India
Gujarat marks Gandhi's 157th year at Kirti Mandir
Hindustan Times··2 Oct
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday paid floral tributes at Kirti Mandir in Porbandar on Mahatma Gandhi's 157th birth anniversary. Gandhi was born in Porbandar on October 2, 1869. Kirti Mandir stands 79 feet tall, matching the 79 years he lived, with 79 earthen lamps on its roof. ASI maintains the birthplace; the state runs the memorial.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Visitors to Porbandar can see the marked birth room in the ancestral haveli and the adjoining Kirti Mandir memorial.
- An all-religion prayer meeting was held at the memorial on the anniversary.
- The birthplace is a national monument under the Archaeological Survey of India.
What's Happening
- Officials said the haveli has 22 rooms and was bought in 1777 by Gandhi's great-grandfather Harjivadas Gandhi.
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inaugurated Kirti Mandir on May 27, 1950.
- Twenty-six marble pillars in the compound carry Gandhi's thoughts.
Why The Memorial Looks This Way
- Gandhi approved a memorial in 1945 but said it was not to become a place of worship.
- Design elements draw from Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jain and Christian motifs under Sarva Dharma Sambhav.
- Work began in 1945 and was unfinished when Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948.
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