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Etched in everybody's memory

Gandhi Pottal from where Mahatma Gandhi emerged in his new look

PHOTO: S. JAMES

HISTORICAL Gandhi Pottal.

As a pregnant woman and her attendant gets off a bus to walk towards Rayulu Aiyer Maternity Hospital, their eyes cannot miss the statue of a man who preached peace and non-violence to the world.

Every mouth, literate or illiterate, young or old, passing by the statue subconsciously utters `Gandhi Thatha.' Gandhi statues are everywhere.

What is so special about it in Gandhi Pottal? Installed on the former Ramand Road and the present Kamarajar Salai, it has its world-renowned history.

"It is the place where Mahatma Gandhi made his first public appearance in his loin-cloth on September 23, 1921. Madurai is the place where he renounced his traditional Gujarati attire to become a half-naked fakir whose presence made the British Empire stand aghast," says T. Ravichandran, programme officer, Gandhi Museum.

Pondering thought

Mr. Ravichandran says that Gandhi had been contemplating on changing his attire when he was in Barisal during the Khulna famine. Again for the second time the thought of renouncing the attire cropped up when Ali brothers, founders of Khilafat Movement, were arrested in Voltaire. But he did not.

And he did not want this gesture to be misunderstood as `prehistoric, indecent or cheap publicity.'

Though the idea of discarding the traditional attire was in his mind for years together, Madurai gave him the spiritual strength to take the historic decision, says Mr. Ravichandran and adds that the Father of the Nation had visited the city five times during 1919, 1921, 1927, 1934 and 1946. During his stay on September 22, 1921, at West Masi Street, which now houses a Khadi outlet, Gandhiji came out in a dhoti and adopted `voluntary poverty' as a symbolic gesture of identifying himself with the poor.

A clear message

It was also a clear message to encourage people to boycott foreign clothes and be content with khaddar and loin cloth, he says.

A letter dated 23-9-1921 in `The Hindu' signed by M.K. Gandhi says: "I know that many will find it difficult to replace their foreign cloth all at once. Millions are too poor to buy enough khaddar to replace the discarded cloth ....Let them be satisfied with a mere loin-cloth. In our climate we hardly need more to protect our bodies during the warm months of the year. Let there be no prudery about dress. India has never insisted on full covering of the body of the males as a test of culture."

In the same letter, Gandhi also related the loincloth as not only as boycott of foreign cloths but also symbol of Indianess. He writes: "I consider the renunciation to be also necessary for me as a sign of mourning and a bare head and a bare body is such a sign in my part of the country."

Hospital and Statue

In remembrance of the historical event on November 8, 1984, A.G. Subburaman, former Member of Parliament, inaugurated the Gandhi Statue at Gandhi Pottal, remembers M.A. Ramamoorthy.

He says that the Congress party joining hands with Sivaji Mandram installed the four-foot clay statue at Gandhi Pottal, which was earlier known as `Poonthottam' meaning garden.

Recently the Madurai Corporation has constructed an enclosure around the statue, he says and adds that they have decided to replace the statue made of marble or metal soon.

Even during the pre-independence period, a maternity hospital named after Madurai Gandhi NMR Subburaman's father Rayalu Aiyer was also constructed.

S.S.KAVITHA

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