Sevagram

Sevagram
village
Adi Nivas, the first residence of Mahatma Gandhi in Sevagram Ashram.
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District	Wardha
Languages
• Official	Marathi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	442 102
Telephone code	91 7152
Vehicle registration	MH-32
Nearest city	Wardha
Lok Sabha constituency	Wardha
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Wardha

Sevagram is Hindi for "A village for service" and the name of a village in the state of Maharashtra, India. This was the place of Mohandas Gandhi's (Gandhiji's) ashram. Previously it was named as Shegaon: it was Mahatma Gandhi who renamed it to Sevagram.

When Gandhi started his padayatra (foot march) in 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi for the Salt Satyagraha, he had decided not to return to Sabarmati till independence for India was attained. Independence was not attained at that time and Gandhi was imprisoned for more than two years. On his release he spent sometime travelling. He decided to make a village in Central India his head quarters. He came to Wardha in 1934, at the invitation of Jamnalalji Bajaj. In April 1936, Gandhiji established his residence in the village Shegaon which he renamed as Sevagram, which means 'village of service'. Gandhiji was 67 years old when he came to Sevagram. From then on, Sevagram has become an inspiring place. Many decisions on import ant national matters and movements were taken at Sevagram. It became the central place for a number of institutions for the nation building activities devised by Gandhiji to suit the inherent strength of this country. Shegaon is a small village 8 km from Wardha town in Maharashtra and 75 km from Nagpur. In spite of many practical difficulties, Gandhiji decided to settle here. Though he did not have any intentions of keeping anybody with him except Kasturba, pressure of work necessitated more colleagues with him till Sevagram Ashram became a full-fledged institution. There were no facilities at Sevagram, not even a post or telegraph office. The letters used to be brought from Wardha. There was another village in this region named Shegaon, made famous by the residence of Saint Gajanan Maharaj. So, Gandhiji's letters used to get misdirected. Therefore it was decided in 1940 to rename this village as SEVAGRAM or 'the village of service'.

Overview

Sevagram is a small village, located about 8 km from WardhaAnd comes under Wardha. Mahatma Gandhi set up his ashram in the outskirts of the village when barely 1,000 people lived there. Seth Jamnalal Bajaj of Wardha, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, made available to the ashram about 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land. The small homes which were built in the ashram for Gandhi and Kasturba, and his followers were similar to the typical village homes. The ashram employed some harijans in the common kitchen to break the caste barrier. Also, there is Vinoba Bhave's Param Dham Ashram located on the banks of the Dhaam river. Near the ashram there is a museum where things of freedom struggle are kept.there is a wonderful Yatri niwas where people can stay in lapse of nature. Sevagram is home to the first rural medical college in India, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, and an engineering college which is also run by a rural trust (Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, previously called Sevagram College of Engineering). Both medical and engineering colleges are equipped with modern infrastructure and students from all over India come to these colleges. Nearby cities: Wardha, Katol, Chandur Railway Coordinates: 20°43'41"N 78°39'45"E

Transport

Sevagram railway station is located 6 km away from the main village. Previously the station was named as Wardha East railway station. Sevagram Station has the steepest turn in the world . Sevagram is a station on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line.sevagram is well connected to rail, bus and airport. airport is situated around 55km from sevagram on the way of nagpure.

External links

• The Sevagram Ashram - An introduction to Sevagram Ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi and its message
• http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org - Official Website of Gandhi Ashram, Sevagram, Wardha