An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth

by M K Gandhi

  As a result of this talk, it was decided to call a small meeting of such persons as were in touch with me. The recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee seemed to me to be altogether unwarranted by the evidence published in its report, and were, I felt, such that no self-respecting people could submit to them.

  The proposed conference was at last held at the Ashram.421 Hardly a score of persons had been invited to it. So far as I remember, among those who attended were, besides Vallabhbhai, Shrimati Sarojini Naidu, Mr. Horniman,422 the late Mr. Umar Sobani, Sjt. Shankarlal Banker and Shrimati Anasuyabehn. The satyagraha pledge423 was drafted at this meeting, and as far as I recollect, was signed by all present. I was not editing any journal at that time, but I used occasionally to ventilate my views throughM8 the daily Press. I followed the practice on this occasion. Shankarlal Banker took up the agitation in right earnest, and for the first time I got an idea of his wonderful424 capacity for organization and sustained work.

  As all hope of any of the existing institutions adopting a novel weapon like satyagraha seemed to me to be in vain, a separate body called the Satyagraha Sabha425 was established at my instance. Its principal members were drawn from Bombay where, therefore, its headquarters were fixed. The intending covenanters began to sign the satyagraha pledge in large numbers, bulletins were issued, and popular meetings began to be held everywhere recalling all the familiar features of the Kheda campaign.

  I became the president of the Satyagraha Sabha. I soon found that there was not likely to be much chance of agreement between myself and the intelligentsia composing this Sabha. My insistence on the use of Gujarati in the Sabha, as also some of my other methods of work that would appear to be peculiar,426 caused them no small worry and embarrassment. I must say to their credit, however, that most of them generously put up with my idiosyncrasies.M9

  But from the very beginning it seemed clear to me that the Sabha was not likely to live long. I could see that already my emphasis on truth and ahimsa had begun to be disliked by some of its members. Nevertheless in its early stages our new activity went on at full blast, and the movement gathered head rapidly.427

  XXX

  THAT WONDERFUL SPECTACLE!

  Thus, while on the one hand the agitation against the Rowlatt Committee’s report gathered volume and intensity, on the other the Government grew more and more determined to give effect to its recommendations, and the Rowlatt Bill was published. I have attended the proceedings of India’s legislative chamber only once in my life, and that was on the occasion of the debate on this Bill. Shastriji428 delivered an impassioned speech, in which he uttered a solemn note of warning to the Government. The Viceroy seemed to be listening spell-bound, his eyes riveted on Shastriji as the latter poured forth the hot stream of429 his eloquence. For the moment it seemed to me as if the Viceroy could not but be deeply moved by it, it was so true and so full of feeling.

  But you can wake a man only if he is really asleep; no effort that you may make will produce any effect upon him if he is merely pretending sleep.M1 That was precisely the Government’s position.430 It was anxious only to go through the farce of legal formality.M2 Its decision had already been made. Shastriji’s solemn warning was, therefore, entirely lost upon the Government.

  In these circumstances mine could only be a cry in the wilderness.M3 I earnestly pleaded with the Viceroy, I addressed him private letters as also public letters, in the course of which I clearly told him that the Government’s action left me no other course except to resort to satyagraha. But it was all in vain.431

  The Bill had not yet been gazetted as an Act. I was in a very weak condition, but when I received an invitation from Madras432 I decided to take the risk of the long journey. I could not at that time sufficiently raise my voice at meetings. The incapacity to address meetings standing still abides. My entire frame would shake, and heavy throbbing433 would start on an attempt to speak standing for any length of time.434

  I have ever felt at home in the South.435 Thanks to my South African work I436 felt I had some sort of special right over the Tamils and Telugus,437 and the good people of the South have never belied my belief.M4 The invitation had come over the signature of the late Sjt. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar.438 But the man behind the invitation, as I subsequently learnt on my way to Madras, was Rajagopalachari.439 This might be said to be my first acquaintance with him; at any rate this was the first time that we came to know each other personally.M5

  Rajagopalachari had then only recently left Salem to settle down for legal practice in Madras at the pressing invitation of friends like the late Sjt. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, and that with a view to taking a more active part in public life. It was with him that we had put up in Madras.440 This discovery I made only after we had stayed with him for a couple of days. For since the bungalow that we were staying in belonged to Sjt. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, I was under the impression that we were his guests. Mahadev Desai, however, corrected me. He very soon formed a close acquaintance with Rajagopalachari, who, from his innate shyness, kept himself constantly in the background. But Mahadev put me on my guard. ‘You should cultivate this man,’ he said to me one day.

  And so I did. We daily discussed together plans of the fight, but beyond the holding of public meetings I could not then think of any other programme. I felt myself at a loss to discover how to offer civil disobedience against the Rowlatt Bill if it was finally passed into law. One could disobey it only if the Government gave one the opportunity for it. Failing that, could we civilly disobey other laws? And if so, where was the line to be drawn? These and a host of similar questions formed the theme of these discussions of ours.

