Dandi Memorial

DANDI MEMORIAL

commemorating the Dandi Salt Satyagraha

DANDI MEMORIAL, commemorating the Dandi Salt Satyagraha Visual Communication Project III Submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirement of the degree, Masters of Design in Visual Communication (2009-2011) at the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Guide: Prof. Raja Mohanty

Co-Guide: Prof. Kirti Trivedi

Nimisha Drolia (09625802) Date:

Approval Sheet This Visual Communication Project II entitled “DANDI MEMORIAL, commemorating the Dandi Salt Satyagraha�

By Nimisha Drolia, 09625802 is approved in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Design Degree in Visual Communication.

Project Guide: Chair Person: Internal Examiner: External Examiner:

Date: Place:

Declaration: I declare that this written submission represents my ideas in my own words and where others ideas and words have been included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources.

I also declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/ fact/source in my submission.

I understand that any violation of the above will be cause for disciplinary action by the Institute and can also evoke penal action from the sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom permission has not been taken when needed.

Signature:

Name: Nimisha Drolia Roll No: 09625802 Date:

Acknowledgement: Thanks to IDC Prof. Kirti Trivedi Prof. Raja Mohanty Prof. Mandar Rane Prof. GVS Shreekumar Prof. Sudesh Balan HLDMC National Creative Team, Dandi Memorial Project Friends at IDC Friends everywhere else My Family God

Nimisha

Content:

“This is a battle to the finish. The Divine Hand is guiding it. It must be prolonged till the last man offers himself for satyagraha.” 14-3-1930

Synopsis

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Understanding

Mahatma Gandhi (The Hero)

Salt Satyagraha (The Event)

Dandi (The Place)

Memorial (What and Why)

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Dandi Memorial by the National Creative Team, coordinated by IIT Bombay

IIT Bombay, Design Co-ordinating Agency

Trip to Dandi

Meeting in Bombay

Design Concept by the National Creative Team

My Focus, Narration of the Salt March

My Focus: Narration of Salt Satyagraha

Text Narration

Designing the Panels

Final Output

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References

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Synopsis: In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi planned the first ever non violent civil disobedience movement. He called the entire country to be a part of the freedom struggle.

He chose the mean which was common to all. He with 82 marchers walked for 21 days, 241 miles to break the Salt Law. This gave the entire country a way to participate in the freedom struggle, to be a part of the movement and realize what their power was. With Non Violence and Satyagraha Mahatma Gandhi gave a new direction to the struggle, which had a hard hitting impact on the British Government. After the Law was broken, the Satyagraha movement continued for about a year in the entire country. The 21 day march was kind of a pilgrimage where Mahatma stopped at 44 places and spread the word of freedom struggle and Satyagraha. The 82 marchers who travelled with him became the warriors of the war against the British. This was a new start to the struggle where every freedom became important to every household in India.

This important event of Salt Satyagraha happened at Dandi, in Gujarat. But there is no commemoration of the event. Dandi holds an important place in the history of our freedom struggle. The place has a message by Mahatma Gandhi, which needs to be communicated and spread to the world around. Dandi was the place where Gandhi broke the Salt Law and started the Salt Satyagraha. Thus Dandi Memorial at Dandi becomes an important project to commemorate our heroes and a very important event of our history.

Thus this project is about developing a concept for the Memorial which commemorates the March. Its not only about honouring the leader and the marchers but also translating the 21 days of pilgrimage that they did, and which the entire country witnessed and participated. The place needs to make one experience the spirit of our freedom fighters and the story of our independence. It needs to be model of the values that Gandhi lived for and importance of the Salt March.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you WIN Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Understanding

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

Mahatma Gandhi (the Hero) Salt Satyagraha (the Event) Dandi (the Place) Memorial (What and Why)

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Mahatma Gandhi: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also called Mahtma Gandhi and Bapu, is father of our nation. He dedicated his life to the freedom struggle of India. He found new methods of struggle and fought for Truth and Non-Violence. He introduced the concept of Non-Violence and Truth by means of Satyagraha. Founder of the movement of Satyagraha, a unique method of civil disobedience, he worked continuously for society upliftment. He fought against many social evils of the country and brought equality and unity in the country. He became the face of common Indian and means for them to participate in the freedom struggle. He became Father of Our Nation. His teachings are timeless and has a meaning in all times for all people.

He was the leader of Salt Satyagraha, where he broke the Salt Law at Dandi, to start the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj. He with 82 marchers walked for 21 days and broke the Salt Law at Dandi, to start the war for Purna Swaraj.

“In all probability this will be my last speech to you. Even if the Government allow me to march tomorrow morning, this will be my last speech on the sacred banks of the Sabarmati. Possibly these may the last words of my life here.� March 11, 1930 16

Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

What is Satyagraha?

Satyagraha literally means insistence on truth. This insistence arms the votary with matchless power. This power or force is connoted by the word satyagraha.

Satyagraha, to be genuine, may be offered against parents, against one’s wife or one’s children, against rulers, against fellow-citizens, even against the whole world.

Such a universal force necessarily makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe. The force to be so applied can never be physical. There is in it no room for violence. The only force of universal application can, therefore, be that of ahimsa or love. In other words it is soul force.

Love does not burn others, it burns itself. Therefore, a satyagrahi, i.e., A civil resister will joyfully suffer even unto death.

It follows, therefore, that a civil resister, whilst he will strain every nerve to compass the end of the existing rule, will do no intentional injury in thought, word or deed to the person of a single Englishman.

Principles for Satyagraha Gandhi envisioned satyagraha as not only a tactic to be used in acute political struggle, but as a universal solvent for injustice and harm. He felt that it was equally applicable to large-scale political struggle and to one-on-one interpersonal conflicts and that it should be taught to everyone.

He asked satyagrahis to follow the following principles (Yamas described in Yoga Sutra): Nonviolence (ahimsa) Truth — this includes honesty, but goes beyond it to mean living fully in accord with and in devotion to that which is true Non-stealing Chastity (brahmacharya) — this includes sexual chastity, but also the subordination of other sensual desires to the primary devotion to truth Non-possession (not the same as poverty) Body-labour or bread-labour Control of the palate Fearlessness Equal respect for all religions Economic strategy such as boycotts (swadeshi) Freedom from untouchability On another occasion, he listed seven rules as “essential for every Satyagrahi in India”: Must have a living faith in God Must believe in truth and non-violence and have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature which he expects to evoke by suffering in the satyagraha effort Must be leading a chaste life, and be willing to die or lose all his possessions Must be a habitual khadi wearer and spinner Must abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants Must willingly carry out all the rules of discipline that are issued Must obey the jail rules unless they are specially devised to hurt his self respect

“This band of satyagrahis which has set out is not staging a play; its effect will not be merely temporary; even through death, it will prove true to its pledge—if death becomes necessary. . . .” 17-3-1930 Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Some More Thoughts: Satya (Truth): “ The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction” Ahimsa (Non-Violence): “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” Satyagraha (Truth Force): “ An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Khadi “I believe that where there is pure and active love for the poor there is God also.

I see God in every thread that I draw on the spinning wheel.”

Mahatma Gandhi's biographer, Louis Fischer, once said that his greatness "lay in doing what everyone could do but doesn't". Gandhi's Salt March to Dandi in 1930 can be examined as a version of this Message.

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Salt Satyagraha: Mahatma Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March to the seaside village of Dandi, and the following Civil Disobedience of the British Empire, are among the most significant events in contemporary Indian political history.

The Salt Satyagraha was initiated by Mohandas Gandhi and the Congress as the first struggle for complete independence.

This seemed a small issue, but the dramatic manner in which he announced and executed the plan, the march on foot of this unarmed man of God for 241 miles, with villagers flocking from miles around to kneel by the roadside, set the imagination of the nation a flame and roused enthusiasm such as no one has anticipated.

The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi’s principles of non-violent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely translated as “truth-force.”In early 1930 the Indian National Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic for winning Indian independence from British rule and appointed Gandhi to organize the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha. The Salt March to Dandi, and the beating of hundreds of non-violent protesters in Dharasana, demonstrated the effective use of civil disobedience as a technique for fighting social and political injustice.

Letter to the Viceroy: “ I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws.”

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Dandi March: (Brief summary) Why did it happen?

After the failure of the first Round Table Conference in 1929, the leaders of India decided they need to take a stronger step towards independence. As a result of the denial of reforms and political rights, and the persistent ignorance of Indian political parties, on 26th January, 1930 they declared Purna Swaraj in Lahore, resolving the Congress and Indian nationalists to fight for Purna Swaraj, or complete self-rule independent of the British Empire.

Gandhi and other Indian leaders would immediately begin the planning of a massive national revolt that would encourage the common people to participate and also help involve revolutionaries into a struggle committed to non-violence.

Idea of Salt March:

Gandhi searched for an issue that would unite all Indians, and when his Declaration of Independence of India failed to do so in January 1930, he subsequently embarked on a new breed of non-violent protest.

After the Declaration of Independence, Gandhi started developing a clear vision of how to achieve independence of India. He did lots of thinking and soul searching. He was in search of an idea that can be transformed into a mass movement. He was at an impasse. He was in search of an issue that involved the masses and at the same time defied British laws in protest.

He came up with a brilliant idea to develop a mass non-violent movement against British Salt tax. The British Salt tax was such a unique idea that affected every one. British generated salt tax revenue to support their rule.

