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->APPU: Padma awards are not titles

2021-11-20T17:21:52Z

Padma awards are not titles

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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image = Gandhi at Darwen.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Mirabehn with Gandhi at Darwen, Sharko, 1931
| birth_name = Madeleine Slade
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|11|22|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|07|20|1892|11|22|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Vienna, Austria]]
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}

'''Madeleine Slade''' (22 November 1892 – 20 July 1982), also known as '''Mirabehn''' or '''Meera Behn''', was a British supporter of the [[Indian Independence Movement]] who in the 1920s left her home in [[England]] to live and work with [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. She devoted her life to human development and the advancement of [[Gandhism|Gandhi's principles]].

She was the daughter of the British Rear-Admiral [[Edmond Slade|Sir Edmond Slade]].

== Early life ==
Mirabehn was born into a well connected British family in 1892. Her father, Sir Edmond Slade was an officer in the [[Royal Navy]] who was posted in Mirabehn's early years as the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Squadron, later becoming director of the [[Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom)|Naval Intelligence Division]].<ref name="independent.academia">{{cite web|last=Lindley|first=Mark|title=Mirabehn, Gandhi and Beethoven|url=https://independent.academia.edu/MLindley/Papers/1248421/Mirabehn_Gandhi_and_Beethoven|publisher=Academia.edu}}</ref> She spent much of her childhood with her maternal grandfather who owned a large country estate and was from an early age a nature and animal lover.<ref name="indiaenvironmentportal">{{cite web|last=Gupta|first=Krishna Murti|title=Mira Behn: A friend of nature|url=http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/opinion/mira-behn-friend-nature|date=14 August 1993|publisher=India Environment Portal}}</ref>

The other great passion of the young Mirabehn was the music of [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]. She took to the piano and concerts and even went on to become a concert manager. In 1921 she even arranged for a German conductor to lead the [[London Symphony Orchestra|London Orchestra]] in concerts featuring Beethoven and helped bring about an end to the British boycott of German musicians that followed the [[First World War]].<ref name="independent.academia" />

She also visited [[Vienna]] and Germany to see the places where Beethoven had lived and composed his music and she read extensively on him. She read [[Romain Rolland]]'s books on Beethoven and later sought and met with him at [[Villeneuve, Vaud|Villeneuve]], where he was then living. During this meeting, Rolland mentioned about a new book of his called [[Mahatma Gandhi]] which she had not read then. Rolland described Gandhi as another Christ and as the greatest figure of the 20th century.<ref name="independent.academia" /><ref name="indiaenvironmentportal" /> On her return to England she read Rolland's biography of Gandhi and the book convinced her to become a disciple of the Mahatma.
She wrote to Gandhi asking him if she could become his disciple and live with him in [[Sabarmati Ashram]]. Gandhi replied, inviting her over but also warning her of the discipline of the Ashram's inmates.<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|last=Singh|first=Khushwant|title=IN LOVE WITH THE MAHATMA|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051001/asp/opinion/story_5300910.asp|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=1 October 2005}}</ref> Having made her decision, she went about training herself for all the demands of an ascetic's life in India including vegetarianism, spinning and [[teetotalism]]. That year in England, she subscribed to [[Young India]] and spent a part of her time in Paris reading the [[Bhagvad Gita]] and some of the [[Rigveda]] in French.<ref name="mkgandhi">{{cite web|title=Associates of Mahatma Gandhi, Mirabehn|url=http://www.mkgandhi.org/associates/Mirabehn.htm|publisher=mkgandhi.org}}</ref>

== Life in India and role in the independence movement==
She arrived in Ahmedabad on 7 November 1925 where she was received by [[Mahadev Desai]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]] and [[Swami Anand]]. This was the beginning of her stay in India that lasted almost thirty-four years.<ref name="mkgandhi" /> During her stay in India, Mirabehn went to the [[Gurukul Kangri University|Gurukul Kahhngri]] to learn [[Hindi]]. Thereafter she went to Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram of [[Rewari]] established by Swami Parmanand Maharaj to be blessed by him. She also wrote to Mahatma Gandhi about her experiences there in Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

[[File:Gandhi Greenfield.jpg|thumb|Mira Behn ''(far right)'' with Mahatma Gandhi at the Greenfield Mill, at [[Darwen]], Lancashire]]
Mirabehn's stay in [[India]] coincided with the zenith Gandhian phase of the [[Indian independence movement|freedom struggle]]. She accompanied Gandhi and others to the [[Round Table Conference]] in London in 1931. While on their way back from London, Mirabehn and Gandhi visited Rolland for a week and as they took his leave, Rolland gave her a book on Beethoven which he had written while she was in India. In 1960 as she began to read it, it convinced her to move to [[Austria]] and spend her remaining days in the land of Beethoven's music.<ref name="independent.academia" /> The resumption of the [[Non Cooperation Movement]] in 1931 saw her being imprisoned during 1932–33.<ref>{{cite web|title=WOMEN AND INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT|url=http://myproject22.tripod.com/women_and_india.htm}}</ref>

