Biography mahatma gandhi bengali women

Global February nonfiction: Six recently published titles that probe urgent questions of our world. While working in the archives of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, I came across a fascinating letter to MK Gandhi sent by 11 young women of Calcutta. The letter was undated, but it appeared to have been written in January, The letter was written in protest against an essay written by Gandhi for his journal, Harijan.

The letter to whose arguments I shall presently return intrigued me, so I set off to locate the original article by Gandhi that had so offended the young women of Bengal. Here Gandhi responded to a letter written to him by a college girl in the Punjab, complaining about the teasing and harassment she and her companions experienced at the hands of prowling young men.

Secondly, what is the remedy for curing youth of the abominable habit of insulting womenfolk? Names of the offenders should be published when they are traced. They disappear when light plays upon them. While urging victims to name and shame those who harassed them, Gandhi also asked well-behaved men to chastise the deviants among their own flock.

In between acknowledging the problem and offering solutions, Gandhi spoilt his case by launching an unprovoked attack on the dress code of the modern woman. She loves adventure. My correspondent seems to represent the unusual type. The modern girl dresses not to protect herself from wind, rain and sun but to attract attention.

Mahatma gandhi essay

She improves upon nature by painting herself and looking extraordinary. The non-violent way is not for such girls. It was to this gratuitous advice, this patriarchal preconception of how women must dress, that the young women of Bengal responded.