The private sale and production of salt was a criminal offence punishable by law. However, salt was easily available in coastal zones of India. Labourers could easily produce it freely but they were forced to pay for it. This salt issue also met his criteria of that the movement must involve everyone irrespective of religion, or any other differences – it must involve masses and ignite them throughout India.

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Before the March:

On March 2, 1930 Gandhi wrote a remarkable letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India. He wrote, “Dear Friend, I cannot intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less fellow human beings, even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst, therefore, I hold the British rule to be a curse, I do not intend to harm to a single Englishman or to any legitimate interest he may have in India…” He went on to inform Irwin, he intended to break the salt laws. The Viceroy, as expected wrote back to express his regret that Gandhi was again “contemplating a course of action which is clearly bound to involve violation of the law and danger to public peace.”

The action planned my Mahatma Gandhi was highly symbolic-the salt produced by illicit means would be impure and probably unpalatable, but it was breaking a British law which earned the rulers money at the expense of the masses. It was a symbol of revolt. It was a long drawn-out movement during which a large mass of people was mobilized and thus the method of struggle was a simple one, one capable of generating emotional feelings and one which everyone could understand and everyone down to the humblest peasant, could participate in.

It was designed to achieve a three fold purpose: It was to be a pilgrimage, It was to get the people’s blessing, It was the method of initiating a non-violent revolution against the British Raj. The Salt March:

As part of the preparation of this massive satyagraha campaign, Gandhi addressed a mass meeting on 10th March attended by the inmates of the Sabarmati ashram. At the prayer meeting on 11th March at Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi invoked the inner strength of the satyagrahis and resolved to continue their non violent means of passive resistance until swaraj could be achieved in India. Finally, on 12th March at 6.30 a.m., Gandhi set out on his two hundred miles long journey, from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in the company of his 81 chosen followers. In this journey to Dandi, Gandhi's trail Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

increased in size as thousands of inspired followers joined him in his march.

On 13th March Gandhi delivered a speech at Bareja, where he invited the villagers among whom there was a considerable number of Christians and Muslims, to join hands in supporting the cause of India's freedom. In his 14th March speech at Vasana, Gandhi asked the amassed audience whether they would believe him, if he made a prediction that a day would dawn when the British would apologize to the Indians. Gandhi addressed to the people of Dabhan on March 15th. In this speech he appealed to the people that if they have the armour of inner strength, they should boycott Government jobs, endorse khadi, reject foreign made goods and abandon alcohol. Armed with an innate commitment to the eternal spirit of truth and self righteousness, they should join the army of salt satyagrahis.

On 17th March Gandhi delivered a speech at Anand, wherein he urged the students to withdraw from their academic pursuits, until the salt satyagraha campaign achieved its goal. On 23rd March, he challenged the British government's capability to arrest him although he had embarked on a mission to disobey British laws. In the speech delivered on 25th March, Gandhi declared that he had decided to stay at the residence of a Muslim friend, from where he would undertake his satyagraha struggle. In his way Gandhi sought to garner the support of the Muslim community as well in his satyagraha campaign against the unjust British salt tax law.

On 26th March, 28th March and 29th March, Gandhi delivered speeches at Ankleshwar, the bank of River Keem and Bhatgam respectively. In Bhatgam, Gandhi condemned indulgence and extravagance and said that there is no place for these in a satyagraha campaign. Addressing the cloth merchants of Bombay who attended his speech at Sandihiyer on March 30th, Gandhi said that the involvement of the merchant class in the satyagraha struggle signifies their commitment to the cause of Indian's struggle for freedom.

On April 5th, Gandhi addressed the associated press at Dandi. He appreciated the government for resorting to absolute non interference, while he was on his march to Dandi. With the blessings of God, he communicated his noble Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

intention to initiate civil disobedience in the company of his followers on 6th April. The day, declared Gandhi would begin with fasting and prayer. On 6th March, Gandhi, on the Dandi beach, breached the British salt laws. He picked up a fistful of salt and mud and manufactured salt by boiling it in sea water.

He urged his followers to violate the British Salt Tax law by manufacturing salt all along the sea coast. It was decided that the crusade against the salt tax would be carried on till April 13th that mark the National Week.

After the Salt March:

When Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi at the conclusion of the march on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by millions of Indians.

2nd letter to Lord Irwin: Gandhi was arrested on May 5, 1930, just days before his planned raid on the Dharasana Salt Works. The Dandi March and the ensuing Dharasana Satyagraha drew worldwide attention to the Indian independence movement through extensive newspaper and newsreel coverage. The satyagraha against the salt tax continued for almost a year, ending with Gandhi's release from jail and negotiations with Viceroy Lord Irwin at the Second Round Table Conference. Over 80,000 Indians were jailed as a result of the Salt Satyagraha. The campaign had a significant effect on changing world and British attitudes toward Indian independence,and caused large numbers of Indians to actively join the fight for the first time.

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Mahatma Gandhi and Salt Satyagraha:

Inferences in context to Memorial:

Mahatma Gandhi was the force behind Salt March, and it is more popularly known as Salt Satyagraha. Apart from breaking the Salt Law the march had another important objective of making people aware of Satyagraha. It was one of the key values of Mahatma Gandhi and it needs to be a part of the Memorial Design. The concept and visualization of the Memorial has to come from his values and thoughts. Nothing that is against what he practised or preached should have any place in the design. Thus to understand Satyagraha is very important, as it is a very important guideline for concept development.

Simple living and high thinking Self Sufficiency Self Sustainable Economy of Permanence Sustainable Development Affordable Environment friendly Energy efficient Simple technology Maximize the use of local resources and skills.

According to Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha means: “Truth (satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase “passive resistance”, in connection with it, so much so that even in English writing we often avoided it and used instead the word “satyagraha”.”

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Philosophies and Physical Communication built form conceptualized on philosophy There are many organizations and bodies which work on teachings of great philosophers. These organizations have followers of the leaders who spread the teaching of their leaders. Many such organizations have their centres for their activities and also they have structures where people can come be a part of such bodies. These places embody the teachings and thoughts of the leader.

Like the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math, embodies the idea of Swami Vivekananda of all religion is one and every man is one. There are various other examples of such creations. Here it is important to study, how such thoughts and philosophies are translated to built form and space design. These spaces gives experience of the preachers thoughts and thus need to be well thought and understood.

Few examples: Temples in India Lotus Temple Ramakrishna Mission Auroville

“God willing, it is my intention.., to set out for Dharasana and reach there with my companions... and demand possession of the Salt Works. - May 4, 1930 letter to Viceroy, Lord Irwin, announcing plans for raid of Dharasana Salt Works�

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Temples in India: Temples in India are very good examples of translation of philosophy into physical form. Temples here are based on the philosophy that Cosmos are essentially holonomic. The overall shape of the temple is that of Brahmanda (the Cosmic egg). Evolution starts from the centre and expands outwards in all directions. There are important parts of the temple, which come from proper symbolism and can be seen in all Hindu temples.

The temples in India have lived for thousands of years and in its physicality has a particular experience. They are experience of spirituality and pilgrimage.

The feel to getting nearer to God. They are built to live very long. Like temples human bodies are also replicas of Cosmos. Thus Temples embody a human body and the thus has symbolism to the its being.

Temple Complex, India

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

“ A Democratic state is one which has the authority to abolish a tax that does not deserve to be paid.� – to villagers at Aslali 25

Hall of Faces, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Berlin

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Lotus Temple: At the core of the Baha’i teaching is the acceptance of the Oneness of mankind, Oneness of religion and Oneness of God.

Ramakrishna Mission: The Ramakrishna Order stands as a symbol of the eternal truths of religion tested and embodied by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and their message of harmony of religion, divinity of the soul, renunciation and service.

The Temple gives the impression of a half-open lotus flower afloat, surrounded by its leaves. The shining pure white marble, the majestic dome, the petals clearly standing out create a sense of grandeur and awe. There is no clergy in the temple, no idols, no pictures, no sermons, no rituals. It is a place for communication between man and his creator, God. Its symbolism is with the lotus flower, which in Indian taste is the fairest flower. It is inseparably associated with religion, be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism or Islam. Lotus represents the Manifestation of God, and is also a symbol of purity and tenderness.

It is a true harmony of different architectural styles from all periods and culture depict the philosophy of the organization of brotherhood and one religion.

Thus the temple takes architectural elements from all religion and cultures across the country, symbolizing unity of all and oneness of man. The oneness can again be sensed by division of space, where there is one single platform for the leader and a large open space for all followers, thus breaking all rules of discrimination based on any measure. It is a good example of how philosophies gets translated to form.

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, Kolkata

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

Auroville: The community is not based upon adherence to any specific religion, but a shared humanitarian goal; as such, the community does not represent any specific religious sect or cult. The goal of Aurovilian society is to work out differences of culture and class in a new and higher way; the ideal of human unity in diversity.

The shape of the town is fashioned after a spiral galaxy, symbolising life and humankind’s evolving existence. In the middle of the town is the Matrimandir, the “Soul” of the city, symbolizing the birth of a new consciousness, or a new era where human unity, conscious living and inter-cultural collaboration are to prevail. The Matrimandir is the “cohesive force” of the township, a place “to find one’s consciousness”.

Maatrika Ashram, Auroville

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What is a Memorial?

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person (who has died) or an event. Popular forms of memorial include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains (and even entire parks). – Wikipedia Memorials are something designed to preserve the memory of a person or an event, like a monument or a special day. The Washington Monument in Washington DC, and the Presidents’ Day in February are both memorials to first president.

