Mirabehn

Madeleine Slade (22 November 1892 – 20 July 1982), also known as Mirabehn or Meera Behn, was a British supporter of the Indian Independence Movement who in the 1920s left her home in England to live and work with Mahatma Gandhi. She devoted her life to human development and the advancement of Gandhi's principles.

Early life Madeleine Slade was born on 22 November 1892 to a well connected British family. Her father, Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade was in her early years an officer in the Royal Navy who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Squadron, and later became director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty War Staff. Her mother Florence Madeleine, née Saunders, was the eldest daughter of James Carr Saunders of Milton Heath, Dorking, but was born in Reigate, Surrey in 1870). Sir Edmond and his wife also had another daughter, Madeline's sister Rhona.

Madeleine spent much of her childhood with her mother's family, who owned a large country estate. Her maternal grandfather was from an early age a nature and animal lover, having developed a particular love for horses, and for riding them.

At the age of 15, Madeleine developed a passion for Ludwig van Beethoven's music. She took to the piano and concerts and went on to become a concert manager. In 1921, she arranged for a German conductor to lead the London Orchestra in concerts featuring Beethoven, and helped bring about an end to the British boycott of German musicians that followed the First World War.

Arrival in India, change of name, and role in the independence movement

In November 1925, she contacted Gandhi and requested to stay in his ashram. She arrived in Bombay on 6 November 1925, and was met by followers of Gandhi as well as his son, Devdas. Declining to spend the day sightseeing, she set off to Ahmedabad, Mirabehn had hopes that Gandhi would take her with him after the Jubilee Celebration at Gurukul Kangri, but to her dismay he sent her to Bhagwadbhakti Ashram of Rewari for a better learning experience. this time being jailed for a longer term. She was transferred to Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad, where she shared a cell with Kasturba, Gandhi's wife.

In the summer of 1934, she asked Gandhi for permission to tour the West to promote the Indian independence movement. She spoke in London, Wales, Lancashire, and Newcastle, among other locations. The tour included a meeting with former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and a correspondence and eventual meeting with future Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Throughout the tour, she argued that Indians were more than capable of self-government and spoke at length on the negative effects of British colonial policy on India's rural industries and the high taxes imposed on Indian taxpayers.

Post-independence life in India After Independence, she established a settlement named Bapu Gram in Rishikesh and the Gopal Ashram in Bhilangna Valley in 1952.

Austrian years She returned to England in 1959, and relocated to Austria in 1960.

She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1981.

Books by Mirabehn

Mirabehn's autobiography is titled The Spirit's Pilgrimage. She also published Bapu's Letters to Mira and New and Old Gleanings. Mirabehn drafted a book called Beethoven’s Mystical Vision (not “The Spirit of Beethoven”). It was published in Madurai by Khadi Friends Forum in 1999, and then a second, digital edition in 2000 by MGM University.

In popular culture Actress Geraldine James portrayed her in Richard Attenborough's film, Gandhi, which premiered several months after Mirabehn's death in 1982. In Mira and the Mahatma, Sudhir Kakar provides a fictional account of Mirabehn's relationship with Gandhi as his disciple. In his book, Rebels Against the Raj, Ramchandra Guha tells the story of how Mirabehn and six other foreigners served India in its quest for independence from the British Raj.