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Mahatma: Man of the
ages, man of the times
by Lorna Wredford
"The highest honour that my friends can do me
is to enforce in their own lives
the programme that I stand for or to resist me
to their utmost if they do not believe in it."
Mohandas K. Gandhi in The Story of My Experiment with Truth,
"My Mahatmaship"
"I believe in the absolute oneness of God and, therefore,
of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul. The
rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source.
I cannot, therefore, detach myself from the wickedest soul nor may I be
denied identity with the most virtuous."
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Introduction
Family Background
Gandhi´s Youth
Gandhi’s Legal Training in London
The Tentative Launching of Gandhi’s Career
Gandhi in South Africa
The Beginning of Protests and Petitions
Working for Indian Civil Rights during the Boer War
Satyagraha (Devotion to Truth)
Gandhi’s Return to India and His Religious Quest
Home Life/Business Life
Gandhi’s Faithful Wife Kasturbai (Ba) and Adopted Daughter
Mirabenn Slade
Gandhi’s Work Involving the Role of Women in Society
Details of Communal Lifestyle
Gandhi’s Response to Peasant Hardships
The Work of the Indian National Congress
The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
The Political Arena
The Issue of Cotton Goods and the Protest
Home Rule and the Rowlatt Acts
The Amritsar Massacre and the Chauri Chaura Affair
Gandhi’s Ill Health
The Growth of Hindu/Muslim Tensions
Gandhi’s Call for Independence from Britain
The March on Dandi and Breaking the Salt Monopoly
Gandhi’s Invitation to the Round Table Conference in
London
Gandhi Warns Hands Off the Untouchables
Disillusionment with the Congress Party
The Final Push for Independence
Jinnah’s Plan to Achieve Statehood for Pakistan
The Fast-unto-Death or Deal
Gandhi’s Private Lifestyle
Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in Today’s World
Appendix / Endnotes / Bibliography
Introduction
The man in the loincloth was a unique individual
who changed the face of India when British rule had been onerous and difficult
for many decades. British territorial expansion was efficient, if ruthlessly
conducted over a period of several hundred years1. Many of
the territories were annexed if a ruler did not have an heir (easily accomplished
if he were killed), or in the case of Awadh in 1856, it was considered
justified because the native prince was "of evil disposition, indifferent
to the welfare of his subjects"2. Subsequent to the area being
taken over, harsh taxes were imposed and the peasantry was cruelly exploited,
leading to uprisings and mutinies, particularly one in 1857 known as the
Sepoy Mutiny. The next year the East India Company was dissolved and control
was handed over to the Crown. Into a long-standing atmosphere of oppression
and cultural humiliation rose a hero, the like of which we will not see
again. This essay will discuss the character and life of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi through its many stages, pausing along the way to touch more deeply
on various of his projects.
Family Background
Mohandas Gandhi, the prophet who led the vast and
varied population of India along the long road to Independence in 1947
from under the yoke of British imperialism under the banner of the "soul-force,"
"love force," and "truth force," was the youngest child of his father’s
fourth wife, born on October 2, 1869, in the capital of Porbandar in the
small principality of Gujarat in western India. This area was under the
suzerainty of Britain, which exercised paramount control over the locally
autono-mous region. The father, Karamchand Gandhi, was the dewan
(chief/prime minister) of the city, skilled in administering its affairs
and negotiating between the inconsistent princes and the autocratic British
officials. The boy’s mother, Potlibai, was a deeply religious woman
who spent her time between her duties as a wife and mother and the temple.
Fasting was an integral part of her religious practices. She was noted
for performing long-standing and devoted nursing care whenever members
of the family fell ill.
The Gandhi household was fervently devoted to Vaishnavism and the
boy Gandhi was required to attend temple on a regular basis. Under this
faith with its wealth of images and stories, the Hindu god Vishnu was
considered the world’s keeper and protector, able to restore moral
order (dharma), a theme which Gandhi pursued from an early age.
By means of syncresis (like Hinduism’s other major god Shiva), Vishnu,
through his avatars, incarnations such as the fish, the tortoise
and the bear, exhibits the qualities of many less important gods and goddesses
as well as local heroes. The Gandhi family also professed a deep respect
for Jainism, which preaches nonviolence and the belief that each thing
in the universe is eternal. As part of his boyhood, Gandhi followed ahimsa
(a resolution not to hurt any living creature), vegetarianism, self-purifying
through fasting, and a sense of tolerance for all humans practicing different
beliefs and religions. A famous quote of Gandhi’s in defence of nonviolence
is: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
Gandhi’s
Youth
Mohandas
first attended a primary school with very few facilities, for the children
there practiced their letters by writing in the dust. Fortunately, his
father became the dewan at Rajkot, another princely state, where
he attended a better school. "Though India was then under British rule,
over 500 kingdoms, principalities, and states were allowed autonomy in
domestic and internal affairs: these were the so-called ‘native states’.
Rajkot was one such state."4 The student Gandhi’s report
card lists his standing as "good at English, fair in Arithmetic, and weak
in Geography; conduct very good, bad handwriting."5 His skills
in English would later make it easier to confront the authorities with
well-worded legal arguments, but his poor knowledge of the geographical
features of his own country would impel him to travel as much of India
as time would allow so that he could know the soul of the enormous country
and draw the support of its multilingual tribes. At age 13 his arranged
marriage to a pretty, self-willed young girl named Kasturbai, variously
reported as 7, 10, or 13 at the time, caused him to lose an entire year
at school. "At thirteen he was married to Kasturbai who was even younger."6
Still a boy, Gandhi preferred to take long walks by himself when he found
a few hours away from caring from his sick father or assisting his mother
like a dutiful son with the chores. He was later to pass on the sense
of faithfully carrying out homely chores such as tending the goats to
the younger members of his family, as charmingly portrayed in the Oscar
Award-winning 1982 movie Gandhi.
A number of sources during this research mentioned his youthful
rebellion in exploring atheism, committing petty thefts, smoking behind
the bushes, and even meat-eating, which would have caused his Vaishnava
family much anguish. It can be concluded, then, that he was indeed human
in wishing to test the waters of his coming manhood, but he was remarkable
in promising that he would do these things "never again" and that he kept
these promises. He undertook to copy the behaviour of certain Hindu mythological
heroes such as Prahlada and Harishcandra who were known for their truthfulness
and sacrifice.
By 1887 he was of an age to attend university. He barely passed
the entrance examinations to the University of Bombay and because the
lectures were given in English, he found following the content difficult
because his mother tongue was Gujarati. There was considerable pressure
for him to follow in his father’s high-office footsteps rather than
a career in medicine (vivisection was not acceptable); therefore, it was
decided to make him into a barrister by sending him to London. Gandhi
thought of England as "a land of philosophers and poets, the very centre
of civilization", but his mother was fearful of negative influences of
big city life on her youngest child. She made him swear off wine, women
and meat while he was there and he kept his promise. Since the father
had died when he was seventeen and not left enough money to fund his education
abroad, an older brother stepped in to finance the venture. Also, the
Vaisya creed to which the Gandhi family belonged prohibited travel to
England as being contrary to Hindu beliefs, but this was overlooked by
his mother. Gandhi arrived in London in September 1888 by ship, leaving
behind his wife and young son Harilal, then a few months old. After only
ten days he enrolled in one of the four law colleges in London called
the Inner Temple.
Gandhi’s
Legal Training in London
Gandhi spent three years in London making a great effort to improve
his English and studying the Latin he would need for law studies and practice
and to become "a perfect gentleman". He must have seemed a country bumpkin
with the awkwardness he displayed in wearing English clothing, his insistence
on practicing vegetarianism, and strange manners. He was of fairly small
stature and wore round wire-rimmed spectacles which made him look owlish.
For students, especially young men preparing for the professions, it was
absolutely necessary to eat "good red meat" to help them learn, they advised
him. Gandhi, fortunately, found a nearby restaurant which provided vegetarian
meals, as well as a book defending the practice. By learning to defend
his vegetarian eating habits, Gandhi overcame his shyness and others learned
to respect his zealously firm views on the subject. His joining the executive
committee of the Vegetarian Society of London resulted in his attendance
at conferences and in writing journal articles which were published.
