The Gandhigram ashram sits nestled between the Sirumalai hills in the east and the Kodai hills in the west. It was founded by a Gandhian couple, Dr. and Mr. Ramachandran, who hoped to implement Gandhi's plan for the “reconstruction of the social order” in the villages of the Dindigul region, in central Tamil Nadu. Despite its remote location, the ashram's trajectory ran parallel to that of the country it sought to serve. Just weeks before independence, Chinnalapatti village had offered twenty-five acres of land to Dr. Ramachandran on which to build the ashram. A few weeks after independence, operations officially started. Like their counterparts in Delhi, the ashram's founders had long been active in the freedom struggle and were now eager to turn their focus to “constructive work,” the social uplift program set out by Gandhi. Within a few short years, the Bhoodan land reform movement would claim the attention of both.

Nevertheless, Gandhigram seldom looked towards Delhi, and the ashram's views on freedom were not framed in terms of political power or electoral politics. Their program was more ambitious both spatially and conceptually.