Bapu founded Gujarat Vidyapith today

AHMEDABAD: Back in 1920, on this day 98 years ago, a young ‘Kalaguru’ Ravishankar Raval mounted an old folding plate camera on a tripod to capture that decisive moment of the founding of Gujarat Mahavidyalaya (Vidyapith). The meeting was held in the compound of Dahyabhai Mehta’s bungalow in Kochrab village at 8: 30am. On its footsteps, Mahatma Gandhi along with some of his close associates sat posing for a photograph on the founding day of the Vidyapith, completely independent of the British government charter, the only university set up by Bapu.Raval was one of the few in the city who could operate a camera.
In his memoirs ‘Gujaratma Kalana Pagran’ Raval recalls Saraladebi Chowdhurani, who had come from Punjab, starting the proceedings by singing a Punjabi song ‘Saddi Jaan Jave’. It was followed by Bapu’s speech. He was declared the chancellor of the university for life. “Back then I could not gauge the importance Gandhiji establishing an institution that has become a model for the entire country. I felt privileged to be part of that moment,” said Raval. Raval recounts how Dahyabhai Mehta had provided his bungalow in Kochrab for the setting up of the university. The official programme published in the Navajivan journal the previous day says that the event was to begin with an all-religion prayer (Vedic-Islamic), followed by singing of Vande Mataram and then a song by Chowdhurani. After speeches of the registrar, Bapu and a few teachers, the event ended with the pledge “Bharat Hamara Desh Hai…”. “Volume 18 of the collected works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) describes how several educational institutions became affiliated to the Vidyapith. By 1923 more than 30,000 students were part of the Gujarat Vidyapith,” says professor of history at Swaminarayan College, Rizwan Kadri.