What is a Monument?

A structure built for commemorative or symbolic reasons, or as a memorial; a commemoration, an important site owned by the community as a whole, an exceptionally or prideful achievement, an important burial vault or tomb, a legal document.

A surveying reference point marked by a permanently fixed marker (a survey monument) Why are Memorials built?

In history Memorials were mainly built to honour people in power. They were usually cenotaphs built as monuments to show the rulers power and money.

Earliest example of such memorials are the Pyramids in Egypt. In India also we can find number of memorials built for the rulers.

In modern era, memorials had other reasons. Memorials are built in response to some tragedy or war. There have been many freedom movements, thus to remember people who fought for country’s freedom memorials were built. The WTC memorial is an example. Also now man who made change in the society, who did something important for the mankind has memorials made for them.

There are also memorials built to commemorate important events. Some events bring changes in life of millions of people, and such events can be remembered in form of memorials. A countries day of freedom can be such an event.

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Are Memorials always Monumental?

Memorials are being made since long back. When in history they were made, they had political reasons to make them monumental. Memorials were built for people in power and thus had to be grand, imposing and huge.

But memorials are also a part of everyday mans’ life. In modern era where power came to the common, there are memorials for heroes who did important things for mankind, and to remember important events. Thus here the idea that these should always be monumental started disappearing. Like the Rajghat, for Mahatma Gandhi. Thus to be able to convey the message is important, which can be done without making the monument physically monumental.

It can be said that to be able to communicate the ideas of a person, the story of the event or the pain of any tragedy is more important. Here the purpose of a memorial is to experience the event, thoughts, terror, bravery, ideology, pain, happiness, victory, faith. Thus the language and vision of memorials today has changed.

What are different types of Memorial?

Memorials have been built for different reasons from history to now.

Thus they can be broadly distributed into three categories: Honour of heroes or people in power Respond to tragedies Commemorate important events.

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Honour of heroes or people in power: The memorials are built to recognize great individuals for their contribution to the mankind. These are also built for people of power and kings and queens.

In history monumental memorials were designed for kings and queens or at times to remember people of some noble deed. In smaller scale families used to make small memorials for family members. These memorials also can be seen as cenotaphs of the dead. Pyramids are very obvious example from the history which are memorials built in form of monuments in honour of the kings. In Indian context we see the Chatris in rajasthan which the royal kingdom build in the memory of the lost family member. Also the mausoleum built by the muslim rulers in memory of the dead family members are examples. Taj Mahal is a classic example of this kind of memorial.

These memorials were usually monumental in form. They are built to show the power and importance of the dead. They are not built for the common man, but for the royal. For people who ruled the rest. It was meant to be powerful, grand, huge and physically impactful. At times it is said, to honour the royal, the common was exploited and made to construct these huge structures for years all together. Thus these memorials were built for prestige and power.

a. All Gizah Pyramids, Egypt b. Chatri Complex, India c. Taj Mahal, India

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Coming to present day, there are number of memorials which are built in honour of people who have done great things for the mankind. People who have fought for the countries freedom, or worked intensively for the upliftment of mankind. People who have marked a change in the history and have meant to what the situation is today. Their contribution needs to be recognized and to honour such people many memorials are built. These are usually abstract and try to in some form depict the philosophy, work and contribution of the leader or person.

There are number of examples for this kind. In global context the memorial designed for Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington all are examples of monuments designed, which are abstract and have some interpretation to the life and contribution of the person. In India we have number of examples like memorial for Mahatma Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Bhimrao Ambedkar etc. Here we see there might not be huge structures or monuments for the memorial, but there is some kind of expression. There is an understanding and communication of the life.

a. Memorial for Abraham Lincoln b. Memorial for Albert Einstien c. Memorial for Babasaheb Ambedkar

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Respond to Tragedies:

There is this another section of memorials which is usually for a large number of common people who died in some tragedy and there is a memorial made in their memory. There are good example of this kind of work in foreign countries.

Like the WTC and Pentagon memorial in USA. These are designed usually as a public place where large number of people can come. It is usually not monumental and is closer to ground, involving the common man and making them a part of the memorial. There is usually some scope of participation of people in these memorials. The Berlin Holocaust Memorial, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a striking and interesting example of a memorial which tells about a great tragedy of history and the pain and suffering of people.

a. World Trade Centre Memorial b. Holocaust Memorial c. Vietnam War Memorial,

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Commemorate important events:

The third section is where some important event is to be commemorated. There are number of important events in the history which are so important that a nation might want to document it in form of memorials. They become changing points in history and mean a lot to the mankind. Vietnam Memorial is one of them. Similarly there are war memorials to remember the lost soldiers. In India, when Gateway of India, Victoria Memorial, Qutab Minar are all examples of such memorials.

a. Gateway of India b. Vietnam War Memorial c. Qutab Minar, Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Dandi: About Dandi Town: Stretching across the Arabian Sea shore, replete with natural beauty and environment, Dandi is a small village with population of 1260 people. It is known world over for the Salt Satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhiji who broke the oppressive Salt Act and launched the Civil Disobedience Movement on April 6, 1930. Dandi Salt March, or Salt Satyagraha as it is often know, was seen no less than a war, a non‐violent one, with its 78 warriors of peace who walked the 241 miles from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi to defy the might of British Empire . The Salt March was both a political and an economic statement. It signified India’s rejection of colonial rule and the reaffirmation that India’s salvation lay in economic regeneration of its villages and self‐reliance of its people.

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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“. . . We have looked upon Dandi as Hardwar. Let us become worthy of entering a place as holy as Hardwar.”

March 28, 1930 36

History of Dandi: Many years ago, there used to be a “diva dandi”(lighthouse) on the sea shore.

The name “Dandi” may have derived from that. Or, the part of the land that gets covered by water all around is known as “dando” in Gujarat. This was in proportion a smaller “dando” and so the name “Dandi” may have derived from it. It was a village with countless hardships during the times of the Dandi March.

It was deprived of food, water, roads, electricity, education, health and liveable housing. The population then and even today is 95 per cent of Koli Patels. There were some ten houses of Desai families and four‐five houses of Dawoodi Bohras.

They were mainly from Surat and Bombay. Since they were affluent, they had constructed bungalows in Dandi for vacation and pilgrimage (Hajani Bibi ni Dargaah in Dandi is a holy place for Bohras).

Gandhiji had stayed in one of these bungalows, which today is under state government and the state Information Ministry has put up an exhibition of Dandi March photographs. Another place of importance is where Gandhiji used to call prayer meetings under a banyan tree. A monument has been erupted here to honour equality for all religions. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had inaugurated this on the 6th April, 1961. When Gandhiji had arrived in Dandi, the village used to get surrounded by waters. A branch of the Purna River is by the side of the village. When there was high tide in the sea, the village used to become an island surrounded by waters all around.

In the low‐lying areas of the village this water used to get entrapped in pockets of land and evaporate by the time of next high tide. This cycle produced salt naturally. This tidal influx of water kept increasing and the water would reach up to residential areas. Agricultural land and meadows were washed with salty water and the existence of the village was in danger. All Desai families and other well‐to‐do families migrated elsewhere. In order to save the village it was necessary to prevent the water influx into the village and if that was done, the naturally producing salt would cease to produce. Out of this, the first option was considered and the entrance of water was blocked by constructing a soil dam across. The village was saved. But the salt had stopped producing naturally in Dandi. And so it is, till today.

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Dandi Today: Today Dandi is a more developed village. Earlier there was no proper road to reach the village, and today there are good roads to reach. Earlier water was a big problem whereas today there is water available in every household. There is electricity, telephone, co-operatives for agriculture and dairy, high school with hostels and improved housing.

The village lies in Navsari District and it is part of Jalalpur Taluka. It is geographically linked to other cities by means of SH-6 which runs parallel to NH-8 one of the busiest corridor. The village is at a distance of 12 kms from Navsari and 35 kms from Surat. The nearest railway station is Navsari which lies on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai western corridor.

The beach is very popular and a lot of people visit Dandi to enjoy the seashore.

Some important information about the village: Climatic Data: Average Rainfall - 1200-1400 mm Temperature - 21.3 to 39.9 cm Mean daily wind speed - Highest is 10-12 km/Hr Occurrence of natural hazard - Potential danger from sea level rise.

Salient Features about the Site Land is saline Groundwater is about 1.5 mts below the existing ground Prawn farming is a popular occupation for people here. There is no production of salt in this land anymore, because of the building of the dam to stop the sea water percolating in the village.

The population of the village is around 1200 people, where 95% of the population is literate. Majority households are in Agriculture and animal husbandry professions. Others are doing services in nearby towns or running small scale businesses in village.

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Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Points To Remember: Narration with values of Satyagraha: The Memorial at Dandi needs to be a model of Gandhian values. It should be a representation of Satygraha which he found and lived for. The Ideologies should reflect in the concept and design should walk hand in hand with them..

To meet more people who have read about Gandhi and his philosophies, who live the life of a Satyagrahi will help to get more insights on the project.

Satyagraha can be a activity in the place. It can be lived and experienced by people here and thus can live the values and experience the spiritual upliftment.

It cannot be a tourist destination, it has to be a pilgrimage for people to come and experience the spirit of the movement and the Satyagraha.

