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GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

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Gandhi's father was not in good health, and was growing old. He was keen to

see his two young sons married before he passed away. So he decided that the

younger son, Mohan's marriage should also take place at the same time as that
of the elder son.

Gandhi's marriage took place when he was thirteen years of age. He was still a

student in the Alfred High School at Rajkot. Kasturba to whom he was married
was also of the same age. She had never been to school. Both of them were too

young to understand or take up the responsibilities of married life. In later

years, Gandhi saw this, and spoke of how thoughtless and dangerous it was to

push young children into marriage or for young children to enter into marital
life. But at the time Gandhi married, he only knew that his father wanted him

to marry, that there would be much pomp and many festivities; that he would

be at the centre of all these, and would have an enjoyable experience that he
would remember all his life. He also knew that he would, acquire a new

playmate or companion, a companion of the other sex with all the mysteries,

attractions and social prestige that it held.

On the very first night that he spent with his young bride he experienced the

stirrings and attractions of the body. In later years, he wondered who had

coached whom in how to cope with what happens to the mind and the body
when a young bride and bridegroom are thrown together at a tender age. He

realised that he was greatly attracted by the pleasures that the body could

give. He found that he was in the grip of lust, and would eagerly wait for

nightfall and seek joy in the company of his young wife.

Sheikh Mahtab, who was still close to Gandhi, perhaps divined these new

stirrings in Gandhi. He nearly got Gandhi to embark on a life of lust. He took
him to visit the lodgings of prostitutes. But Gandhi was saved by something

within him. He sat dumb and frozen on the bed till the prostitute herself rained

abuses on him and drove him out. Gandhi was saved. Yet later in life he

confessed that even though there was no action on his part, the intention to sin

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