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GandhiAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The story of my experiments with truth
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TRANSLATED FROM THE GUJARATI BY MAHADEV DESAI
GANDHI BOOK CENTRE
Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal
NAVAJIVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE
AHMEDABAD-380014
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Contents :
Chapter 1 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
Chapter 2 CHILDHOOD
Chapter 3 CHILD MARRIAGE
Chapter 4 PLAYING THE HUSBAND
Chapter 5 AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
Chapter 6 A TRAGEDY
Chapter 7 A TRAGEDY (contd.)
Chapter 8 STEALING AND ATONEMENT
Chapter 9 MY FATHER'S DEATH AND MY DOUBLE SHAME
Chapter 10 GLIMPSES OF RELIGION
Chapter 11 PREPARATION FOR ENGLAND
Chapter 12 OUTCASTE
Chapter 13 IN LONDON AT LAST
Chapter 14 MY CHOICE
Chapter 15 PLAYING THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN
Chapter 16 CHANGES
Chapter 17 EXPERIMENTS IN DIETETICS
Chapter 18 SHYNESS MY SHIELD
Chapter 19 THE CANKER OF UNTRUTH
Chapter 20 ACQUAINTANCE WITH RELIGIONS
Chapter 21 NIRBAL KE BAL RAM
Chapter 22 NARAYAN HEMCHANDRA
Chapter 23 THE GREAT EXHIBITION
Chapter 24 'CALLED'-BUT THEN ?
Chapter 25 MY HELPLESSNESS
Chapter 26 RAYCHANDBHAI
Chapter 27 HOW I BEGAN LIFE
Chapter 28 THE FIRST CASE
Chapter 29 THE FIRST SHOCK
Chapter 30 PREPARING FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Chapter 31 ARRIVAL IN NATAL
Chapter 32 SOME EXPERIENCES
Chapter 33 ON THE WAY TO PRETORIA
Chapter 34 MORE HARDSHIPS
Chapter 35 FIRST DAY IN PRETORIA
Chapter 36 CHRISTIAN CONTACTS
Chapter 37 SEEKING TOUCH WITH INDIANS
Chapter 38 WHAT IT IS TO BE A 'COOLIE'
Chapter 39 PREPARATION FOR THE CASE
Chapter 40 RELIGIOUS FERMENT
Chapter 41 MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES
Chapter 42 SETTLED IN NATAL
Chapter 43 NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS
Chapter 44 COLOUR BAR
Chapter 45 BALASUNDARAM
Chapter 46 THE £ 3 TAX
Chapter 47 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIONS
Chapter 48 AS A HOUSEHOLDER
Chapter 49 HOMEWARD
Chapter 50 IN INDIA
Chapter 51 TWO PASSIONS
Chapter 52 THE BOMBAY MEETING
Chapter 53 POONA AND MADRAS
Chapter 54 'RETURN SOON'
Chapter 55 RUMBLINGS OF THE STORM
Chapter 56 THE STORM
Chapter 57 THE TEST
Chapter 58 THE CALM AFTER THE STORM
Chapter 59 EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
Chapter 60 SPIRIT OF SERVICE
Chapter 61 BRAHMACHARYA -- I
Chapter 62 BRAHM ACHARYA - II
Chapter 63 SIMPLE LIFE
Chapter 64 THE BOER WAR
Chapter 65 SANITARY REFORM AND FAMINE RELIEF
Chapter 66 RETURN TO INDIA
Chapter 67 IN INDIA AGAIN
Chapter 68 CLERK AND BEARER
Chapter 69 IN THE CONGRESS
Chapter 70 LORD CURZON'S DARBAR
Chapter 71 A MONTH WITH GOKHALE -- I
Chapter 72 A MONTH WITH GOKHALE -- II
Chapter 73 A MONTH WITH GOKHALE -- III
Chapter 74 IN BENARES
Chapter 75 SETTLED IN BOMBAY
Chapter 76 FAITH ON ITS TRIAL
Chapter 77 TO SOUTH AFRICA AGAIN
Chapter 78 'LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST'?
