Editing Mahadev Desai

{{Short description|Personal secretary of Mahatma Gandhi}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Mahadev Desai
| image              = Mahadev Desai and Gandhi 2 1939.jpg
| caption            = Desai with [[Mahatma Gandhi]]
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1892|01|01}}
| birth_place        = [[Surat]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]] ({{small|now [[Gujarat]], [[India]]}})
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|08|15|1892|01|01}}
| death_place        = [[Poona]], Bombay Presidency, British India ({{small|now Pune, [[Maharashtra]], India}})
| nationality        = [[Indian people|British Indian]]
| education          = [[Elphinstone College]]
| years_active       = 1915&ndash;1942
| known_for          = Associate activism with [[Mahatma Gandhi]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|Durgabehen|1905|1942}}
}}

'''Mahadev Haribhai Desai''' (1 January 1892&nbsp;– 15 August 1942) was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's [[James Boswell|Boswell]], a [[Plato]] to Gandhi's [[Socrates]], as well as an [[Ānanda]] to Gandhi's [[Buddha]]".<ref>{{cite news|title=Price of Freedom|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?238154|access-date=30 November 2012|newspaper=Outlook|date=15 August 2008}}</ref><ref name="hindu">{{cite news|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|title=Mahadev ..|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2005/10/23/stories/2005102300210300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060112191452/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2005/10/23/stories/2005102300210300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2006|access-date=30 November 2012|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=23 October 2005}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Mahadev Desai was born in an [[anavil Brahmin]] family{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} on 1 January 1892 in the village of Saras in the [[Surat district]] of [[Gujarat]] to Haribhai Desai, a school teacher, and his wife Jamnabehn. Jamnabehn died when Desai was seven years old. In 1905, aged 13, Mahadev was married to Durgabehn. He was educated at the Surat High School and the [[Elphinstone College]], [[Mumbai]]. Desai graduated with a BA Degree, and after earning his L.L.B in 1913 took a job as an inspector at the central co-operative bank in Bombay{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

== Gandhi's associate ==
Mahadev Desai first met Gandhi in 1915 when he went to meet him to seek his advice on how best to publish his book (a Gujrati translation of [[John Morley]]'s English book ''On Compromise'').<ref name="hindu" /> Desai joined [[Sabarmati Ashram|Gandhi's Ashram]] in 1917 and with Durgabehn accompanied him to [[Champaran]] that year. He maintained a diary from 13 November 1917 to 14 August 1942, the day before his death, chronicling his life with Gandhi. In 1919 when the colonial government arrested Gandhi in [[Punjab]], he named Desai his heir. Desai was for the first time arrested and sentenced to a year in prison in 1921.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}} He was Gandhi's personal secretary for 25 years, but as [[Verrier Elwin]] wrote of him, "he was much more than that. He was in fact Home and Foreign Secretary combined. He managed everything. He made all the arrangements. He was equally at home in the office, the guest-house and the kitchen. He looked after many guests and must have saved 10 years of Gandhi's life by diverting from him unwanted visitors".<ref name="hindu" /> [[Rajmohan Gandhi]] writes of Mahadev Desai thus: "Waking up before Gandhi in pre-dawn darkness, and going to sleep long after his Master, 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".<ref name="hindu" />

== Political Activism ==
[[File:Central Prison Yeravda.jpg|thumb|left|[[Yerwada jail|Yerawada Jail]]]]
In 1920, [[Motilal Nehru]] requisitioned the services of Mahadev Desai from Gandhi to run his newspaper, the ''Independent,'' from [[Allahabad]]. Desai created a sensation by bringing out a hand-written [[cyclostyle (copier)|cyclostyled]] newspaper after the Independent's printing press was confiscated by the British government. Desai was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment for his writings in 1921 – his first stint in prison.<ref name="mkgandhi">{{cite web|title=Associates of Mahatma Gandhi – Mahadev Desai|url=http://www.mkgandhi.org/associates/Mahadev.htm|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> In prison, Desai saw that the jail authorities mistreated prisoners, frequently flogging them. His report describing life inside an Indian jail, published in ''Young India'' and ''Navajivan'', compelled the British authorities to bring about some drastic jail reform measures.{{Sfn|Desai|1995|p=38}} Desai took over as editor of Navajivan in 1924 and from 1925 he began the translation into English of Gandhi's autobiography and its serial publication in the Young India. The following year he became chairman of the executive committee of the Satyagraha Ashram and won a prize from the [[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]] for his article in Navajivan. He took part in the [[Bardoli Satyagraha]] along with [[Sardar Patel]] and wrote a history of the Satyagraha in Gujarati which he translated into English as ''The Story of Bardoli''.<ref name="books.google_a">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Judith M|title=The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2011|pages=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLM8kMZZu-IC&q=mahadev+desai&pg=PA89|isbn=9780521116701}}</ref> For his participation in the [[Salt Satyagraha]], he was arrested and imprisoned but following the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, he was released from jail and accompanied Gandhi to the [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Second round Table Conference]] along with [[Mirabehn]], [[Devdas Gandhi]] and [[Pyarelal]]. He was the only person to accompany Gandhi when the latter met with [[King George V]].<ref name="mkgandhi" />