Gandhi’s behaviour soon drew the attention of many young men
and women who were idealists and committed to a number of causes. Many
were disenchanted with the effects of rampant industrialism, reflecting
the Enlightenment viewpoint. From them he learned about the Bible
and the Bhagavadgita (a famous Hindu poem) which he read in the
form of the English translation by Sir Edwin Arnold. A sample of the Bhagavad-Gita
follows: One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every endeavor
is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be
a worker for whom the reactions of work have been burned up by the fire
of perfect knowledge (Transcendental Knowledge 4:20) and Such a
man of understand-ing acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled,
gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions, and acts only
for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by
sinful reactions (Transcendental Knowledge 4:21).7 Gandhi
was in London during the time of the late Victorian Establishment, when
the English reveled in the achievements of core Empire-building at the
expense of peripheral countries, all in a severely restrictive religious
atmosphere of sexual repression (Puritanism) in which even the carved
legs of pianos were covered in petticoat frills for the sake of "decency".8
Many of Gandhi’s new friends and acquaintances preached the simple
life and renounced acquisitiveness; in other words, they stressed the
value of morals over material values. It was through them that Gandhi
was introduced to Edward Carpenter, Thoreau ("Civil Disobedience", Tolstoy
(writings on Christianity), and John Ruskin (admonishing people "to give
up industrialism for the simple life") and other serious thinkers.
The
Tentative Launching of Gandhi’s Career
Gandhi
was called to the Bar in 1891 "and was even enrolled in the High Court
of London"9 but he returned to India in July of that year,
expecting to join the profession and make a lucrative salary. His mother
had died while he was in England and things were very difficult for Gandhi
because he was extremely shy and jobs were scarce. He resorted to preparing
petitions for litigants, a glorified clerk’s role, after being turned
down for a part-time teaching position at a Bombay secondary school. Subsequent
to offending a British officer and being let go, he jumped at the promise
of a year-long but low-paying contract with a firm in Natal, South Africa.
He would be working for an Indian businessman, Dada Abdulla, as a legal
adviser. What was supposed to be a job lasting only a year would stretch
out to over twenty years.10 He would soon learn the derogatory
names such as "coolie", "fakir", and a myriad of others, all humiliating
and describing the "Asiatic Cancer".
Gandhi
in South Africa
In
Durban, a European magistrate ordered Gandhi to take off his turban, but
he refused and left the courtroom perturbed that the judge could wear
a ridiculous-looking wig but he himself could not wear the symbol of his
race. A short while later when traveling by train on a first-class ticket
to Pretoria, he was ejected onto the platform at Pietermaritz-burg Station
because he refused to go to the third class quarters reserved for "coloureds"
like himself. Later on the same journey a white stagecoach driver beat
him for not riding outside on the running-board when a European passenger
"needed" his seat. At his destination, he found that (as in America and
in Canada not many decades ago), there were doors barring his entrance
marked "for Europeans only".11 Considered a "black", he was
not allowed on the streets after 9:00 p.m., and he was supposed to get
off the sidewalk to let Europeans walk there. He must never walk beside
a white man, any white man, but walk respectfully in the rear. Blacks
and Indians could not enter hotels reserved for whites. They could not
own land except in restricted areas and live in quarters which Gandhi
would describe not as "homes" but simply as "dwellings" or "hovels", with
no running water or plumbing. Labourers had to pay an annual residence
tax that was exorbitant, considering their pittance wages and the long
distances they had to travel each day to get to work. Profits were being
siphoned back to Europe as part of the imperialist system. The movie Gandhi
explains the humiliations endured by traders and others who always had
to show their passes as a mark of white control.
The
Beginning of Protests and Petitions
For
Gandhi the journey to Pretoria from Durban served as his moment of truth.
He resolved to seek justice for Indians and for all men in these unfair
surroundings. He set out to educate his countrymen concerning their rights
and duties. His year in South Africa was drawing quickly to a close and
Gandhi prepared to go back to Durban to take the ship home to India. While
attending a farewell party in his honour he noticed an article in the
Natal newspaper declaring that the government there intended to take the
vote from all Indians in the country. Others said the situation was hopeless,
but Gandhi was incensed and agreed to stay and take up their cause. He
sent a petition with 10,000 signatures to the Colonial Office in London
protesting against the proposed bill.
As a shy man, Gandhi had never considered a career in politics,
but in July 1894 at the young age of twenty-five, Gandhi learned quickly
how to draft petitions to the Natal Legislature and the British government,
and also how to indicate support for those petitions by having thousands
of signatures affixed. By the time the bill was passed, the public and
the press in Natal, India and England were well aware of the injustices
going on. In 1894, Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress based on the
model of the National congress in India started in 1885 and became their
hard-working secretary. It was an organization which galvanized a spirit
of cooperation in a very diverse community. He urged the Indians to improve
themselves in the fields of education, sanitation and cooperation. They
would need to appear more "civilized" when dealing with the whites. There
were two types of Indians in South Africa: (1) those professionals and
businessmen who freely came, and (2) those who came as indentured labourers,
badly exploited by their white employers. His reasoned statements in very
clear English appeared to flood the press and were soon the subject of
discussion at dinner tables throughout the world, for it was considered
a disgrace to treat British subjects who were Indian this way in a British
colony in Africa. Gandhi’s ongoing cryptic remarks were faithfully
reported in major newspapers. When Gandhi became aware of the conditions
under which Indians were operating, he took wages from the affluent business-class
Indians and served the poor class members free of charge.
When Gandhi returned to India in 1896 to retrieve his wife and children
and return to South Africa, he took the opportunity to gather support
for the plight of Indians overseas. While in India, however, back in Natal,
the news of his activities was not received lightly and when he returned
he was almost lynched by a white crowd of insurgents. In British fashion,
Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary from the British Cabinet demanded
that those guilty of attacking Gandhi be charged, but Gandhi refused,
declaring that he would not seek redress for a personal wrong through
the courts.
Working
for Indian Civil Rights during the Boer War
The
South African War (known as the Boer War) broke out in 1899. Gandhi stated
that Indians in Natal, in claiming rights of citizenship, must support
the war efforts as their duty. Gandhi organized an ambulance corps of
1,100 Indian volunteers drawn from all social levels and encouraged these
diverse men to concentrate on their essential service, even if they were
giving their efforts to help the people they considered their oppressors.
Gandhi was reported in The Pretoria News as being indefatigable,
a leader of men who brought out the best in them. Several news items report
that Gandhi’s ambulance corps bravely operated under the direct fire
of the enemy, meaning that they carried stretchers over rough and muddy
terrain.
Satyagraha
(Devotion to Truth)
The
resolution of the war brought about a coalition between the Boers (Dutch)
and the British officials, but no relief for the Indians living there.
In 1906 the Transvaal government issued a hard and denigrating law which
required Indians to register. They were to be fingerprinted and carry
a Certificate of Registration at all times. The police could turn up at
any dwelling door to inspect the premises, invading the sacred right of
privacy. In addition, all marriages outside the Christian faith were to
be considered invalid, making every wife a whore and every child of those
marriages a bastard, strong and deeply insulting terms intolerable to
the entire Indian community no matter how poor they were. At a meeting
in Johannesburg in September 1906, Gandhi organized a protest meeting
to pledge defiance of the law and indicated he was willing to suffer the
consequences. This was the beginning of satyagraha (devotion to
truth) as a means of redressing evils by inviting suffering instead of
fighting back and in this unique way to resist a strong political opposing
force without anger or violence. Gandhi well understood the nature of
imperialism which was always backed by armies (force) and he wished to
replace that system by swadeshi (interdependence without exploitation).
When Gandhi and his followers refused to comply with the provisions of
the new Asiatic Registration Act, they were thrown into prison,
a move which drew further support for Gandhi. The government was forced
to offer a compromise by stating that if the Indians registered voluntarily,
the government would withdraw the bill. But the government reneged on
their promise and Gandhi retaliated by meeting in an open space with a
gathering of 3000 Indians along with several police officers and burning
their certificates one by one in a bonfire as a mark of protest. He was
badly beaten but even when he was laid low bleeding on the ground he continued
to reach up and throw the offending papers into the fire. He was then
dragged off to prison. When many of his supporters who were breadwinners
of their families were also imprisoned, Gandhi arranged to set up communal
farms to support the dependants. Gandhi continued to work hard to resist
unfair measures and finally in 1914 the Government reached an agreement
with Gandhi by passing the Indian Relief Act which legalized non-Christian
marriages and abolished some of the taxes payable by industries, labourers
and others. This struggle had lasted for seven years, causing hundreds
of Indians to lose their businesses and freedom rather than lose their
dignity in submitting to the humiliating new laws. By 1913, hundreds of
Indians, including women, faced jail and those who went on strike from
the mines were thrown into prison, faced beatings and even being shot.
However, the dirty laundry of the South African government was evident
for all the world to see. Finally, pressure from the governments of Britain
and India forced Gandhi to sign a one-sided compromise agreement with
the formidable South African General Jan Christian Smuts. Gandhi’s
famous quote concerning this difficult time was: "They will have my dead
body but not my obedience. We will not submit to this law!"12
Gandhi was quick to recognize that it was the British who decided how
they lived and asked others to think of the question, "Do we fight to
change things or to punish?" It is notable that Gandhi while imprisoned
made General Smuts a pair of sandals as a symbol of there being no ill
feeling between the two of them so that peace could eventually be established.13
Peace in South Africa was not a permanent arrangement, however, for the
problems of the "coloureds" (Indians and blacks) in that country have
endured until this day, in spite of many changes in the government and
the devoted work of such men as President Mandela and Archbishop Tutu.
