Nalwadi Ashram and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav
Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist
Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India
Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229
E-mail- [e-mail];
[e-mail]
Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

Nalwadi Ashram and Mahatma Gandhi

It is ashram of Vinoba Bhave, set up in Nalwadi. I found nothing in your articles to justify their publication. Even so, your labour in thinking on those subjects and writing the articles will not be altogether wasted. What shall I say to Chi. Vallabh? Vinoba will see what should be done about him. I cannot interfere with the running of that Ashram. I know, however that Vallabh has to carry heavy enough burden in managing the Nalwadi Ashram. 1 You will understand absence of letters from me during these days. Your drawings I like very well. Hope you are flourishing. Kallenbach went to Wardha in the morning. Ramdas is accompanying him to South Africa. They embark on Wednesday. Kandu and four or five others come from Baroda to spin. They are being paid by Nalwadi according to the Nalwadi scale. They are happy. So you see the seed sown by you has sprouted and may bear ample fruit. 2
Gram Udyoga Patrika is little known to the general public. It is the organ of the A.I.V.I.A., edited by Dr. Bharatan Kumarappa and published from Maganwadi. It contains solid reading matter for those who are interested in the revival of village industries. The worth of such writings is specially appreciated during these times when we are compelled more and more to rely upon what villages can supply. Thus we may have no paraffin for domestic use. We have very little even now. Maganwadi has produced a lamp which enables one to use the indigenous oils. The experiment that has so far succeeded refers to the use of sarso oil. The success is so gratifying that in Maganwadi only that oil is used for lighting purposes. The lantern is an adaptation of the usual hurricane article. Sri Satyan of the Nalwadi Ashram is its inventor. He is adopting these lanterns for dispatch as samples only. The current number of the Patrika is devoted solely to the ‘Magan Dipa’ as the adapted lantern has been named. For the inventive faculty as applied to village tools and products is the special legacy of the late Maganlal Gandhi after whom the institution and the museum are named. For further particulars I must refer the curious reader to the Patrika which can be had on application to the Manager, Maganwadi, and Wardha. 3 Do come over. Your will stay at Nalwadi Ashram, which is a mile away from Wardha, and learn carding, weaving, etc. More when you arrive. 4

References:

1. Letter to Niranjan Swami, August 17, 1935
2. Letter to Mirabehn, July 5, 1937
3. Harijan, 9-8-1942
4. Letter to Jang Bahadur singh