Chapter 79 AUTOCRATS FROM ASIA
Chapter 80 POCKETED THE INSULT
Chapter 81 QUICKENED SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE
Chapter 82 RESULT OF INTROSPECTION
Chapter 83 A SACRIFICE TO VEGETARIANISM
Chapter 84 EXPERIMENTS IN EARTH AND WATER TREATMENT
Chapter 85 A WARNING
Chapter 86 A TUSSLE WITH POWER
Chapter 87 A SACRED RECOLLECTION AND PENANCE
Chapter 88 INTIMATE EUROPEAN CONTACTS
Chapter 89 EUROPEAN CONTACTS (Contd.)
Chapter 90 'INDIAN OPINION'
Chapter 91 COOLIE LOCATIONS OR GHETTOS?
Chapter 92 THE BLACK PLAGUE - I
Chapter 93 THE BLACK PLAGUE - II
Chapter 94 LOCATION IN FLAMES
Chapter 95 THE MAGIC SPELL OF A BOOK
Chapter 96 THE PHOENIX SETTLEMENT
Chapter 97 THE FIRST NIGHT
Chapter 98 POLAK TAKES THE PLUNGE
Chapter 99 WHOM GOD PROTECTS
Chapter 100 A PEEP INTO THE HOUSEHOLD
Chapter 101 THE ZULU 'REBELLION'
Chapter 102 HEART SEARCHINGS
Chapter 103 THE BIRTH OF SATYAGRAHA
Chapter 104 MORE EXPERIMENTS IN DIETETICS
Chapter 105 KASTURBAI'S COURAGE
Chapter 106 DOMESTIC SATYAGRAHA
Chapter 107 TOWARDS SELF-RESTRAINT
Chapter 108 FASTING
Chapter 109 AS SCHOOLMASTER
Chapter 110 LITERARY TRAINING
Chapter 111 TRAINING OF THE SPIRIT
Chapter 112 TARES AMONG THE WHEAT
Chapter 113 FASTING AS PENANCE
Chapter 114 TO MEET GOKHALE
Chapter 115 MY PART IN THE WAR
Chapter 116 A SPIRITUAL DILEMMA
Chapter 117 MINIATURE SATYAGRAHA
Chapter 118 GOKHALE'S CHARITY
Chapter 119 TREATMENT OF PLEURISY
Chapter 120 HOMEWARD
Chapter 121 SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE BAR
Chapter 122 SHARP PRACTICE?
Chapter 123 CLIENTS TURNED CO-WORKERS
Chapter 124 HOW A CLIENT WAS SAVED
Chapter 125 THE FIRST EXPERIENCE
Chapter 126 WITH GOKHALE IN POONA
Chapter 127 WAS IT A THREAT ?
Chapter 128 SHANTINIKETAN
Chapter 129 WOES OF THIRD CLASS PASSENGERS
Chapter 131 KUMBHA MELA
Chapter 132 LAKSHMAN JHULA
Chapter 133 FOUNDING OF THE ASHRAM
Chapter 134 ON THE ANVIL
Chapter 135 ABOLITION OF INDENTURED EMIGRATION
Chapter 136 THE STAIN OF INDIGO
Chapter 137 THE GENTLE BIHARI
Chapter 138 FACE TO FACE WITH AHIMSA
Chapter 139 CASE WITHDRAWN
Chapter 140 METHODS OF WORK
Chapter 141 COMPANIONS
Chapter 142 PENETRATING THE VILLAGES
Chapter 143 WHEN A GOVERNOR IS GOOD
Chapter 144 IN TOUCH WITH LABOUR
Chapter 145 A PEEP INTO THE ASHRAM
Chapter 146 THE FAST
Chapter 148 'THE ONION THIEF'
Chapter 149 END OF KHEDA SATYAGRAHA
Chapter 151 RECRUITING CAMPAIGN
Chapter 152 NEAR DEATH's DOOR
Chapter 153 THE ROWLATT BILLS AND MY DILEMMA
Chapter 154 THAT WONDERFUL SPECTACLE !
