Gandhi's deliberations climaxed in Madurai
Gandhi donned loin-cloth for the first time at Madura to identify himself with India's poor.
“All
the alterations I have made in my course of life have been effected by
momentous occasions; and they have been made after such a deep
deliberation that I have hardly had to regret them. And I did them, as I
could not help doing them. Such a radical alteration - in my dress, - I
effected in Madura.”
- M. K. Gandhi
Ninety-three years back, on September 22,
1921, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi took the brave decision to shed his
traditional attire and get into a ‘loincloth,’ which remained with him
till death. The historic decision of the Mahatma to identify himself
with the common man embellished Madurai’s reputation as an ancient city
that enhanced even an ordinary man’s spiritual strength. He later
recalled that though he came closer to taking a decision on his clothing
on a couple of earlier occasions, it was Madurai that gave him the
necessary strength.
