Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai (1887–1951) also calledDarbar Gopaldas Desai was a prince who ascended the throne of the State of Dhasa currently known as Gopalgram inSaurashtra and a notedGandhian political and social activist. He is remembered as the first prince in India who gave up his principality to become a freedom fighter against the British Raj.[1]
Gopaldas was born atVaso in the present dayKheda district ofGujarat. He was aninamdar or feudatory to theBaroda State, the ruler of the Dhasa State and ajagirdar of theRai and Sankhli villages. He was aVaishnavite and aPatidar by caste and aDesai andAmin by title.[2] He became the ruler of Dhasa succeeding his maternal grandfather Ambaidas who adopted him as heir to the throne.[3] Gopaldas had been a supporter ofMohandas Gandhi and theIndian National Congress and often gave them financial support. He was a progressive ruler and provided free education to his subjects. Impressed by the ideas of Madam Montessori, he started first Montessori school inVaso in 1915 with the help of his mentor, Motibhai Amin. It was the first Montessori School in Gujarat, and perhaps in entire India.[4]
By 1921, Gopaldas had become active in theIndian National Congress. That year he became the president of theKheda District Congress Committee.[5] The following year, hisstate was confiscated and was deposed as ruler by the British after he disobeyed theBritish Resident General's warnings against his involvement in the national movement and extending financial support to Gandhi. Gopaldas and his wife Bhakti Lakshmi, better known as Bhaktiba became active freedom fighters from 1922. After his removal, the British proposed Gopaldas' eldest son Suryakant as the new ruler. He however rejected the offer arguing that he held the same political views as his father. The British later approached Gopaldas' other three sons as they approached the age of majority. They all rejected the offer, following the footsteps of their father.[6]
Following the confiscation of his estates, Gopaldas relocated toBorsad from where he participated in both the Borsad andBardoli Satyagrahas.[5] During the 1930Civil Disobedience Movement, the entire Desai family was imprisoned including Gopaldas, his wife Bhaktiba, the two elder sons Mahendra and Suryakant, and their wives and even their newborn son, a mere six-month-old, Barindra. Thus, Barindra must have been the youngest freedom fighter. Bhaktiba was obliged to take the infant to Sabarmati jail in 1930 because he was too young to be left with anyone.[7] The Desais were also active participants in theQuit India Movement. Bhaktiba became a renowned social worker and Gandhian political activist in her own right[8] while Yog Sunder went on to become a renowned dancer and choreographer and the founder of the Indian Revival Group.[1]
Gopaldas and Bhaktiba worked for the Gandhian causes of eradication ofuntouchability and for women's education. They were the pioneers in advancing female literacy in Gujarat and Saurashtra, especially the residential schools for girls. They founded Vitthal Kanya Vidyalaya inNadiad in 1935 and later Vallabh Kanya Vidyalaya atRajkot in 1946, both of them residential schools for girls.[9] Soon after independence, it was Darbar Gopaldas who was given the honour in 1947 to lay the foundation stone ofKirti Mandir, the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi in his birthplacePorbandar.[10]
He was elected to theConstituent Assembly of India as a member fromBaroda.[11] Gopaldas was reinstated as a ruler of his principality after India's independence. He is remembered as the first prince among about 550 princely states to voluntarily and unconditionally merge his principality with the Indian Union.[12]
Rajmohan Gandhi has authored,The Prince of Gujarat (2014), a biography of Desai.[13]
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