5 min readOct 3, 2025 07:30 AM IST
First published on: Oct 3, 2025 at 06:42 AM IST
On M K Gandhi’s birth anniversary, we pay tribute by highlighting an important but not much-discussed facet of his life. On specific occasions, he displayed moral and physical courage regardless of the consequences. Courage, in Gandhi’s life, was never about reckless defiance or dramatic gestures. It was about discipline, self-mastery, and the willingness to put his own life, comfort, and family on the line for principles he believed were higher than fear or personal well-being.
Our story commences in Johannesburg in 1904. The city was gripped by a bubonic plague outbreak. Large numbers of infected patients had been abandoned by their kith and kin. Gandhi volunteered to care for the abandoned sick, ignoring the highly infectious nature of the deadly disease. Gandhi asked for volunteers, but he chose only those who had no family. In contrast, Gandhi himself was 35 years old and his family was entirely dependent on him. An English nurse who had volunteered to be with Gandhi caught the plague and died. Undeterred, Gandhi soldiered on and tried his methods of unorthodox nursing on patients who had been condemned as lost cases. He managed to save several of them, ignoring the grave risk to himself.
Gandhi’s exemplary moral courage was equally visible in his personal life. While still young and living in South Africa, his wife Kasturba had to undergo surgery. Unfortunately, immediately thereafter, her health declined to a precarious point. Her doctor insisted on Kasturba imbibing meat broth to give her a chance at surviving. Kasturba, a lifelong vegetarian with deep spiritual convictions, refused. The doctor turned to Gandhi, expecting him to persuade her. Instead, he stood by her decision, refusing to override her conscience even though her life was at stake. As a consequence, he was asked, rather directed, to remove Kasturba from the hospital. He chose to take her home and personally nursed her by administering his nature cure remedies. Fortunately, she recovered. Not for a moment did Gandhi think of forcing Kasturba to abandon her beliefs even though her life was at stake. Of course, one could argue that he should have done everything possible to save her. But, for Gandhi, adherence to his principles was of paramount importance, and in any case Kasturba was just as adamant, for she was a strong-willed woman.
Upon his final return to India from South Africa in 1915, Gandhi set up his ashram in Ahmedabad. The ashram was financially dependent on societal support. At the same time, Gandhi was aware that his views opposing the practice of untouchability were at complete variance with societal values. Yet he consciously admitted an “untouchable” family into his ashram. This upset his sponsors, and financial support dried up. The ashram was on the verge of extinction, but Gandhi refused to budge. In the nick of time, one of Ahmedabad’s most prominent citizens, Ambalal Sarabhai, came to the rescue.
Once, when Gandhi was at the Sabarmati ashram, his eldest and errant son Harilal was in Calcutta and in need of money. Gandhi had forbidden all inmates of the ashram from supporting the wayward habits of Harilal. However, his son Manilal sent some money in secret to Harilal. Upon Gandhi discovering this transgression, Manilal was banished to Madras for an entire year and directed to live there. Manilal was barred from seeking any help or support from any of Gandhi’s acquaintances.
There were at least five attempts on Gandhi’s life. Once, a bomb was hurled at his motorcade. As luck would have it, the wrong vehicle was damaged. Records also show that Nathuram Godse, well before his assassination of Gandhi, attempted to attack him with a knife but was apprehended. Gandhi refused to file charges against Godse. Gandhi spoke with Godse and also requested him to spend a week with Gandhi at his ashram. Godse refused. The noteworthy thing is that these attempts on Gandhi’s life did not deter him; he accepted no police security.
In 1946, communal riots ravaged Noakhali in Bengal. Villages were destroyed, people slaughtered, and fear ran deep. Gandhi chose to make an extended trip to Noakhali. He walked barefoot from one riot-scarred village to another, with no police protection. There was a real danger to his life but he went about his task of engendering peace and harmony. Gandhi’s courageous message of peace and compassion worked a miracle and peace prevailed.
The same inner courage and spiritual strength is reflected in a quieter anecdote from his ashram days at Wardha. While meditating, a snake slithered into the prayer area and crawled onto Gandhi’s lap. Those around him panicked, but Gandhi signalled them to remain quiet. The snake eventually moved away, and Gandhi resumed his prayer undisturbed. Even if bitten, he said, he would not have allowed the snake to be killed. If this is not proof that he courageously practised what he preached, then nothing else will work.
Singh is former vice-chancellor, University of Delhi and Sinha is a researcher
Mahatma Gandhi, born October 2, is remembered as the Father of the Nation. (Express Archive) 
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