  Sjt. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar called together a small conference of leaders to thrash out the matter. Among those who took a conspicuous part in it was Sjt. Vijayaraghavachari.441 He suggested that I should draw up a comprehensive manual of the science of satyagraha, embodying even minute details. I felt the task to be beyond my capacity, and I confessed as much to him.

  While these cogitations were still going on, news was received that the Rowlatt Bill had been published as an Act. That night I fell asleep while thinking over the question. Towards the small hours of the morning I woke up somewhat earlier than usual. I was still in that twilight condition between sleep and consciousness when suddenly the idea broke upon me—it was as if in a dream. Early in the morning I related the whole story to Rajagopalachari.

  ‘The idea came to me last night in a dream that we should call upon the country to observe a general hartal.442 Satyagraha is a process of self-purification, and ours is a sacred fight, and it seems to me to be in the fitness of things that it should be commenced with an act of self-purification. Let all the people of India, therefore, suspend their business on that day and observe the day as one of fasting and prayer. The Mussalmans may not fast for more than one day; so the duration of the fast should be 24 hours. It is very difficult to say whether all the provinces would respond to this appeal of ours443 or not, but I feel fairly sure of Bombay, Madras, Bihar and Sind. I think we should have every reason to feel satisfied even if all these places observe the hartal fittingly.’

  Rajagopalachari was at once taken up with my suggestion. Other friends too welcomed it when it was communicated to them later. I drafted a brief appeal.444 The date of the hartal was first fixed on the 30th March 1919, but was subsequently changed to 6th April. The people thus had only a short notice of the hartal. As the work had to be started at once, it was hardly possible to give longer notice.445

  But who knows how it all came about? The whole of India from one end to the other,446 towns as well as villages, observed a complete hartal on that day. It was a most wonderful spectacle.

  XXXI

  THAT MEMORABLE447 WEEK!–I

  After a short tour in South India I reached Bombay, I think on the 4th April,448 having received a wire from Sjt. Shankarlal Banker asking me to be present there for the 6th of April celebrations.

  But in the meanwhile Delhi had already obser
ved the hartal on the 30th March. The word of the late Swami Shraddhanandji and Hakim Ajmal Khan Saheb was law there. The wireM1 about the postponement of the hartal till the 6th of April had reached there too late. Delhi had never witnessed a hartal like that before. Hindus and Mussalmans seemed united like one man.M2 Swami Shraddhanandji was invited to deliver a speech in the Jumma Masjid which he did. All this was more than the authorities could bear. The police checked the hartal procession as it was proceeding towards the railway station and opened fire, causing a number of casualties,M3 and the reign of repression commenced in Delhi. Shraddhanandji urgently summoned me to Delhi. I wired back, saying I would start for Delhi immediately after the 6th of April celebrations were over in Bombay.

  The story of happenings in Delhi was repeated with variations in Lahore and Amritsar.M4 From Amritsar Drs. Satyapal449 and Kitchlew450 had sent me a pressing invitation to go there. I was altogether unacquainted with them at that time, but I communicated to them my intention to visit Amritsar after Delhi.

  On the morning of the 6th citizens of Bombay flocked in their thousands to the Chaupati for a bath in the sea, after which they moved on in a procession to Thakurdvar.451 The procession included a fair sprinkling of women and children, while the Mussalmans joined it in large numbers. From Madhav Baug some of us who were in the procession were taken by the Mussalman friends to a mosque near by,452 where Mrs. Naidu and myself were persuaded to deliver speeches. Sjt. Vithaldas Jerajani453 proposed that we should then and there administer the Swadeshi and Hindu–Muslim unity pledges to the people, but I resisted the proposal on the ground that pledges should not be administered or taken in precipitate hurry, and that we should be satisfied with what was already being done by the people. A pledge once taken, I argued, must not be broken afterwards; therefore it was necessary that the implications of the Swadeshi pledge should be clearly understood, and the grave responsibility entailed by the pledge regarding Hindu–Muslim unity fully realized by all concerned. In the end I suggested that those who wanted to take the pledges should again assemble454 on the following morning for the purpose.

  Needless to say455 the hartal in Bombay was a complete success. Full preparation had been made for starting civil disobedience. Two or three things had been discussed in this connection. It was decided that civil disobedience might be offered in respect of such laws only asM5 easily lent themselves to being disobeyed by the masses. The salt tax was extremely unpopular and a powerful movement had been for some time past going on to secure its repeal. I therefore suggested that the people might prepare salt from sea-water456 in their own houses in disregard of the salt laws. My other suggestion was about the sale of proscribed literature. Two of my books, viz, Hind Swaraj and Sarvodaya (Gujarati adaptation of Ruskin’s Unto This Last), which had been already proscribed, came handy for this purpose.M6 To print and sell them openly seemed to be the easiest way of offering civil disobedience. A sufficient number of copies of the books was therefore printed, and it was arranged to sell them at the end of the monster meeting that was to be held that evening after the breaking of the fast.

