Of Sap And Soil: Gandhi, Guru, And The Meaning Of Equality – OpEd

AI-generated image of Mahatma Gandhi in conversation with Sree Narayana Guru. Photo Credit: Grok

 March 13, 2025  0 Comments

By K.M. Seethi

The centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to the  Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala on 12 March 1925 invites more than formal remembrance. It offers an occasion to pause and reflect on what that encounter represented—a moment where political activism and spiritual reform met in a common pursuit of justice. At stake was not merely a meeting of two figures, but a conversation that probed the deeper structures of inequality—caste above all—and their place in the unfinished project of freedom.

Sivagiri, located in the erstwhile Travancore region of Kerala, had grown into a vibrant centre of moral and social renewal under the guidance of Sree Narayana Guru. Gandhi’s visit was not incidental; it reflected a deeper engagement with the fundamental question of caste and its corrosive hold on Indian society. Though he had long spoken against untouchability, Gandhi’s approach to caste reform remained anchored within the framework of varnashrama dharma. The Guru, in contrast, had already charted a different course—rejecting caste not as a distorted practice, but as an unjust and unscientific institution that must be discarded altogether.

The meeting came at a time of ferment and rethinking. Just a few years earlier, the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 had erupted—an event Gandhi publicly disapproved of—while popular movements such as the Vaikom Satyagraha were beginning to reshape public discourse. What began as a campaign for the right of oppressed castes to walk on the roads surrounding a temple soon drew national attention. Gandhi’s involvement lent the movement moral weight, but the deeper questions it raised—of access, dignity, and equality—could not be addressed by symbolism alone. They required an ethical reordering of society.

It was during this second visit to Kerala, amid the rising tide of caste reform movements, that Gandhi travelled to Sivagiri to meet the Guru. The preparations for the meeting were modest yet deliberate. A building donated by the Guru’s disciple, M.K. Govindadas, was named the ‘Gandhi Ashram.’ White sand was laid along the path, and seats draped in Khadi awaited the visitors. Gandhi arrived at three in the afternoon, accompanied by C. Rajagopalachari, E.V. Ramaswami Naicker (later Periyar), Ramdas Gandhi, and Mahadev Desai. The Guru, known for his quiet dignity, received Gandhi in person—a gesture of mutual regard that set the tone for their conversation.

Language differences required advocate N. Kumaran to mediate, but the dialogue quickly found its depth. Gandhi asked pointedly: do Hindu scriptures justify untouchability? The Guru’s reply was unequivocal—“No.” With that clarity, the discussion moved to the aims and methods of caste reform. The Guru voiced his support for the Vaikom Satyagraha and saw no need for its course to be altered. In his view, real emancipation would come not through symbolic gestures like inter-caste dining or marriage, but through education and economic self-reliance—through building capacities rather than performing rituals of inclusion.

Their conversation also turned to the ethical limits of resistance. Gandhi raised the question of whether violence had any place in the struggle for justice. The Guru, drawing from scripture but anchored in reason, responded that while violence might be condoned for kings in the Puranas, it held no place for ordinary people seeking moral transformation. His principled commitment to non-violence reflected Gandhi’s own convictions.

On the sensitive issue of religious conversion, the Guru’s perspective was both practical and idealistic. He acknowledged that many sought dignity and freedom through conversion, but remained firm in his belief that a reformed Hinduism could offer spiritual liberation. Gandhi, who shared similar concerns about the implications of mass conversion, found in the Guru a companion in moral nicety.

But it was perhaps in their exchange on the caste order itself that the divergence between them became most apparent. When Gandhi compared caste distinctions to the natural variation in leaf sizes on the same tree, the Guru replied with a quiet yet piercing analogy: while leaves may differ in size, all are nourished by the same sap. It was a metaphor of striking simplicity and philosophical depth—a reminder that spiritual equality is the foundation upon which any just society must rest. It is said that this insight prompted Gandhi to reconsider some of his own assumptions about varnashrama.

What Gandhi witnessed during his stay at Sivagiri gave further substance to their dialogue. At the Vaidika Mutt, he saw children from oppressed communities studying, praying, and reciting Sanskrit texts alongside others. The recitation of the Daivadashakam, a universal prayer composed by the Guru, moved him deeply. The sight of Pulaya and Pariah students engaged in learning and spiritual practice stood as a quiet yet powerful rebuke to caste-based exclusion.

The following morning, the Guru visited Gandhi again. Later, Gandhi returned to the Sharadha Madhom, where he spoke admiringly of its spiritual discipline and inclusive spirit. In his public address, he reiterated his support for the Vaikom movement and urged people to adopt spinning and weaving as tools of economic self-reliance. He also referred to the silent encouragement he had received from the Regent Empress Sethulakshmibai. Yet he made it clear: lasting reform cannot be handed down from above—it must rise from the moral will of the people.

The differences between Gandhi and the Guru were not merely tactical; they reflected distinct visions of social transformation. While Gandhi worked within inherited frameworks, seeking gradual reform, the Guru questioned the very foundations of caste and hierarchy. He spoke of caste as an institution that dulled intelligence, stifled imagination, and turned work into mechanical repetition. His emphasis on dignity, freedom, and inner worth was not framed in slogans, but in a deeper philosophical critique of social order.

This divergence was echoed in his dialogues with disciples, where he challenged the logic of hereditary occupations and argued that one’s work should be shaped by aptitude, not ancestry. His belief in individual freedom and spiritual equality offered a sharp contrast to Gandhi’s more cautious path of reform. If Gandhi sought to humanise the system, the Guru sought to transcend it.

And yet, their meeting remains an living example of ethical dialogue—of how difference need not preclude solidarity. It was a conversation across traditions, but anchored in shared values: non-violence, justice, human dignity. A century later, the moral resonance of that moment has not faded. It continues to speak to us—not as a relic, but as a reminder of what it means to struggle for a society where equality is lived, not merely proclaimed.

To mark this centenary meaningfully is to reflect on the unfinished work of that dialogue. Has its spirit shaped our social conscience, or has it been confined to the rituals of remembrance? For all the constitutional provisions, legal reforms, and civil society efforts, caste still governs access, mobility, and power—even in Kerala, often held up as a model of reform. The legacy of that encounter compels us to look beyond commemorative gestures and ask deeper questions about the structures that remain intact.

Justice, as the Gandhi–Guru meeting reminds us, is not a milestone but a movement—an ongoing, often uncomfortable reckoning with the realities of inequality. True freedom cannot be measured merely by political independence; it must be rooted in the dismantling of the social and moral hierarchies that continue to divide us.

In an age still marked by caste exclusion and religious polarisation, the ethical charge of that meeting remains. It calls for renewed engagement, moral clarity, and the courage to imagine a world where dignity is not granted as privilege, but upheld as a shared condition of life. As Gandhi would later say, “I feel it the greatest privilege of my life to have had the darshan of the venerable Sree Narayana Guru.” The greater privilege now lies in carrying forward that spirit—in thought, in action, and in the pursuit of a justice that touches all lives.

K.M. Seethi is Director, Inter University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension (IUCSSRE), Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kerala. He also served as ICSSR Senior Fellow, Senior Professor of International Relations and Dean of Social Sciences at MGU.