by M K Gandhi
Such worship or prayer is no flight of eloquence; it is no lip-homage. It springs from the heart.M14 If, therefore, we achieve that purity of the heart when it is ‘emptied of all but love’,418 if we keep all the chords in proper tune, they ‘trembling pass in music out of sight’.419 M15 Prayer needs no speech. It is in itself independent of any sensuous effort.M16 I have not the slightest doubt that420 prayer is an unfailing means of cleansing the heart of passions. But it must be combined with the utmost humility.M17
XXII
NARAYAN HEMCHANDRA421
Just about this time422 Narayan Hemchandra423 came to England. I had heard of him as a writer.424 We met at the house of Miss Manning425 of the National Indian Association.426 Miss Manning knew that I could not make myself sociable. When I went to her place427 I used to sit tongue-tied, never speaking except when spoken to. She introduced me to Narayan Hemchandra. He did not know English. His dress was queer—a clumsy pair of trousers, a wrinkled, dirty,428 brown coat after the Parsi fashion, no necktie or collar,429 and a tasselled woollen cap. He grew a long beard.
He was lightly built and short of stature. His round face was scarred with small-pox, and had a nose which was neither pointed nor blunt. With his hand he was constantly turning over his beard.
Such a queer-looking and queerly dressed person was bound to be singled out in fashionable society.M1
‘I have heard a good deal about you,’ I said to him. ‘I have also read some of your writings. I should be very pleased if you were kind enough to come to my place.’
Narayan Hemchandra had a rather hoarse voice. With a smile on his face he replied:
‘Yes, where do you stay?’
‘In Store Street.’
‘Then we are neighbours. I want to learn English. Will you teach me?’
‘I shall be happy to teach you anything I can, and will try my best. If you like, I will go to your place.’
‘Oh, no. I shall come to you. I shall also bring with me a Translation Exercise Book.’M2 So we made an appointment. Soon we were close friends.
Narayan Hemchandra was innocent of grammar. ‘Horse’ was a verb with him and ‘run’ a noun. I remember many such funny instances. But he was not to be baffled by his ignorance.M3 My little knowledge of grammar could make no impression on him. Certainly he never regarded his ignorance of grammar as a matter for shame.
With perfect nonchalance he said:430 ‘I have never been to school like you. I have never felt the need of grammar in expressing my thoughts. Well, do you know Bengali? I know it. I have travelled in Bengal. It is I who have given Maharshi Devendranath Tagore’s431 works to the Gujarati-speaking world. And I wish to translate into Gujarati the treasures of many other languages. And you know I am never literal in my translations. I always content myself with bringing out the spirit. Others, with their better knowledge, may be able to do more in future.M4 But I am quite satisfied with what I have achieved without the help of grammar.432 I know Marathi, Hindi, Bengali,433 and now I have begun to know English.434 What I want is a copious vocabulary. And do you think my ambition ends here? No fear.M5 I want to go to France and learn French. I am told that language has an extensive literature. I shall go to Germany also, if possible, and there learn German.’ And thus he would talk on unceasingly. He had a boundless ambition for learning languages and for foreign travel.
‘Then you will go to America also?’
‘Certainly. How can I return to India without having seen the New World?’
‘But where will you find the money?’
‘What do I need money for? I am not a fashionable fellow like you. The minimum amount of food and the minimum amount of clothing suffice for me.M6 And for this what little I get out of my books and from my friends is enough. I always travel third class. While going to America also I shall travel on deck.’
Narayan Hemchandra’s simplicity was all his own, and his frankness was on a par with it. Of pride he had not the slightest trace, excepting, of course, a rather undue regard for his own capacity as a writer.
We met daily. There was a considerable amount of similarity between our thoughts and actions. Both of us were vegetarians. We would often have our lunch together. This was the time when I lived on 17s. a week and cooked for myself. Sometimes I would go to his room, and sometimes he would come to mine. I cooked in the English style. Nothing but Indian style would satisfy him. He could not do without dal. I would make soup435 of carrots, etc., and he would pity me for my taste. Once he somehow hunted out mung,436 cooked it and brought it to my place. I ate it with delight. This led on to a regular system of exchange between us. I would take my delicacies to him and he would bring his to me.