It is said that the efforts and experiences of Gandhi did involve him
deeply in the racial problems in South Africa and prepared him for even
greater challenges in his native country for the next thirty-five years
until his death at the hands of an assassin.
Gandhi’s
Return to India and His Religious Quest
Gandhi’s exposure to religious workers of many faiths including
Quakers in Pretoria and others in London created in him a thirst for knowledge
and an appetite for religious studies. He slaked his thirst by delving
into the Koran and Hindu teachings, particularly as a way of passing
the time constructively while incarcerated. From his dedicated readings
he came to the conclusion that religions were all leading in the same
true path, only limited by being "interpreted with poor intellects, sometimes
with poor hearts, and more often misinterpreted".14 The most
profound religious influence in Gandhi’s life came from the Bhagavadgita,
particularly two concepts: (1) apargraha (nonpossession, or getting
rid of the clutter of material goods which interfered with the development
of the spirit) and (2) samabhava (equability) which taught him,
notwithstanding all forces, to stay unruffled by either success or failure.
Home
Life/Business Life
Upon
his return to India in 1915, he was advised by his political mentor, Gokhale,
to familiarize himself with Indian conditions through travel. As a lawyer,
his mission was to bring together two opposing parties in working towards
a solution. Because of his generous nature, his clients became his friends,
and many would call him up at all hours of the day or night to ask his
advice on even homely matters. Thus, he was a teacher of humanity as well
as a source of legal counsel. We know that he tried his hand as many home-based
occupations as part of his daily life. He says, "I regard myself as a
house-holder, leading a humble life of service and, in common with my
fellow-workers, living upon the charity of friends. . . . The life I am
living en entirely very easy and very comfortable, if ease and comfort
are a mental state.. I have all I need without the slightest care of having
to keep any personal treasures."15
At the most, Gandhi’s earnings reached only £5,000 per
annum, which most often he turned back into his public activities. Living
a frugal life of simplicity, Gandhi and his household always welcomed
guests and became a hostel for colleagues and coworkers who attached themselves
to his causes. By stripping his life of possessions and encumbrances and
by taking a vow of celibacy at the relatively early age of 37, he could
concentrate on being of service to others. This he did under the principle
of brahmacarya (complete renunciation of the pleasures of the flesh
or celibacy, striving towards God). Gandhi’s
Faithful Wife Kasturbai (Ba) and Adopted Daughter Mirabenn Slade
Gandhi as a male expected his wife’s obedience and her devotion
in promoting his causes. It was she who garnered the support of many wives
and drew them to attend conferences and protests. When Gandhi was imprisoned
it was she who spoke to the public in his place. A very poignant scene
in the movie shows her rebelling against the lowly task of dealing with
the issue of sanitation. She refuses to rake and cover the latrines, a
job usually relegated to the untouchables or outcasts. Gandhi is shown
in this scene at first as being fierce with her, threatening to expel
her from the household, but he reasons with her and apologizes. In turn,
Kasturbai with the beautiful doe eyes asks querulously "Where would I
go?" and then promises to do that part of her duty to support his efforts
to live a humble life, one that follows his religious principles closely
and makes it possible to gather in all classes of society. "He has written
how ashamed he was of himself [for chastising her so harshly], and how
he took care not to hurt her anymore for the rest of his life."16
As a mark of his devotion, when Ba was ready to deliver one of their children
and the midwife was missing, Gandhi delivered the child himself. He records
that he helped his wife in feeding, bathing and changing the infant, an
unusual thing for an Indian male to do over ninety years ago.
Kasturbai bore her first child Harilal at age 16 (according to some
records), and then four years later came Manilal in 1892. Ramdas was born
in 1897, and Devadas, the last of the four boys, was born in 1900. The
undertaking of brahamacharya (chastity) in 1906 precluded having
further children. Sources wonder if this decision was shared by both Mohandas
and Kasturbai, but many feel that Gandhi was overbearing. She did, however,
decide to work alongside her husband for the achievement of causes and
in 1913 she was herself arrested and sentenced to three months in prison
at hard labour. This must have been extremely hard for her. She was good
at recruiting women volunteers and made speeches when Gandhi was not able
to appear at meetings. Kasturbai was deeply distressed at the situation
which caused Gandhi to be absent from his children and when her oldest
son appeared at her bedside when she was laid low with a heart condition,
she burst out crying.17
Although they were married for sixty-two years, a very long time, not
much is known about the personal side of their relationship, even though
Gandhi wrote profusely about his own efforts and causes. Researchers,
therefore, question how Kasturbai felt about the many women who hovered
about as followers and devotees and eventually took over the duties of
caring for Gandhi’s personal needs when she was too weary to do so.
Critics warn that this question may not reflect a concern of the true
Indian culture. Those who were there readily testify to the affectionate
bonds they exhibited and point to the fact that she accompanied him voluntarily
to his house arrest at the Aga Khan’s Palace in Poona. In 1944 she
died there and the photo taken of her moments after her death show Gandhi
a shrunken figure crowded into the corner of the room, obvious distraught.18
In the movie Gandhi, mention of the character of Mirabenn Slade, daughter
of an English admiral, played by Geraldine Jones, does not appear in the
printed resources examined, but she does represent Gandhi’s many
connections with individuals of all races in many countries, through whom
his message is portrayed. They give him an avenue to express his reasoning
in his quest for Independence and a dignified life for all Indians. At
the same time Mirabenn demonstrates the great sense of bonding Gandhi
had, for when she says on first meeting him that they have corresponded
for a long time and coming here was a fulfillment of her dream, he immediately
replies that she can become his adopted daughter. Even so, her hugeness
not at all flattered by her flat features and the clumsy white woven cotton
garb on screen is jarring and might suggest that the diminutive Gandhi
will still slay the British icon she may represent. The later appearance
of a young and attractive Candice Bergen as an American photographer provides
a contrast for the anemic Miss Slade. The famous photo which records at
rest kneeling Gandhi while reading beside his spinning wheel in his sparsely
furnished room was, in fact, taken by Margaret Bourke-White for Life
Magazine in 1947 (see following page). Perhaps these characters were
added to the screen to let us see how patient Gandhi must have had to
be to put up with us, generally. Gandhi’s
Work Involving the Role of Women in Society
During Gandhi’s early years, the average life-span of an Indian
was only 27 years, and even less for women. Widowhood was very common
and the rate of deaths during childbirth was high, considering many expectant
mothers were just children themselves. Only 2 percent of women had the
privilege of an education, and in the North many practiced Purda
(veil), traveling to school in closely covered carts (tangas),
much as they are forced to do in present-day Taliban controlled Afghanistan.
Under these conditions, the fact that Gandhi taught that women were equal
to men was remarkable. He recognized that their support was very important
in the fight for India’s Independence. Gandhi never went half-way
with any project, and so it was he who advocated complete reform called
Sarvodaya (comprehensive progress). Believing that the difference
between males and females is merely physical, he went further and stressed
that in matters of tolerance, patience and sacrifice women are better
than men. It is notable that women played an integral role in all his
projects. According to Gandhi, women are equal to men intellectually,
mentally and spiritually.19 The work of Gandhi has made a tremendous
difference in the way women are treated in India, although some negative
practices still exist.
Significantly, Gandhi wished to abolish the dowry system, saying
simply, "The evil system has to go, since is dishonours women."20
At the same time he urged women to give up their jewelry and gifts which
had been given to the family at their wedding, so that the proceeds could
be directed to helping the poor. "Tearfully Kasturbai would give up jewels
and gifts."21 He believed that women had great potential to
do good. "He felt that women were naturally more non-violent and had the
potential to do more against war than men. He felt that women had greater
intuition and greater courage and . . . they should be educated just as
men were."22
Gandhi thought it wrong to wish only for male children, stating that "as
long as we don’t consider girls as natural as our boys our nation
will be in a dark eclipse".23 News media reports about two
years ago reported that as many as 90 million females were missing from
the population of South Asia because of scientific advancements allowing
for fetus gender choice of boys over girls, as well as consideration of
the conditions many unwanted baby girls are placed in to hinder their
ability to survive (some are left by the side of the road to starve).
This population imbalance will cause a national crisis in less than fifteen
years when an overpopulation of males seek mates that are not there.
Gandhi called for young men to marry the widows who were in plentiful
supply and to leave the child brides alone. Many of the very young widows
after the early death of their husbands were condemned to an awful life
shunned by society and forced to shave their heads and live in isolation.