The place needs to be alive, with people a part of the concept. It cannot a structure which one looks at and comes back. There has to be activity and promotion of the philosophy.

To find method to form a connection between the young and the old.

Somehow it is felt that todays’ youth do not connect to Gandhi. This can be stage to form that connection, in an innovative manner, which doesn’t seen to be ancient Narration as a part of the Memorial Today Memorials are more about the person you are talking about. Its not about show and power. Mahatma Gandhi was always concerned with the common.

He was a man of ground. He believed in Simple living and high thinking.

Thus his values should reflect. It need not be monumental physically. One can decide to least intervene into the site and make the site more experiential.

It has to be a combination of experience design and story narration. It needs to let people experience the spirit of the movement and know the story of the great event.

One can think of keeping the expression abstract, or direct. A direct expression communicates to larger number of people. But experience to an individual is very important.

• • Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

Narration of the event is a very important part, and needs to be well attended.

It needs to be long living, self sustaining and no maintenance.

Narration in the village of Dandi: One cannot separate the site from the memorial. It is an essential part of the design concept.

People are a part of project and they are the once who have to live with the memorial. They are directly connected and needs proper understanding .

Thus a master plan of the place and nearer villages is a must.

There are essential potentials of the site. The most important being the beach.

This potential is to be explored well and incorporated in the concept. There is also change of seasons with extremes one can see, and the vast open land is a view to see here. Thus very less intervention should be done in the site.

People in the region are very important, but the memorial need not be of direct benefit to them. It should not disturb their existing lifestyle.

There was one full route taken for the walk, and that can be a part of the project. Dandi can be the end of the pilgrimage walk, place for final worship.

Can be a place for ideal living and a model to Gandhian way of living. But something beyond many ashrams that exist.

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Dandi Memorial by the National Creative Team, coordinated by IIT Bombay

Background

Trip to Dandi, 4-5th February 2011

Meeting in Bombay, 15th February 2011

Design Proposal by National Creative Team

My focus on Narration of the Salt March

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Background: The project of Dandi Memorial is a Central Government project which is being worked since 2008. There is a core committee which is looking at the project which is called the HLDMC (High Level Dandi Memorial Committee).This is headed by Gopal Krishna Gandhi a prominent Government Official and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson. In 2010 with the idea of making the memorial a energy sustainable model, they approached IIT Bombay’s Solar Energy Cell.

While getting involved in the energy part, IIT Bombay also became a part of the design concept for the memorial. This is when IDC became the design coordinator. Thus now IIT Bombay became the Design Coordination Agency for the memorial with Prof. Juzer Vasi as the convener and Prof Kirti Trivedi as the Overall Concept Designer.

Thus as my Project 3, I took Dandi Memorial where I could work with Prof. Kirti Trivedi as a live project.

Meeting at Dandi: To make the designing of the Dandi Memorial a collaborative national effort, it was decided to form a National Design Team for the memorial, with the participation of representatives from major design and architectural schools in India. The invited designers met in Dandi in the first week of February. They together came up with many different ideas. But more than that the meeting here confirmed the participation of these colleges and thus the National Creative Team was formed.

Each college with their expertise in different fields will contribute to the design and IIT Bombay became the overall Design Coordinator of the Team.

The Visit at Dandi was also an opportunity for everyone to experience the site and meet the HLDMC. Meeting at IIT Bombay: There was another meeting of the National Creative Team that happened at IIT Bombay in mid February. This was to further discuss the design and individual focus area for each college participant.

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Reflection by the Design Committee at Dandi: MIT Pune: Try and reflect to the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, His philosophy. There is a disconnection of today’s youth and Gandhi, his values. Thus we can try to bridge it. The youth cannot relate to what he said, because they don’t understand why and find no relevance. Thus if the space can make them experience something which is understood and reflected by the generation today and that comes in days after, it will be of some importance.

Tusshar: Ideas need to be contemporarised. They need not stick to being ancient and physical. Social engagement and activated space is important. Monuments are dead places, they don’t live.

Raheja: Think about sustainability. Re-see the project. Understand what do you mean by Monument.

The monument don’t reflect the radical thinking of Gandhi. It is important to integrate the village. Why do the monument need to be tall and vertical. It can spread in the entire village.

It can have a strong experiential engagement.

Sethu Das: Do something that makes any change to anyone.

Raja Mohanty: There are 4 villages, thus whatever you do, it should be experiential, essential.

The sea is an asset. Ideas he stood for are important.

Shashidharan: Doing things are important. More horizontal than vertical.

Falguni Desai: Need of the villagers. Keep in mind the Gandhian thoughts. Understand the place, its transformation and its seasons, its flora and fauna and its wind direction.

Gandhi mela, Gandhi katha. History of the event is important.

The place- the event –the act Landscape geometries are more important than physical being.

Miniature Dandi walk.

NID: In Dandi even the fishes walk. Salt should be used as a symbol and Dandi as place. Does the memorial need to be abstract or concrete. It is more about experience and translation. To react to the flora and fauna.

Need to think again whether it is a monument or a memorial. The site seems to be horizontal and this vertical presence needs to be thought again.

Visual monument is needed. It can be a tribute, can be a tourist attraction. There is need of some visual form. Engagement and participation of people is needed, bringing experience is important. Rituals can be formed and oaths and vows can be taken. Activities like spinning and other things can be incorporated.

Inscriptions on the wall, collection of proverbs, salt flowers, need of the form.

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Other reflections: Satyagraha is at the centre of the program.

Inner spiritual coherence of Mahatma Gandhi.

Memorial for the common man of this region. Organic development of the region.

Interpret development. Local participation.

Towers make you silent.

Philosophical deliberation.

Ecological footprints - balance of the ecological beings.

It is a Dharma Yatra.

Make the nation capable of the Inspiration Need of information architecture.

Need of a Visual Language.

Not another museum, Visual language for the memorial can be: Spatial, minimal, participating, simple, symbolic, abstract, experiential, informative, metaphorical How to make people a part of the project?

It is not a tourist destination.

Maintenance is an important issue to discuss.

There need not be necessarily a tangible economic benefit to the people of villages.

Community and project come together.

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

My first reflection: • What do memorials do? What do memorials in India do? Monuments are for what? What does our country need? Are our monuments serving the purpose?

What essentially do we need?

• Monument or Monumental • It need not be physically monumental. The experience can be monumental. But does a common man respond. Does the physicality of things matter when they look at it? Does the scale here mean anything?

• Gandhi and his philosophy • It is very essential to reflect. Sustainability was a key to his ideas. Need to be useful, functional, self lasting and self working.

• His philosophies, thoughts need to be translated and said beyond. The generation next need to connect.

• How to tell the story? How to make people participate? How to make people experience?

• The event of Salt Satyagraha • The event communicated – narrated – experienced – essential part of the design. Salt Satyagraha, an expression which was small but the impact was big.

The method or element was small but message was big. The event involved the mass to get the country participate in silence for the biggest cause of freedom. Of fight of right against might.

• Dandi as place – The village then, the village now – flora and fauna – weather – demography – need of people. Potential of the site, its environment, seasons. The village responding to the project.

• Does the project become a tourist destination, or a pilgrimage? Is it a historically important site? Is it a monument to see, event to experience, information to gain, values to learn or a place to visit and relax.

• What are activities that can brought into the project? How can the people become a part and be actively involved and participate?

• The sea is a great point of relevance and potential to the project. Should have due consideration in the design. The sound of the waves was so inviting, one should think to bring it into the design.

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Design Proposal by National Creative Team: Based on insights and proposals from all the participants Prof. Kirti Trivedi drafted the First Concept Proposal for Dandi Memorial. This got approved by HLDMC and now by end of July the Team will submit fully developed concept of the proposal. Here now different part of the project will be taken up by participant colleges according to their expertise.

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Concept: Mahatma Gandhi planned Dandi March to start one of the biggest and most impacting Civil Non-Disobedience Movement. This movement was highly successful which has inspired many other movement throughout the world.

It was a unique method of protest which for the first time in the history of the world struggle affected and included such a large crowd of people.

Dandi the place where the Movement was concluded and Gandhi broke the Salt Law, has become a pilgrimage and even today many people do this march and go there to honour the movement.

Consideirng the remote location and the poor access to Dandi, it is felt that along with building the memorial complex with adjoining tourist facility; there is also a need to have regular activities and events, to be planned and executed with devotion and passion, to bring people to the memorial, and to keep the place energetic and alive (jagrit) the year round. (Concept Proposals for Dandi Memorial Complex, Compiled by IIT Bombay,) Quality objectives for the memorial, which should be included: • Durability: The structure should be higly durable with a life of at least 150 years • Frugality: The memorial should not use highly expensive materials, and the whole effort should be completed in as small a budget as possible, without affecting the durability objective. • Humility: The scale of the memorial should be humble and modest and not overpowering. It should derive its energy from activities which would happen there.

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Concept of the Memorial: Points important to the concept: • Based on the Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.

• Story of Salt Satyagraha Communicated.

• Making the Memorial an active place.

• Sustainable and Durable.

• Minimum intervention and very simple approach to the design.

• Apart from being place of memory and respect, it is to be a place of experience and learning.

The site is a 15 acre land in front of the Saifee Villa. The memorial has a miniatured walk representing the walk of Gandhi and fellow marchers.

This pathway is created along a man made river which is metaphorical to the sea which was always on one side of the original route of March. The path becomes an experience of the whole walk, which people take to reach the final destination. It becomes like a pilgrimage to the final destination of Dandi where Salt Law was broken and Satyagraha Movement started. This path has panels with relief work telling the story of the March.

