Google celebrated the 104th birth anniversary of Indian social worker and activist Murlidhar Devidas Amte with a special Doodle on Wednesday, 26 December.
According to the Google Doodle post, Baba Amte’s life was changed forever when he encountered a man suffering from leprosy.
(Photo Courtesy: Google)
Created by Vrinda Zaveri, the doodle starts off with a portrait of Amte. The slideshow that follows shows Amte's life, which he dedicated to serving those in need, especially patients afflicted with leprosy.
"We salute Baba Amte (as he is affectionately called) for a lifetime of service to humanity," said the post on Google, dedicated to the day he was born in 1914.
Amte, who hailed from a wealthy family in Maharashtra, would indulge in hunting wild animals, playing sports, and driving luxury cars.
He studied law and ran his own successful firm by the time he was in his 20s.
A man of perception, Amte was aware of the class inequalities even as a child. In his 30s, he left practice in order to work alongside the underprivileged.
It was during this time that he came across Indu Ghuleshastri, whose kindness to an elderly touched him deeply, and the two got married.
According to the post, Amte's life was changed forever when he encountered a man suffering from leprosy. The sight of the man's decaying body filled him with overwhelming fear.
Confronting that fear, Amte identified the state of "mental leprosy" that allowed people to feel apathetic in the face of this affliction.
"The most frightening disease is not losing one's limbs, but losing one's strength to feel kindness and compassion," he said.
Amte defied social stigmas faced by leprosy patients by injecting himself with bacilli to prove that the disease was not highly contagious.
In 1949, he established Anandwan (meaning "Forest of Bliss"), a self-sufficient village and rehabilitation centre for leprosy patients.
A strong believer in national unity, Amte launched his first ‘Knit India March’ in 1985. At the age of 72, he walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, more than 3,000 miles, with the simple purpose to inspire unity in India.
In a time of national strife, Amte was accompanied by 100 men and 16 women, all under the age of 35.
He organised a second march three years later, travelling over 1,800 miles from Assam to Gujarat.
His legacy lives on through his two sons.
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