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 CHAPTER VI

EARLY DAYS

The home in Porbandar is a vision of afterthoughts. Some one long ago purchased the ground adjoining two temples, and then built the house on to them. You reach it now through a lane opening into the main street. The two temples, one to Krishna, the other to Rama, keep guard on either side. Then comes the open court, then a raised verandah, and finally the house itself. What it was originally no one can tell. Alterations were made by every generation. New families added to the ancestral home, and as expansion was impossible, storey was built on storey, until, when the fourth was reached, it was found that the weight of stone would mean disaster, so the last storey was built of wood. A rambling, old, weather-beaten, shot-riddled house, sacred to the afterthoughts of a long line of Gandhis.

It was here that Mohandas was born, on the 2nd of October, 1869, the youngest of the three children. On the sixth day, according to Hindu custom, a great feast was held under the auspices of Vidhata,