Gandhi felt that they deserved their childhood free from pregnancy and
other heavy responsibilities.24
Gandhi was very disturbed by the Devadasis, the low-caste
untouchables, particularly by the cruel and neglectful treatment of children
of the brothels. He foresaw that after Independence the institution of
temple women and brothels would be abolished when people realized that
protecting women’s honour was as sacred as the Hindu belief in the
protection of cows. The fact that millions of Indian women today can go
to work in offices, schools, and factories freely is due to Gandhi’s
preparatory work ninety years ago. It was through the hard-fought Constitution
that women in India gained the right to vote and be treated as equals,
yet women in the West were still struggling for a degree of autonomy as
late as the 1930s. We must remember and incorporate social services, job
dignity, and a sense of self-reliance as natural elements in our society,
the ones that Gandhi recommended. Details
of Communal Lifestyle
Gandhi had for a long time been drawn to the simple life of an ashram
(ashramas), a sort of communal village. After reading Ruskin’s
Unto This Last, which was a criticism of the evils of capitalism,
Gandhi in 1904 had set up a communal farm near Durban in 1904. Six years
later the Tolstoy Farm began as a colony near Johannesburg, followed years
later by two others in India, Sabarmati near Ahmedabad and Sevagram near
Wardha.25 When Gandhi began the ashram in Gujarat in his native
region, the residents began calling him "Bapu", meaning "father" and soon
after that the revered name of "Mahatma" (Great Soul) began to be used.
This name was initially used by India’s most renowned writer, Rabindranath
Tagore26 and it followed him wherever he went. Gandhi’s
Response to Peasant Hardships
An Indian peasant in 1916 from Champaran, a village in the Himalayan
foothills, contacted Gandhi to address the fact that they had to pay a
share of profits from their indigo crops to their British landowners and
were now being asked to pay more money in rents, in spite of the fact
that indigo was no longer to be sent to England for the cloth manufacturing
industry there because they were producing their own dyes. This left the
Champaran farmers destitute and in a hopeless situation. When Gandhi went
to investigate, the local authorities ordered him to go away, in spite
of the fact that he was surrounded by thousands of people who had descended
on the location to greet him, having heard by word of mouth the short
phrase "He is coming!" Gandhi refused to do what the officious officer
ordered and stated that he was prepared to pay the penalty for disobeying
the statute. This confounded the officials. The officers of the court,
when they saw the local support given to Gandhi, released him instead
of penalizing him and this constituted a small but significant victory
for Gandhi. The
Work of the Indian National Congress
In December 1916, an agreement was put forth at the Indian National
Congress and the All-India Muslim League called the Lucknow Pact.
It was adopted on December 29th by Congress and on December
31st by the League. The Maratha leader, B. G. Tilak, was prominent
in stating how the reunion of the moderate and radical wings of Congress
would work together. This agreement also marked the beginnings of nationalist
efforts and was the start of Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement of
1920-22. The Lucknow Pact meeting in 1916 discussed how the new
government of India would be set up and how Muslim and Hindu communities
would operate together. According to the Pact it was proposed that:
"Four-fifths of the provincial and central legislatures were to
be elected on a broad franchise, and half the executive council members,
including those of the central executive council, were to be Indians elected
by the councils themselves."27
Except for the provision of the central executive, these same proposals
were to appear largely intact in the Government of India Act of
1919. The Congress also agreed to separate electorates for Muslims in
provincial council elections and for representation in their favour (beyond
the proportions indicated by population) in all provinces except the Punjab
and Bengal, where they gave favoured somewhat the Hindu and Sikh minorities.
This Pact paved the way for Hindu-Muslim cooperation in the Khilafat Movement
and Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement from 1920. The
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
The Viceroy in India from 1916-21 was Baron Chelmsford of Chelmsford
who had risen quickly in the armed forces during the early part of World
War I. Together with Edwin Samuel Montagu, Secretary of State for India,
they instituted what were known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms,
intended to increase the central and provincial legislatures in size and
to permit elected majorities. In the provinces a dyarchy system was begun
with some departments under the control of the legislature and others
answerable to the Governor. And on the Viceroy’s Executive Council,
the number of Indian representatives increased to three from one out of
a total of seven. The results, however, were serious riots in Gujarat,
Gandhi’s home state, and the Punjab, which led to Chelmsford imposing
the Rowlatt Acts in 1919. For a short time, the riots and the cruel
British treatment made Gandhi desist from his militant opposition for
fear of being charged with sedition and coming to physical harm. But by
1920 Gandhi’s Non-cooperation campaigns resulted in the Congress
Party boycotting the first elections to the councils that had been reformed
through the work of Viceroy Chelmsford. The
Political Arena
By the fall of 1920 Gandhi was front and centre in the political
arena, with a power never before achieved by any leader in that country.
The National Congress held a 3-day Christmas week picnic for the upper
middle class in an important city, but the message was soon dispersed
to villages all across the country, almost like the proverbial drums of
Africa. He told the people it was "not British guns by imperfections of
Indians themselves that kept their country in bondage".28 Gandhi’s
method was to encourage others to boycott British goods as well as the
institutions that were governed by British officials in India, because
for generations the British had belittled them and considered them as
ignorant savages, fit only to work like dogs and serve. The targets of
Gandhi’s disdain included legal offices, courts, businesses, and
British-run schools. After all, the peasants were almost all illiterate
and had no hope of gaining an education that would prepare them to meet
life’s crises. The
Issue of Cotton Goods and the Protest
Gandhi believed it was unfair to make Indians buy cotton that was
processed in English manufacturing centres, when the cotton itself was
grown in India and picked by ill-paid hard-pressed workers. Therefore,
he urged Indians to make their own cotton cloth and held a mass burning
of English cotton goods in protest, stating "There is no beauty in the
finest cloth if it makes unhappiness."29 In many photographs,
Gandhi is seated at the spinning wheel, struggling to spin the reluctant
cotton wool into thread for his tunic. As part of the Khadi movement in
which he urged all Indians to spin their own cloth,30 Gandhi
took pride in wearing clothing that he himself had spun and woven, his
trademark dress which, along with his wooden shepherd’s staff and
spectacles, made his recognizable to the world.
Gandhi was called to mediate in a strike of textile mill workers
in Ahmedabad. In this or a similar situation, the movie depicts Gandhi
marching towards the mill followed closely by hundreds of workers. The
mill management drives up and demands that the workers return to work
pronto. When defied (Gandhi declares, "Then we have warned each other!"),
management retreats, soon replaced by rows and rows of soldiers mounted
on horses, armed with lethal batons. In a gripping scene as the forces
advance towards them, someone shouts, "Lie down! The horses will not trample
us if we all lie down." This scene reminds one of the powerful and well-known
scene in the early black-and-white film entitled Battleship Potemkin
in which the baby carriages tumble down the steps after their mothers
have been mowed down by soldiers’ bullets during a civil confrontation
on the steps of the legislative buildings.
The workers portrayed here after two weeks had suffered much and
were weakening in their resolve. Gandhi launched his first public fast
to resolve the crisis. The crisis was resolved by having the mill owners
and the workers come to a settlement. From that point on, Gandhi was to
use the means of fasting in his struggle with the British officials and
to move towards winning Independence for India. Gandhi as part of the
movie dialogue declared: "To gain independence we must be worthy of it."
All over the world through the news media, governments (some with scorn)
were recognizing the importance of the skinny little man in the loincloth:
"Persons in power should be very careful how they deal with a man
who cares nothing for sensual pleasure, nothing for riches, nothing for
comfort or praise, or promotion, but is simple determined to do what he
believes to be right. He is a dangerous and uncomfortable enemy, because
his body which you can always conquer gives you so little purchase upon
his soul." (Gilbert Murray, Hibbert Journal, 1918).31
Gandhi was recognized for his various causes and himself used the
media to spread his ideas, including the many papers that he founded.
"Indeed, were Gandhi known for nothing else in India, he would still be
remembered as one of the principal figures in the history of Indian journalism."32
In a world accustomed to settling disagreements in world warfare by displaying
and using military forces measured by armed men, tanks, and other military
gear, his was a totally unexpected approach – nonviolence and fasting. Home
Rule and the Rowlatt Acts
By early 1930, Congresses were calling for Home Rule and would gather
many supporters over the next years. "The Indian National Congress, the
preeminent body of nationalist opinion, declared that it would now be
satisfied with nothing short of complete independence (purna swaraj)".33
Its official position was one of neutrality. During the War, anti-British
feelings were accelerating, since Britain was involved in an expensive
World War that brought food shortages and rapid inflation. As part of
the British Empire, India was considered to be at war with the Axis powers.34
Gandhi criticized fascism but at the same time Indians were unwilling
to support ongoing British imperialism. But Gandhi assisted in recruiting
men for the British Indian Army, believing that after this Great War Britain
would give India its Independence. Instead, the Rowlatt Commission in
February 1919 made conditions worse by extending the World War I emergency
measures meant to control subversive activities, despite the unanimous
opposition of all nonofficial Indians on the Imperial Legislative Council.
