We've previously discussed how some of history's most famous geniuses would've rather been busy bumping nasties than changing the world. As it turns out, that's a fairly common problem among artists, statesmen, and spiritual leaders. None of what you're about to read necessarily detracts from any of the great things they accomplished -- we're not saying that. We're just saying that behind closed doors, they liked to get freaky.

6 Gandhi Slept in a Pile of Naked Women (Including His Niece)

Via Wikipedia

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Gandhi is arguably the most famous spiritual leader in modern history and was responsible for the civil rights movement that eventually broke British imperial rule over India. He was known for peaceful acts of non-cooperation, including hunger strikes, boycotts, and a 241-mile march to the sea to gather salt, an act prohibited by a bizarrely specific edict of British law.

Gandhi was revered as a holy man until he was assassinated by a religious fanatic, which sadly is what tends to happen to people like him. History repaid Gandhi for decades of self-sacrifice in the name of his fellow man by making a movie about his life starring the bad guy from Species.

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Here he is, posing in front of a statue of himself.

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But Behind Closed Doors ...

It's true that Gandhi took a vow of celibacy when he was 37. However, this did not stop him from heroically encouraging young women to sleep naked with him until he was well into his 70s.

Via Wikimedia Commons

Yeah, we know, buddy. You don't even have to do the look.

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He claimed that this was merely an extension of his vow, intended to test his pious restraint (a phrase a cynical person could take to mean "to inflate his boner tube"). According to the strict rules of Gandhi's ashram, these women weren't even allowed to sleep with their own husbands, yet they were all but required to participate in the Mahatma's creepy old man slumber parties, which included not only sleeping nude with Gandhi, but also bathing with him and giving him stripteases, because the path to a temptation-free existence is apparently paved with nipple tassels.

That's not even the shadiest part. Gandhi took his 18-year-old grandniece on a trip with him to Bengal and commanded her to share the nudity bunk with him for their entire stay, a move he rationalized by telling her that they might be killed at any moment by angry Muslims. That's right -- Gandhi told his barely legal niece to take off all of her clothes and climb into bed with her equally naked great uncle because the two of them might suddenly be murdered.