Some rare items related to Mahatma Gandhi from my stamp, coin, and currency collection, along with brief descriptions.
Gandhi Jayanti — A Time When the World Needs to Understand Gandhi Again
October 2 — the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
Today, when many parts of the world are going through wars, conflicts, and the loss of human lives, the time has come for the present generation to understand who Gandhi was and what message of non-violence and peace he gave to the world.
Gandhi was not merely a leader of India’s freedom struggle. He was a personality who upheld before the world the ideals of truth, non-violence, peace, tolerance, and love for humanity.
As a Philatelist & Numismatic Collector, stamps and coins related to Gandhi hold a special place in my collection. Many countries around the world have issued postage stamps honouring Mahatma Gandhi. In my collection alone, I have different Gandhi stamps issued by approximately 50 countries. Special coins issued by India in commemoration of Gandhi are also part of my collection.
In connection with this, an experience I had in Riyadh is particularly noteworthy.
Last year, at an exhibition held at the Palace Museum in Riyadh, some embassy representatives from African countries, after seeing exhibits from my collection related to Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, asked me:
“Was Indira Gandhi the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi?”
This was not a doubt expressed by just one person. Because of the same name “Gandhi,” some people in different parts of the world still believe that Mahatma Gandhi and the Indira–Rajiv–Rahul Gandhi family belong to the same family lineage.
But history is not like that.
Indira Gandhi was not the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
There is another interesting historical fact here. Indira Nehru married a member of a Parsi family who was born with the name Feroze Jehangir Ghandy. The original spelling of his family name was “Ghandy.” Historical records say that later, during the period when he was active in the Indian freedom struggle, he changed the spelling of his surname from “Ghandy” to “Gandhi” in connection with his respect for Mahatma Gandhi.
When Indira Nehru married him in 1942, she became known as Indira Gandhi. Their son Rajiv Gandhi, and later Rajiv’s son Rahul Gandhi, inherited this Gandhi surname. Therefore, Mahatma Gandhi and the Nehru–Gandhi family are not the same family lineage connected by blood.
The new generation needs to know such history. One of the small ways of doing that is through historical collections such as stamps, coins, and currency. Even within a small stamp, the great history of a country and an era can be hidden.
Today, when the world is once again speaking the language of war, we should not limit ourselves to merely placing Gandhi’s image on stamps. It is time to understand the message of non-violence and peace that he gave to the world and pass it on to the next generation.
War divides people; peace brings people together.
