Dupont Circle in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial

Mahatma Gandhi Statue and Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

1. Mahatma Gandhi Statue and Marker

Gautam Pal - Sculptor

Inscription.

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial. . [Inscription on base of statue - West Side:] महात्मा गांधी Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948 “My Life Is My Message”. [North Side:] Gandhi led India to freedom from British rule in 1947. He is hailed as the father of the nation. Crusader for human rights and liberty, thinker, writer, reformer, apostle of truth and non-violence (ahimsa), Gandhi succeeded in uniting millions of people of all faiths across India in a mass movement of civil disobedience. On Gandhi’s seventieth birthday, Albert Einstein wrote, “Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”, [East Side:] A gift from the people of India and the Indian-American community., [East End - Panel 1:] “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the faces of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.” 1947., [East End - Panel 2:] Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was a pivotal world figure of the twentieth century. Gandhi renounced all worldly possessions, devoting his life to work for the dignity and uplift of the downtrodden. To his people, he was a mahatma (Sanscrit for “Great Soul”), as proclaimed by the great Indian poet, Tagore. He kept purity of means and peaceful resistance (satyagraha) at the heart of the campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa from 1893 to 1914. He led a famous march to the sea against the increase of salt tax in India in 1930. A charismatic leader of millions, Gandhi was the central figure in India’s struggle for freedom from British rule. Gandhi was inspired by the world’s great religions and influenced by the writings of Ruskin, Thoreau, and Tolstoy. His life and message inspired great leaders internationally, notably Jawaharlal Nehru, Martin Luther King, Jr., Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Gandhi is revered by people of conscience in all walks of life around the world., [East End - Panel 3:] “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave.” 1921., “Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?” 1938.

[Inscription on base of statue - West Side:]
महात्मा गांधी
Mahatma Gandhi
1869-1948
“My Life Is My Message”
[North Side:]
Gandhi led India to freedom from British rule in 1947. He is hailed as the father of the nation. Crusader for human rights and liberty, thinker, writer, reformer, apostle of truth and non-violence (ahimsa), Gandhi succeeded in uniting millions of people of all faiths across India in a mass movement of civil disobedience. On Gandhi’s seventieth birthday, Albert Einstein wrote, “Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”

[East Side:]
A gift from the people of India and the Indian-American community.

[East End - Panel 1:]
“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the faces of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words,

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will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.” 1947.

[East End - Panel 2:]
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was a pivotal world figure of the twentieth century. Gandhi renounced all worldly possessions, devoting his life to work for the dignity and uplift of the downtrodden. To his people, he was a mahatma (Sanscrit for “Great Soul”), as proclaimed by the great Indian poet, Tagore. He kept purity of means and peaceful resistance (satyagraha) at the heart of the campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa from 1893 to 1914. He led a famous march to the sea against the increase of salt tax in India in 1930. A charismatic leader of millions, Gandhi was the central figure in India’s struggle for freedom from British rule. Gandhi was inspired by the world’s great religions and influenced by the writings of Ruskin, Thoreau, and Tolstoy. His life and message inspired great leaders internationally, notably Jawaharlal Nehru, Martin Luther King, Jr., Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Gandhi is revered by people of conscience in all walks of life around the world.

[East End - Panel 3:]
“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and

Mahatma Gandhi Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

2. Mahatma Gandhi Marker

Base of Statue - West Side

my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave.” 1921.

“Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?” 1938.

Erected 2000 by The Government of India.

Topics. This historical marker and memorial is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Civil Rights • Peace. A significant historical year for this entry is 1947.

Location. 38° 54.661′ N, 77° 2.819′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in Dupont Circle. It is on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest west of 21st Street Northwest, on the right when traveling east. Statue and marker panels are in the memorial plaza off Embassy Row, west of 21st Street and across Q Street from the Indian Chancery Building and the Phillips Collection Art Gallery. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1600 21st Street Northwest, Washington DC 20008, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker and memorial is in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

It is also in the American Northeast,

in the Upper South,

in the Mid-Atlantic,

in the Tidewater,

and in the Chesapeake Bay Region.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Cosmos Club (within shouting distance of this marker); The Society of the Cincinnati (within shouting distance of this marker); Indonesian Embassy / Walsh-McLean Mansion

Plaque at Base of Statue - North Side image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

3. Plaque at Base of Statue - North Side

(about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); 2019 Q Street NW (about 400 feet away); Tomáš G. Masaryk (about 400 feet away); Dewi Saraswati (about 400 feet away); Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (about 500 feet away); Before the city built a bridge (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Northwest Washington.

Another marker is no longer nearby. Tomáš G. Masaryk (was about 400 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it).

Additional keywords. Mohandas K. Gandhi; Embassy of India; Embassy Row; Gautam Pal, sculptor.

Plaque at Base of Statue - East Side image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

4. Plaque at Base of Statue - East Side

Plaque at East End - Panel 1 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

5. Plaque at East End - Panel 1

Plaque at East End - Panel 2 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

6. Plaque at East End - Panel 2

Plaque at East End - Panel 3 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

7. Plaque at East End - Panel 3

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

8. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial

Mahatma Gandhi image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Richard E. Miller, August 23, 2009

9. Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, October 7, 2015

10. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Marker

Plaque at east end - Panel 3

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, October 8, 2015

11. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Marker

Plaque at east end - panel 2.

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, October 8, 2015

12. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Marker

Plaque at east end - panel 1.

Photographed by J. Makali Bruton, October 7, 2015

13. Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Marker

Gautam Pal
3/7/99

Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 6, 2009, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland. This page has been viewed 4,527 times since then and 49 times this year. Last updated on January 27, 2011, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. submitted on September 6, 2009, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland. 10. submitted on October 7, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Washington, District of Columbia. 11, 12. submitted on October 8, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Washington, District of Columbia. 13. submitted on October 7, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Washington, District of Columbia. • Kevin W. was the editor who published this page.