The March ends with 81 life size sculptures of the Marchers and one main memorial. One main purpose of the Salt March was to make it a struggle movement for all, and the biggest success of the movement was also, that it became a cause of every household in the country. The experience of becoming a part of the movement, by finally join the group of marchers and reaching the climax of the memorial is brought with the 81 sculptures.

The Main Memorial is a tall vertical structure composed of a large number of village dwelling forms, with a light in the middle of each dwelling. This becomes a metaphor of Gandhi philosophy of reaching every household and understanding that the soul of our country is in the villages of our country.

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Components of Design: • Re-enacting the Dandi March • Replication of the Dandi March route as a pathway to the main Memorial • Main Memorial • Integrating Salt • Other proposed activities to keep the Dandi Memorial Complex alive and active

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My Focus: Replication of the Dandi March route as a pathway to the main Memorial The project has many parts. Designing the Main Memorial, the narration of the Salt March, Landscaping of the Site, Experience Design, Activity and events, Environment Design, Information Design and many more. My focus for my academic project is the replication of the Dandi March route.

The entire walk which was taken by the marchers will be miniatured on the site.

People will walk from Saifee Villa to the Main Monument on the pathway which will have panels telling the story of the March. These panels will have relief work of the visuals of important events of the march.

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Replication of the Dandi March route as a pathway to the main Memorial Text Narration .

Overall Visual Narration Panel Design - Form, location and material.

Visuals for all the Panels - Grid and suggestive sketches based on it.

Stylization of the visuals - Parameters and Constraints.

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Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

(Concept Proposals for Dandi Memorial Complex, Compiled by IIT Bombay.)

It is proposed to create a pathway from Saifee Villa towards the main memorial which will replicate the Dandi march route, through 24 stops, representing the 24 halts. Each step space would be 20 feet wide, with a stone panel, like a large milestone. The panel will carry a visual depiction of the main events which occurred during the day’s journey to the halt, through bas-relief sculptural narratives.

The pathway is proposed to be created around the left bank of a small lake to be constructed in the space earmarked for the memorial complex, with embankment resulting from the dug material from the excavations done to create the lake. There will be individual spaces which are designed to enable groups to gather around each panel narrative, where a guide would take them through the episodes.

The panels would be lit by embedded solar lights in the night. The visual narratives would be designed as self-evident episodes, easy to understand. Each panel will also carry the names of the halt villages in Devanagari, Gujarati, Urdu Nast’aliq, and Roman scripts.

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

Text Narration: After understanding the Salt Satygraha and Philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi completely I started doing the narration of the March. One main book called “On The Salt March”, by Thomas Webber is main source to my narration.

1st Narration: In this according to the events I divided the March into 24 sections, with 22 night halts and 2 more to Sabarmati and Dandi. Thus making total divisions as 24. These 24 divisions become the 24 steps of the walk, where stone panels with visual narration of each division will come. In each division I sorted main events of that section and listed it.

In the second phase, this narration is further sorted with identifying the events which can be visualized and are most important in that section. With identifying that other details of the sections like the background, other important people etc is recognized and listed.

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Detailing story on each Panel: 12th March 1930 Start of the March:

1. Sabarmati Ashram and Chandola Talav: 12th March,

• Prayer at 4am, start of march at 6.30 • Crowd and chaos, 10,000 people crowded from 11th, and many more came • On 12th to see the march start.

• Excitement and apprehension • Rumour about the arrest of Gandhi • Lining of the marchers, uniform of the marchers • Kasturba applying tilak to Gandhi’s forehead • Kaka Kalelkar presented Gandhi with fifty four inch long iron tipped liquored bamboo staff • Not taking the Ellis bridge, and crossing the river which was not more than knee deep on foot.

• Marchers washing reaching the Chandola lake, and washing themselves.

• Walked through villages of Danilunda and Narol receiving coconuts and tilaks along the way • Reach Aslali

Start of the March This is the start of the March. There Was a lot chaos and excitement in the place.

Thousands of have gathers to sent off the marchers on the walk. Thus the walk starts with a large crowd. The marchers line up and start their walk early in the morning. There was a rumour of arrest of Gandhi and people wanted have a last darshan before hi arrest. There was a lot of movement and people didn’t sleep on the 11th night. Early in the morning Gandhi with his marchers started the walk and thousands of people watched him.

Jawaharlal Nehru said on this occasion “Today the pilgrim marches onwards on his long trek. Staff in hand, he goes along the dusty roads of Gujarat, clear eyed and firm of steps, with his faithful band trudging along behind him. Many a journey he has undertaken in the past, many a weary road traversed. But longer than any that have gone before is this last journey of his and many are the obstacles is his way. But the fire of a great resolve is in him and surpassing love of his miserable countrymen. And love of truth that scorches and love of freedom that inspires. And none that passes him can escape the spell and men of common clay feel the spark of life. It is a long journey, for the goal is the independence of India and the ending of the exploration of her millions.”

The Panel Location: In the start of the walk. We don’t walk before, instead we first see this panel.

Size and divisions of the panel: One large panel to accommodate the three points. The panel will get divided first to the morning prayer. Lining of the march needs a long frame. The panel here is 6m long and 3 metre high.

Special features if any: Backdrop of Sabarmati Ashram, Ellis bridge in Ahmedabad. Lot of crowd, media and police around Important people in the panel: Mahatma Gandhi, Marchers, Kasturba Gandhi, Kaka Kalelkar,

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Important Events, number of Visuals: a. Prayer at 4am, start of march at 6.30. Attended by more than 10,000 people.

Crowd and chaos, 10,000 people crowded from 11th, and many more came on 12th to see the march start. Excitement and apprehension, rumour and media around. b. Lining of the marchers, uniform of the marchers Kasturba applying tilak to Gandhi’s forehead and Kaka Kalelkar presented Gandhi with fifty four inch long iron tipped liquored bamboo staff c. Not taking the Ellis bridge, and crossing the river which was not more than knee deep on foot.

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Finalizing the content of each Panel Key Event (a) • Prayer at 4am, start of march at 6.30 • Crowd and chaos, 10,000 people crowded from 11th, and many more came on 12th to see the march start.

Listing of Images: • Main Image: Mahatma Gandhi sitting under the Banyan Tree • Supporting Image: Huge crowd of people sitting around attending the prayer.

• Related Image: Sabarmati Ashram in the backdrop.

Key Event (b) • Lining of the marchers, uniform of the marchers Kasturba applying tilak to Gandhi’s forehead.

Kaka Kalelkar presented Gandhi with fifty four inch long iron tipped liquored bamboo staff.

Listing of Images: • Main Image: Mahatma Gandhi with Kasturba and Kaka Kalekar • Supporting Image: 81 Marchers lined up in uniform to go.

• Related Image: Sabarmati Ashram with thousands of people watching Gandhi go.

Overall Visual Narration:

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Dandi Memorial Narration: Broad Division of the narration, Introduction The Walk Aftermath Introduction: Brief Summary: Mahatma Gandhi’s biographer, Louis Fischer, once said that his greatness “lay in doing what everyone could do but doesn’t”. Gandhi’s Salt March to Dandi in 1930 can be examined as a version of this Message.

Mahatma Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March to the seaside village of Dandi, and the following Civil Disobedience of the British Empire, are among the most significant events in contemporary Indian political history.

The Salt Satyagraha was initiated by Mohandas Gandhi and the Congress as the first struggle for complete independence.

This seemed a small issue, but the dramatic manner in which he announced and executed the plan, the march on foot of this unarmed man of God for 241 miles, with villagers flocking from miles around to kneel by the roadside, set the imagination of the nation a flame and roused enthusiasm such as no one has anticipated.

The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely translated as “truth-force.”In early 1930 the Indian National Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic for winning Indian independence from British rule and appointed Gandhi to organize the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the first target of satyagraha. The Salt March to Dandi, and the beating of hundreds of non-violent protesters in Dharasana, demonstrated the effective use of civil disobedience as a technique for fighting social and political injustice.

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Background: Simon Commission, Declaration of want for Purna Swaraj Announcement of Civil Disobedience by Congress, Mahatma Gandhi taking the lead Choice of Action: Salt Tax in India Why Salt Tax and spreading awareness about the action First Letter to the Viceroy Preparation: Choice of Route Arun Tukdi Press Conference Awareness of Satyagraha Selection of Marchers Collection of information of the villages to be covered Routine to be followed during the March Seventy six year old Abbas Tyabji comes to bless Gandhi 2 days before the march The Walk: Distance: 241 Miles Participants: 81 From: 12th March 1930 to 5th April 1930 Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi Number of Days: 21 Days The walk can be divided into number of days, 21 days. Days where more number of events takes place on the same can be subdivided.

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1. Sabarmati Ashram and Chandola Talav: 12th March, Start of the March •Prayer at 4am, start of march at 6.30, •Crowd and chaos, 10,000 people crowded from 11th, and many more came on 12th to see the march start.

•Excitement and apprehension, •Rumour about the arrest of Gandhi, •Lining of the marchers, uniform of the marchers, •Kasturba applying tilak to Gandhi’s forehead, •Kaka Kalelkar presented Gandhi with fifty four inch long iron tipped liquored bamboo staff,

2. Aslali: 12th March •Marchers meet the welcoming committee a km before the village, which comprised turbaned dancers and musicians blowing flutes and conch shells, beating drums and tinkling cymbals and women dressed in traditional costumes balancing pots and coconuts on their heads.

