Gandhi Memorial Museum

Gandhi Memorial Museum - Madurai

By Indian Columbus - November 12, 2019

The middle-aged man from Gujarat had a sleepless night. It was definitely not because of his stay in a stranger's house in a faraway city in South India. The sight of hundreds of poor people wearing only loin-cloth left him sleepless. He kept on thinking about the acute poverty condition that was prevailing in the county. On the very next day, he changed his attire. Since that day, he had worn only a short dhoti and additionally a shawl during the winter. He did not bother to change his attire when a world leader laughed at him and called him "half-naked Fakir".

Yes! The man was none other than Mahatma Gandhi. In Madurai city of Tamil Nadu, he delivered a speech to the peasants on 21st September 1921 CE. The peasants' poor condition made him give up his traditional attire and adopt short dhoti as the symbol of identification with the country's poor. Thus, Madurai played a vital role in the life of Mahatma. And we have a memorial museum for Gandhi in the city.

A lovely building houses the Gandhi Memorial Museum. It is located at a distance of around 5 km from the city center. The building is called Tamukkam Palace. It was built in 1700 CE by Rani Mangammal of the Nayak dynasty. Rani Mangammal is the second most popular Nayaka ruler after Tirumalai Nayaka. (To know more about the Nayakas, visit my page on Tirumalai Nayaka Palace).

Although it is widely accepted that Mangammal built this palace, and even a stone slab in the palace mentions the date as 1700, few historians feel that the palace was much older. According to them, it was probably built by Tirumalai Nayaka. However, there is no doubt that the palace was used by Mangammal. (Some people claim that it was her summer palace and the word "Tamukkam" means "summer" in the Tamil language; there is no basis for such claims).

The palace has witnessed multiple changes in the interior in the last 300 years. Hence, the current structure looks like the original palace only from the outside. The palace was used as a Collector's office during the British period. In 1955, the palace and the adjoining 13 acres of land were gifted to All India Gandhi Smarak Nidhi to house the museum. The museum was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on 15th April 1959 CE.

This museum would be a treasure for those interested in Gandhian studies. More than 2,70,000 photostat copies of letters are exchanged between Gandhi and others. There are more than 60 film reels related to Gandhi preserved here. There is a library with many books, mostly on Gandhian thoughts. There are hundreds and hundreds of paintings and photographs of Gandhiji found. Most of them are commonly found, and few are rare.

The original and replica of many of Gandhiji's personal belongings are displayed in a section. The blood-stained cloth Mahatma wore when he was assassinated is also displayed. It is the highlight of the museum.

There is a separate section dedicated to Indian Freedom Fight. The illustrations and depictions in this section are not that great.

A replica of Gandhi's hut in Sevagram is found outside the palace.

(I have read that Gandhi's letter to Subramania Bharati and another letter to Hitler are also found in the museum. However, I could not locate them.)

The museum is so big with so many artifacts. Some of them are exhibited, and to many of them, the visitors have no access. Unfortunately, there is hardly any other visitor to the museum except for school children.

Within the same complex, a small building houses the State Government Museum. Inside the museum, there is little to explore. However, there are about 40-50 interesting stone sculptures found outside. Those sculptures range from the 9th century CE till the 19th century CE. Vishnu, Ayyanar, Subramanya, Tirthankara, Jyestha - you name anyone, and you can find the image here. Sadly, they are left here to suffer under the Sun. It saddens us to see such beautiful and priceless treasures of this country lying neglected.

Happy travelling.