Madeleine Slade (22 November 1892 – 20 July 1982), also known as Mirabehn or Meera Behn, was a British supporter of the
Indian Independence Movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed.
The first nationalistic ...
who in the 1920s left her home in England to live and work with
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
. She devoted her life to human development and the advancement of
Gandhi's principles.
Early life
Madeleine Slade was born on 22 November 1892 to a well connected British family. Her father,
Rear-Admiral
Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral.
Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
Sir Edmond Slade was in her early years an officer in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Squadron, and later became director of the
Naval Intelligence Division of the
Admiralty War Staff.
Her mother Florence Madeleine, née Saunders, was the eldest daughter of James Carr Saunders of Milton Heath,
Dorking
Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...
, but was born in
Reigate, Surrey
Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...
in 1870). Sir Edmond and his wife also had another daughter, Madeline's sister Rhona.
Madeleine spent much of her childhood with her mother's family, who owned a large country estate. Her maternal grandfather was from an early age a nature and animal lover,
having developed a particular love for horses, and for riding them.
At the age of 15, Madeleine developed a passion for
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
's music.
She took to the piano and concerts and went on to become a concert manager. In 1921, she arranged for a German conductor to lead the
London Orchestra in concerts featuring Beethoven, and helped bring about an end to the British boycott of German musicians that followed the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
She also visited
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and Germany to see where Beethoven had lived and composed his music and she read about him extensively. She read
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
's books on Beethoven and later met with him at
Villeneuve, where he was living at the time. During this meeting, Rolland mentioned a new book of his called
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, which she had not read. Rolland described Gandhi as another Christ and as the greatest figure of the 20th century.
On her return to England, she read Rolland's biography of Gandhi, which convinced her to become a disciple of the Mahatma. She later recalled of the book, "I could not put it down... From that moment I knew that my life was dedicated to Gandhi." Rather than embarking for India right away, Madeleine decided to prepare herself for the change by studying material on the
Sabarmarti Ashram, sitting cross-legged, and adopting a
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
diet. In 1924, she wrote to Gandhi expressing her wish to join him, and also sending him 20 pounds. Gandhi replied, pleased with her patience and willingness to prepare herself first, and asked that she decide on whether or not to come in a year's time.
She then continued training herself for all the demands of an
ascetic
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...
's life in India, giving up all wine, beer, and spirits, and learning to spin and weave wool.
That year in England, she subscribed to
Young India and spent a part of her time in Paris reading the
Bhagvad Gita and part of the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
in French.
Arrival in India, change of name, and role in the independence movement
In November 1925, she contacted Gandhi and requested to stay in his ashram.
She arrived in
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
on 6 November 1925, and was met by followers of Gandhi as well as his son,
Devdas. Declining to spend the day sightseeing, she set off to
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...
,
where she was received by
Mahadev Desai,
Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...
, and
Swami Anand
Swami Anand (8 September 1887 – 25 January 1976) was a monk, a Gandhian activist and a Gujarati writer from India. He was the manager of Gandhi's publications such as ''Navajivan'' and '' Young India'' and inspired Gandhi to write his auto ...
on 7 November 1925. This was the beginning of her stay in India that lasted almost 34 years.
Upon meeting her, Gandhi said "You will be my daughter", and gave her the name Mirabehn, which represents the Hindu mystic
Mirabai.
Speaking about her name Mirabehn, she stated in the spring of 1982,
''It is my name. If someone says 'Miss Slade' to me, I don't know who they are talking to.''
Mirabehn attended her first annual meeting of the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
in December 1925. She spent most of 1926 in Sabarmati, where she spun and wove, cooked, and cleaned in the ashram. In December of that year, she travelled to
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, where she stayed at a women's
hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...
.
After about a year into her stay in India, Mirabehn continued to struggle with the languages in North India such as Hindi and Gujarati, so Gandhi sent her to Gurukul Kanya and Gurukul Kangri to learn the languages.
Mirabehn had hopes that Gandhi would take her with him after the Jubilee Celebration at Gurukul Kangri, but to her dismay he sent her to Bhagwadbhakti Ashram of Rewari for a better learning experience.
She spent the early months of 1927 visiting ashrams across
North India
North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...
. During this time, she also worked on correcting the language and grammar of the English version of
Gandhi's autobiography, a special task given to her by Gandhi himself.
After returning to Sabarmati, she decided to become a
celibate
Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...
, began wearing a white
sari
A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...
, and cut her hair short.
In September 1928, Gandhi asked her to travel through North, South, and East India alone with the hope of her gaining experience to start a training center for spinning and weaving in Sabarmati. In 1929, she visited
Santiniketan
Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...
, a university founded by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...
, where she met Tagore himself.

Mirabehn's stay in India coincided with the zenith of the Gandhian phase of the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed.
The first nationalistic ...
. She accompanied Gandhi to the
Round Table Conference in London in 1931. On their way back to India from London, Mirabehn and Gandhi visited Romain Rolland, who gave her a book on Beethoven which he had written while she was in India. As she began to read it, it convinced her to move to Austria and spend her remaining days in the land of Beethoven's music - a dream she would fulfill thirty years later.
Upon returning to Bombay from the conference, Gandhi was arrested on orders of the new viceroy,
Lord Willingdon. Mirabehn then took on the task of preparing weekly reports of who had been arrested, where, and why. This soon led to her arrest, and she was jailed at
Arthur Road Jail for three months, where she met
Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu (Birth name, née Chattopadhyay) (; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Governor of United Provinces, after Independence Day (India), Indi ...
and
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Shortly after being released, she was arrested once again in 1932 for entering Bombay without permission, this time being jailed for a longer term. She was transferred to Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad, where she shared a cell with
Kasturba, Gandhi's wife.
