Kirti Mandir is the memorial temple built in memory of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi located in city of Porbandar, Gujarat, India.
The ancestral house of Gandhi family, where Mahatma Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 is just adjacent to the Kirti Mandir.
At the time when Gandhi was released for the last time in year 1944 from the Aga Khan Palace by the British Government, the residential public of Porbandar had decided to construct an ideal memorial on the birth palace of Mahatmaji. At that time, organization of the project was accomplished by the intensive efforts of the easrtwhile Maharaja of Porbandar, H.H. Maharana Shri Natavarsinhji, and Raj Ratna Shri Nanjibhai Kalidas Mehta and his wife, Smt. Santokbehn Mehta. Before the foundation of the Kirti Mandir was started, the adjacent ancestral house was purchased from those members of the Gandhian family who were living in it. Mahatmaji himself, on his own part had given his consent to Nanjibhai in writing, with legal documents for the sale of the whole building. He had signed with his own hand the registration papers, which are displayed at a museum room in Kirti Mandir Complex. The ancestral house, as such, now forms a part of Kriti Mandir complex.
There are life size oil paintings of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba kept side by side in the centre of Kirti Mandir. Gandhi wanted that he should not be made a God and so, keeping his wishes, floral garlands are not used. The auspicious words, ‘The Truth’ and ‘Non-violence’, symbolizing his life and preachings are placed near their feet.
On the right side there are two rooms as the memorials of Maganlal Gandhi and Mahadev Desai, and the room on the left hand side is meant for the exhibition of the museum. These three rooms contain articles of khadibhandar, things of handicraft, the centre is for the sale of books, the office-room and the reception hall. Kasturba-Mahila Library situated in the Kirti mandir.
Picture Credit : Google