Gandhiji made many men and they in their turn
made the Mahatma what he was. One of these was
Mahadev Desai who worked as Gandhijis
secretary for 25 years with unmatched devotion
and affection. He was born on 1 January 1892
at the Village of Saras in Olpad Taluka of Surat
district, where his father Haribhai Desai was
a school teacher. The family originally hailed
from Dihen in the same district. Mahadev lost
his mother Jamnaben when he was only seven years
of age.
The family belonged to the Anavil Brahmin caste,
one of the leading communities of the district.
A keen mathematician and an avid reader of Gujarati
literature, Hirabhai had great fascination for
the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagvat
Gita, and by sheer hard work and sincerity he
rose to become the Principal of a Womens
Training College at Ahmedabad. Mahadev too inherited
many of his fathers qualities. At the
young age of 13 Mahadev was married to Durgaben
in 1905 and later the couple had one son, Narayan.
Mahadev Desai received primary and secondary
education at different places like Surat, from
where he matriculated in 1906, winning a scholarship
for higher education. He joined the Elphinstone
College at Bombay in 107 and graduated from
there in 1910. He joined the Law College thereafter
and got his LL.B in 1913. Throughout this formative
period, he was deeply influenced by his teacher
at Dihen, Manishankar, a strict disciplinarian
and a lover of English language; by Jivanram
Vaidya, recounting stories from the Puranas
and Upanishads; and by Surbhai, the village
doctor, and his musical sessions.
The ardent devotion of Bhagat Purshottam Sevakram
at Bulsar and that of Arjun bhagat at Ghadkhol
near Ankleshwar (whose compositions he latter
collected and published in 1925), also left
a deep impression on Mahadev Desai. Moreover,
Dayalji Desai, of his own caste and a prominent
nationalist leader of the district, left a marked
imprint on Mahadevs young mind by his
patriotic feelings, idealistic way of life and
utter simplicity, and inspired him to work on
Gandhan lines.
After graduation Mahadev, while working for
his livelihood, translated Lord Morleys
On Compromise into Gujarati and
won the hand some prize of a thousand rupees.
This work was later published in 1925. He tried
to practice law in courts but was not successful,
and through his friend Vaikunthlal Lallubhai
Mehta secured a job in a Cooperative Bank. But
Mahadev soon got tired of the irregularities
being practiced there as well as a lot of traveling
involved in the job, and left it.
He had already cultivated a taste for reading
since his College days, and all through this
drab life he made an extensive study of literature
in Gujarati, English, Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi
and Marathi. The month of August 1917, when
Mahadev left Bank job, proved fateful, as he
met Gandhiji on 31 August and found in him his
Guru. Hereafter Mahadev as Gandhijis Secretary
moved like a shadow behind him till his death.
After Mahadev Desai joined Gandhiji, three important
events took place in their life as well as that
of the country. These were the Champaran Satyagraha
(1917), the Bardoli Satyagraha (1930), and in
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all these
Mahadev actively participated and courted arrest.
In 1921 Gandhiji sent him to edit Motilal Nehrus
periodical, the Independent, Allahabad, and there
too he was arrested and jailed. After his release
in January 1923, he returned to Ahemdabad and
looked after the editorial work of the Navajivan.
His sharp editorials on the hollowness of 1919
constitutional reforms and his tirade against
the British Government kept up the tempo of the
freedom struggle. Between 1924 and 1928 he toured
the country with Gandhiji, explaining the sailent
features of the freedom striggle. He accompanied
Gandhiji in 1931 to the Round Table Conference
in London. In the Quit India Movement of 1942,
he along with Gandhiji was arrested and sent to
the Aga Khan Palace for imprisonment, where he
died peacefully on 15 August 1942, deeply mourned
by the nation and by Gandhiji in particular who
now considered himself an orphan.
After 1917 it was of course Gandhiji who profoundly
influenced Mahadev Desai. Mainly through his writings
Mahadevbhai interpreted Gandhian philosophy. That
is why his friend Dr. Verrier Elwin called him
Bapus Boswell. Learned introduction
to the English translation of Gandhijis
Anassakti Yoga not only reveals Gandhijis
ideas but his own understanding of Eastern and
Western philosophies and religions. He also very
effectively wielded his pen to explain some of
the basic Gandhian tenets like Hindu-Muslim unity,
removal of untouchability, improving the lot of
women, promotion of Khaddar and cottage industries,
labour welfare, need for basic Education, freedom
for suppressed nationalities and Truth and Non-violence.
He has to his credit scores of articles published
in the Young India, the Navjivan and the harijan
on a variety of subjects from Garud-Puran
to the British policy in India. Due to his profound
scholarship, clarity of mind, lucid style and
chaste language, they carried great weight. His
habit of keeping a diary with meticulous details
has given eight voluminous works, published after
his death, called Mahadevbhais Diary.
His original works either in English or in
Gujrati include: With Gandhi in Ceylon
(1928); The Story of Baardoli; Swadeshi-True
and False; Unworthy of Wardha; Eclipse
of Faith (1929); The Nations
Voice (1932); The Epic of Travanancore
(1937); Gandhi Sevva Sangh and Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad (1940); kheti ni
Jamin (Gujarati,1942); and The Geeta
according to Gandhi 1942); and The
Geeta according to Gandhi (1946).
His other Gujarathi works are on Veer
Vallabhbhai, a biography of Khan Abdul
Ghafar Khan in Khudai Khidmatgar,
Ek Dharmayuddha and Sant Francis
Xavier nun Jeevancharitra. His translation
include those from English and Bengali: Satyagrah
ni Maryada (a translation of Morleys
On Compromise), Sarat Chandra Chattopadhayas
Viraj Vahu, and Rabindranath Tagores
Prachin Sahitya, Chitrangada
and Viday abhishap. Mahadev desai
presided over the twelfth Gujarati Journalists
Conference.
Devdas Gandhi is recorded to have said, I
wonder if half a dozen sectaries could do the
work which Mahadev did alone. Today, Mahadev
Desai Samaj Mahavidyalaya in Gujrath Vidyapith,
Ahmedbad, stands as a living monument to Mahadevbhais
memory.
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