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An icon redefined

Girja Kumar has dared to write about the Mahatma's experiments to abjure passion, discovers ANUJ KUMAR

PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

READING THE FINER PRINT Girja Kumar in New Delhi

In a country where icons are deemed to be infallible, he has done the blasphemous for Girja Kumar has dared to sieve the man out of Mahatma. His tome, "Brahmacharya: Gandhi & his Women Associates" brings to light the 12 women that played a significant role in the life of the Father of The Nation.

"It is not in our tradition... our historians are too conservative to discuss the personal life of our heroes even if they were forthcoming about it. The book is largely based on the collected works of Gandhiji and I have not taken a personal stand, still it took me six years to get it published for most found it too sensitive to handle," says the man behind the Sapru House Library who has spent most of his life amidst books. Dissecting the dozen, Kumar says, "Five of them were of foreign origin and a few like Millie Graham Polak and Mirabehn were an intellectual match to him."

But it's Sarladevi Chowdharani, the niece of Tagore, whom Gandhiji called his "spiritual wife", who has got the most space.

"There was never a dull moment while researching for this book," he quips. Kumar has most praise for Kasturba Gandhi. "After 1919, when Gandhiji became a mass figure she realised she couldn't do much about this man but she still managed to exercise a long distance control over him. They shared a lovely relationship. In fact, the four years after the death of Kasturba were the worst phase of Gandhiji's life."

Two extremes

Kumar uses Nehru's words to describe Gandhiji, "He can only think in extremes - either it's eroticism or asceticism." Talking about his failed experiments with brahmacharya where he included the spouses of his disciples and even his granddaughter, Kumar, however calls "Gandhiji a failed hero who was too obsessed with the sexuality issue" but refuses to accept that he used these women for his interest.

"They were rather willing captives, eager to shine in his reflective glory. It did alienate people like Jaiprakash Narayan and Vinoba Bhave, who went to say if you are a perfect brahmachari you don't need to experiment and if you are not one, all the more reason why you should not experiment. However, it is for psychologists to analyse," says Kumar.

Agreeing to an extent that the call for a passionless society was an image-building tool, Kumar says all great men show some selfish tendencies. "It was his ideological weapon. He wanted to decimate the demarcation between sexes and called himself a self-made eunuch. But finally, he ventured into a territory where even gods failed." Though Kumar calls the book a celebration of womanhood seen through the Mahatma's eyes, he cleverly brings out the inconsistencies where the Mahatma refused to see women in multiple roles (only mother and sisters), and his finding support in Manu. Kumar also points out his "oppressive" and "irritant" behaviour at the Ashram, which doesn't go with his popular image.

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