Around a century back, Gandhi had organised a similar celebration in which Hindus and Muslims had celebrated their sacred months together.
Taking inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi's historic Tolstoy Farm party in South Africa, inmates of the Sabarmati jail are celebrating the coinciding months of Shravan and Ramzan in a similar fashion.
On Thursday night, Hindu inmates of the jail, along with their Muslim counterparts, will celebrate the birth of Krishna together.
Around a century back, Gandhi had organised a similar celebration in which Hindus and Muslims had celebrated their sacred months together. The event marks an important chapter in the Indian struggle for Independence, as one of Gandhi's early experiments.
"Gandhiji experimented with celebrating this coincidence, in order to bring about communal harmony. It also became one of his landmark experiments in the satyagrah movement. This year, we are having a similar celebration. We will be celebrating Janmashtami along with the existing dual festivities of Shravan and Ramzan," said PC Thakur, additional director general (Prisons).
It's interesting to note that Lord Krishna was actually born in a prison cell in the captivity of King Kansa, his maternal uncle. Traditionally though, people celebrate the festival at home with splendidly decorated temples, where ornate cradles and statues of the Lord are kept.
According to Thakur, several organisations, both Hindu and Muslim, are approaching jail authorities with requests to provide religious material to inmates of both communities. Thakur said that on Tuesday, 3,000 copies of the Bhagwad Gita were distributed to jail inmates by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness).
"Like during Gandhi's Tolstoy party, the prisoners will be celebrating together and helping each other all through this pious month. On Janmashtami, the Muslim inmates will also join in the celebrations. Similarly, Hindu inmates will join them in iftaar parties the whole of the coming week," Thakur said.
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