Cardinal Manning’s437 name was then on every lip. The dock labourers’ strike438 had come to an early termination owing to the efforts of John Burns439 and Cardinal Manning. I told Narayan Hemchandra of Disraeli’s440 tribute441 to the Cardinal’s simplicity. ‘Then I must see the sage,’ said he.
‘He is a big man. How do you expect to meet him?’
‘Why? I know how. I must get you to write to him in my name. Tell him I am an author and that I want to congratulate him personally on his humanitarian work, and also say that I shall have to take you as interpreter as I do not know English.’
I wrote a letter to that effect. In two or three days came Cardinal Manning’s card in reply giving us an appointment. So we both called on the Cardinal.442 I put on the usual visiting suit.M7 Narayan Hemchandra was the same as ever, in the same coat and the same trousers. I tried to make fun of this, but he laughed me out and said:
‘You civilized fellows are all cowards. Great men never look at a person’s exterior.M8 They think of his heart.’
We entered the Cardinal’s mansion.443 As soon as we were seated, a thin, tall, old gentleman made his appearance, and shook hands with us. Narayan Hemchandra thus gave his greetings: M9
‘I do not want to take up your time. I had heard a lot about you and I felt I should come and thank you for the good work you have done for the strikers. It has been my custom to visit the sages of the world and that is why I have put you to this trouble.’
This was of course my translation of what he spoke in Gujarati.M10 ‘I am glad you have come. I hope your stay in London will agree with you and that you will get in touch with people here. God bless you.’
With these words the Cardinal stood up and said good-bye.
Once Narayan Hemchandra came to my place in a shirt and dhoti. The good landlady opened the door, came running to me in a fright—this was a new landlady who did not know Narayan HemchandraM11—and said: ‘A sort of a madcap wants to see you.’ I went to the door and to my surprise found Narayan Hemchandra. I was shocked. His face, however, showed nothing but his usual smile.
‘But did not the children in the street rag you?’
‘Well, they ran after me, but I did not mind them and they were quiet.’
Narayan Hemchandra went to Paris after a few months’ stay in London. He began studying French and also translating French books. I knew enough French to revise his translation, so he gave it to me to read. It was not a translation, it was the444 substance.
Finally he carried out his determination to visit America. It was with great difficulty that he succeeded in securing a deck ticket. While in the United States he was prosecutedM12 for ‘being indecently dressed’, as he once went out in a shirt and dhoti. I have a recollection that he was discharged.
XXIII
THE GREAT EXHIBITION445
There was a great Exhibition at Paris in 1890.446 I had read about its elaborate preparations, and I also had a keen desire to see Paris. So I thought I had better combine two things in one and go there at this juncture. A particular attraction of the Exhibition was the Eiffel Tower, constructed entirely of iron, and nearly 1,000 feet high. There were of course many other things of interest, but the Tower was the chief one, inasmuch as it had been supposed till then that a structure of that height could not safely stand.M1
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I had heard ofM2 a vegetarian restaurant in Paris. I engaged a room there and stayed seven days.447 I managed everything very economically, both the journey to Paris and the sightseeing there. This I did mostly on foot and with the help of a map of Paris, as also a map of and guide to the Exhibition. These were enough to direct one to the main streets and chief places of interest.
I remember nothing of the Exhibition excepting its magnitude and variety. I have fair recollection of the Eiffel Tower as I ascended it twice or thrice. There was a restaurant on the first platform, and just for the satisfaction of being able to say that I had had my lunch at a great height, I threw away seven shillings onM3 it.
The ancient churches of Paris are still in my memory. Their grandeur and their peacefulness are unforgettable. The wonderful construction of Notre Dame and the elaborate decoration of the interior with its beautiful sculptures cannot be forgotten. I felt then that those who expended millions on such divine cathedrals could not but have the love of God in their hearts.
