Mirabehn
Madeleine Slade (November 22, 1892 - July 20, 1982) was a British woman who left her home in England to live and work under Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhi's principles and the freedom struggle in India.
As she transformed her whole life out of devotion to Gandhi's teachings and his work, she was affectionately named Mirabehn, after Mirabai, the great devotee of Lord Krishna.
Early life
Her father was a British naval officer, and would rise to become an Admiral. She was reared in a wealthy and prosperous family. Owing to her father's postings away from home, she spent childhood and early youth mostly in her maternal grandfather’s big country house with a large garden near Dorking. The stables were filled with beautiful horses and the cow-sheds with Jersey cows. Her greatest happiness was in long rides on horseback through the countryside.
At the age of 15 she heard Beethoven’s music for the first time. Her spirit was illuminated. His music, his letters and the memories of his contemporaries absorbed her time and she learnt what is little known, namely, that Beethoven had been profoundly moved by the ancient wisdom of the East and had copied out in German translation long passages from Sanskrit literature.
When she was 16, her father was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Squadron and she accompanied her mother and elder sister to Admiral’s House, Bombay. Three of them went back to England for the second summer, but were to return to India the following winter for the Durbar of King George V. As she had a great dislike for social functions, especially balls, she begged to be allowed off. Seeing her earnestness her parents agreed and she stayed behind absorbed in her studies.
Introduction to Gandhi
Madeleine Slade was first introduced to Mahatma Gandhi when she met with Romain Rolland, who had just completed a small book on the man. Rolland said that Gandhi was another Christ, so deep was his impression of him. Madeleine later bought and read the book, and was deeply influenced by Rolland's description of the man, his teachings and philosophy.
At this point Madeleine decided to go to India, and began to prepare for the experience. Her family were surprised and reluctant, but supported her intentions. She subscribed to Young India, a newspaper published and edited by Gandhi, read the French versions of the Bhagavad Gita and the Rig Veda. She also became a vegetarian and teetotaler. She also obtained cloth from which to spin and weave her own clothing.
But just as she was set to move, she heard news of Gandhi's 21-day fast for Hindu-Muslim unity. This period was an extremely anxious one for Gandhi's admirers worldwide, as Gandhi was an old man and his health began to deteriorate.
When the fast was successfully completed, Madeleine felt the need to express her thanks. She wrote a letter, and sold a diamond brooch, a gift from her grandfather on her 21st birthday, with the proceeds donated to Gandhi's fund. Gandhi replied to her letter, touched by her gesture. She wrote another letter to Gandhi, asking for his permission to join him at the Sabarmati Ashram, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. After asking her to strongly consider the difficulties involved with her choice, Gandhi welcomed her.
Leaving for India, Romain Rolland congratulated her, and her family, somewhat anxious for her safety and health, nevertheless encouraged her.
Arrival in India, and the Ashram
Madeleine Slade arrived in the port city of Bombay in 1925, and was taken by friends to the house of the great Indian statesman Dadabhai Naoroji. Although warmly welcomed, Madeleine wanted to leave for Ahmedabad immediately. She arrived in Ahmedabad on the morning of November 7, 1925, and was received by three great Indian nationalists: Vallabhbhai Patel, Swami Anand and Mahadev Desai, the latter being Gandhi's secretary.
The scene where Vallabhbhai Patel brought her to the Ashram is depicted in the 1982 film Gandhi, made by Richard Attenborough. As she entered, a brown figure rose up and came forward. Madeleine was conscious of nothing else but a sense of light. She fell on her knees. Two hands gently raised her up, and a voice said, "You shall be my daughter."
Madeleine, now addressed as Mirabehn, a name Gandhi gave her, was instantly and spiritually attached to Gandhi and the Ashram life.
Here, in presence of Gandhi, a strict regimen began for her which lasted for almost thirty-four years of her stay in India. It included carding and spinning, cooking, cleaning, learning Hindi, at times traveling with Bapu or otherwise living in the Ashram and doing her work. Adapting to the lifestyle was a hard experience for her, especially in the climate and culture of India, but she assiduously pressed on.
Just about a year after coming to India, Mirabehn received a cable from her mother saying that her father had died. Gandhi suggested that she go to England if she wished to. But Mirabehn politely declined to go there. Her learning of Hindustani was not going very well. So she sought Gandhi's consent to go to the northern part of India and live among Hindi-speaking people. For this purpose she was sent to Kanya Gurukul, Delhi, and thereafter to Kangri Gurukul. Then she went to Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram [1],Rewari.She lived there for some time and blessed by Sh. 108 Swami Parmananda ji Maharaj , she wrote to Gandhi ji from there about her experience of living in Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram , Rewari.
