The northeast headquarters of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust is located at South Sarania Hills of Guwahati. Popularly known as the 'Kasturba Ashram' or the 'Sarania Ashram', this Assam branch of the Trust was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi himself on 9th January, 1946.
The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust was started in the memory of Kasturba Gandhi, the Mahatma's wife, after her demise while in prison on 22nd February, 1944.
After her death, Madan Mohan Malaviya and a few other eminent persons like Thakkar Bapa mooted the idea of starting a memorial fund. A total of Rs. 75 lakhs was collected from across the country and presented to Mahatma Gandhi on his 75th birthday for organising welfare and educational work for the upliftment of women and children in India. People from all sections of society of Assam donated a total of Rs.1,44,052 to this trust dedicated to the 'National Mother'.
The ground work of this Assam Branch was conducted mostly by Gopinath Bordoloi and Amal Prova Das, as almost all other prominent leaders of the freedom movement in Assam were in jail during the Quit India Movement. They initially decided upon setting up a provincial educational institution. Amal Prova Das visited Sevagram, Gandhiji's Ashram in 1945 to learn the work. She returned after meeting with the Mahatma and settling on a new scheme, based on the handloom of Assam. When Gandhiji first visited to Assam in 1921, he was deeply impressed by the flourishing handloom crafts and the fine yarn-making talent of the Assamese women.
The Sarania Ashram property was donated by Dr. Harikrishna Das. On Mahatma Gandhi's second visit to the state in 1934, he resided in Dr. Das's house at Barpetiapara, Panbazar. Dr. Das along with his wife Hema Prova Das and youngest daughter Amal Prova were deeply influenced by the Mahatma's ideologies.
A freedom fighter and a dedicated worker of the Kasturba Gandhi Trust, upon Hema Prova Das's death in 1945, Dr. Harikrishna Das donated his house at Sarania along with the 54 bighas of land in her memory to the Trust, where the Ashram is now located.
The house was built in 1928 as a vacation home for the family. When Mahatma Gandhi made his fourth and final visit to Assam in 1946, a bamboo cottage was built in the Ashram complex for his stay. That house is still there and is known as the 'Gandhi-Ghar'.
Mahatma Gandhi resided here for three days from 9th to 11th January, 1946 and started the Provincial Kasturba Gram Sevika Vidyalaya.
The daily routine set up by Gandhiji then is still followed till date without much changes. The members continues to weave yarn daily and dress only in khadi or hand woven clothes.
The hermitage at Sarania continues to ring the routine bell regularly at different hours of the day to mark the day's progress, although only a few members are currently residing. 101-year-old Sakuntala Choudhury, who has dedicated her life for the Gandhian ideologies and the upkeepment of the trust, still resides at the Ashram.
The presence of a human skeleton at a showcase in the Gandhi-ghar reminds one of the health lessons that were taught to the Sevikas as part of women hygiene and health. The Neem tree under which Mahatma Gandhi weaved yarn still stands as witness of the Mahatma's works.
