Mahadev Desai

• 1. A Boy From Saras

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  Mahadev Haribhai Desai entered the world on the 1st of January 1892 in the village of Saras. This small settlement sits within the Surat district of Gujarat. He was born into an Anavil Brahmin family. His father Haribhai Desai worked as a school teacher. His mother Jamnabehn died when Mahadev was only seven years old. The loss shaped his early childhood significantly.

  At age thirteen, he married Durgabehn in 1905. Education became his primary focus after marriage. He attended Surat High School for his secondary studies. Later he moved to Mumbai to study at Elphinstone College. There he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1913 he completed his law degree with an L.L.B. qualification. He took a job as an inspector at the central co-operative bank in Bombay shortly after graduation.

• 2. The Keeper Of Diaries

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  Desai first met Gandhi in 1915 seeking advice on publishing a book. That book was a Gujarati translation of John Morley's English work On Compromise. He joined Gandhi's Ashram in 1917 and brought his wife Durgabehn along. They traveled together to Champaran that same year.

  A diary began on the 13th of November 1917 and continued until the 14th of August 1942. This record covered the day before his death. It chronicled twenty-five years of life alongside Gandhi. When colonial authorities arrested Gandhi in Punjab in 1919, they named Desai his heir. The government sentenced him to one year in prison in 1921 for the first time.

  Verrier Elwin described Desai as more than just a secretary. He managed all arrangements for both home and foreign affairs. He looked after many guests and saved ten years of Gandhi's life by diverting unwanted visitors. Rajmohan Gandhi noted that Desai lived Gandhi's day three times over. He woke before dawn to anticipate events. He spent the day with his master. He recorded everything into his diary long after sleep.

• 3. Prison And Reform

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  Motilal Nehru requisitioned Desai from Gandhi in 1920 to run the newspaper Independent from Allahabad. The British government confiscated the printing press of the Independent. Desai created a sensation by producing a hand-written cyclostyled version instead. He received a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for his writings in 1921.

  Inside the jail he witnessed frequent flogging of prisoners by authorities. His report describing life inside an Indian jail appeared in Young India and Navajivan publications. These reports compelled British authorities to implement drastic jail reform measures. Desai took over as editor of Navajivan in 1924. From 1925 he began translating Gandhi's autobiography into English for serial publication in Young India.

  The following year he became chairman of the executive committee of the Satyagraha Ashram. He won a prize from the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for his article in Navajivan. He participated in the Bardoli Satyagraha alongside Sardar Patel. He wrote a history of that movement in Gujarati which he later translated into English as The Story of Bardoli.

• 4. A Translator Of Truths

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  Desai was an outstanding writer fluent in Gujarati, Bengali and English. He started translating while studying in college. He translated John Morley's On Compromise into Gujarati and won a thousand rupee prize from the Farbas Gujarati Sabha. That work was published as Satyagrahni Maryada.

  From Bengali literature he translated Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya's short stories as Tran Vartao in 1923. He also translated the novella Virajvahu in 1924. Tagore's works appeared in Gujarati through his translation efforts including Prachin Sahitya in 1922. Chitrangada and Viday Abhishap followed in 1925. He translated Nehru's Autobiography as Mari Jeevanktha in 1936 from English to Gujarati.

  The English translation of Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth came from its Gujarati original via Desai. Mahadevbhaini Dayari spans twenty-two volumes published between 1948 and 1997. Narhari Parikh edited the first six volumes. Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal edited volumes seven through twenty-two.

• 5. Silence At Aga Khan

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  Desai faced arrest again in 1932 and went to prison with Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Lord Willingdon served as the new Viceroy determined to crush the movement. After release in 1933, he was re-arrested and detained in Belgaum Jail. It was during this time that he wrote Gita According to Gandhi. That work saw posthumous publication in 1946.

  He played a role organizing people's movements in Rajkot and Mysore princely states in 1939. During the Individual Satyagraha of 1940 he was put in charge of selecting satyagrahis. His final imprisonment followed the Quit India Declaration on the 8th of August 1942. He was arrested on the morning of the 9th of August 1942.

  Six days later he died of a massive heart attack at age fifty. The location was the Aga Khan Palace where he remained interred with Gandhi until his death.

• 6. A Legacy In Stone And Ink

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  Gandhi called out Mahadev! Mahadev when Desai stopped breathing on the 15th of August 1942. Gandhi felt that if Mahadev opened his eyes he would tell him to get up. He believed Mahadev had never disobeyed him in life. He thought Mahadev would have defied even death if he heard those words.

  Gandhi himself washed Desai's body before cremation on the Palace grounds. A samadhi now marks his resting place there today. The Indian Department of Posts issued a commemorative stamp honoring him in 1983.

  His son Narayan Desai became a noted Gandhian activist and writer. Narayan wrote Mahadev Desai's biography titled The Fire and the Rose. The Sahitya Akademi Award recognized Mahadevbhaini Dayari posthumously in 1955. Gujarat Vidyapith named its faculty of social sciences arts and humanities after Mahadev Desai as the Mahadev Desai Samajseva Mahavidyalaya.