The 60-year history of the urn

Ashes of Mahatma Gandhi? Some expressed disbelief when Mani Bhavan revealed how it had received an urn containing the ashes of the Father of the Nation. In some quarters, the news was greeted with suspicion.

“How could anybody preserve Gandhiji’s ashes,” was the question on everyone’s minds. So how did the Mahatma’s  ashes survive for 60 years?

The story goes like this. Shriman Narayan and Madalasa Narayan, both close associates of Gandhi, had kept the urn with them. It was then passed on to their son, Bharat Narayan, who handed it to Mani Bhavan.

“Narayan handed over the urn to Mani Bhavan recently as he felt it that was the appropriate place,” revealed Dhirubhai Mehta, president of the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sanghrahalaya. Mehta  said they had received an urn containing Gandhi’s ashes and that they planned to keep it for public display.

But the Gandhi family persuaded the trustees to immerse the ashes in the sea. According to Tushar Gandhi, “As per our rituals, the ashes have to be immersed in  a river or sea. Therefore, we urged the Mani Bhavan trustees to allow the family to carry out
the ritual.”

This is the second time an urn containing Gandhi’s ashes was found after 1948. In 1997, an urn was found in a bank locker at Cuttack, Orissa. The ashes were immersed that year at the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad.

It must be mentioned that on February 12, 1948, 13 days after Gandhi passed away, his ashes were immersed in the rivers and seas all over the country.

Officials at Mani Bhavan said  they had no idea how many individuals or institutions have retained urns containing Gandhiji’s ashes. “There is talk of Gandhi’s ashes at an ashram in Los Angeles,”  an official said. “But we are not sure.”