Following the collapse of the [[Gandhi–Irwin Pact]] and the deadlock at the Round Table Conference, Gandhi restarted the [[Civil Disobedience Movement]]. The colonial government, under the new [[Viceroy of India|Viceroy]], [[Lord Willingdon]], was determined to crush the movement and ordered a clampdown on the [[Indian National Congress]] and its activists. In 1932, Desai was arrested again and sent to prison with Gandhi and [[Sardar Patel]]. Following his release in 1933, he was re-arrested and detained in the [[Belgaum]] Jail. It was during this time in prison that he wrote ''Gita According to Gandhi'' which was posthumously published in 1946.<ref name="books.google_a" /> He also played a role in organising people's movements in the [[princely state]]s of [[Rajkot]] and [[Mysore Kingdom|Mysore]] in 1939 and was put in charge of selecting satyagrahis during the Individual Satyagraha of 1940.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mahadev Desai – Timeline|url=http://mahadevdesai.org/eng/?page_id=209|access-date=30 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503152002/http://mahadevdesai.org/eng/?page_id=209|archive-date=3 May 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Desai's final prison term followed the [[Quit India Movement|Quit India Declaration]] of 8 August 1942. He was arrested on the morning of 9 August 1942 and, till his death of a massive heart-attack six days later, was interred with Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace. Desai was 50 at the time of his death.<ref name="mkgandhi" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Who is Mahadev Desai ?|url=http://www.preservearticles.com/201104225777/who-is-mahadev-desai.html|access-date=30 November 2012|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924082326/http://www.preservearticles.com/201104225777/who-is-mahadev-desai.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Writings ==
Mahadev Desai was an outstanding writer, at ease with [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]] and English. He is highly regarded as a translator and writer in Gujarati.<ref name=":0" /> He wrote several biographies such as ''Antyaj Sadhu Nand'' (1925), ''Sant Francis'' (1936), ''Vir Vallabhbhai'' (1928) and ''Be Khudai Khidmatgar'' (1936) which was a biography of [[Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan]] and his brother [[Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan]].<ref name="AGSI2">{{cite book|title=અર્વાચીન ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યનો ઈતિહાસ (ગાંધીયુગ અને અનુગાંધી યુગ)|last=Brahmabhatt|first=Prasad|publisher=Parshwa Publication|year=2007|location=Ahmedabad|pages=57–60|language=gu|script-title=gu:Arvachin Gujarati Sahityano Itihas (Gandhiyug Ane Anugandhi Yug)|trans-title=History of Modern Gujarati Literature (Gandhi Era & Post-Gandhi Era)}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

He started translating when he was studying in college. He translated [[John Morley]]'s ''On Compromise'' in Gujarati and won a thousand rupees prize of the Farbas Gujarati Sabha. Later it was published as ''Satyagrahni Maryada''. From Bengali, he translated [[Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya]]'s short stories as ''Tran Vartao'' (1923) and the novella ''Virajvahu'' (1924). He also translated [[Rabindranath Tagore|Tagore's]] works into Gujarati such as ''Prachin Sahitya'' (1922), ''Chitrangada'' and ''Viday Abhishap'' (1925). He translated [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru's]] ''Autobiography'' as ''Mari Jeevanktha'' (1936) into Gujarati from English.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Natarajan|first=Nalini|title=Handbook of 20th Century Literatures of India|year=1996|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport|pages=112, 113|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&q=mahadev+desai&pg=PA112|isbn=9780313287787}}</ref><ref name="AGSI2" /> The English translation of Gandhi's autobiography, ''[[The Story of My Experiments with Truth]]'', from its Gujarati original was also done by Desai.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.oup.co.in/author/4292|title=Mahadev Desai|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="AGSI2" />

''Mahadevbhaini Dayari'' (1948–1997) is the 22 volume publication of Mahadev Desai's diaries. These, edited by [[Narhari Parikh]] (Volume I-VI) and Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal (VII-XXII), provide a close look at Gandhi's life and are a valuable chronicle of the major events in Gandhi's life and in Indian independence movement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Datta|first=Amaresh|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti|year=1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|pages=1319|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&q=mahadev+desai&pg=PA1016|isbn=9788126011940}}</ref><ref name="AGSI2" />

He was also a regular contributor to Gandhi's publications ''[[Young India]]'', ''[[Navjivan]]'' and the ''[[Harijanbandhu]]''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="AGSI2" /> Desai was among the founding members of the ''All India Newspaper Editors' Conference''. He also frequently contributed to various nationalist Indian newspapers such as ''[[Free People's Movement|Free Press]]'', ''[[The Bombay Chronicle]]'', ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', ''[[The Hindu]]'' and ''[[Amrita Bazar Patrika]].''