Experience in nationalist activities
Mirabehn lived in India during a most eventful period in which she saw in 1927 the Simon Commission facing black flags everywhere, the resolve of the people for complete independence in 1929, the Dandi March and the Salt Satyagraha in 1930-31 and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931; she accompanied Gandhi and others to the Round Table Conference in London in the autumn of 1931. She also helped prepare the people of Orissa to resist Japanese invasion non-violently in the beginning of 1942, and was arrested and kept in detention with Gandhi in the Aga Khan Palace, Pune, in 1942 during the Quit India movement where she saw Mahadev Desai and Gandhi's wife, Kasturba Gandhi breathing their last.
Contributions
Remaining in mid-stream she always had a role to play. As an inmate of Gandhi Ashram she traveled far and wide for the propagation of Khadi. She wrote over a hundred articles in Young India and Harijan, She also wrote articles for The Statesman, Calcutta, The Times of India, Bombay, and The Hindustan Times, Delhi. Without the least intention of taking part in the freedom movement, she courted imprisonment a couple of times in 1932-1933, and was kept first in Arthur Road Jail and later in Sabarmati Jail. Whenever she was with Mahatma Gandhi she looked after him in minutest detail. At times she went to the Viceroy as a personal emissary of Mahatma Gandhi and at other times to the Congress President and the members of the Working Committee. To plead the case of India she went abroad-met Lloyd George, Lord Halifax, General Smuts, Sir Samuel Hoare and Winston Churchill, visited United States and went to New York, Philadelphia, West Chester, Boston, Harvard and Washington, delivered a lecture at Harvard University and met Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House in Washington. Mirabehn took keen interest in the formation of Sevagram Ashram and organised cleanliness campaigns in the surrounding villages. She was always unflinching in her service to Bapu and longed to be with him as long as possible. For such longing she earned reprimands more than once from Gandhi, Gradually she undertook independent activities with the help and blessings of Bapu.
Prithvi Singh
For some time her mind was infatuated with a weakness for Sardar Prithvi Singh and her emotions ran riot. When she spoke to Bapu about it, he looked at her with unexpected seriousness and said, "If you feel like that it means to my mind that you should marry," and added, as if thinking aloud, "Perhaps marriage has been the unspoken word in your life." But Prithvi Singh wisely resisted all proposals whether from Bapu or others.
Then began the period of her self-chosen seclusion and penance for her mental aberration. She went to Haryana and then to Shivalik Hills and other places, read the Rig Veda and kept silence for a year. She came to live at Chorvad, in Gujarat, near the sea-shore.
Establishing Ashrams
In 1942, when she was in the Aga Khan Palace she expressed a desire to Gandhi that after her release from detention she would start some activities of her own, at a suitable place in northern India. Bapu agreed and gave money to plan out the whole thing herself. Accordingly, after her release from Aga Khan Palace, she started Kisan Ashram at Muldaspur, situated between Roorkee and Haridwar. Kisan Ashram developed rapidly.
In 1947 she started Ashram Pashulok near Hrishikesh and a settlement named Bapu Gram, named after Mahatma Gandhi, who was popularly referred to as Bapu (Father).
Food campaign
In 1946, Congress ministries were formed in various provinces. The United Provinces had also a strong Congress Government headed by the veteran leader Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant. In the new atmosphere there was a general urge to resuscitate the Province and make an all-out drive to increase food production. Quite a lot of good agricultural land had been requisitioned for military airfields and camps, and the sooner these were put back into cultivation the better. With this idea in her mind she went to Bapu and discussed the matter with him. He, in turn, had a talk with Pandit Pant, and Mirabehn was appointed as an Honorary Special Adviser to the U.P. Government in connection with the newly launched 'Grow More Food' campaign.
Life after Gandhi's death
On 30 January 1948 came the news of Bapu's assassination. It was simply stunning. Mirabehn stood silent and still. A vast emotion held her in a trance. In the early part of the night people came from Hrishikesh to take her to Delhi.
Mirabehn stayed where she was and worked until 27 January 1959 before leaving for England. And in the interim period, Mirabehn founded Gopal Ashram in Bhilangana in 1952. From 1954 to 1957 she kept herself busy with experiments in breeding cows. Though she was intensely active during these years, she did not feel comfortable in an India without Gandhi, rapidly transforming after independence on its own terms.
After leaving India she went to England and lived there for some time, but she felt completely out of tune with an England which was not familiar to her. So, in search of a better and peaceful place, she went to Vienna, Austria and settled there. In 1969, on the occasion of the Gandhi Centenary Celebrations, she was invited by Lord Louis Mountbatten to visit England and narrate her experiences and recollections of Mahatma Gandhi. The Albert Hall was full with nearly seven thousand people. The Prince of Wales, the Prime Minister and many other dignitaries were present. The talk that Mirabehn gave to the gathering was almost beyond the highest expectation of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
In 1981 the Government of India honoured Mirabehn with the Padma Vibhushan for her meritorious service to India and mankind. She died on July 20th, 1982 at the age of 90.