Putlibai Gandhi
Putlibai Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1844. She died on the 12th of June, 1891, leaving behind a life that history has largely read only in her son's reflection. That son, Mohandas, would grow up to be known as Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India's independence movement. What kind of woman was Putlibai, apart from what he wrote about her? What did she believe, and what did she ask of him before he left her world for another?
Dantrana was a village in the then-Junagadh State, and it was there that Putlibai's origins lay. She came to marry Karamchand Gandhi, who had served as dewan of Rajkot. Karamchand was twenty-two years her senior, and she was his fourth and youngest wife. His first two wives had died early in childbirth; the third had been rendered childless. Putlibai bore him four children, each of them arriving into a household that carried the shadow of those earlier losses. The youngest of those four, Mohandas, was born into a home that his mother's faith had already shaped.
Hinduism, as Putlibai practiced it, became the central religious education of Mohandas's childhood. She was a deeply religious woman who ensured Mohandas was schooled in the faith. She called him Monia, a private affectionate name that surfaces in the account he later left of her. That name sat alongside a more serious religious instruction, one Gandhi would return to in writing years after she was gone.
In "The Story of My Experiments with Truth," Gandhi wrote about Putlibai at considerable length. Among those pages were passages recording the conditions she had set before agreeing to his departure for England. He was going there to pursue legal study and to qualify as a barrister. The conditions she placed on that journey mattered enough to be preserved in the memoir he produced as a grown man. That autobiography is where her voice, refracted through her son's recollection, has outlasted the century in which she lived.
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Common questions
Who was Putlibai Gandhi?
Putlibai Karamchand Gandhi (1844-1891) was the mother of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. She was born in the village of Dantrana in the then-Junagadh State and became the fourth and youngest wife of Karamchand Gandhi, the former dewan of Rajkot.
When did Putlibai Gandhi die?
Putlibai Gandhi died on the 12th of June, 1891. She had been born in 1844.
Where was Putlibai Gandhi from?
Putlibai Gandhi came from Dantrana, a village in the then-Junagadh State. She married Karamchand Gandhi, who had served as dewan of Rajkot.
What religion did Putlibai Gandhi practice and how did it influence Mahatma Gandhi?
Putlibai Gandhi practiced Hinduism and was a deeply religious woman. Through her teaching and example, her son Mohandas, later known as Mahatma Gandhi, was schooled in the Hindu faith from childhood.
What did Mahatma Gandhi write about his mother Putlibai Gandhi in his autobiography?
In "The Story of My Experiments with Truth," Mahatma Gandhi wrote extensively about his mother Putlibai. Among the subjects he recorded were the conditions she set before allowing him to leave India for England to study law and become a barrister.
How many wives did Karamchand Gandhi have before Putlibai Gandhi?
Karamchand Gandhi had three wives before Putlibai, who was his fourth and youngest. His first two wives died early in childbirth, and his third was rendered childless.
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5 references cited across the entry
- 2BookGandhi before IndiaRamachandra Guha — Penguin Books Limited — 2014-10-15
- 3NewsThe meaning of celebrating Putlibai DayG. Ram Mohan — 2015-08-25
- 5BookGandhi: The Man, His People, and the EmpireGandhi Rajmohan — 2006