As if still under war conditions, individuals could be tried without juries
and suspects could be interned without the formality of trials. The
Rowlatt Acts were intended to replace the wartime Defence of India
Act of 1915 with a permanent law still repressive, based on Justice
S.A.T. Rowlatt’s committee report of 1918.35 Although
the Rowlatt Acts were never actually used as such, Home Rule leaders
were subsequently tossed into prison. Gandhi called a nationwide cessation
of work on April 6, 1919, knowing that every British citizen in the country
depended heavily on Indian services and servants. Violence erupted throughout
the country and Gandhi called off the resistance campaign. The
Amritsar Massacre and the Chauri Chaura Affair
In Amritsar in the Punjab on April 13, 1919, General Dyer, confronting
a crowd of 10,000 demonstrators, massacred from between 379(36)
to 1150 individuals, according to a range of sources, including women
and children, gathered for a peaceful protest meeting. Along with those
killed, over 1,200 were brutally wounded by bullets fired by a solid line
of kneeling soldiers aiming carefully and shooting deliberately into bunches
of panicked people. Reports mention and show by grim photos widespread
bloodshed in the large enclosed courtyard known as the Jallianwalla Bagh
which had only one locked entrance that prevented any escape. This was
a disgrace to human rights and many condemned General Dyer’s actions,
but others back in England supported him. In response, Gandhi wrote the
report of the Punjab Congress Inquiry Committee and started up the Non-cooperation
Movement by advising Indians to not partake in activities involving British
institutions, to return honors granted by the British, and to learn to
be self-reliant.37
This bloody confrontation was followed by the imposition of martial
law, public beatings and other humiliations. It left a deep scar on Indo-British
intercourse and initiated the beginning of Gandhi’s Non-cooperation
Movement of 1920-22. Gandhi’s words sparked the whole country and
soon thousands of peaceful satyagrahis (passive resisters, "holding
onto truth") were arrested for peaceably defying elements of British rule.
"Gandhi conceived of his own life as a series of experiments to forge
the use of satyagraha in such a manner as to make the oppressor and the
oppressed alike recognize their common bonding and humanity: as he recognized,
freedom is only freedom when it is indivisible."38 It seemed
as if success might well be within their reach because work stoppages,
it was realized, could bring all business and industry in the country
to a halt. But serious trouble in Chauri Chaura, a faraway village in
the United Provinces in eastern India, made Gandhi pause and he chose
to call off the mass civil disobedience. In February 1922 a dozen policemen
had been brutally lynched by an angry crowd when they emerged from their
station house after it was set on fire. Gandhi’s
Ill Health
On March 10, 1922, Gandhi himself was arrested and charged with
sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison. During his incarceration
he wrote his autobiography entitled "The Story of My Experiment with Truth".
After he had spent only two years in the prison, he had a severe attack
of appendicitis. He refused medical treatment but later consented to have
an operation and after his recovery from surgery in February of 1924 he
was released. Other sources claim he was not released until 1925. The
Growth of Hindu/Muslim Tensions
Once out of prison, he noticed that there was much dissension between
the Muslim and Hindu factions and that there was argumentation even within
the Congress itself. This kind of bitter bickering had a history based
on Khilafat movement that arose in India during the early part of the
20th Century when Muslims began to fear that their Islamic
faith was being threatened by the Italian and Balkan attacks on Turkey,
whose sultan or caliph was the nominal head of the world’s Muslim
faithful. Under the Treaty of Sèvres in August of 1920, the Turkish
Empire was dismantled and dispersed to non-Muslim powers. In India the
brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, as well as Abul Kalam Azad, sought
to help the Muslim cause and joined Gandhi’s Non-cooperation campaign
for freedom for India. They promised to be nonviolent if Gandhi gave them
his support. But in 1920 about 18,000 Muslims decided to go to Afghanistan
during a hijrat (exodus). This, coupled with a fierce rebellion
in South India in 1921 by the Muslim Moplah, stirred up Hindu animosity
in India. When Gandhi was arrested in March 1922, this stalled the Khilafat
movement, especially when the Greeks were driven from western Asia Minor
in 1922 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who then deposed the Turkish sultan
later in 1922 and abolished the caliphate in 1924.39 Upon the
demise of the movement, they merged with the movement pushing for an independent
Pakistan.
While Gandhi was in prison, changes took place within the Congress
Party, for it had divided into two sections, one under Chitta Ranjan Das
and Motilal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru’s father), and the other under
C. Rajagopalachari and Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel. The first pair of
leaders favoured joining the legislatures and the other opposed this move.
During this jockeying for power, the relations between the Hindus and
the Muslims had become fractious. They were reluctant to listen to Gandhi’s
concerted efforts at coming to reasonable solutions, preferring to become
filled with suspicions and fanatical posturings. In a sustained effort
to keep the Indian territory together, and realizing that bitter feuds
were ongoing, Gandhi started a twenty-one day fast in the fall of 1924
"when Hindu-Muslim riots broke out at Kohat, a military barracks on the
Northwest Frontier",40 that resulted finally in initiating
Muslim-Hindu talks due to their concern for his health. Gandhi would never
accept the concept that Hindus and Muslims were two different elements
in Indian society. All the while Gandhi’s message to the people was
to follow non-violence. The movie powerfully shows this period in the
Great Soul’s life, especially by depicting graphically a Hindu angered
at having had his son killed by warring Muslims. Gandhi, using Old
Testament Solomon-like wisdom, advises the grieving Hindu father to
adopt a Muslim boy the same age as his son and to raise him as a Muslim. Gandhi’s
Call for Independence from Britain
In 1927 Sir John Simon was appointed by the British government to
set up a constitutional reform commission but, notably, not one Indian
was named as a member. Congress and other parties opposed this move and
stayed away from participating in its functions, raising the ire of the
frustrated British. At the Congress meeting in Calcutta in December 1928,
Gandhi made a motion calling for the British to give dominion status to
India and removal from the yoke of Britain. Gandhi declared that if their
reasonable demands were not met within a year, there would be a nation-wide
nonviolent campaign for Independence.41
In December 1928 the Congress formally called on Gandhi to guide
them. Gandhi announced that he would start a mass civil disobedience movement
to achieve Independence, for the function of civil resistance was seen
as a way to provoke a response. On December 31st, 1929, Congress,
headed by its New President, Jawaharlal Nehru, unfurled the flag of Independence.
In later years Nehru would become India’s first Prime Minister but
only after India was partitioned into two parts, India and Pakistan. The
March on Dandi and Breaking the Salt Monopoly
On
March 2nd Gandhi wrote a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin,
telling him that unless Indian demands were agreed to, he would see to
it that the salt laws would be broken. This missive was received with
raised eyebrows and some degree of amusement. Everyone recognized that
the two staples of Indian life were bread and salt, and yet the right
to produce salt locally from their own seashores was being denied the
Indian people. Instead, they were forced to buy it from Britain. It was
decided that on March 12 Gandhi would march with a group of 78 marchers,
as a satyagraha, to Dandi by the sea and symbolically pick up a
piece, while declaring, "Let every Indian claim this salt as his right!"
Thus began the Salt March to correct a deep wrong. The march by the time
the 240-mile journey was completed had attracted thousands. They arrived
on April 5th, and when Gandhi picked up a symbolic lump of
natural salt he signaled thousands of people to defy the law.42
The authorities were present to make mass arrests, numbering 60,000.43
In spite of being beaten fiercely with clubs, the demonstrators did not
raise their hands in violence. By the end of this phase a year later,
there were over 100,000 people in prison, including Nehru’s mother.