•The public speech at open space near the dharamsala, which had an old Shiva temple with two large mango trees beside it. 4000 people including 500 women attended the speech.

•Morning prayer at 4 am •Left Aslali with gift of a horse and two bullock-cart.

Nehru’s summed up quote of the start of the march: (“Today the pilgrim marches onwards on his long trek. Staff in hand, he goes along the dusty roads of Gujarat, clear eyed and firm of steps, with his faithful band trudging along behind him. Many a journey he has undertaken in the past, many a weary road traversed. But longer than any that have gone before is this last journey of his and many are the obstacles is his way. But the fire of a great resolve is in him and surpassing love of his miserable countrymen. And love of truth that scorches and love of freedom that inspires. And none that passes him can escape the spell and men of common clay feel the spark of life. It is a long journey, for the goal is the independence of India and the ending of the exploration of her millions.”)

3. Bareja and Navagam: 13th March •Greeted with music and flowers at Bareja. The group stopped by the tank in an open field under the shade of two large tamarind trees and rested for a while. “ Khadi is the foundation of our freedom struggle.”

•Evening prayer meeting with the marchers in the field near Navagam. After this the party entered the village in procession with bhajans being sung on the way.

•From Navagam Gandhi sent the horse back to Chinubhai its owner.

•From Navagam the party walked along better roads, through cotton and juvar fields. Walked to Wasna by the less well-travelled route through Govindpura.

•Not taking the Ellis bridge, and crossing the river which was not more than knee deep on foot.

•Marchers washing reaching the Chandola lake, and washing themselves.

•Walked through villages of Danilunda and Narol receiving coconuts and tilaks along the way.

•Reach Aslali

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

4. Wasna and Matar: 14th March •Received by 300 villagers •On the way to Matar crossed the bridge less Watrak river. Met a sizeable musicplaying crowd at the outskirts of Matar.

•Abbas Tyabji and Shankerlal Banker came to meet Gandhi.

•Satish Kalekar and Kharag Bahadur Singh the 80th and 81st marcher joined the group in the evening at Matar.

•Fires of Holi and celebration at Matar and rest of the country.

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5. Dabhan and Nadiad: 15th March •The marchers passed through the village of Sandhana without halting.

•A village of 2500 people, received the Marchers with great enthusiasm.

•Gandhi walked straight through the village past the temple and the village square to the Harijan quarters where he drew water from the well and bathed.

•Occurrence of Dhuleti, the day after Holi.

•Evening prayer under a large banyan tree by the empty Ram talav - The village tank.

•A crowd of 25,000 to 30,000 people attended the evening speech.

•First public mention of Dandi as the final destination.

•Nadiad a town of 31,000 people, welcomed the party with a sea of humanity.

The road was lined by men on both sides.

•Nadiad’s sprawling Santaram temple complex was for night stay. Mahadev Desai visited.

•Public speech was witnessed by a crowd of 50,000 people, with dancing and singing the patriotic songs.

•Gandhi writing in the moonlight.

6. Boriavi and Anand: 16th March •Along the way Khare sang songs and were showered with rose petals.

•A young follower described Gandhi “ Engrossed in thought he was writing at noon, his watch was hanging at his waist and his stretched leg was moving rhythmically in time with his thoughts.

•Students of the Charotar Education Society meets Gandhi.

•Villagers sprinkle the dusty road with water.

•Escorted in procession through the town of 11,500 inhabitants, they halted in a field behind the Dada Naoroji High School.

•From Sunday evening to Monday evening the party took a break, and Gandhi observed a silence.

7. Napa and Borsad: 18th March •The entire route watered by the Anand Municipality. The party marched to the tune of Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram. •Abbas Tyabji visited Gandhi

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8. Ras and Kankapura: 19th March •Welcome by Durbar Gopaldas, Ashabhai Patel and Ravishankar Maharaj.

•Sardar patel was arrested here, villagers demand for no-tax campaign.

Accompanied by women singing nationalist songs, Gandhi skirted the town, walked around the tank and settled in one of the dharamsala. The party crossed the Native State Territory for the first time.

•A 105 year old woman bowed, put a tilak on Gandhi’s forehead and asked him to “return soon having obtained Swaraj” near Dewan, a small village not far from Kankapura.

•Jawaharlal Nehru reaches Kankapura two hours after Gandhi left.

•Durbar Gopaldas joined the party and announced himself as the bodyguard of Gandhi.

9. Mahi River Bank and Kareli: 20th March •Ragnathji, a brave young landholder ferried Mahatma Gandhi across the river after purchasing a new boat.

•Crossing of the river with everyone, when kilometers of wading through thick mud on the moonless night were the most difficult hours of the entire journey.

•Nehru joined Gandhi at Kareli, and gave a speech at Kareli with Gandhi. He left from there.

10. Gajera and Ankhi: 21st March •The marchers had left Kareli at 6 a.m. And by 7.30, after passing through Pilodra, had arrived a Vedach-a small village.

•Gandhi says to villagers of Gajera that the meeting starts only when the untouchables are allowed to sit with the high caste.

•At Gajera five would be Marchers came from the Ashram and approached Gandhi to be allowed into the ranks.

•The evening prayer conducted on way to Ankhi under a tamarind tree by the small village of Uchchad.

•At Ankhi the marchers were met by slogan shouting and notional song and bhajan singing crowd.

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11. Jambusar and Amod: 22nd March •A town of 12,000 population was freshly decorated. Sarojini Naidu, Dr Ansari and Motilal Nehru awaiting Gandhi’s arrival.

•Motilal Nehru decided to make a gift of his home Anand Bhavan to the Congress.

•A crowd of 5000 people awaited for the speech. In this crowd 500 women and 1000 Muslims were present.

•All leaders including Dr. Chandulal and Nehrus addressed the crowd.

•Old Abbas Tyabji walked with Gandhi the whole 11 kms to Amod.

•Nehru remarked of Gandhi and the others continuing “ That was my last glimpse of him then as I saw him, staff in hand, marching along at the head of his followers, with firm step and a peaceful but undaunted look. It was a moving sight.”

•On the way to Amod a patriotic and enthusiastic gentleman stopped the procession, showered the Marchers with rose water, garlanded Gandhi with yarn and presented a purse.

•The village of Amod was cleaned and watered, buildings decorated. The crowd was affectionate and full of enthusiasm.

•Members of the Congress Bombay Youth League came to meet Gandhi. Gandhi advised the Youth League members on how they could take part in the struggle, that they should suspend their studies to do so.

12. Buva and Samni: 23rd March •Gandhi meets Rajagopalachari, an ex-General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, and G.B. Deshpande at Buva •An incident when while Gandhiji was walking towards an enormous banyan tree, a woman rushed out of a house with the intention of placing the tilak on Gandhi’s forehead, he restrained her and said that if she was actually interested in the campaign she would be wearing khadi. After this incident she became a lifelong khadi wearer.

•To reach Samni they passed through Kerwada and conducted evening prayers

by Somiala.

•Gandhi commented on the huge turbans of rajputs in Samni, after which they started wearing topis Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

•During the meeting a Harijan of the village came forward to garland Gandhi with a skein of cotton. Gandhi accepted it with pleasure.

13. Tralsa and Derol: 25th March Marchers reached Tralsa via Kelod. Many people from Samni and Kelod joined the march whom Gandhi asked to disperse later.

•On way to Tralsa the marchers had to cross several knee deep mud crossings which added to the physical discomfort.

•Kasturba and Kakasaheb Kalelkar came to Tralsa to confer with Gandhi. Also Dr Chandulal Desai, a close friend came to meet.

•Talk about the Sarda Bill at Tralsa •At Derol they collected at Haribhai Jhaverbhai Amin 200 to 300 meters south of Derol.

14. Bharuch and Ankleshwar: 26th March •At the outskirts of Mohamedpura Naka, a thousand or more People, including Schoolboys, had gathered to welcome the Marchers.

•A muslim follower offered a coconut to Gandhi.

•Kasturba, Abbas Tyabji and Sarojini Naidu met Gandhi.

•Broach was the place of reunion for the marchers as all the sick ones had recovered and joined back, •It was a town of population of 35000, which offered treats of a city.

•As the march had completed its 15 days, public consciousness and curiosity was growing, the press coverage was also increasing.

•Gandhi and marchers recorded their weight at the clinic at Bharuch, •The one and a half km took the party through the winding streets of a brightly decorated town, Gandhi being accompanied by his wife, Abbas tyabji, Dr Chandulal Desai and Sarojini Naidu-on whose shoulder he leaned for support while climbing the hill in Broach. They were showered with rose petals along the way.

•The party walked to Nawa Chowki where they boarded decorated boats for the crossing of the Narmada. Reminds Rama’s departure.

•Sarojini Naidu accompanied the band of Satyagrahis to Ankaleshwara. The speech at Ankaleshwara was witnessed by a crowd of 6,000 people. The crowd

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consisted of several hundred Muslims, some Parsis and Christians. There were 3 to 4 Americans as well.

15. Sajod and Mangrol: 27th March •The reception at Sajod was practically nonexistent, possibly because the Marchers arrived before the expected time. Gandhi addressed a crowd of around 1000 people.

•To reach Mangrol they had to cross Digas from where some followed the party to listen to Gandhi’s evening speech.

