Gandhi in Stamps: The Courier of Truth and Non-violence

Gandhi was not only the most unique man of the twentieth century and the prime inspiration of several world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, and many others in their struggle for liberation and justice but has also been the theme of hundreds of books. He himself wrote his life story and volumes of his experiments with life and many of its truths and values. He wielded for decades great influence over all kinds of writings and thought and even fiction books, novels and short stories like those of Munshi Prem Chand, echoed with Gandhian values. Thus it could not be easy for any one to discover in his writing an unpublished aspect of Gandhi’s life and personality. ‘Gandhi in stamps : the Courier of truth and non-violence’ is an exception. First it conceives in postal stamps a medium, altogether new and perhaps the most unconventional, capable of depicting a personality like Gandhi and then discovers in these stamps Gandhi’s universal image as it has precipitated in global vision during the last fifty years as also how the world seeks in him solution to many of its problems. This study of Gandhi discovers in these stamps, a canvas rarely exceeding an inch in its size, Gandhi’s massive personality, his great struggle, focal points of his economy and village uplift, his unprecedented humanism, magnificent ideals, his vision of religious harmony, world relations, peace, parity, justice and Gandhi’s timeless universal relevance. It is curious to note that 91 countries have issued postal stamps or other postal stationery on Gandhi, which is the highest number of countries to have ever issued such stamps on any single person. England is known to have never issued such a stamp on any non-Englishman. Gandhi is its only exception. This by itself defines world’s reverence for Gandhi and his ideals and Gandhi’s universal timeless relevance. ‘Gandhi in stamps : the Courier of truth and non-violence’ has made use of the stamps of eighty countries. Each of these countries has seen Gandhi with its own angle and amidst its own frame and indigenous setting. Every time it is a new Gandhi, or at least a new aspect of his personality, and this study has put wondrous efforts to discover it and take it to readers.