The name of Ashram is derived from Sanskrit. It means “a step in the journey of life”. An Ashram is a spiritual hermitage or monastery in Indian religions. While the location of an Ashram is usually within the countryside the goal is not to find tranquillity but is a place to live as a self-sustaining community.
Within four months of Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa he set up the Sabarmati Ashram on the outskirts of the walled city of Ahmedabad. The Sabarmati Ashram consists of a group of low, whitewashed huts in a grove of spreading trees. A mile away stands the Sabarmati prison where fighters for India’s freedom were later incarcerated. Below the ashram compound is the river in which women wash their laundry, and cows and buffaloes wade. All around, the scene is a gentle pastoral, but not too distant are the closely packed houses of Ahmedabad hedged in by expanding industry.
Riverfront development
The Sabarmati the river, famous for its swelling and contracting flow was a key part of life to the surrounding locality. The riverbank was a space for dwelling, markets, industry, agriculture and religious ceremony, this has been lost as the riverfront development is nearing completion. Proposed in the late 1960s the plan for the Sabarmati was to dam it up to creating a constant flow and to reclaim bankable land, in sharp contrast this concrete wall has not only created a divide between city and water but the dam has caused dangerous stagnant water.
Section through typical Sabarmati bank with activities during dry season, before riverfront development
Section through typical riverfront development with annual activities, after riverfront development