The reporter from the New York Times cabled his paper that the
attacks on the salt workers who marched forward five abreast to face police
assault weapons went on and on into the night without faltering. He poignantly
stated, "Whatever moral ascendancy Britain had is lost today. India is
free, for she has taken all that skill and cruelty can give and has not
retreated, both Hindu and Muslim alike. Women carried the wounded and
broken bodies from the road. It went on and on."44 The effects
of the non-cooperation and the boycotts were having an enormous effect
on the Indian economy. The Delhi Pact, also called the Gandhi-Irwin
Pact, was signed and all prisoners were released and the British salt
monopoly was broken. As a corollary, Gandhi promised that he would not
return to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad if India did not gain its
independence. By the mid-30s he set up in a remote village in Segaon (Sevagram),45
where he received many notable visitors. Gandhi continued to travel and
included trips to the Northern Frontier to visit Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan,
the wealthy Pathan who was his dear friend. Gandhi’s
Invitation to the Round Table Conference in London
Gandhi was invited, as the only representative of the Indian National
Congress, to be present at a Round Table Conference held in London in
1931, but Gandhi found that the topics for discussion dwelled only on
the Indian minorities problem and not on the important issue of passing
power over to the Indians. Gandhi did visit the Lancashire fabric mills
where workers welcomed him as a kindred spirit working for the betterment
of conditions for all factory workers. When Gandhi returned to his country
in December 1931, he told his friends, "We’ve come a long way. When
they leave we want to see them off as friends." However, Lord Willingdon
had in the meantime imposed oppressive measures against the nationalist
movement. Gandhi was again incarcerated and efforts were made to keep
his contacts with the outside world limited.
The British introduced a reformed Constitution and proposed separate
elections for Hindus, Muslims, and untouchables. This was not what Gandhi
wanted because he had been making every effort to have all parties and
classes work together in unity. He started a fast-unto-death against the
proposed idea of separate elections. Gandhi
Warns Hands Off the Untouchables
In September 1932 Gandhi heard that the British government was introducing
a reformed Constitution which would give separate elections for Hindus,
Muslims and untouchables. It intended to separate the untouchables by
giving them their own electorates, thus marginalizing them. Gandhi began
a fast as a means of protest. With the ensuing uproar throughout the country,
the British government about-faced and provided an alternative electoral
arrangement, drawn up by the Hindus and the untouchables, and approved
by the government in London. Gandhi from then on called the untouchables,
the lowest of the castes in India relegated to menial tasks, the Harijans
("the children of God") or dalits and began a strong campaign
to change their status for the better. Disillusionment
with the Congress Party
In 1934 Gandhi left the Congress Party both as leader and as a member,
realizing that many leading members were using nonviolence for personal
political gains, no longer the way it was meant to serve. He instead focused
on building India from the foundations, concentrat-ing on education for
the rural sections of India, which constituted 85 percent of the people.
As a proponent of rights for the untouchables, he also promoted handcrafts
such as handspinning of cotton and other homegrown fibres, weaving, and
cottage industries to replace the earnings that had been removed from
the peasants by the whimsies of British industry. The
Final Push for Independence
When war again broke out in 1939 it was India’s opportunity
to push for Independence. However, in one of Gandhi’s letters, he
says, "I thought that England’s need should not be turned into our
opportunity, and that it was more becoming and far-sighted not to press
our demands while the war lasted. I therefore adhered to my advice and
invited those who would to enlist as volunteers. There was a good response."46
The National Congress, however, was not committed to peace and was ready
to support the British war effort on the condition that Indian self-government
was a sure thing. Gandhi realized that it would be to British advantage
if the British could promote discord between the Hindus and the Muslims
and he was wary of the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps who came to India
with a document bearing equivocal terms concerning switching over power
to India. As a result of these conditions, Gandhi once again became politically
active and by the summer of 1942 he demanded an immediate withdrawal of
the British from the country, at a crucial phase in the war with Germany
and Japan. British forces moved in immediately and took prisoners of all
the Congress leadership, intending to squelch the party permanently. The
violence that broke was brutally suppressed, causing a broadening gulf
between the two countries. Jinnah’s
Plan to Achieve Statehood for Pakistan
In August 1942 Gandhi launched the Hind Swaraj ("Quit India"/Indian
Home Rule) movement, after publishing a short treatise under the same
name "where he all but initiated the critique, not only of industrial
civilization, but of modernity in all its aspects."47 He issued
the famous "do or die" called for all Indians to engage in one final struggle
to achieve independence, or die in the attempt.48 For this
action he and the rest of the Congress leadership was again imprisoned
less than 24 hours after issuing the clarion call, causing violent uprisings
throughout India "directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government
buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule", as well
as wide use of sabotage.49 During the famine that resulted,
one-and-a-half million people died. Gandhi fasted in protest for 21 days
under a kind of house arrest at the Aga Khan’s Palace in Poona.50
About this time, in February 1944, Gandhi’s wife Kasturbai, his beloved
Ba, died in his arms of heart complications. Soon after his private secretary
of many years, Mahadev Desai, also died. The grieving Gandhi also fell
ill, while the whole world pressed for his release.
He was much distressed when Muslim League declared its support for
the British during the War and thus curried their favour unfairly, growing
stronger while the National Congress consisting of Hindus weakened. This
was the crux in the matter of the Muslim League realizing the loyalty
of the majority of Muslims in many sections of the country and it resulted
in the subsequent division of the country into India and Pakistan. "The
‘Quit India’ movement remains . . . among the most controversial
episodes in Gandhi’s life and modern Indian history."51
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, the Muslim leader, was still pushing for a state
for the Muslims in Pakistan, separate from a Hindu state of India. Gandhi
tried his utmost to dissuade him from dividing the country. When the Labour
Party in Britain under Clement Atlee was victorious in the 1945 elections,
a new phase in relations between Britain and India started, since this
party was committed to giving independence to India. Talks were initiated
between Congress leaders, the Muslim League under the guidance of Jinnah,
and the British government. These resulted in the formation of the Mountbatten
Plan of June 3, 1947, under which two new dominions of India and Pakistan
were formed in mid-August 1947. On August 8, 1947, Independence was declared
and two days later the Muslim state of Pakistan was formed. As Gandhi
had foreseen, fierce Hindu-Muslim riots broke out all over India, creating
many refugees who fled across the borders seeking safety. Once again,
Gandhi toured the riot-stricken areas hoping to bring about peace. Again
he started a fast to stop the riots. He broke the fast only after the
leaders of both communities assured him that they would do everything
possible to stop the riots. Hindus were angry when they perceived that
Gandhi was consistently giving away their rights. The
Fast-unto-Death or Deal
The riots that resulted seemed impossible to quell. Gandhi was deeply
disappointed in not having achieved unity, even though freedom was in
their grasp. He set about to try to bring reason and sense, tolerance
and trust to the forefront. He traveled widely from Bengal to Bihar trying
to draw people together. For his efforts he was sharply criticized by
both sides. When he perceived he was failing he went on another fast which
did stop the rioting in Calcutta in September 1947 and in January 1948
he managed to bring the city of Delhi into line when it declared a communal
truce.
It is generally agreed that Gandhi’s latter years were his
best. "He walked from village to village in riot-torn Noakhali, where
Hindus were being killed in retaliation for the killing of Muslims in
Bihar. He nursed the wounded and consoled the wodowed, and in Calcutta
he came to constitute" according to Viceroy Mountbatten, "a one-man boundary
force" between Hindus and Muslims. When the bitter fighting stopped in
Calcutta, it was called the "Miracle of Calcutta". On the day of Independence,
Gandhi was not on the podium, but the new Prime Minister Nehru titled
him "Father of the Nation".52 Gandhi’s
Private Lifestyle
In 1936, after closing down the ashram at Sabamarthi he founded
a new community called Sevagram in central India which meant "service
village", where he lived the rest of his life and where thousands of people
came as a kind of pilgrimage to be near him and to learn from him. Gandhi’s
home was a small mud and bamboo hut which contained a spinning wheel,
a straw mat, a low writing table and two shelves of books. His simple
possessions consisted of simple homespun clothing of cotton he had himself
spun, two food bowls, a fountain pen and paper, his glasses and a nickel-plated
pocket watch. Like Mother Teresa in Calcutta decades later, he slept little,
rising very early at 3 a.m. to take advantage of the cool, quiet hours.
He was also a stickler for being punctual, fussing if he were late even
a few minutes for an appointment. He ate simple foods - fruits, nuts and
goat’s milk. The fact that he survived long fasts means that he was
indeed a remarkable man, for others would have succumbed long before.
Sevagram served as a model for the kind of self-sufficient cooperative
community that Gandhi wanted India’s 700,000 villages to become.
He educated people in reforms that would suit their needs best, ones that
covered everything from village government to keeping the water supply
clean. He believed in village self-rule just as he believed in individual
self-rule or self-discipline. Self-reliance and a spirit of service were
the keys to Gandhi’s freedom.
