KHADI, RELIGION AND CLASS: AN UNDERSTANDING FROM THE GANDHIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In 1915 Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from Africa after successfully fighting against apartheid. From Africa, Gandhi was keeping himself informed about the freedom struggle in India against the colonial powers. After landing in India he travelled across the nation to get an understanding of the nation, its size, demography and cultures. He found cloth to be an element to bind all the people together. And khadi seemed to be the most appropriate choice as it related to the Indian cultural heritage. But under the spell of colonial market policies it lost its space from the Indian homes. He started his rescue operation for the spinning wheel to spin khadi clothes at homes and took to wearing khadi cloths. After changing himself, he appealed to his family and made sure that his ashram members (founded in 1917) followed the khadi life. This article analyses Gandhi’s approach to diverse mass, divided into various class and religious practices to unify them all together with a cloth to arouse Indian nationalism against the exploitative colonial rule in India.