A historical archive

The story behindthe title “Mahatma”

Explore the documents, records and family archive surrounding an early documented use of the title “Mahatma” for Gandhi.

Explore the evidence Story

1915: Jetpur Manpatra
21 Jan: Dated record
4+: Reading languages

Mahatma Gandhi walking with companions in an archival photograph — Exhibit 01The Jetpur Manpatra21 January 1915 · Saurashtra

Story

How a word became a name

The Town of Jetpur

In January 1915, Jetpur welcomed Gandhi after his return to India. The town’s ceremonial address forms the centre of this archive.

The Manpatra

The Gujarati document records the community’s welcome and is central to the discussion about an early public use of “Mahatma.”

The Historical Debate

The title’s earliest use is debated. This exhibit presents its evidence carefully and distinguishes family record from wider scholarship.

01 / Inquiry

Historic group photograph identified by the archive as Gandhi at Kamribai School — Kamribai School, Jetpur · Identification supplied by the source archive

The question

Who first addressed Gandhi as “Mahatma”?

A surviving felicitation address sits at the centre of one family’s effort to correct the historical record.

The Mehta family archive attributes the document to Nautamlal Bhagawanji Mehta, Nagarsheth of Jetpur, and dates its presentation to Gandhi at Kamribai School on 21 January 1915.

The source site says the Manpatra bears the signatures of citizens of Jetpur, and that a related address was presented to Kasturba Gandhi by local women on the same day. It also cites Gandhi’s collected writings as evidence that he was present in Jetpur on that date.

This archive advances a specific historical claim. Other attributions—including references to Pranjivan Mehta, Rabindranath Tagore, Gurukul Kangri and Gondal—remain part of the wider record. Here, each is labelled as a document, family recollection, competing claim or later interpretation.

January1915

A historical moment

Jetpur

According to the archive, Gandhi arrived at Kamribai School, where Nautamlal Bhagawanji Mehta presented the Manpatra before assembled citizens.

1915
21 January
Jetpur
Kamribai School
Manpatra
Historical record

Archive room 02

The evidence

Documents that form the record presented by the Mehta family archive.

Front and reverse of the original Manpatra

The original document

A felicitation address from Jetpur

21 January 1915
Jetpur, Saurashtra

The archive identifies this as the Manpatra drafted by Nautamlal Bhagawanji Mehta and presented to Gandhi. The surviving copy shows the address and citizens’ signatures together.

Historical note: this description reflects the provenance and interpretation given by the source archive.

Chronology

A timeline of records

Documented material, family testimony and competing interpretations are kept visibly distinct.

1909

Competing claim

A private letter

The source site notes a reported letter from Pranjivan Mehta to Gopal Krishna Gokhale using ‘Great Mahatma’. It disputes the relevance of a private written reference to its ceremonial claim.

1915

Documented in this archive21 January

The Jetpur Manpatra

The family archive identifies this as the day Nautamlal Bhagawanji Mehta presented a signed felicitation address to Gandhi at Kamribai School, Jetpur.

1915

Competing claim26 January

Gondal Rajshala

The source records a later January claim associated with Gondal Rajshala and places it after the Jetpur document.

1915

Later referencesMarch & April

Tagore and Gurukul Kangri

The archive discusses later attributions involving Rabindranath Tagore and Gurukul Kangri. These remain part of a wider historical debate.

1951–96

Family record

The case is carried forward

The site describes family correspondence with publishers from the 1950s and Niranjan’s effort, beginning in 1996, to bring the documents to wider attention.

Custodians of memory

The Mehta family

Nautamlal Bhagawanji Mehta

Nagarsheth of Jetpur, civic leader, and the figure whom this archive identifies as the author of the 1915 Manpatra.

The documents survived through his sons Manilal and Moolshankar and later family members, who sought recognition for the Jetpur record from the 1950s onward.

The site remembers Moolshankar as a participant in the independence movement who was imprisoned four times and devoted his life to Gandhian service. It also records the public work of Vajubhai and Manjula, and the participation of women from Dr P. J. Mehta’s family in the independence era. These biographical details are presented as family testimony.

A personal note

“I know Manjula very well.”

The archive attributes this Gujarati note to Gandhi, written to Moolshankar about his sister Manjula. Its interpretation was supplied by Gandhian scholar Dr Varsha Das.

“She won my heart as my daughter. If you are like her, remain so; if not, try to be like her and stay that way.”

English rendering reproduced from MahatmaGandhi.us · “Baapu’s blessings”

Gujarati note attributed to Gandhi concerning Manjula

Explore the archive

The archive

Photographs, documents and family records, preserved without alteration.

Archive topics

Search the archive

13 records

Open record page: The original Manpatra

Open record page: Kasturba’s Manpatra

Open record page: Museum documentation

Open record page: Gandhi’s written record

Open record page: A family note

Open record page: The published counterclaim

Open record page: Arrival at Kamribai School

Open record page: A personal note

Open record page: Three Mehta women

Open record page: Women of the Mehta family

Open record page: Kasturba Gandhi’s blessing

Open record page: Museum review record

Open record page: Gandhi in the family record

Research index

Documentation

This page preserves the source archive’s evidence while distinguishing original material from family recollection and interpretation.

Visit the source website

Primary sources

Jetpur Manpatra, Kasturba Gandhi Manpatra, handwritten Gandhi and Kasturba notes.

Museum references

National Gandhi Museum, Rajghat, New Delhi, correspondence attributed to Dr Y. Anand and Dr Varsha Das.

Published works

Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 14, page 347, as cited by the source site, Louis Fischer’s account.

Correspondence

Manilal and Moolshankar Mehta family notes, publishing correspondence beginning in the 1950s.

Family archive

Photographs and documents held and reproduced by the Mehta family / New Dynamic Inc. trust.

The archive remains open

History deserves to be examined through evidence.

Explore the documents, records and historical archive.

View the archive