On his return to India Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi made Sabarmati Ashram, on the banks of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, his home. Over the next 20 years, it was the place from where many of the Mahatma's most famous movements began, including the Dandi March.

Sabarmati Ashram formerly known as Satyagraha Ashram was witness to many historical events that shook up the British Empire. Set up in 1915, the Ashram was also a perfect example of a model community based on rules and values. It is situated about 5 km from the center of Ahmedabad, on the west bank of Sabarmati River.

The Ashram premises houses a museum, which has five units - office, library, two photo galleries and an auditorium. It is perhaps hav­ing the largest number of original manuscripts of Gandhiji's letters and articles.

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Upon returning from South Africa on Jan­uary9, 1915, Gandhi was in search for a place to settle himself and a small group of relatives and associates who were with him in the African struggle. His political views still unformed, Gandhi chose Ahmedabad for three reasons, “being a Gujarati, I'll serve my country best through the use of the Gujarati language. As Ahmedabad was the center of the handloom in early days, the work of spinning wheel (charkha) could be done in a better way, I believed. Being the capital of Gujarat its wealthy persons will also make a larger contribution, I hoped;' he said.

Today the museum has eight life-size colour oil paintings and an exhibition on Gandhiji's life "My life is my message" and "Gandhiji in Ahmedabad". An archive is also set up, which stores 34,066 letters written by Gandhiji, manuscripts of his 8,633 articles, negatives of 6,367 photographs, 134 reels of microfilms of his writings and 210 films on Gandhiji and the freedom struggle. The library has over 30,000 books, 155 letters of felicitation received by Gandhiji besides miscellaneous memorabilia comprising coins, postal stamps and the like.

Gandhi's charkha and untouchability cam­paign brought the majority of the deprived masses of India into the national mainstream. Also during his time at Sabarmati, Gandhi was jailed for 6 years in the nearby prison and pub­lished his now famous autobiography, "My Experiments with Truth': after his release.

The most famous chapter of the Sabarmati Ashram came in the way Gandhi bid farewell to it. On March 12, 1930, directed by his 'inner voice; Gandhiji embarked on a 240 mile walk with 79 selected followers to break the Salt Tax, imposed by the British. This, known in history as The Dandi March, united the country and set into motion the events that would later free a nation. Gandhi was no longer referred to as Mohandas, but as Mahatma, or 'Great Soul.' Gandhi has said he would never return to Sabarmati until India achieved Independence. He did, though on a somber note, see India gain Independence on August 15, 1947; but was unable to return again, as he was assassinated by Vinayak N. Godse, a staunch Hindu fanatic, on January 30, 1948.