To mark 150th birth anniversary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi, the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, today, will see different states showcasing Gandhi-themed tableaus. And Tamil Nadu’s is based on the transformation of his dressing style, or his dress code. Incidentally, it was in Madurai that Gandhiji finally decided to give up wearing shirt and trousers and started wearing a simple dhoti.
“Gandhi as a barrister from South Africa visited Madras in a suit in 1896.
When he came here 20 years later, he wasn’t the Mahatma yet, but had changed over to Kathiawari dress. On September 22, 1921, Gandhi was in Madurai. He was at 251, West Masi Street, one of those concentric streets around the Meenakshi Temple, and he was preparing to go to Ramanathapuram. While his followers were waiting outside for him, he came out wearing a dhoti and a towel. Today, that building houses a khadi emporium. And the place where he made his first public appearance dressed like that is called Gandhi Pottal,” shares Venkatesh Ramakrishnan, a novelist and historian from Chennai.
In fact, there’s a statue of Gandhiji in the locality, which mentions this historic happening. Parvathi, an octogenarian residing in Madurai for many decades, recalls, “Rajan, a devout patriot, was with Gandhi at 251, West Masi Street. If I remember right, he used to run Oriental Traders, a business, from there. It’s from this home that Gandhiji first emerged in his trademark attire. Today, the home functions as a Khadi outlet. I was told that many people gathered here to help mobilise funds for the Vedaranyam March, under the guidance of freedom fighter A Vaidyanatha Iyer, in that period.”
Venkatesh adds, “For quite some time, Gandhi had been thinking about making a change in his attire. He wanted to wear something that would symbolise the masses he was hoping to represent. He decided on a simple dhoti and shawl. ‘Such a radical alteration — in my dress — I effected in Madurai’, Gandhi had mentioned in his writings. But not all his supporters agreed to this drastic change in his style of dressing. It is recorded that Gandhi himself said that Rajaji was unhappy. He felt people would be uneasy and even think Gandhi was a lunatic.”
He adds, “Gandhi maintained this attire, irrespective of the climate or the place he visited, including Buckingham Palace, where a special allowance was made for him when the king hosted the delegates. Though there is no way to confirm this, it’s said that when Gandhi was told he was not wearing enough clothes to meet the King, he remarked, ‘The king had enough on for both of us’.”
An official from the government museum in Madurai tells us, “Records have it that the building initially belonged to Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar, and later, when Gandhiji had visited the place, Sanghoi, a north Indian family, were its residents. When he first came there, he was suited formally. And then, the next day morning, he shocked everyone by appearing in a simple veshti. And from there, he reached the place that’s now called Gandhi Pottal, to address the gathering and talk about why he decided to go for aadai maatram. The house now belongs to the state government, and a khadi emporium operates from the ground floor. The floor above houses memorabilia of Gandhiji.”
