The Man Behind Gandhi

Every hero has a sidekick, every Akbar has his Birbal and every Batman has his Robin. Such a person was Mahadev Desai to Gandhi, whose marvellous story gets overshadowed by the latter’s significance in the world’s history.

The Ananda to Gandhi's Buddha. Image Source: The Print

If one could go back in time and visit Gandhi’s ashram, a young Desai could be seen floating around trying to keep everything in order. One might even think Desai was the head of this institution, for he managed absolutely everything and devoted his whole life to ensure things ran smoothly. Gandhi’s frequent travels were only possible due to Mahadev, for he was the only person worthy of Gandhi’s unconditional trust.

To rewind back time a little more, Mahadev was born in 1892 to a school teacher and his wife. Unfortunately, his mother Jamnabehn died when he was at the naive age of 7, making him the bearer of a tragedy he was too young to hold. This little boy grew up and got educated at the renowned  Elphinstone College in Mumbai. Although his childhood had missed holding the hands of his mother, he graduated holding the L.L.B degree he had earnestly studied for. In 1913 our lad took up the position of an inspector at a bank, completely in the dark that a legendary man would come knocking on the doors of his life.

Up till now, our Desai had simply heard of the Great Gandhi spreading the message of Satyagraha and Ahimsa. On the other hand, our Father of the Nation was completely self-reliant, packing his own bags and being his own chef. Yet everything changed when Desai got the courage to seek this wise man’s advice on how best to publish his book. Both of their legendary lives underwent a turning point after this event.

Two years later, Desai joined Gandhi’s ashram and as we already read previously, Desai could be found in every corner of the Ashram. In fact, Gandhi became so dependent on him that according to the former himself- “ when Mahadev began to accompany me, he took charge of me. “

Imagine Bapu getting babysitted by a man significantly younger than him, this was the power of Mahadev Desai who managed to be the person Gandhi couldn’t begin his day without.

However, Mahadev was more than Gandhi’s right-hand man, he became his Secretary and served him for a grand total of 25 years. To add to his list of duties, Desai could be seen diligently chronicling Gandhi’s life from the first break of dawn till the last soul slept each day. He maintained a diary narrating the events with Gandhi from 13 November 1917 and did not keep his pen down till the moment he died.

“Desai lived Gandhi's day thrice over — first in an attempt to anticipate it, next in spending it alongside Gandhi, and finally in recording it into his diary"- Rajmohan Gandhi

Mahadev’s training in writing began with putting down Gandhi’s letters which were narrated by the sender himself on a daily basis. Soon you could see him writing for revolutionary newspapers which subjected him to imprisonment. However, the words which left his pen were so influential, that the British authorities had to bring jail reforms after Desai’s report on the life of Indian prisoners which was published in Young India and Navajivan.

His career as a writer was now booming and he soon became the editor of Navajivan in 1924 and started working as a translator who was an expert in Gujarati, English and Bengali. Some of his most famous works include Antyaj Sadhu Nand (1925), Sant Francis (1936) and the translations of Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth and Nehru's Autobiography as Mari Jeevanktha (1936) from Gujarati to English.

Yet his life as a political activist was no short, for he participated in every movement Gandhi launched such as the Salt Satyagraha, the Bardoli Satyagraha, the Civil Disobedience Movement etc. and was arrested each time for the spreading of Anti-British sentiments. Yet he never gave up the battle his beloved Bapu was so ardently fighting and stood by his side like an iron shield.

Unfortunately, Mahadev Bhai died of a heart attack just at the age of 50 on this day in 1942, missing India’s independence by a few years. During his last days, he was imprisoned with Bapu himself and left behind a void in the latter’s life that could never be filled again. The moment death embraced Desai, Gandhi desperately called out his name in the hope that he would wake up.

“He had never disobeyed me in his life. I was confident that if he had heard those words, he would have defied even death and got up.”

This time Desai obeyed death’s orders.