Gandhiji's son Harilal's wife and grandson die of Spanish flu in 1914

Ahmedabad, May 5, 2020, Monday

The Spanish flu epidemic, which claimed more than 50 million lives worldwide, was even worse than the current Corona. The flu ravaged the world for 18 months and killed 6 to 7 percent of the population. A total of 1.50 crore people in India were affected by the flu, including Gulab, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi's son Harilal, and his eldest son Shanti. After the death of his son's wife Gulab and grandson, Gandhiji's wife Kasturba came to the ashram with her grandsons and granddaughters and was brought up here.

Gandhiji was in a village in Kheda district of Gujarat when a disaster struck the Spanish flu family. Farmers were persuaded not to pay taxes due to crop failure. After the Satyagraha fight, he had to go to the hospital due to stomach ailment. When Gandhiji fell ill, he was brought to a bungalow at Mirzapur in Ahmedabad. They were cured by natural remedies instead of taking any kind of treatment. Following the advice of a doctor named Talwalkar, he advised to put cold water on the body. The doctors advised Gandhiji to drink milk but he was not ready. Finally, on the advice of Kasturba, he agreed to take goat's milk. Gandhiji also had to stay in bed for days when he became seriously ill during the Spanish flu pandemic. However, Gandhiji's great-grandson Gopalakrishna Gandhi has revealed in an article that Gandhiji did not get the Spanish flu but died. Gani, the son of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a special follower of Gandhiji and known as Gandhi of the frontier, contracted the Spanish flu. If Gani's mother Meherban had prayed to God that her son would be healed and that he himself would get sick.

Gandhiji wrote that I got sick due to my stupidity

On 15th August, Gandhiji wrote a letter to a man named Anderson in which I am now in bed and going through the biggest illness of my life. So can't give a long reply to your letter. In another letter to his son Devdas, who was on a tour of South India, Gandhiji referred to the illness and said that he was in good health but still had to stay in bed. Gandhiji also wrote a letter to one of his close friends in which the experience of hardship is lessened when I admit that the disease is due to my stupidity.