For the last few months of his life, Gandhi spent the time in Delhi,
the capital city, dividing his time between the Bhangi colony,
the place where the sweepers and the lowest caste members stayed, and
Birla House, the house of one of the richest men in India, a benefactor
of Gandhi’s ashrams, lived. Gandhi’s choice of Delhi was based
on the fact that Hindu and Sikh refugees who had suffered under Muslim
oppression were flooding into the city and Gandhi earnestly hoped to defuse
their anger. As many as one million people had been killed, while more
than 11 million were homeless. The
Significance of Gandhi’s Life
Gandhi’s major campaigns took place in 1920-22, 1030-34, and
1940-42. The opposition he encountered ranged anywhere from unhelpful
and indifferent curiosity to outright hatred and suspicion, when many
believed him to be a subversive working tirelessly against the British
Raj. But it was the mission of satyagraha which served to break
through all barriers to understanding and to achieve the goal of Independence
in 1947. In subsequent years, the British Empire was dismantled, as other
countries in both Asia and Africa gained independence. Interestingly,
a statue of Gandhi was erected in Britain in 1969, the 100th
anniversary of the year of his birth. He is recognized more and more as
a skilled mediator and reconciler of a great many disparate groups: moderate
politicians, radicals, terrorists, parliamentarians, urban intelligentsia,
the rural masses, traditionalists and modernists, caste Hindus and the
untouchables, Hindus and Muslims, and Indians and the British.53
The greatness source of strength for Mahatma Gandhi lies in religion.
He declared, "What I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty
years is to see God face to face." By going among the people, even until
his last moment, he attempted to hold up the truth as he saw it against
the fabric of a social and political life. His patience was sorely tried
as people flocked to be near him. They were fascinated by his devotion
to service and causes. While he can inspire individuals, his example is
indeed difficult for others to follow.
He is recognized for being the driving force of three kinds of revolutions
occurring in this century: revolutions countering colonialism, racism,
and violence. Fortunately, he wrote his thoughts down; incredibly, they
are recorded in more than eighty volumes, proving once again if you ask
a busy person, a task will get done. Common themes from the beginning
of his writings are criticism of Western materialism and colonialism,
cautions regarding industrialism and urbanization, fear of bringing in
the modern state, and, of course, the total and entire rejection of violence.
These subjects were on his mind long before the two World Wars, Hitler,
and the atom bomb.
During his life Gandhi had spent 2,338 days in prison always working
for a cause to liberate Indians and India until Britain finally recognized
that India’s Independence was inevitable. India’s first Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru through his great admiration for Gandhi worked
at effecting a fair and egalitarian state of affairs at home, while avoiding
aligning with military forces abroad. In his "Awake to Freedom" Speech
presented to the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi at midnight on August
14, 1947, Nehru told the crowd of people gathered on this momentous occasion: "Long
years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we
shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.
At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake
to life and freedom.
A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we
step out from the old to the new, then an age ends, and when the soul
of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this
solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to India and her people
and to the still larger cause of humanity.
We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers
herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening
of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us.
. . .
Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility
rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign
people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains
of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some
of those pains continue even now.
Nevertheless the past is over and it is the future that beckons
to us now.
That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant
striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we have so often taken."54
On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was making his way towards evening prayers,
after meeting with India’s Deputy Prime Minister and his close friend,
Vallabhai Patel. He was flanked and supported by Abha, the young wife
of Kanu Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma’s cousin, and Manu, the granddaughter
of another cousin, whom he called his helpful "walking sticks". There
were hundreds of people patiently waiting, having come from all parts
of the world. By choice, Gandhi refused extra security, wishing to be
free. "Gandhi folded his hands and greeted his audience with a namaskar
when a Hindu extremist, a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin, Nathuram Godse, fired
three quick shots from a pistol at close range and felled Gandhi. As blood
stained his woolen shawl, Gandhi sank to the ground, murmuring Hara
Ram ("Glory is God!") or, variously, Hey, Rama ("O God!").
His watch fell to the ground and stopped exactly at 5:12 p.m. Nehru sadly
announced to the world over the radio, "The light has gone out!"
Gandhi’s funeral procession (a video and sound clip of which
is available on the Internet), was a colourful and sombre affair attended
by many, many heads of state and what appears to be millions of mourners.
Garlands of yellow and red flowers surrounded and almost buried the fragile-looking
corpse of the Mahatma, and thousands of people strew flower petals along
the pathway. The funeral byre when lit threw brilliant flames to the sky,
and later the ashes were gently cast amidst rose petals into the holy
waters of the Ganges River, taking the soul heavenward. Relevance
of Mahatma Gandhi in Today’s World
Sources point to historical figures and movements which claim they
have been profoundly inspired by the Great Soul’s life and ideas
- notably, Martin Luther King, Jr. in the United States and land reformer
Vinoba Bhave in India, as well as Greenpeace and various Nuclear Disarmament
and Peace groups. One of Gandhi’s staunch supporters was Albert Einstein
who recognized that antiviolence as probably the only way to diffuse the
threat of horrifyingly terrible bombs which, if launched, could cause
an inevitable nuclear winter in a world bent on self-destruction. Swedish
economist Gunnar Myrdal continues to examine socioeconomic difficulties
besetting this earth, particularly in areas still awaiting the Green Revolution.
He deems that Gandhi is a prophet in practically all fields. We may be
able to send men into space to catch a glimpse of a stressed earth relentlessly
burning the Brazil rainforests, but we are not yet able to solve the disparities
between the haves and the have-not nations, the ongoing exploitation of
the poor, the ugly posturing between bully nations (especially the United
States in its role as the King of the Hill Super Power, with Russia now
dethroned), and the profound impact of technology and communications,
as well as the inherent fear in each one of us that somehow the "Red Panic
Button" in the White House in Washington or some other nuclear-armed nation’s
capital will unleash unmitigated terror and destruction upon a victim
nation, a thousand times greater than Hiroshima or Nagasaki. In that event
we will all suffer. Myrdal views Gandhi’s ideas as increasingly relevant
in our fast-paced tumbling-toward-disaster world.
Exploitation under the term begar is, however, still widespread
in India, as employers and other agents continue to take unfair advantage
of workers, exploiting and humiliating them in violation of basic human
rights. The problems of Indian citizens, especially the poor and indigent,
continue even though the Constitution of India guarantees:
". . . equal rights to all citizens, irrespective of race, gender,
religion, and other considerations, and the ‘directive principles
of state policy’ as stated in the Constitution obligate the Government
to provide to all citizens a minimum standard of living, the promise has
not been fulfilled. The greater majority of the Indian people have no
assurance of two nutritious meals a day, safety of employment, safe and
clean housing, or such level of education as would make it possible for
them to understand their constitutional rights and obligations. Indian
newspapers abound in stories of the exploitation – by landlords,
factory owners, businessmen, and the state’s own functionaries, such
as police and revenue officials – of children, women, villagers,
the poor, and the working class."55
Not only in India does this situation still maintain, but also in
many of the world’s "hot spots" in several continents where millions
of peasants are in need of political and land reforms.
As we move into the brand new century and a new millennium as well,
we will need to open our minds to the needs of the people of the world
who have a right to food, shelter, security and education. Since problems
such as pollution and starvation know no borders, we will need a world
government of experts from all corners of the world to address these dilemmas
with the dedication of Mahatma Gandhi. And as he directed the wealthy
to share their valuable worldly goods, we will need the generosity of
wealthy nations to fund the projects to rescue poor nations. If only we
could put the billion-dollar budgets currently allotted for armaments,
armed forces maintenance (the recent NATA "exercise", for example), and
the dollars spent on research into technological developments aimed at
waging slick, modern warfare - into providing comfort for the hungry and
the needy, then we would be well on the way to achieving Nirvana, the
kind of which Gandhi many times must have dreamed. We need to solve global
problems with a new global network in favour of peace and, importantly,
under the leadership of honourable and devoted men, rather than sleezy,
sex-proud arrogant males. Clinton compares poorly to Gandhi, even with
his Bible tucked under his arm on Sunday mornings.
Unfortunately, India is on the verge of vast industrialization as
sky-high American capital is ready to be dropped on the line to build
the infrastructure necessary to manufacture and ship goods made by renewed
Indian slaves. Such products are geared to fill the pockets of Western
investors in yet another era of imperialism. All the while the wolves
are counselling the innocent sheep that theirs will be a better life.
Gandhi would be truly dismayed and apprehensive.