•Mangrol was the smallest village the Marchers had entered with a population of 400.

16. Rayma and Umrachi: 28th March •Starting from Mangrol, and crossing Walner the Marchers reached Rayma, the last village of Bharuch district.

•Here they were received by the village musicians-thirty men with drums and pipes who escorted them to the pandal erected in the compound of the home of Nathubhai Kashiram. ( Rayma was the first place en route where the Marchers stayed at a private residence.)

•Some Harijans who were standing away from the main audience were asked to join the speech by Gandhi.

•Crossing the river Kim by using a bridge rather than a boat. An enthusiastic crowd of 500 was waiting to receive the party across the river. Mithubehn Petit, a Parsi Surat Congress organiser put tilak on Gandhi’s forehead and garlanded him with hand spun cotton .

17. Ertham and Bhatgam: 29th March •At Ertham 1500 to 2000 people attended the speech.

•The marchers walked past the village of Takarma, to reach Bhatgam from Ertham.

•500 people welcomed the marchers with coconut and cotton yarn garland.

•Turning the searchlight inwards •Getting upset on use of petromax and any luxury by the marchers,

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18. Sandhier and Delad: 30th March To reach Sandhier the party passed through the Rajput village of Mehemadpur and Gola. There was another halt a Achharan. They were welcomed by the welcoming committee to escort to group.

•Seventy five merchants came to confer with Gandhi on the subject of the boycott of cloth.

•Amitlal Vithaldas Thakkar, a prominent social worker was in Sandhier to see Gandhi.

•Delad was 5 km distant, where they reached with a halt at Pariya. The roads around Pariya were watered for one km and decorated with festoons of auspicious asopalav leaves.

•Gandhi addressed a crowd of 6000-7000 people that night at Delad.

19. Chhaprabhatha and Surat: 1st April •Gandhi entered the village of Chhaprabhatha stripped to the waist with a cloth draped over his head.

•Crowd from Surat had started coming to the village. Mill owners from Ahmedabad and Bombay also came.

•One of the Americans, Newton Phelps Stokes II described the scene in Chhaprabhatha “ The main street through which the march was to take place, was festooned with green leaves. At the head of it, stood the only house with two floors: here Gandhi was staying.......”

•Trains ....coming in crowded with white-clad enthusiasts who made the building echo with shouts of Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai. •The crush of people made it difficult to move as the marchers neared Surat.

The marchers did not enter the city proper-instead went to the homes of Seth Nathubhai Narandas and Seth Dayalbhai Hargovindas.

•The speech was to be held near the pier on the Tapi river bank. People had been crowding into Surat for days to witness the event. The evening speech was attended by 1,00,000 people of which 10,000 were women.

•A rostrum was set up for Gandhi.

•Auction of all gifts was done and fabulous sums were collected.

•From Warachha Road to the station, there were amazing crowds of people.

They passed through Delhi Gate, past •Galemandi Bazaar, the hillock of the cotton wallahs, Navapura, Wadifalia, Visual Communication | Industrial Design Centre | IIT Bombay

Khapatia Chakla, Gopipura, Navsari •Bazaar and Sagrampura.

•The crowds were so huge that the marchers made their way through with help of volunteers. Women and •children packed the balconies in such numbers there was fear they might collapse. The houses along the route were decorated with strings of asopalav leaves and every seventy metres highly decorated archways were set up for them to pass through. Roads had been sprinkled with water. Showers of flowers descended upon them from the upper balconies, the marchers walked on a thick carpet of roses.

20. Dindoli and Vanz: 2nd April •Warm welcome at Dindoli.

•From Dindoli covering Sania Kande, Kharwasa they reached Vanz.

•From Vanz they marched through Gaekwad Popda and then Kaphleta. Here the river Mindhola was crossed with help of farmers who used their carts to make a make shift bridge to facilitte the marchers to cross the river.

21. Dhaman and Navsari: 3rd April •Crossing the tiny village of Chakhad they reached Dhaman.

•The marchers walked under specially erected archways including one of the hand spun cotton. Singing village women compared Gandhi entering Dhaman with Rama.

•Meets Kushalbhai Jan Patel and Ranchor Fakirbhai.

•At Dhaman, the chamar shoemaker mended Gandhi’s well worn chappals.

•Crowd of 5000 people gathered to listen to Gandhi.

•The walk from Dhaman to Navsari was long and had been watered and decorated.

•The streets of Navsari were decorated with flags and bunting and the town was overflowing with spectators.

•The speech was attended by 50,000 people.

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22. Vijalpur and Matwad: 4th April •Crossing Pethan, Kothambri, they entered Matwad/Karadi. A reception of singing women and children escorted them to the village.

•5000 people had gathered the Matwad ground to attend the speech.

23. Dandi: 5th April •Crossing two bridges, a village called Sanapur the marchers finally reached Dandi.

•At Dandi Gandhi took up residence at the commodious bungalow of Muslim Seth Sirajuddin Vasi.

•During the day Dr Sumant Mehta, Abbas Tyabji, Mithubehn Petit and Sarojini Naidu called upon the Mahatma.

•Penned his famous “ I want world sympathy in this battle of Right against Might” •Gandhi conducted the speech under a Banyan tree between an old square concrete water tank and the tiny Dandi primary school.

• 24. Breaking of the Law: 6th April •The place full of excitement, rumour, and action.

•Everyone was up and ready at 4 a.m •A detachment of 150 police officers had been stationed in Dandi and a further force of 400 was at Jalalpur.

•Before the religious war begins, Gadhi took his ritual bath.

•After the bath he picked up salt to break the law, and Sarojini Naidu standing by his side, cried “ Hail Deliverer” •Everybody started making Salt in Dandi.

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Designing the Panels: Form of the Panel The Panel comes at the end of every stretch and carries the story of the march.

The story of the march, in 24 bits, comes on these 24 panels. These panels are metaphoric to milestone and when people walk on this pathway, they come to these panels at end of every stretch and read these as milestones.

There have been iterations with form of these panels.

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1. Panel in Physical Form Size of the Panel: According to the site, human ergonomics and pathway the height of the panel can be fixed to be 2.5 mts. The width can vary with respect to the content of the panel.

Minimum width for each panel will be 2 mts.

Form of the Panel: The panel are seen as milestone to each stretch of the walk.

Thus they will have 500 mm of band on the top as well as bottom. The middle portion will be a niche where the relief will come. Thus the height of the relief panel become 1.5 mts.

Number of Panels: At some halts, there might be more than one event, which are connected or not connected. Thus there can be more number of panels which can be standing together or in a group, together or separated.

Look and Feel: The panels can of random edges, which gives an organic and natural feel to the composition. But the relief panel will be windows of proper shape.

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Relief Sculpture: A relief sculpture is a sculpture that is partially carved into or out of another surface. These sculptures rely on a base or plane to support them and are a combination of both three dimensional and two dimensional art forms. One can say the sculpture is still attached to a background.

Relief sculpture is best suited when needs to communicate some event or story which has stages and number of character.

What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone is a lowering of the field, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. The technique thus involves considerable chiselling away of the background.

Relief Sculpture have 3 different types: • Alto Relief (High Relief) - An alto form is almost completely carved from its surface. It is highly shaped, with very little of the structure touching the base or plane. In fact, it could possibly stand alone if the base or plane were removed.

• Bas Relief (Low Relief) - A bas form is a relief that barely extends past the base.

• Sunken Relief - A sunken-relief sculpture is an image that is carved into the surface, rather than out of it.

Stone Sculpture, Ramaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu

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Stone Sculpture: Stone sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping stone. Stone sculptures are created directly by carving. This is art or practise of shaping figures or designs in round or relief.

Stone Sculpture Tradition in India: India has a rich tradition of Stone work. We can find examples of sculpture from Indus Valley itself. Buddhist and Hindu Temples from India are fine examples of stone sculpture practise of India in History.

The Ajanta Ellora caves are not stone structures, but are rock cut structures. Thus looking at it technically they are some of the biggest pieces of sculptures. Stupa at Sanchi and Temples from South and North India are fine examples of intricate relief work on the entire facade of the structures. The art of carving the diety was considered as an act of worship and was considered as a sacred ritual.

Even today stone sculpture is practised in its traditional form in some parts of the country. Sthapatis from Tamil Nadu, Somapuras from Gujarat and Rajasthan and Raidas from Varanasi still practise the traditional Stone Sculpture methods and are quite popular.

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Brick: A moulded rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln until hard and used as a building and paving material. Thus panels are decided to have pedestals made of brick.

Brick is one the oldest construction material, which is being used since centuries. It has great life and strength and can be easily used for all kind of construction. It is low on cost of construction and needs less maintenance.

Thus the pedestals for the panels, and the pathway, both are to be made with brick. This material also goes with the Gandhian philosophy which is so modest and grounded. It is more rural, raw and warm, unlike stone or cement which is extremely cold and hard.

In India one can see number of examples of brick construction from history which have lived for many years. Also there are modern examples of brick construction which look timeless and beautiful in all context.

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Terracotta Panels: Terracotta is a form of ceramic clay generally recognizable by its distinctive orange-brown or rust colour. Its origin can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization of 3500 B.C. Excavation at Mohenjodaro and Harappa have unearthed several terracotta items.

Terracotta has a unique quality of earthen charm, light weight and simplicity. It occupies central position in Indian life and culture. Specially the villages of India. Thus the material becomes even more correct for the memorial.