Chapter 155 THAT MEMORABLE WEEK ! --I
Chapter 156 THAT MEMORABLE WEEK !---II
Chapter 157 'A HIMALAYAN MISCALCULATION'
Chapter 158 'NAVAJIVAN' AND 'YOUNG INDIA'
Chapter 159 IN THE PUNJAB
Chapter 160 THE KHILAFAT AGAINST COW PROTECTION ?
Chapter 161 THE AMRITSAR CONGRESS
Chapter 162 CONGRESS INITIATION
Chapter 163 THE BIRTH OF KHADI
Chapter 164 FOUND AT LAST !
Chapter 165 AN INSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE
Chapter 166 ITS RISING TIDE
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For Example:
Chapter 160
THE KHILAFAT AGAINST COW PROTECTION ?
THE KHILAFAT AGAINST COW PROTECTION ?
We must now leave, for the time being these dark happening in the Punjab.
The Congress inquiry into Dyerism in the Punjab had just commenced, when I received a letter of invitation to be present at a joint conference of Hindus and Musalmans that was to meet at Delhi to deliberate on the Khilafat question. Among the signatories to it were the late Hakim Ajmal Khan Sahab and Mr. Asaf Ali. The late Swami Shraddhanandji, it was stated, would be attending and, if I remember aright, he was to be the vice-president of the conference, which, so far as I can recollect, was to be held in the November of that year. The Conference was to deliberate on the situation arising out of the Khilafat betrayal, and on the question as to whether the Hindus and Musalmans should take any part in the peace celebrations. The letter of invitation went on to say, among other things, that not only the Khilafat question but the question of cow protection as well would be discussed at the conference, and it would, therefore, afford a golden opportunity for a settlement of the question. I did not like this reference to the cow question. In my letter in reply to the invitation, therefore, whilst promising to do my best to attend, I suggested that the two questions should not be mixed up together or considered in the spirit of a bargain, but should be decided on their own merits and treated separately.
With these thoughts filling my mind, I went to the conference. It was a very well attended gathering, though it did not present the spectacle of later gatherings that were attended by tens of thousands. I discussed the question referred to above with the late Swami Shraddhanandji, who was present at the conference. He appreciated my argument and left it to me to place it before the conference. I likewise discussed it with the late Hakim Saheb. Before the conference I contended that, if the Khilafat question had a just and legitimate basis, as I believe it had, and if the Government had really committed a gross injustice, the Hindus were bound to stand by the Musalmans in their demand for the redress of the Khilafat wrong. It would ill become them to bring in the cow question in this connection, or to use the occasion to make terms with the Musalmans, just as it would ill become the Musalmans to offer to stop cow slaughter as a price for the Hindus' support on the Khilafat question. But it would be another matter and quite graceful, and reflect great credit on them, if the Musalmans of their own free will stopped cow slaughter out of regard for the religious sentiments of the Hindus, and from a sense of duty towards them as neighbours and children of the same soil. To take up such an independent attitude was, I
contended, their duty, and would enhance the dignity of their conduct. But if the Musalmans considered it as their neighbourly duty to stop cow slaughter, they should do so regardless of whether the Hindus helped them in the Khilafat or not. 'That being so,' I argued, 'the two questions should be discussed independently of each other, and the deliberations of the conference should be confined to the question of the Khilafat only.' My argument appealed to those present and, as a result, the question of cow protection was not discussed at this conference.
But in spite of my warning Maulana Abdul Bari Saheb said: 'No matter whether the Hindus help us or not, the Musalmans ought, as the countrymen of the Hindus, out of regard for the latter's susceptibilities, to give up cow slaughter.' And at one time it almost looked as if they would really put an end to it.
There was a suggestion from some quarters that the Punjab question should be tacked on to that of the Khilafat wrong. I opposed the proposal. The Punjab question, I said, was a local affair and could not therefore weigh with us in our decision to participate or not in the peace celebrations. If we mixed up the local question with the Khilafat question, which arose directly out of the peace terms, we should be guilty of a serious indiscretion. My argument easily carried conviction.
Maulana Hasrat Mohani was present in this meeting. I had known him even before, but it was only here that I discovered what a fighter he was. We differed from each other almost from the very beginning, and in several matters the differences have persisted.
