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| Gandhi memorial, Podanur, near Coimbatore imesofindia.indiatimes.com |
During the hectic freedom movement against the oppressive British Raj Gandhiji visited Madras presidency - Tamil region several times, first being in 1896. According to 'The Hindu' archives, he visited this region 12 times. He covered places such as Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Vellore, Salem, etc., down south. His most favorite place was Madurai which he visited five times and where he took a new avatar - casting off his Gujarati attire and changing over to loin clothes (22 September, 1921) like farmers of Tamil Nadu. He entered the famous Madurai Meenakshi temple in 1946 only after Harijans (dalits) had been allowed to enter the temple on July 8, 1939. This was made possible by freedom fighter and famous advocate R. Vaidhyanatha Aiyar along with Sri Muthuramalinga Thevar, a hardcore patriot and a close associate of Netaji Bose.
Gandhiji visited Coimbatore thrice and his final visit was from February 6 to 7, 1934. He stayed in a small house with tiled roof in Podanur later called GD House. Owned by famous industrialist and inventor G. Duraiswamy Naidu (GD Naidu), the descendants of the illustrious family never sold the house nor did they make any demolition and alteration. The site is there to recall the visit of a man who gave up his life to free India from the wily Bobs. It is said, it is the only known place in this part of Kongu Nadu that bears testimony to Gandhji's stay.
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| Mahatma Gandhi memorial, Podanur, near Coimbatore Inaugural Oct.2022. thehindu.com |
Gandhiji who was on a long a fund-raising trip to Madras came to Coimbatore as part of the last leg of his journey to receive donations for a social cause - Harijan Welfare organization. Here, surprisingly, collections accounted for one fourth of the entire amount collected in the presidency. Quite satisficed, that night Gandhiji retired to bed after 2 am upon completing his accounts work at the guest house and was up at 4am as usual.
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| Podanur (Pothanur), Coimbatore, TN. mapsofindia.com |
Decades later the historical tiny room, in the simple house in Podanur, a suburb of Coimbatore city where Gandhi did his accounting, with lantern in a corner and a low table, stands as a silent witness to the visit of a man who not only shook the foundations of the Empire and but also had the audacity to visit the Royal Gallery in London in loin clothes to attend the Round table Conference 1931 - as a ''half- naked fakir'' as India-baiter Churchill put it. Apart, he took two goats with him from India to provide his daily ration of milk.
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| Gandhiji with 2 goats, london May 1931 alamy.com |
Above image: Mahatma Gandhi and his disciple English woman Mirabehn (right ) with the goats he used for milk in London in 1931. The Indian goats travelled to London along with him......
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| Gandhiji in Meenakshi temple,1946 Madurai thehindu.com |
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| Mahatma Gandhi memorial, Podanur, near Coimbatore thehindu.com |
Above image: The small house has a pial, elevated platform (thinnai in Tamil) in the front along the verandah. Opened to public on 2nd October 2022. According to Sri. G.D. Raj Kumar of the GD family the G.D. house in Podanur remained unused for decades and only in 1998 he knew Gandhi had stayed in the house during his visit to Coimbatore in February, 1934. The idea of establishing a memorial for the Mahatma came through B. K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, chairman, Kumaraguru Institutions........
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| Gandhi memorial, Podanur, near Coimbatore thehindu.com |
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| Gandhi memorial, Podanur, near Coimbatore thehindu.com |
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| Coimbatore, Gandhi memorial, Podanur . covaipost.com |
The credit goes to the BK Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, and GD Gopal and his family for speeding up the project. Both the museum and the memorial will be instructive and educative to the inquisitive younger generation of this industrial city that forms the backbone of the economy of Tamil Nadu.
