Remembering Dadadji

On the birth anniversary of the pioneer of modern naturopathy in India, Dr Dinshah K. Mehta the national dailies carried full page advertisements commemorating his life and work issued by the institutions he had established. According to information contained therein, Mehta, born on June 5, 1903, discovered, at the age of seven, that "the purpose of life is perfection.” In 1945 he established the All India Nature Cure Foundation Trust and Mahatma Gandhi, his most famous patient, became its first chairman for life. The institute, now known as the National Institute of Naturopathy — Pune (Poona), was visited by Gandhi 11 times. In all, he stayed there for 156 days, it is mentioned in The Sunday Express of June 5, 2011.

Vintage photographs show Mehta interacting with leading political personalities like Indira Gandhi, Dr Karan Singh, Gulzarilal Nanda, Y. B. Chavan and others along with his prime disciple Dr Sundri P. Vaswani. In his Foreword to a book titled The Beloved Patient, about Gandhiji and Mehta compiled by Vaswani, Dr Karan Singh writes: "Dr Mehta’s record of his long and intimate association with Mahatma Gandhi throws a great deal of light upon the tumultuous events of the 30s and 40s when our freedom movement reached its triumphant but tragic conclusion… Beginning with his first meeting with Gandhiji in 1932, the story continues right up to his assassination in 1948 and beyond.”

Right: Dr Dinshah Mehta (ext r) with Mahatma Gandhi; (left) Mehta after taking sanyas

Also reproduced in the advertisements is a letter of greetings from Indira Gandhi on Mehta’s birthday. In the missive, dated June 5, 1982, she wrote: "I remember those days in Poona — how long ago they now seem — when your entire emphasis was on building and strengthening the body. Now you are concerned with higher things and spiritual development. Many find solace in your guidance.” She was referring to his new avatar metamorphosing from conservatively dressed doctor to Dadaji, resplendent in saffron robes, his full white beard reaching halfway down his chest. Mehta conceived of the Bhagwan Bhojan and Ram Roti meals which were nutritious and within the means of the masses. These "spiritual meals” were served for eight years in both Houses of Parliament, notes an advertisement.

Mehta also established the Society of Servants of God as well as The Needs of Life Co-operative Bank Limited and N. C. Corporation Private Limited, all of which have sponsored the advertisements. The naturopath/sanyasi (one who renounces material things) died in 1993, at the age of 90.

Parsiana spoke to Mehta’s nephews poet Adil Jussawalla and his thespian brother Firdausi over the telephone to garner an insight into their mother’s eldest brother. Their parents had met when their father Dr Jahangir trained in naturopathy with Mehta. Adil said he had "fond memories of him during his earlier years in the nature clinic.” Mehta was able to impress people because of his personality. Adil’s mother Mehera looked up to her brother but his renouncing worldly things to found the Society of Servants of God, leaving his family behind, had an effect on the family, resulting in "turmoil and trouble.”

Firdausi had a fund of information, informing Parsiana that his uncle was an "amazing man” and "charismatic.” A physical culturist in his younger days, he had a great body and posed to show off his musculature. He also performed feats, such as having a car run over him. A little known fact is that he was a shikari (hunter). While at his clinic in Shivgarh near Poona where he housed a few patients, the villagers would often come with complaints of panthers carrying off their cattle, and he would come to their rescue by shooting the offending animal. On one occasion, Firdausi recalled, Mehta was accompanied by a younger uncle who was bitten by a panther which they had presumed to be dead. Mehta treated and cured the injured uncle with naturopathy. "A dreamer with no idea of how to handle money,” Mehta’s clinic at Todiwalla Road in Poona had been gifted to him by a princely family whose members had been his patients and financed by another grateful patient, Keki Bhiwandiwalla of Great Eastern Shipping Company. Bapu Cottage still stands at the site of what is now National Institute of Naturopathy in Poona. The famed nature cure center at Uruli Kanchan was set up in collaboration with Gandhiji.

Firdausi recalled that during the latter years when his uncle was "quite controversial” he would go into a deep trance and do automatic writing which formed the basis of his discourses. He spoke on a range of subjects including communal violence, and these discourses were later published. Mehta’s son Ardeshir, now a resident of Canada, is of a "philosophical bent of mind. He writes, has his own website,” noted Adil.