Page 20 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

was present, and so he should confess that he was guilty in terms of morality.

However, he decided that he would never betray or deceive his wife.

Gandhi was devoted to his wife, Kasturba. But he also believed that as her
husband, he had unquestioned authority over her. He would take decisions for

her. She could not go anywhere, not even to the temple, without his

permission. He was her master. But Kasturba showed that she also had a mind
and will of her own. She would go to the temple and visit her friends without

seeking Gandhi's permission. Gandhi was jealous, and therefore suspicious. It

was only much later in life, after he ceased to be a slave of the body and bodily
attractions, that he realised that a wife was not a piece of property to be

possessed by him. He then realised that a woman had all the rights that a man

had. She was, therefore, entitled to a personality and will of her own. The wife

was a companion and an equal partner of the husband, and not a toy or slave.
Later in life, Gandhi even said that he had learnt many lessons from his wife,

Kasturba — especially in Ahimsa (non-violence) and the way to resist with love.

But that was where Gandhi reached many years later. While in school, and in
the years immediately after his marriage, Gandhi was attracted to the bodily

pleasures of married life. He would wait for classes to end to run back to his

wife. This affected his studies. Worse still, it began to distract his mind even
when he was serving his sick father, keeping vigil at his bedside or massaging

his feet, before he fell asleep.

One night, the inevitable happened. Gandhi was massaging the feet of his ailing
father while his mind was full of the thoughts of Kasturba and the pleasures of

their bed. Karamchand's brother, young Gandhi's uncle, offered to massage

Karamchand's feet so that Gandhi could go and sleep. Gandhi agreed and ran to

his room. He had hardly bolted the room when someone knocked on the door
and asked Gandhi to hurry back to his father's bed since he was 'seriously' ill.

He knew what it meant, and hurried back into his father's room only to find
that his father had breathed his last during the few minutes that had taken him

to go to the side of his wife. Gandhi was overcome with remorse and shame.

There was no way of making amends. He had hoped that he would be serving

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