Mahadev Desai

Mahadev Haribhai Desai (1 January 1892 – 15 August 1942) was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to Gandhi's Socrates, as well as an Ānanda to Gandhi's Buddha". Mahadev Desai was born in an anavil brahmin family on 1 January 1892 in the village of Saras in Surat district of Gujarat to Haribhai Desai, a school teacher, and his wife Jamnabehn. Jamnabehn died when Desai was seven years old. In 1905, aged 13, Mahadev was married to Durgabehn. He was educated at the Surat High School and the Elphinstone College, Mumbai. Desai graduated with a BA Degree, and after earning his L.L.B in 1913 took a job as an inspector at the central co-operative bank in Bombay.