Among the numerous resolutions that were passed at this conference, one called upon both Hindus and Musalmans to take the Swadeshi vow, and as a natural corollary to it, to boycott foreign goods. Khadi had not as yet found its proper place. This was not a resolution that Hasrat Saheb would accept. His object was to wreak vengeance on the British Empire, in case justice was denied in a counter proposal for the boycott purely of British goods so far as practicable. I opposed it on the score of principle, as also of practicability, adducing for it those arguments that have now become pretty familiar. I also put before the conference my view-point of non-violence. I noticed that my arguments made a deep impression on the audience. Before me, Hasrat Mohani's speech had been received with such loud acclamations that I was afraid that mine would only be a cry in the wilderness. I had made bold to speak only because I felt it would be a dereliction of duty not to lay my views before the conference. But, to my agreeable surprise, my speech was followed with the closest attention by those present, and evoked a full measure of support among those on the platform, and speaker after speaker rose to deliver speeches in support of my views. The leaders were able to see that not only would the boycott of British goods fail of its purpose, but would, if adopted, make of them a laughing stock. There was hardly a man present in that assembly but had some article of British manufacture on his person. Many of the audience therefore realized that nothing but harm could result from adopting a resolution that even those who voted for it were unable to carry out.
'Mere boycott of foreign cloth cannot satisfy us, for who knows long it will be, before we shall be able to manufacture Swadeshi cloth in sufficient quantity for our needs, and before we can bring about effective boycott of foreign cloth? We want something that will produce an immediate effect on the British. Let your boycott of foreign cloth stand, we do not mind it, but give us something quicker, and speedier in addition'- so spoke in effect Maulana Hasrat Mohani. Even as I was listening to him, I felt that something new, over and above boycott of foreign cloth, would be necessary. An immediate boycott of foreign cloth seemed to me also to be a clear impossibility at that time. I did not then know that we could, if we liked, produce enough Khadi for all our clothing requirements; this was only a later discovery. On the other hand, I knew even then that, if we depended on the mills alone for effecting the boycott of foreign cloth, we should be betrayed. I was still in the middle of this dilemma when the Maulana concluded his speech.
I was handicapped for want of suitable Hind or Urdu words. This was my first occasion for delivering an argumentative speech before an audience especially composed of Musalmans of the North. I had spoken in Urdu at the Muslim League at Calcutta, but it was only for a few minutes, and the speech was intended only to be a feeling appeal to the audience. Here, on the contrary, I was faced with a critical, if not hostile, audience, to whom I had to explain and bring home my view-point. But I had cast aside all shyness. I was not there to deliver an address in the faultless, polished Urdu of the Delhi Muslims, but to place before the gathering my views in such broken Hindi as I could command. And in this I was successful. This meeting afforded me a direct proof of the fact that Hindi-Urdu alone could become the #lingua franca# of India. Had I spoken in English, I could not have produced the impression that I did on the audience, and the Maulana might not have felt called upon to deliver his challenge. Nor, if he had delivered it, could I have taken it up effectively.
I could not hit upon a suitable Hindi or Urdu word for the new idea, and that put me out somewhat. At last I described it by the word 'non- op-operation,' an expression that I used for the first time at this meeting. As the Maulana was delivering his speech, it seemed to me that it was vain for him to talk about effective resistance to a Government with which he was co-operating in more than one thing, if resort to arms was impossible or undesirable. The only true resistance to the Government, it therefore seemed to me, was to cease to co- operate with it. Thus I arrived at the word non-co-operation. I had not then a clear idea of all its manifold implications. I therefore did not enter into details. I simply said:
' The Musalmans have adopted a very important resolution. If the peace terms are unfavourable to them - which may God forbid - they will stop all co-operation with Government. It is an inalienable right of the people thus to withhold co-operation. We are not bound to retain Government titles and honours, or to continue in Government service. If Government should betray us in a great cause like the Khilafat, we could not do otherwise than non-co-operate. We are therefore entitled to non-co-operate with Government in case of a betrayal.'
But months elapsed before the word non-co-operation became current coin. For the time being it was lost in the proceedings of the conference. Indeed when I supported the co-operation resolution at the Congress which met at Amritsar a month later, I did so in the hope that the betrayal would never come.
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