Book Extract: A political wedding

The shaadi, marriage, of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Nehru is the most significant episode in the saga of Feroze and has been described more than any other event of his life. Of course, it is an unavoidable part of every biography about Indira Gandhi. But let us take a deeper look into the political relevance of the wedding. The ceremony took place at Anand Bhawan under a canopy in the veranda decorated with flowers, a depression for the traditional fire marking the centre.

Anand Bhawan did not have a courtyard, but Motilal Nehru had got a marble platform built in the lawn. Nayantara Sahgal tells us that the platform was designed for such ceremonies ‘with removable marble slabs where a fire could be built to please my orthodox mother’. She adds that a ‘traditional canopy of brocade supported by tall poles had been set upon it, and the sacred fire burned, tended by the priests’. The first mantra of the Rig Veda is dedicated to Agni — the deity of fire — and the fire is important in Hindu worship, not just in a marriage ceremony where the bride and the groom walk around the sacred fire. In the Zoroastrian faith too, fire has a similarly important function in the fire temples, although the Parsis do not worship the Holy Fire but carry out their worship by its means, as an agent of ritual purity.

Anand Mohan tells us that the ‘invited guests sat on carpets spread all around. There were hundreds of uninvited guests who could not be turned away. The more enterprising of them perched themselves on treetops to get an unhindered view.’ He adds that the ‘assembled guests applauded when Feroze made his appearance’. Feroze ‘had a baby face, with bright eyes and a high forehead, and he looked dashing, even taller than he really was.

He smiled happily, nodding to guests he knew, waving at times.’ Indira Nehru was in her room with her cousins and friends ‘who had come from all over India, teasing her and laughing together’, as mentioned by Krishna Nehru Hutheesing. In another context, she recollects that Indira ‘looked calm as usual, but the glow of her face disclosed an inner excitement. Always lovely to look at, she looked lovelier than ever — frail and ethereal.’ In an article, R.M. Kaushik tells us that ‘the main motif of the colour scheme was saffron-orange, symbolizing enthusiasm and sacrifice, reminding those present at the wedding of the popular revolutionary song of those days, Mera Rang De Basanti Chola, and of [the] predominant feeling of disinterested activity, though devoted to the first cause in the world with one’s entire strength — the liberation of mankind. It was in conformity of this colour scheme that the bride came out to attend the Vedic rites of her wedding, draped in a sari of saffron-orange colour.’

Feroze was sitting by the fire when Jawaharlal Nehru escorted his daughter Indira to the platform. An empty seat — a cushion — was reserved for the late Kamala Nehru. Nayantara Sahgal writes that ‘Indi came down from her room in a shell-pink khadi sari made from yarn spun by her father and edged with delicate silver embroidery. She sat down near her father for, until the kanya dan took place, she was still a member of her father’s house.

The Kanya Dan, Papu had explained to us, was the giving away of a daughter by her father, much the same as in a Christian wedding. In India, it is considered the most exalted form of gift a man can make, for there is no more precious possession than a daughter. Sometimes a man who had no daughter of his own adopted one solely for the purpose of partaking in such a ceremony and achieving the merit of Kanya Dan. After the priest had chanted the appropriate verses, Indi took her place beside Feroze and sat facing her father.’

Feroze was sitting with his family, customarily dressed, according to Hutheesing, ‘in a khadi sherwani, knee-length coat, and churidar, tight fitting pyjamas’. Mohan’s version tells us that ‘Feroze was dressed in an achkan, a long coat with a Russian-type closed collar, churidars, or tight fitting jodhpurs, and a narrow cloth cap, all made of white khadi’. 

‘Feroze was always a somewhat stockily built person, but he had a way of holding his head that made him look taller than he actually was’, says Krishan Bhatia, biographer of Indira Gandhi. ‘Fair – he was fairer even than the bride – and broad-browed, he had perfect features, with a sharp nose and large, bright eyes set in a round, moon-like face. As they got ready for the ceremony, Indira and Feroze appeared a remarkably well-matched couple.’

‘Maybe it was the breaking from all old ties and the starting of a new life which brought a passing look of sadness to the young bride’s eyes, for who could foretell what the future held in store for her — happiness? sorrow? fulfilment? disillusionment? The dark eyes became darker but for a fleeting moment only, then once again they regained their natural look and were unfathomable,’ Krishna Nehru Hutheesing thus describes her brother’s daughter.

Two pandits performed the ceremony, led by Pandit Lakshmi Dhar Shastri. As the pandit who had put together the Vedic ceremony, there was no doubt that he was the individual best suited for the purpose. Many members of the Parsi community were present, even some of those who had threatened to protest against the wedding by picketing outside Anand Bhawan. Jawaharlal Nehru had pleaded to Rattimai Gandhi to persuade them not to do so. Since some of them had even attended the wedding, one must say that the persuasive powers of Mrs Gandhi were, to say the least, excellent.

As a matter of fact, the storm preceding the wedding passed away quickly and the unpleasant letters were replaced by the postman bringing gifts to Anand Bhawan. The people outside Anand Bhawan on the occasion were not hostile but curious and/or benevolent.

When Indira Gandhi much later looked back at the wedding, she preferred to remember her negative impressions and stated that ‘the whole nation was against my marriage’. That is what she stated during an interview with Arnold Michaelis, published in April 1966 by McCall’s. She got it all somewhat wrong. It was only the militant fundamentalists among the Parsis and the Hindus who protested.