I had read a lot about the fashions and frivolity448 of Paris. These were in evidence in every street, but the churches stood noticeably apart from these scenes. A man would forget the outside noise and bustle as soon as he entered one of these churches. His manner would change, he would behave with dignity and reverence449 as he passedM4 someone kneeling before the image of the Virgin. The feeling I had then has since been growing on me, that all this kneeling and prayer could not be mere superstition; the devout souls kneeling before the Virgin could not be worshipping mere marble. They were fired with genuine devotion and they worshipped not stone, but the divinity of which it was symbolic.M5 I have an impression that I felt then that by this worship they were not detracting from, but increasing, the glory of God.
I must say a wordM6 about the Eiffel Tower. I do not know what purpose it serves today.450 But I then heard it greatly disparaged as well as praised. I remember that Tolstoy451 was the chief among those who disparaged it. He said that the Eiffel Tower was a monument of man’s folly, not of his wisdom. Tobacco, he argued, was the worst of all intoxicants, inasmuch as a man addicted to it was tempted to commit crimes which a drunkard never dared to do; liquor made a man mad, but tobacco clouded his intellect and made him build castles in the air.452 The Eiffel Tower was one of the453 creations of a man under such influence.
There is454 no art about the Eiffel Tower. In no way can it be said to have contributed to the real beauty of the Exhibition. Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the Exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the Tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets.M7 That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.
XXIV
‘CALLED’—BUT THEN?
I have deferred saying anything up to now about the purpose for which I went to England, viz., being called to the bar.455 It is time to advert to it briefly.
There were two conditions which had to be fulfilled before a student was formally called to the bar: ‘keeping terms’, twelve terms equivalent to about three years;M1 and passing examinations. ‘Keeping terms’ meant eating one’s terms, i.e., attending at least six out of about twenty-four dinners in a term.456 Eating did not mean actually partaking of the dinner, it meant reporting oneself at the fixed hours and remaining present throughout the dinner. Usually of course everyone ate and drank the good commons and choice wines provided.457 A dinner cost from two and six to three and six, that is from two to three rupees. This was considered moderate, inasmuch as one had to pay that same amount for wines alone if one dined at a hotel. To us in India it is a matter for surprise, if we are not ‘civilized’,458 that the cost of drink should exceed the cost of food. The first revelation gave me a great shock, and I wondered how people had the heart to throw away so much money on drink. Later I came to understand. I often ate nothing at these dinners, for the things that I might eat were only bread, boiled potato and cabbage. In the beginning I did not eat these, as I did not like them; and later, when I began to relish them, I also gained the courage to ask for other dishes.
The dinner provided for the benchers459 used to be better than that for the students. A Parsi student, who was also a vegetarian, and I applied, in the interests of vegetarianism, for the vegetarian courses which were served to the benchers. The application was granted, and we began to get fruits and other vegetables from the benchers’ table.460
Two bottles of wine were allowed to each group of four, and as I did not touch them, I was ever in demand to form a quartet, so that three might empty two bottles. And there was a ‘grand night’461 in each term when extra wines, like champagne, in addition to port and sherry,462 were served.463 I was therefore specially requested to attend and was in great demand on that ‘grand night’.
I could not see then, nor have I seen since, how these dinners qualified the students better for the bar. There was once a time when only a few students used to attend these dinners and thus there were opportunities for talks between them and the benchers, and speeches were also made. These occasions helped to give them knowledge of the world with a sort of polish and refinement, and also improved their power of speaking. No such thing was possible in my time, as the benchers had a table all to themselves.464 M2 The institution had gradually lost all its meaning, but conservative465 England retained it nevertheless.
The curriculum of study was easy, barristers being humorously known as ‘dinner barristers’.466 Everyone knew that the examinations had practically no value. In my time there were two, one in Roman Law and the other in Common Law.467 There were regular text-books prescribed for these examinations which could be taken in compartments,468 but scarcely anyone read them. I have known many to pass the Roman Law examination by scrambling through469 notes on Roman Law in a couple of weeks, and the Common Law examination by reading notes on the subject in two or three months. Question papers were easy and examiners were generous. The percentage of passes in the Roman Law examination used to be 95 to 99 and of those in the final examination 75 or even more. There was thus little fear of being plucked, and examinations were held not once but four times in the year. They470 M3 could not be felt as a difficulty.