We can see number of examples in India and abroad of terracotta wonders which have lived through ages and make beautiful pieces of work.

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Final Design of Panels: The panels are 2 mt x 1mt in dimension, with 2 brick thickness depth.

The pedestal will have 1mt x 1mt niche where terracotta panel will be installed. The pathway will also be laid with brick.

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Visuals of the Panels: Next is to visualize the story on the panels. First set of sketches for the panel. It helped to understand the main elements and get a basic start to understanding the important elements and events for the panel.

After this when every halt was decided and all the main elements and events recognized, I tried to understand the concept of Hierarchical grids.

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Hierarchical Grid “ Arrangement of different elements and their relative dimensions are many times determined by logical reasoning and not just by visual necessities.

Sometimes, the order and relative scales are determined by hierarchy of meaning involved.” (Coomaraswamy, 1934) Hierarchy of content is an important parameter for design. Things always get arranged according to priority and hierarchy of importance. Thus hierarchy in visual layout is also important. Position, Scale and Order of elements in the compositions are guided by this hierarchy.

Grid helps organize the space and manage the content in the layout. It helps to form a system for compositions. Not only in 2-dimentional spaces but also in 3-dimentional spaces grid helps in organizing and composing the elements in a particular system.

Hierarchy of content can also be created by use of grids. Ancient Indian art also shows use of such grid. The Koshthaka explained in “ Vastusutra Upanishad” is one such grid which gives a layout for Visual Composition of elements in Hierarchy of meaning. In this grid the most important element appears at mid-centre or top centre position (Brahma Ksetra) of the layout.

Secondary things in hierarchy are presented at left and right side (Jaya and Updaiva) of the central element or below it. Tertiary elements get the bottom position(Stuvaka and Jaiva Ksetra).

This grid was used in relief sculptures of Indian temple to depict content hierarchically. The grid is a self reflector and symmetrical.

Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

Koshtaka from Vastusutra Upanishad

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Daiva Ksetra

Upadaiva

Upadaiva Brahma Ksetra

Jaya

Stuvaka

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Jaya

Jaiva Ksetra

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As it is a 2 dimensional Space, the 64 unit grid, of Koshtaka is to be used in the compositions. We start making the grid by dividing the plane into halves of space, and keep on dividing till we get 64 units. Now as to the hierarchy of the elements one needs to assign space to every element. The allotment of space will fix the position, scale and order of each element.

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A. Tales of Periya - Puranam, Darasuram, Tamil Nadu B. Shiva, Ajanta, India C. Torana, Sanchi, India

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Based on the Koshtaka the hierarchical grid for 2 dimensional compositions used is based on 64 units. Thus we get a point in the centre.

This kind of grid can be seen in many panels of temple relief. The composition of these panels are all based on this grid.

One needs to categorize the elements of the composition into its hierarchy.

Depending on the panel content, if there is a main person, or a main event that takes the central potion and supporting people or event takes the sides. All related events or people or context takes the Jaiva Kshetra.

This also helps in getting the scale of the elements, which is again based on the hierarchy of the content.

Daiva Ksetra

Upadaiva

Brahma Ksetra

Jaya

Stuvaka

Upadaiva

Jaya

Jaiva Ksetra

Sanchi : The Malla kings adore Buddha’s relics, which have been deposited in the stupa at Kushinagara. Kinnaras (above), and dancers and musicians (below) join in the celebration.

Previous Page: Shiva Parvati Sculpture, at Ajanta. India

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Narratives: Narrative is an account of a sequence of events, usually in chronological order. It is created in a constructive format that describes a series of events.

A narrative is some kind of retelling, of something that happened (a story). The narrative is not the story itself but rather the telling of the story. While a story just is a sequence of events, a narrative recounts those events, perhaps leaving some occurrences out because they are from some perspective insignificant, and perhaps emphasizing others. Narratives thus shape history (the series of events, the story of what happened).

Here the March has been narrated into 24 sections based on number of halts.

Thus the visual narrative of these 24 sections is to be planned.

There are number of examples of narratives in our Indian Heritage. Sanchi, Ajanta Ellora, Temples in South India are places where one can see number of narrative panels all over the structure walls. Borobodur in Indonesia is also a fine example of narrative panels in stone relief work.

There are two main methods which can be seen in these panels. • The panel is showing the key event of the story, and people need a guide to tell the story, or have a prior knowledge of the story. Panels in the Southern Temples are planned in this fashion. They follow the grid of Vastusutra Upanishad to compose the element in correct hierarchy. Thus the Main character or the main event becomes the most important visual element. • Second kind of composition is where in the same panel number of sequential events are shown. Here the panels are developed in a series of frames, each spilling over to the next, thus ensuring a sense of time within the whole composition. Thus one can find the central character repeated number of times performing sequence of events. This a way of telling the whole story in number of frames. This kind of narration can be seen in Buddhist structures like Sanchi and Borobodur.

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Grid for the Panel: The events in the narration are more like key events. Thus they can be based on the Vastusutra Upanishad grid, where the main event, supporting event and related event are arranged in the grid.

Thus dividing the space into half and then continuing to divide into halves to get 64 unit grid.

Related Image

Related Image

Main Image Area Secondary Image

Secondary Image

Related Image Area

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Program to vary Composition in each Frame: As to the need of the content, the areas shift to make different compositions.

According to the narration need the composition can change and make different alterations for different frames.

Alteration of the Grid.

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Suggestive images based on grid.

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Abstract Form of Art

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Representational form of Art

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Stylization: Stylization is the representation or treatment to a form of art to convey a particular message of the piece of art. It can be measured on the scale of realistic to abstract. Thus as to the need of the project and content, the work is stylized and decided as to where would it come on the scale of realistic and abstract art.

One can also distinguish between narrative art (which tells a story) and decorative art. While a decorative work can be either abstract or representational, a narrative work must be representational.

Thus the panels for the narration of the Salt March will be representational and not absolutely abstract.

The stylization of work is done to add meaning to the given form of work. By doing this one adds a dimension to the work and adds character to the story.

Stylization for the relief sculptures of Salt March will be conceptualized on: Indian: The movement was for freedom of our country. The entire story is of our freedom struggle. Thus it is important that the style is Indian. Our country has a rich heritage of Stone relief work in our temples and other monuments. Thus one can take them as references to develop a style. The style in every form needs to be Indian.

Story of the March: While working on the stylization there is another important aspect to be looked at. The story and its detail The entire event was set in villages of India. Real life lives in the villages of the country and thus Gandhi based his movement with them. It is important to be able to bring that mode into the style.

Also there are details like the place of Gujarat, time when the event happened, and other details that becomes a part.

• Rural • Dusty • Hot • Gujarat • Crowd • Patriotic • Villages Representational: This work is to narrate a story, which happened during our freedom struggle. Thus it cannot be abstract. But to bring the essence of the March and communicate the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi, there has to be some interpretation of the drawings from real to representational. Thus representation form of art needs to be done here.

Gandhian Philosophy: The narration is for the memorial to commemorate the Salt Satyagraha which was lead by Mahatma Gandhi. He was a man of many principles and Satyagraha was an important part of the entire event. All participants were Satyagrahis. Thus the stylization of the relief when done should be based on these principles.

• Simple • Minimal • Natural • Local • Honest • Timeless • In Connection to the Common Man Dandi Memorial, Commemoration of the Salt Satyagraha | Project III

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Final Output: Report : A detailed document as brief as for a sculptor to be appointed for the project. It would become the basis for the sculptor to create the panels, according to the needs of the project. The report would be a consolidation of all research; as well as the expectations from each panel, including the hierarchy of information.

The report will have an initial introduction to tell the background and the entire proposal of the Memorial. Then detailed documentation of every halt giving all important information and reference images and a general sketch to show the possibility of the scheme. It will give an overview of parameters for stylization and define all requirements and constraints.

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Aim of The Report

Components:

This report is complete documentation of the narration for the pathway to the memorial, which will tell the story of the March. This will be used to commission sculptors for the panel work. This becomes the document which the sculptor will use to come with panels in terracotta.

• Background • Introduction to the entire proposal • Description of each panel with all necessary details and suggestive images • Parameter for stylization

The document will have all requirement, parameters and constraints defined for the panels. Thus it becomes the base work on which the sculptor will further interpret the visual.

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Conclusion: This is a Team work, where teachers and professionals from all over have come together to come up for a national cause. Thus this National Design is a unique start to new culture of work, where all experts have decided to together.

Design is a process, and keeps on evolving and expanding. From concept to final proposal to final execution, it is never the final thing, and keeps on being iterated to new ideas and understanding. Thus this project is in a phase where such iteration will continue to happen and thus I have tried to present the overall concept of the project and the present proposal.

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References: Text Books: Weber, T. (2009). On The Salt March: The Historiography of Mahatma Gandhi’s March To Dandi. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. Boner, A., Sarma, S., Baumer, B. (2000). Vastusutra Upanishad. India: Motilal Barnasidass.

Gandhi, M.K. (2008). My Experiments with Truth an Autobiography. Jaico Publishing House Faculty Of Architecture, SCET Research & Design Cell. Master Plan of Dandi. Surat.

Thokal, D. (2010). Hierarchical Maps, Visual Communication Project II. IDC, IIT Bombay.

Web sites and Web pages: http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.gandhiashram.org.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=47 http://www.saltmarch.org.in/h_daterecord.html

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