Gandhi was correct in realizing that because leading millions of
people on an upright path is an enormous task that takes all of one’s
energy, it is best to follow a regimen of pure thoughts, strict diet,
and the curbing of worldly appetites. For generations the Western nations
have put their misplaced faith in the production of weapons and brought
up their male children to fight, fight, fight. As the age of robot-run
warfare fast approaches, increasingly, men, women and children, your global
neighbours and mine (whole cities included) are considered at the Front
and are in great danger of becoming "cannon fodder" (a term coined by
Canadian World War General Earl Haig). As Gandhi well knew, both World
Wars were supposed to be "the war to end all wars" and the phrase once
on everyone’s lips showed a desperate hope that all wars would end
and that, finally, man could get on with the business of living and even
living well. According to Anand Kumar, "at this time we are suffering
with narrowness of minds and vastness of market forces. Gandhi showed
us a way where we may have a global civilization based upon certain universal
values such as truth and non-violence/love and cooperation as well as
local imperatives termed Swadeshi (interdependence without exploitation)."56
Kumar calls for a McLuhan global village with a worldwide impact towards
peace and love based on humans working together. According to Gandhi,
the task is enormous. "The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the
progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction
lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory."57
Finally, Gandhi assures us, "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the
disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction
devised by the ingenuity of man."58 I admire his life, his
works and his insight. Appendix
A Gujarati
didactic stanza which greatly influenced Gandhi’s life, teaching
the principle of returning good for evil: For a
bowl of water give a goodly meal;
For a kindly greeting bow thou down with zeal;
For a simple penny pay thou back with gold;
If they life be rescued, life do not withhold.
Thus the words and actions of the wise regard;
Every little service tenfold reward.
But the truly noble know all men as one,
And return with gladness good for evil done.
Endnotes
1 = Loepa Berlin –
Mahatma Gandhi english. Internet: http://geocities.datacellar.net/theloepa/gand_eng.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 1 of 5.
2 = History and Politics, East India Company: Governor General.
Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/EAco.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 2 of 2.
3 = Loepa Berlin – Mahatma Gandhi english. Internet: http://geocities.datacellar.net/theloepa/gand_eng.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 2 of 5.
4 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet:
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html, July
1, 1999, p. 1 of 7.
5 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM 1998, s.v. "Mahatma Gandhi",
p. 1.
6 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 7.
7 = Bhagavad-Vita As It Is. This edition has "caught the deep devotional
spirit of the Gita and has supplied the text with an elaborate commentary
in the truly authentic tradition of Sri Krsna Caitanya, one of India’s
most important and influential saints." Published by the International
Society for Krisna Consciousness, Los Angeles, California, 1994.
8 = Information from an Interview with an English-born Canadian
senior, June 15, 1999.
9 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 7.
10 = Ibid., p. 2.
11 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM 1998, s.v. "Mahatma Gandhi",
p. 3.
12 = The Oscar-winning movie Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley as Mahatma
Gandhi, 1982.
13 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM 1998, s.v. "Mahatma Gandhi",
p. 3. p. 4.
14 = Ibid., p. 5.
15 = Neither Saint Nor Sinner. Internet: http://www.nagpuronline.com/momgbook/chap01.htm.
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 4. Quote from the text of Gandhi’s most well-known
book, The Story of My Experiment with Truth.
16 = Kamat’s Potpourri: Gandhiji and Status of Women in India.
Jyotsna Kamat, April 10, 1999. Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gwomen/htm,
July 30, 1999, p. 2 of 4.
17 = History and Politics, Kasturba Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/Kasturba.html.
July 1, 1999, p. 2 of 2.
18 = Ibid.
19 = Kamat’s Potpourri: Gandhiji and Status of Women in India.
Jyotsna Kamat, April 10, 1999. Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gwomen/htm,
July 30, 1999, p. 1 of 4.
20 = Woman’s Status and Role in Society. Internet: http://www.nagpuronline.com/momgbook/chap60.html.
July 1, 1999, p. 4 of 4.
21 = Gandhi the Person. Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/personal.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
22 = Gandhi the Person. Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/personal.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 2 of 2.
23 = Kamat’s Potpourri: Gandhiji and Status of Women in India.
Jyotsna Kamat, April 10, 1999. Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gwomen/htm,
July 30, 1999, p. 2 of 4.
24 = Ibid., p. 3.
25 = Ibid.
26 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 3 of 7.
27 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "Lucknow Pact", p. 1.
28 = Ibid., s.v. "Mahatma Gandhi: Emergence as the Leader of Nationalist
India", p. 1.
29 = Spoken words from the movie Gandhi.
30 = Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returns to India. Internet: http://www.eecs.uic.edu/-atalathi/gendia.html.
June 30, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
31 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v., "Mahatma Gandhi", p. 5.
32 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 3 of 7.
33 = Ibid., p. 4 of 7.
34 = History and Politics: Quit India. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/quit.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
35 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v., "Rowlatt Acts", p. 1.
36 = Ibid., s.v. "Amritsar, Massacre of", p. 1.
37 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 3 of 7.
38 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 2 of 7.
39 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v., "Khilafat Movement", p. 1.
40 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999, p. 3 of 7.
41 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v., "Mahatma Gandhi, Emergence
as the Leader of Nationalist India", p. 1.
42 = Gandhi’s Protests & Causes. Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/protests.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
43 = Ibid., p. 2.
44 = The movie Gandhi, dialogue of Walker, the New York Times reporter,
played by Martin Sheen.
45 = History and Politics: Mahatma Gandhi. Internet http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi/html,
July 1, 1999, p. 4 t of 7.
46 = Experiments with Truth: "My Part in the War" – Mohandas
K. Gandhi. Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/autobio.htm, June 30,
1999, p. 1 of 2.
47 = History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu.south-asia/History/Gandhi/gandhi/html,
July 1, 1999, p. 2 of 7.
48 = History and Politics, Quit India. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/Quit.html.
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
49 = Ibid.
50 = History and Politics: Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi/html,
July 1, 1999, p. 5 of 7.
51 = History and Politics, Quit India. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/Quit.html.
July 1, 1999, p. 2 of 2.
52 = History and Politics: Mahatma Gandhi. Internet http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi/html,
July 1, 1999, p. 6 t of 7.
53 = Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "Mahatma Gandhi: Place in History",
p. 3.
54 = Itihaas: Nehru’s ‘Awake to Freedom’ Speech.
Internet: http://www.itihaas.com/independent/speech.html. June 30, 1999,
pp. 1-2.
55 = History and Politics, Social and Political: Public Interest
Litigation. Internet: http://wwwsscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/SocialPol/spmove.html.
July 1, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
56 = Gandhian globalization. Anand Kumar, May 29, 1999. Internet:
http://gandhi.virtualave.net/wwwboard/messages/59.html.
57 = Gandhi Quotes. Victory (1922). Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/hints.pl.
June 29, 1999, p. 1.
58 = Gandhi. Internet: http://www.engagedpage.com/gandhi.html.
June 29, 1999, p. 1 of 2.
Bibliography
- Bhagavad-Vita As It Is. Published by the International Society for Krisna
Consciousness, Los Angeles, California, 1994.
- Dialogue of Walker, the New York Times reporter, played by Martin Sheen.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, CD-ROM, 1999 edition, under the topics, "Amritsar,
Massacre of", "Khilafat Movement", "Lucknow Pact", "Mahatma Gandhi", "Mahatma
Gandhi: Emergence as the Leader of Nationalist India", "Mahatma Gandhi:
Place in History", "Rowlatt Acts"
- Experiments with Truth: "My Part in the War" – Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/autobio.htm, June 30, 1999.
- Gandhi, Oscar winning movie, starring Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi,
1982.
- Gandhi the Person. Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/personal.html.
June 29, 1999.
- Gandhi’s Protests & Causes. Internet: http://gandhi.virtualave.net/protests.html.
June 29, 1999.
- History and Politics, East India Company: Governor General. Internet:
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/EAco.html, July 1,
1999.
- History and Politics, Kasturba Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/Kasturba.html.
July 1, 1999.
- History and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gandhi.html,
July 1, 1999.
- History and Politics, Quit India. Internet: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/Quit.html.
July 1, 1999.
- Interview with an English-born Canadian senior, June 15, 1999.
- Itihaas: Nehru’s ‘Awake to Freedom’ Speech. http://www.itihaas.com/independent/speech.html.
June 30, 1999.
- Kamat’s Potpourri: Gandhiji and Status of Women in India. Jyotsna
Kamat, April 10, 1999. Internet: http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gwomen/htm,
July 30, 1999.
- Loepa Berlin – Mahatma Gandhi english. Internet: http://geocities.datacellar.net/theloepa/gand_eng.html.
June 29, 1999.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returns to India. http://www.eecs.uic.edu/-atalathi/gendia.html.
June 30, 1999.
- Neither Saint Nor Sinner. Internet: http://www.nagpuronline.com/momgbook/chap01.htm.
July 1, 1999.
- Quote from the text of Gandhi’s most well-known book, The Story
of My Experiment with Truth.
- Woman’s Status and Role in Society. Internet: http://www.nagpuronline.com/momgbook/chap60.html.
July 1, 1999.
Copyright,
sources and comments
Copyright for this text has Lorna Wreford. Copies of this text without
her name are a violation of international copyright laws. The text was
completed in July 1999 and contains about 12.000 words (without headlines,
quotations, appendix, endnotes and bibliography = including all this it
would be about 13.500 words)
The
author lives in Toronto, Canada and wrote this text for a History
course in the third year of University.
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