National Salt Satyagraha Memorial or Dandi Memorial is at Dandi, Gujarat state, India.

Salt Satyagraha memorial was built to honor those who supported and participated in the “Salt Satyagraha” in 1930. Satyagraha was the nonviolent civil disobedience movement led by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. 80 fellow Satyagrahis also accompanied Gandhi to this site in 1930, when the original protest was held. This satyagraha is considered a landmark struggle against the British.

Gandhi started his journey from Sabarmati Ashram to the Dhandi Sathyagraha site on 5th April 1930. It took 24 days for him and 80 followers to reach the Sathyagraha site at Dandhi. They were given a warm welcome en route by the local people at 21 villages and towns. They walked 390 kilometers to reach the place.

The day Gandhiji and his followers reached the Dandi salt satyagraha site, there were 10000 – 12000 people there, though Dandhi has only a population of nearly 5000 people. Navsari to Dandi road which Gandhi traveled that day has turned into a human ocean. There was a public meeting that Gandhiji addressed under the Banyan tree close to the school there.

The actual salt satyagraha was on the following day, i.e., on 6th April 1930. There was a prayer from 4 am to 6 am, after which Gandhiji and many of his followers took a dip in the ocean as a mark of religious ritual as practiced in India.

After taking a bath, Gandhiji and thousands of his followers broke the “Salt Act”. They started to explore the sea bed in search of natural salt in the salt pans there. But the ruling administration has mixed the natural salt with sand with shovels, to make it inedible.

At last, Gandhi found natural salt near the bungalow of Sirajudin Vasi Set. At 06:30 am, he lifted a pinch of salt and declared, “We have broken the Salt Act”.

Visitors can visualize the historic Salt March in this Museum.

How do I go to the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial?

The nearest town to the Salt Satyagraha Memorial is Surat, 30 kilometers away. There is a major railway station at Surat. The bus station at Surat has direct bus services to the Dandi memorial. There is also an international airport that is 36 kilometers distance from the monument.

Navsari railway station and bus station are 16 kilometers from the Satyagraha memorial.