Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Memorial

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Memorial

Quick Facts

Location:

Washington, DC

Amenities

3 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Public Transit, Wheelchair Accessible

A gift from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee dedicated the memorial at the Indian Embassy on September 16, 2000 during a state visit of . It pictures Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) in ascetic garb, in reference to his 1930 march against a salt tax in India. Gautam Pal, a sculptor in Kolkata, designed the statue. Behind it are three slabs of Karnataka red granite with inscriptions honoring Gandhi's memory.

Inscriptions

Statue Base
MAHATMA GANDHI
1869-1948
MY LIFE IS MY MESSAGE
Statue Base left panel
A GIFT FROM THE PEOPLE OF INDIA
AND
The INDIA AMERICAN COMMUNITY
Sculptor's Signature
Gautam Pal
3/7/99
Granite slabs:
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen. And ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to a swarm for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away". 1947
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was a pivotal world figure of the twentieth century. Gandhi renounced all worldly possessions, devoting his life to work for the dignity and uplift of the downtrodden. To his people, he was a mahatma (Sanskrit for great soul) as proclaimed by the great Indian poet Tagore. He kept purity of means and peaceful resistance (satyagraha) at the heart of a campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa from 1893-1914. He led a famous march to the sea against the increase of salt tax in India in 1930. A charismatic leader of millions, Gandhi was the central figure in India's struggle for freedom from British rule. Gandhi was inspired by the world's great religions, and influenced by the writings of Ruskin, Thoreau and Tolstoy. His life and message inspired great leaders internationally, notably Jawaharlal Nehru, Martin Luther King, Jr., Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and Aung San Suu Kyl. Gandhi is revered by people of conscience in all walks of life around the world.
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people's houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave". 1921
"Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" 1938