorial stone of [[Mahadev Desai]] in [[Aga Khan Palace]], [[Pune]] where she died]]
Gandhi suffered from chronic [[bronchitis]] due to complications at birth. Her bronchitis was complicated by [[pneumonia]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Birth Anniversary of Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi|url=http://english.dcbooks.com/birth-anniversary-kasturba-mohandas-gandhi.html|website=english.dcbooks.com|access-date=1 May 2017}}</ref> Gandhi's health later deteriorated in January 1908, as she fasted while Gandhi was in prison, becoming ill. Gandhi came so close to death that Mohandas apologized to her, and promised he would not remarry if she were to die.<ref name=":2" />

In January 1944, Gandhi suffered two heart attacks after which she was confined to her bed much of the time. Even there she found no respite from pain. Spells of breathlessness interfered with her sleep at night. Yearning for familiar ministrations, Gandhi asked to see an [[Ayurvedic]] doctor. After several delays (which Gandhi felt were unconscionable), the government allowed a specialist in traditional Indian medicine to treat her and prescribe treatments. At first she responded, recovering enough by the second week in February to sit on the verandah in a wheel chair for short periods, and talk with him. Unfortunately, she suffered a relapse.

To those who tried to bolster her sagging morale saying "You will get better soon," Gandhi would respond, "No, my time is up". Finally, at 7:35 pm on 22 February 1944, she died at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Poona]], aged 74.<ref>{{cite news|title=Death Takes Gandhi's Wife|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-6QkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1645%2C2363960|access-date=18 May 2017|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|date=23 February 1944|page=2}}</ref>

The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust Fund was set up in her memory. Mohandas requested that this fund would be used to help women and children in villages in India.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bhatt|first=Neela|title=The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust: Plan, Development and Programme of the First nation-Wide Movement of its Kind for Dealing with the Problem of Women and Children in Rural India|journal=Indian Journal of Social Work|volume=10|pages=94–101}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Many institutions, roads, and cities are named after her
*[[Kasturba Gandhi College for Women]]
*[[Kasturba Hospital (Wardha)]]
*[[Kasturba Medical College, Manipal]]
*[[Kasturba Nagar railway station]]
*[[Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya]]
*[[Kasturba Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency)]]
*[[Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust]]
*[[Kasturba Health Society]]
*[[Kasturba Nagar, Chennai]]
*[[Kasturba Nagar, Puducherry]]
*[[Kasthurba College for Women, Villianur, Puducherry]]
*[[Kasturba Road]]
*[[Kasturba Gandhi Marg]], [[New Delhi]].
*[[Kasturba Nagar]], [[Kochi]].
*[[Kasturba Nagar]], [[Bhopal]].
[[File:Kasturba and Mahatma Gandhi 1969 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|right|Kasturba with [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]] in Indian Postal Stamp (1969) ]]
[[File:Kasturba Gandhi 1964 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Kasturba Gandhi in Indian Postal Stamp (1964)]]

== In popular culture ==
[[File:Non Interactive Gandhi.jpg|thumbnail|[[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Mohandas K. Gandhi]] and Kasturbai Gandhi at [[Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum]], [[Gandhi Smriti|Gandhi Smriti (Birla House)]], [[Tees January Marg]], [[New Delhi]].]]
[[Narayan Desai]] wrote a play, ''Kasturba'', based on Kasturba Gandhi. It was directed by Aditi Desai and was staged several times.<ref name="mumbaitheatreguide.com 2013">{{cite web | title=Ahemdabad-based theatre group to perform KASTURBA in Mumbai... Penned by veteran Gandhian Narayan Desai... : www.MumbaiTheatreGuide.com | website=mumbaitheatreguide.com | date=2013-05-16 | url=http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/Articles/13/may/16-ahmedabad-based-theatre-group-to-perform-kasturba-in-mumbai.asp# | access-date=2017-11-17}}</ref>

In the 1982 film ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'', the role of Kasturba Gandhi was played by [[Rohini Hattangadi]].

==See also==
* [[List of civil rights leaders|List of civil rights leaders]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Gandhi|first1=Arun|title=Kasturba : a life|date=2000|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New Delhi|isbn=0140299718|oclc=46314502}}
*{{cite book|last1=Gupta|first1=Indra|title=India's 50 Most Illustrious Women|date=December 31, 2010|publisher=Icon Publications|isbn=978-8188086047}}
*{{cite book|last1=Nayyar|first1=Sushila|title=Kasturba, wife of Gandhi|date=1948|publisher=Pendle Hill|isbn=9780875740003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pkPvgAACAAJ&q=Kasturba,+wife+of+Gandhi|access-date=25 March 2017}}
*{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=KP|title=Kasturba Gandhi: A biographical study|date=1944|publisher=Orient Illustrated Weekly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vC1AAAAIAAJ|access-date=25 March 2017}}

==External links==
* [http://www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/index.php/en/the-mahatma/gandhi-and-kasturba Gandhi and Kasturba]
{{Mohandas K. Gandhi}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Kasturba}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian pacifists]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Indian rebels]]
[[Category:Hindu pacifists]]
[[Category:Mahatma Gandhi family|Kasturba]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:People from Porbandar]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in India]]
[[Category:Deaths from bronchopneumonia]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to South Africa]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Women from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Colony of Natal people]]

Kasturba Gandhi - Revision history

->Thenexttalk at 16:52, 6 January 2022