To plead India's case she also went abroad meeting, among others, [[David Lloyd George]], [[General Smuts]] and [[Winston Churchill]], and visited the United States, where she met [[Eleanor Roosevelt|Mrs. Roosevelt]] at the [[White House]]. Mirabehn also took an active interest in the establishment of the [[Sevagram|Sevagram Ashram]] and worked among the people of [[Orissa, India|Orissa]] to resist any potential Japanese invasion non-violently in the beginning of 1942. She was arrested and detained with Gandhi in the [[Aga Khan Palace]], [[Pune]], from August 1942 to May 1944 where she saw Mahadev Desai and [[Kasturba Gandhi]] pass away. She was also a witness to the [[Simla Conference]] and the [[Cabinet Mission]], the Interim Government and the [[Constituent Assembly]], the [[Partition of India]] and the [[assassination of Mahatma Gandhi]].{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

== Post-independence life in India ==
After her release from the Aga Khan Palace, with Gandhi's permission, she established the Kisan Ashram at a Village named Mooldaspur majra a site near Roorkee. The land was donated to her by the local villagers. After [[Partition of India|Independence]], she established the Pashulok Ashram near [[Rishikesh]] and a settlement named Bapu Gram and the Gopal Ashram in Bhilangana in 1952.<ref name="mkgandhi" /> She took to dairying and farming experiments in these ashrams and also spent a while in Kashmir. During the time she spent in [[Kumaon division|Kumaon]] and [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] she observed the destruction of the forests there and the impact it was having on floods in the plains. She wrote about it in an essay titled ''Something Wrong in the Himalaya'' but her advice was ignored by the Forest Department. In the 1980s, these areas witnessed a large Gandhian environmental campaign to save the forests called the [[Chipko Movement]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Langston|first=Nancy|title=Significant Women in Forestry|url=http://encyclopediaofforestry.org:80/index.php/Significant_Women_in_Foresty|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429161857/http://encyclopediaofforestry.org/index.php/Significant_Women_in_Foresty|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 April 2017|date=22 April 2007|publisher=Society of American Foresters|access-date=9 July 2012}}</ref>

She returned to England in 1959. In 1960, she relocated to Austria and spent twenty-two years in small villages in the [[Vienna Woods]] (Baden, Hinterbrühl, Kracking), where she died in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://feminisminindia.com/2018/05/02/mirabehn-contribution-freedom-struggle/|title=Mirabehn: A Key Player In The Indian Freedom Struggle|last=Ghosh|first=Ruchira|date=2018-05-01|website=Feminism In India|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref>

She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the [[Padma Vibhushan]], in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mkgandhi.org/associates/Mirabehn.htm|title=Associates of Mahatma Gandhi : Mirabehn|website=www.mkgandhi.org|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref>

== Books by Mirabehn ==
[[File:Madeleine Slade 1983 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Mirabehn on a 1983 stamp of India]]
Mirabehn's autobiography is titled ''The Spiritual Pilgrimage''. She also published ''Bapu's Letters to Mira'' and ''New and Old Gleanings''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mira Behn, disciple of Mahatma Gandhi|url=http://www.indiavideo.org/text/mira-behn-1225.php|publisher=indiavideo.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Books by Mirabehn|url=https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3AMirabehn%5Cc&page=1|publisher=amazon.com}}</ref> At the time of her death she had also left behind an unpublished biography of Beethoven, the ''Spirit of Beethoven''.<ref>{{cite news|title=The making of Mirabehn|url=http://hindu.com/2000/09/24/stories/13240864.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121219005627/http://hindu.com/2000/09/24/stories/13240864.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 December 2012|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=24 September 2000}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* Actress [[Geraldine James]] portrayed her in [[Richard Attenborough]]'s film, ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'', which premiered several months after Madeleine Slade's death in 1982.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}
* [[Sudhir Kakar]]'s ''Mira and the Mahatma'' is a fictional account on the relationship between Gandhi and Madeleine as his disciple Mirabehn.<ref name="telegraphindia" />

==Bibliography==
* ''Spirits Pilgrimage'', by Mirabehn. Great River Books. 1984. {{ISBN|0-915556-13-8}}.
* ''New and old gleanings'', by Mirabehn. Navajivan Pub. House. 1964.

==See also==
*[[Gandhism]]
*[[Sarla Behn]]

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* ''Letters to Mirabehn'', by Mahatma Gandhi. # Greenleaf Books. 1983. {{ISBN|0-934676-53-4}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Madeleine Slade}}
*[http://www.mkgandhi.org/associates/assoindex.htm Biography from mkgandhi.org]
*''[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041003/asp/look/story_3824566.asp In the company of Bapu: In the just-released Mira & the Mahatma, psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar delves into the complex relationship between a remarkable Englishwoman and the man she worshiped]'' – ''[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]]''
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33VkTWzzw5M Video interview with Mirabehn]. A description of the video is [https://web.archive.org/web/20081023171147/http://www.gandhiserve.org/footage/fopems.html here].

{{Gandhi|state=collapsed}}
{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in social work]]
[[Category:Indian spiritual writers]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Indian people of British descent]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century British writers]]

Mirabehn - Revision history

KatherinDenmark: brief correct lead to improve readability also and cleaned formatting after review

->APPU: Padma awards are not titles