This was the period of late 19th century when India was
ruled by British & was undergoing many social reformations. Along with the
struggle for freedom a struggle to reform the society was also going on. The
biggest challenge was child marriage & widow remarriage. The condition of
the Indians was bad but that of women was worse.
Mohanji Naik was a farmer in the small village Umarsadi of Valsad
District where there was a majority of Anavil Brahmins. Brahmins being the
highest rank in the society, they had to follow the rules of society very
strictly. One day while Mohanji was going to his farm, he heard the news that a
15 year old widow girl of a good family jumped in the well & killed herself.
Along with it came the rumors of tortures she had suffered. Mohanji’s eldest
daughter was married at the age of 5years & was widowed at 7 years.
Although the news of widowed girl’s suicide was common but it always disturbed
Mohanji. Influenced by the teachings of Swami Dayanand Saraswati of Arya Samaj,
Mohanji was determined to secure his daughter’s life & thus he decided to
remarry her.
Getting full support from his wife, Mohanji started looking for a
suitable match for his daughter. As it was not possible in his own district, he
started looking in other districts & found a good match. The news of his
widowed daughter’s remarriage travelled like a fire in whole village &
districts & with this started his struggle of lifetime.
First of all he was given warnings to change his decision by panchayat
& other influential people of the village but when he refused to change,
the decision was taken that the whole village will boycott Mohanji & his
family. They were first of all made to leave the village. He settled with his
family & cattle at his farm outside the village. He was deprived of the
basic facilities e.g. he could not take water from village well; he could not
buy food from village shops. What more his children were not allowed to sit in
the school. Threats were coming from all the sides. He could not sell milk of
his cattle to his village people. Barber & helpers in mango farms were also
not allowed to work for him. All this could not shake the determination of Mohanji;
whenever his determination weakened his wife stood up for him & supported
him well. She worked like a man with him in his farms, managed his house, children,
cattle etc.
Both Mohanji and Bhikhiben worked day and night for months & years
without complaints as their decision had only love for their daughter & no
regrets. With sheer hard work he made a farm of 100 acres of hundreds of mango trees.
For selling the milk Mohanji had to go to Udvada from Umarsadi by the coastline.
During the high tides he used to take the boats to reach Udvada. Nothing could
break their determination & dedication which annoyed the village people.
The villagers tried hard to make them apologize for their decision.
But as it is said Mohanji was made from something else nothing could
move him to love his daughter. After the struggle went for few years his
children were allowed in school so he educated all his children sons as well as
daughters. Two of his daughters became freedom fighters later. Still his
struggle seemed to be never ending. At night people threw stones at his house
roof, his cattle were untied & taken away from the shed & made to
destroy his farms. Fishermen whose boat Mohanji was using were told not to give
him boats for selling milk to other towns , since hiding the boats was not
possible they took the oars at home so Mohanji could not take the boats. Mohanji who was never shattered, he rowed the
boats with his hands.
For Mohanji the struggle was never ending, he had only two companions
his work & prayers. As the time went by Mohanji’s determination shook the
opponents & his supporters grew. After a period of 12-13 years he was invited
back in his village with all respect. His struggle became the inspiration for
many writers & one of them Shri Swami Anandji wrote a book on his struggle
“Dharti nu Loon” .
His struggle & sacrifice
are still remembered today in many books & many plays are also written on
his story. I am proud to be a part of his Family. For motivation I just looks
back and read about his struggle.
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