But I succeeded in turning them into one. I felt that I should read all the text-books. It was a fraud, I thought, not to read these books. I invested much money in them.471 I decided to read Roman Law in Latin. The Latin which I had acquired in the London Matriculation stood me in good stead. And all this reading was not without its value later on in South Africa, where Roman Dutch is the common law. The reading of Justinian,472 therefore, helped me a great deal in understanding the South African law.
It took me nine months of fairly hard labour to read through the Common Law of England. For Broom’s Common Law,473 a big but interesting volume, took up a good deal of time. Snell’s Equity474 was full of interest, but a bit hard to understand. White and Tudor’s Leading Cases,475 from which certain cases were prescribed, was full of interest and instruction. I read also with interest Williams’476 and Edwards’477 Real Property, and Goodeve’s Personal Property.478 Williams’ book read like a novel. The one book I remember to have read on my return to India, with the same unflagging interest, was Mayne’s Hindu Law.479 But it is out of place to talk here of Indian law-books.
I passed my examinations,480 was called to the bar on the 10th of June 1891, and enrolled in the High Court on the 11th.481 On the 12th I sailed for home.
But notwithstanding my study there was no end to my helplessness and fear. I did not feel myself qualified to practise law.
But a separate chapter is needed to describe this helplessnessM4 of mine.
XXV
MY HELPLESSNESS482
It was easy483 to be called, but it was difficult to practise at the bar. I had read the laws, but not learnt how to practise law. I had read with interest ‘Legal Maxims’,M1 but did not know how to apply them in my p
rofession. ‘Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas’484 (Use your property in such a way as not to damage that of others) was one of them,M2 but I was at a loss to know how one could employ this maxim for the benefit of one’s client.485 I had read all the leading cases on this maxim, but they gave me no confidence in the application of it in the practice of law.
Besides, I had learnt nothing at all of Indian law.M3 I had not the slightest idea of Hindu and Mahomedan Law. I had not even learnt how to draft a plaint, and felt completely at sea. I had heard of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta486 as one who roared like a lion in law-courts. How, I wondered, could he have learnt the art in England? It was out of the question for me487 ever to acquire his legal acumen, but I had serious misgivings as to whether I should be able even to earn a living by the profession.
I was torn with these doubts and anxieties whilst I was studying law. I confided my difficulties to some of my friends. One of them suggested that I should seek Dadabhai Naoroji’s advice. I have already said that, when I went to England, I possessed a note of introduction to Dadabhai. I availed myself of it very late. I thought I had no right to trouble such a great man for an interview. Whenever an address by him was announced, I would attend it, listen to him from a corner of the hall and go away after having feasted my eyes and ears. In order to come in close touch with the students he had founded an association.488 I used to attend its meetings, and rejoiced at Dadabhai’s solicitude for the students, and the latter’s respect for him. In course of time I mustered up courage to present to him the note of introduction. He489 said: ‘You can come and have my advice whenever you like.’ But I never availed myself of his offer. I thought it wrong to trouble him without the most pressing necessity. Therefore I dared not venture to accept my friend’s advice to submit my difficulties to Dadabhai at that time. I forget now whether it was the same friend or someone else who recommended me to meet Mr. Frederick Pincott.490 He was a Conservative, but his affection for Indian students was pure and unselfish. Many students sought his advice and I also applied to him for an appointment, which he granted. I can never forget that interview. He greeted me as a friend. He laughed away my pessimism. ‘Do you think,’ he said, ‘that everyone must be a Pherozeshah Mehta? Pherozeshahs and Badruddins491 are rare. Rest assured it takes no unusual skill to be an ordinary lawyer. Common honesty and industry are enough to enable him to make a living. All cases are not complicated. Well, let me know the extent of your general reading.’