In the summer of 1934, she asked Gandhi for permission to tour the
West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
to promote the Indian independence movement. She spoke in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, and
Newcastle
Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
, among other locations. The tour included a meeting with former British
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
, and a correspondence and eventual meeting with
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
. Throughout, she spoke about how Indians were more than capable of running the country on their own, the destruction British colonialism caused to the rural industry, and the high taxes being imposed upon Indians.
She then travelled to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
through her contact with Priest
John Haynes Holmes, and in her two-week tour she spoke to 22 gatherings, spoke on five radio broadcasts, and met
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
.
Mirabehn also took an active interest in the establishment of the
Sevagram Ashram, and worked among the people of
Orissa
Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...
to non-violently resist a potential Japanese invasion in the beginning of 1942.
In August 1942, Mirabehn was arrested along with Gandhi and many Congress leaders as they launched the '
Quit India' movement.
They were jailed in
Aga Khan Palace in
Poona (Pune) until May 1944. Both
Mahadev Desai and
Kasturba Gandhi
Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi (, born Kasturba Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist who was involved in the Indian independence movement during British Raj, British India. She was married to Mohandas ...
died while jailed at the palace.
After her release from jail, with Gandhi's permission, she established the Kisan Ashram on a plot of land near
Haridwar
Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district.
The city is s ...
.
Here, the locals constructed a home and a cattle shed. Soon the ashram was home to cows and bullocks, a shed for
khadi
Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...
, and a dispensary for basic medicine. She then moved to Pashulok in 1946, at the request of
Govind Ballabh Pant, who wanted to involve her in agriculture extension programs.
Despite living in an ashram, she maintained correspondence with Gandhi through 1947, and spent three months with him in Delhi after she fell ill towards the end of the year.
Throughout her life, she was a witness to the
Simla Conference,
Cabinet Mission, Interim Government,
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
,
Partition of India
The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...
, and
assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at age 78 in the compound of The Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi. His assassin was Nathuram Godse, from Pune, Maharashtra, a Hindu nationalist, with ...
.
Post-independence life in India
After
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
, she established a settlement named Bapu Gram and the Gopal Ashram in Bhilangana in 1952.
She took to dairying and farming experiments in these ashrams and also spent a while in Kashmir. During the time she spent in
Kumaon and
Garhwal she observed the destruction of the forests there and the impact it was having on floods in the plains. She wrote about it in an essay titled ''Something Wrong in the Himalaya'' but her advice was ignored by the Forest Department. In the 1980s, these areas witnessed a large Gandhian environmental campaign to save the forests called the
Chipko Movement
The Chipko movement () is a forest conservation movement in India. Opposed to commercial logging and the government's policies on deforestation, protesters in the 1970s engaged in tree hugging, wrapping their arms around trees so that they coul ...
.
Austrian years
She returned to England in 1959, and relocated to Austria in 1960.
Her long-time friend, India's
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
, whom Mirabehn had known since Gandhi was a child, made sure she was taken care of even while in Austria. Gandhi had instructed the
Indian Embassy in Austria to provide Mirabehn with whatever she needed. Throughout her years in Austria, four of her friends visited her daily. Nonetheless, she continued to voluntarily live a simple life, eating only natural foods and abstaining from using labor saving devices.
She spent 22 years in small villages in the
Vienna Woods
The Vienna Woods (, ) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese ...
(Baden, Hinterbrühl, Kracking), where she died in 1982.
She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons w ...
, in 1981.
Books by Mirabehn

Mirabehn's autobiography is titled ''The Spiritual Pilgrimage''. She also published ''Bapu's Letters to Mira'' and ''New and Old Gleanings''. Mirabehn drafted a book called ''Beethoven’s Mystical Vision'' (not “The Spirit of Beethoven”). It was published in Madurai by Khadi Friends Forum in 1999, and then a second, digital edition in 2000 by MGM University.
In popular culture
* Actress
Geraldine James portrayed her in
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, film director, and Film producer, producer.
Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Acade ...
's film, ''
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
'', which premiered several months after Mirabehn's death in 1982.
* In ''Mira and the Mahatma'',
Sudhir Kakar provides a fictional account of Mirabehn's relationship with Gandhi as his disciple.
* In his book, ''Rebels Against the Raj'',
Ramchandra Guha tells the story of how Mirabehn and six other foreigners served India in its quest for independence from the
British Raj
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule ...
.
Bibliography
* ''Spirits Pilgrimage'', by Mirabehn. Great River Books. 1984. .
* ''New and Old Gleanings'', by Mirabehn. Navajivan Pub. House. 1964.
See also
*
Gandhism
Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance.
The ...
*
Sarla Behn
References
Further reading
* ''Letters to Mirabehn'', by Mahatma Gandhi. # Greenleaf Books. 1983. .
External links
Biography from mkgandhi.org*
In the company of Bapu: In the just-released Mira & the Mahatma, psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar delves into the complex relationship between a remarkable Englishwoman and the man she worshiped' – ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
''
Video interview with Mirabehn A description of the video i
{{Authority control
Indian independence activists
1892 births
1982 deaths
20th-century English writers
20th-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian writers
Gandhians
Indian people of British descent
Indian spiritual writers
Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in social work
Women Indian independence activists