He wrote several works in English including ''Gandhiji in Indian Villages'' (1927), ''With Gandhiji in Ceylon'' (1928), ''The Story of Bardoli'' (1929), ''Unworthy of Vardha'' (1943), ''The Eclipse of Faith'' (1943), ''A Righteous Struggle'' (1951) and ''Gospel of Selfless Action or The Geeta According to Gandhi'' (1946, translation of [[Anasakti Yoga|''Anasaktiyoga'']] by Gandhi).<ref name="AGSI2" />

He was posthumously awarded the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1955 for ''Mahadevbhaini Dayari''.<ref name="AGSI2" />

== Death and legacy ==
[[Image:Harijan.png|thumb|Mahadev Desai's obituary in [[Harijan]], Gandhi's newspaper|290x290px]]
[[File:Samadhis of Kasturba Gandhi and Mahadev Desai.jpg|thumb|223x223px|''[[Samadhi (shrine)|Samadhis]]'' of [[Kasturba Gandhi]] and Mahadev Desai at [[Aga Khan Palace]], [[Pune]]]]

Aged 50, Mahadev Desai died of a heart attack on the morning of 15 August 1942 at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] where he was interned with Gandhi. When Desai stopped breathing, Gandhi called out to him in agitation: "Mahadev! Mahadev!" When he was later asked why he had done so, Gandhi answered: "I felt that if Mahadev opened his eyes and looked at me, I would tell him to get up. He had never disobeyed me in his life. I was confident that if had he heard those words, he would have defied even death and got up".<ref name="hindu" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Douglass|first=James W|title=Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment With Truth|year=2012|publisher=Orbis Books|location=New York|pages=46, 47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BKIZiq3uTgC&q=mahadev+desai&pg=PA46|isbn=9781570759635}}</ref> Gandhi himself washed Desai's body and he was cremated on the Palace's grounds, where his ''samadhi'' lies today.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vyas|first=Bhaskar|title=Experiments with Truth and Non-Violence: The Dalai Lama in Exile from Tibet|year=2007|publisher=Concepts Publishing|location=New Delhi|pages=116|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZcsi3K_37oC&q=mahadev+desai&pg=PA116|isbn=9788180693595}}</ref>

The [[India Post|Indian Department of Posts]] published a [[commemorative stamp]] in his honour in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian Post – Mahadev Desai|url=http://www.indianpost.com/viewstamp.php/Paper/Unwatermarked%20gummed%20paper/MAHADEV%20DESAI|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref> His son [[Narayan Desai]] was also a noted [[Gandhian Movement|Gandhian activist]] and writer who wrote Mahadev Desai's biography ''The Fire and the Rose''.<ref name="hindu" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Narayan Mahadev Desai to deliver talk on Friday|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2530255.ece|access-date=30 November 2012|newspaper=The Hindu|date=12 October 2011}}</ref> The Mahadev Desai Samajseva Mahavidyalaya, [[Gujarat Vidyapith]]'s faculty of social sciences, arts and humanities was named in Mahadev Desai's honour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gujarat Vidyapith : Mahadev Desai Samajseva Mahavidyalaya|url=http://www.gujaratvidyapith.org/mdva.htm|access-date=30 November 2012}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last=Desai |first=Narayanan |author-mask=Narayanan Desai |translator=Chitra Desai |title=The Fire and the Rose: Biography of Mahadevbhai |url=https://archive.org/details/Hind.Fire.Rose |year=1995 |publisher=Navajivan Publishing House |location=Ahmedabad |isbn=978-81-7229-136-5}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{sister project links|d=Q772969|species=no|voy=no|v=no|b=no|mw=no|m=no|n=no|wikt=no|q=no|s=Author:Mahadev Desai}}
* [http://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/fundamental_workdetail/My0x#page/1/mode/2up The Diary of Mahadev Desai Vol I]

{{Gandhi}}
{{Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Mahadev}}
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian pacifists]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:People from Gujarat]]
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Elphinstone College alumni]]
[[Category:Hindu pacifists]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Mahatma Gandhi]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian biographers]]
[[Category:People from Surat district]]
[[Category:Writers from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Translators to Gujarati]]
[[Category:Gujarati–English translators]]
[[Category:Translators of Rabindranath Tagore]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]