THE GUJARAT VIDYAPITH is an educational establishment, now recognised as a university, founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. Until he created the university, most higher education in India was, according to plans laid down by Lord Macaulay, dedicated to training Indians to be useful in the service of the British Empire.

The Vidyapith was, according to its website, part of:
“… a great response to Gandhiji’s command to vacate the English teaching schools and colleges. Now, in order to see that the students who left their education half-way are not deprived of the education, it was decided to estalish National Vidyapith. Out of those five Vidyapiths established during that period, Gujarat Vidyapith was one, estalished by Gandhiji himself on October 18, 1920. Gandhi wanted his Vidyapith to prepare the youths for the task of national reconstruction and usher in ‘Hind Swaraj’, the India of his dream”

The establishment, based in a very peaceful leafy campus, still functions today. Many of its students are members of underprivileged families.

As we were wandering around the campus, we came across a photograph of Gandhi taken while he was on the Salt March (1930) to Dandi during which the Mahatma and his followers were protesting against the government monopoly on salt production. Underneath the photograph, there was a caption that read as follows:
“Pranjivan Vidyarthi Bhavan was first stop of Historic Dandi March 12/03/1930”

This Bhavan was one of the first buildings on the Vidyapith campus. When the Vidyapith was started, it was located close to Gandhiji’s first ashram, the Kochrab Ashram. However, as an article in the Indian Express explained:
“With space constraints in the bungalow along with looming threat of plague, Vidyapith was shifted to Aga Khan Estate near Nehru bridge, where a building stands now. It ran from there briefly till the foundation stone of Pranjivan Vidyarthi Bhawan was laid by eminent scientist Prafulla Chandra Ray on March 9, 1923 which after completion was inaugurated by Gandhi in 1925.”

Our friend, Arthur Duff, showed us around the campus. Apart from seeing the memorial to the Salt March, we saw the models of villages outside the university’s folklore museum, which was sadly closed when we arrived. As the sun began to set we walked around the campus, a peaceful oasis in a busy part of Ahmedabad across the river from the old city.