The Pandya Family

Our late, revered father (Bapuji), Shri Ramkrishna Jeshankar Pandya, was born in 1901 on the day of Diwali. Our late, revered mother (Ba) was born in 1908. Bapuji originally hailed from Jinjar (Taluka Dhandhuka). Revered Ba was from Akala (District Amreli). Bapuji was an ideal teacher, and for much of his later career he also served as a principal. Both were endowed with the highest cultural refinement. Bapuji's personality was commanding — a full six feet in height, with a robust, imposing build, a fair complexion, and a confident, charismatic face.

He was a staunch advocate of discipline, living a highly regimented life, with a devotion to reading the newspaper. Wherever he traveled, he was like a living library for the entire village, offering advice, suggestions, and information to all. He was himself also a successful Ayurvedic physician (vaidya). He never wavered in the face of difficulty and knew no fear — he was the first to set foot in a house believed to be haunted. (This is a true story.)

He took the greatest care for his family's wellbeing. As long as he lived, he would say, "Nothing must ever happen to my twenty-one." Four sons and four daughters-in-law, with five, three, two, and three children respectively — thirteen children in all — together made the "twenty-one." He was always concerned with his daughters' all-round happiness, but his greatest concern was always for the wellbeing of his daughters-in-law. His sense of justice was so pure that he would take a daughter-in-law's side and reprimand anyone else in the household who wronged her. He was strict, yet large-hearted — an unbreakable, sheltering canopy for the family. Shall I put it in verse?

"A shadow vast like a Banyan tree, and emotions pure like a vow by Lord Nand.
A large heart like the Himalaya, as if belonging to the abode of the gods."

As for our revered Ba, Kasturba — what can be said of her grace and cultured spirit? The merit she accumulated over her lifetime will continue to bless not only her children but generations to come. Though she had little formal education, her wisdom was unmatched. She held an inexhaustible knowledge of religious literature — the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata, the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, the Vishnu Sahasranama, the Ganpati Stavan, the Shakti Stotra, the Shiv Mahimna Stotra, the Hanuman Chalisa, and various vrat-kathas (fasting-ritual stories), among others. She was devoted to the haveli (household place of worship). Though occupied with religious storytelling and devotional singing (bhajan-kirtan), she still kept the family united through deep values and singular care. Running the household was, in effect, managing a small estate — the oversight of the vaidya practice, and the family business (yes, there was one) all fell under her watch. Milking four cows, churning butter at home, the pre-dawn grinding of the mill, and raising seven children well — she carried the full weight of this household work with grace and ease, and did so in an age without electricity or machines.

Physically strong and graceful, fair-complexioned, with a tall and cheerful bearing, a radiant forehead marked with a large, round, bright red bindi, and deep devotion to Shakti — how was she any less than the Divine Mother, Jagadamba, herself?

We will never forget the wisdom she shared with us in her own native, colloquial way of speaking.

Composed and at peace until the very end, revered Ba passed into the divine in her sleep. The family wept and wept and wept. Seeing our grief, our steady-hearted, revered Bapuji offered us comfort. These were his words: "Don't cry, child. She was happy. She lived seventy-five years — how much longer can one live?" As he said this, tears began to well up in his own eyes as well.

A family bond tender enough to melt even stone.