  On the evening of the 6th an army ofM7 volunteers issued forth accordingly with this prohibited literature to sell it among the people. Both Shrimati Sarojini Devi and I went out in cars. All the copies were soon sold out. The proceeds of the sale were to be utilized for furthering the civil disobedience campaign. Both these books were priced at four annas per copy, but I hardly remember anybody having purchased them from me at their face value merely.M8 Quite a large number of people simply poured out all the cash that was in their pockets to purchase their copy. Five and ten rupee notes just flew out to cover the price of a single copy,M9 while in one case I remember having sold a copy for fifty rupees! It was duly explained to the people that they were liable to be arrested and imprisoned for purchasing the proscribed literature. But for the moment they had shed all fear of jail-going.

  It was subsequently learnt457 that the Government had conveniently taken the view that the books that had been proscribed by it had not in fact been sold, and that what we had sold was not held as coming under the definition of proscribed literature. The reprint was held by the Government to be a new edition of the books that had been proscribed, and to sell them did not constitute an offence under the law. This news caused general disappointment.

  The next morning another meeting was held for the administration of the pledges with regard to Swadeshi and Hindu–Muslim unity. Vithaldas Jerajani for the first time realized that all is not gold that glitters.458 Only a handful of persons came. I distinctly remember some of the sisters who were present on that occasion. The men who attended were also very few. I had already drafted the pledge and brought it with me. I thoroughly explained its meaning to those present before I administered it to them. The paucity of the attendance neither pained nor surprised me, for I have noticed this characteristic difference in the popular attitude—partiality for exciting work, dislike for quiet constructive effort. The difference has persisted to this day.

  But I shall have to devote to this subject a chapter by itself. To return to the story. On the night of the 7th I started for Delhi and Amritsar.459 On reaching Mathura on the 8th I first heard rumours460 about my probable arrest. At the next stoppage after Mathura, Acharya Gidwani came to meet me, and gave me definite news that I was to be arrested, and offered his services to me if I should need them. I thanked him for the offer, assuring him that I would not fail to avail myself of it, if and when I felt it necessary.

  Before the train had reached Palwal railway station, I was served with a written order461 to the effect that I was prohibited from entering the boundary of the Punjab, as my presence there was likely to result in a disturbance of the peace. I was asked by the police to get down from the train. I refused to do so saying, ‘I want to go to the Punjab in response to a pressing invitation, not to foment unrest, but to allay it. I am therefore sorry that it is not possible for me to comply with this order.’

  At last the train reached Palwal. Mahadev was with462 me. I asked him to proceed to Delhi to convey to Swami Shraddhanandji the news about what had happened and to ask the people to remain calm. He was to explain whyM10 I had decided to disobey the order served upon me and suffer the penalty for disobeying it, and also whyM11 it would spell victory for our side if we could maintain perfect peace in spite of any punishment that might be inflicted upon me.

  At Palwal railway station I was taken out of the train and put under police custody. A train from Delhi came in a short time. I was made to enter a third-class carriage, the police party accompanying. On reaching Mathura, I was taken to the police barracks, but no police official could tell me as to what they proposed to do with me or where I was to be taken next. Early at 4 o’clock the next morning I was waked up and put in a goods train that was going towards Bombay. At noon I was again made to get down at Sawai Madhopur. Mr. Bowring, Inspector of Police, who arrived by the mail train from Lahore, now took charge of me. I was put in a first-class compartment with him. And from an ordinary prisoner I became a ‘gentleman’463 prisoner. The officer commenced a long panegyric of Sir Michael O’Dwyer.464 Sir Michael had nothing against me personally, he went on, only he apprehended a disturbance of the peace if I entered the Punjab and so on. In the end he requested me to return to Bombay of my own accord and agree not to cross the frontier of the Punjab. I replied that I could not possibly comply with the order, and that I was not prepared of my own accord to go back. Whereupon the officer, seeing no other course,465 told me that he would have to enforce the law against me. ‘But what do you want to do with me?’ I asked him. He replied that he himself did not know, but was awaiting further orders. ‘For the present,’ he said, ‘I am taking you to Bombay.’466

  We reached Surat. Here I was made over to the charge of another police officer. ‘You are now free,’ the officer told me when we had reached Bombay. ‘It would however be better,’ he added, ‘if you get down near the Marine Lines where I shall get the trai
n stopped for you. At Colaba there is likely to be a big crowd.’ I told him that I would be glad to follow his wish. He was pleased and thanked me for it. Accordingly I alighted at the Marine Lines. The carriage of a friend just happened to be passing by. It took me and left me at Revashankar Jhaveri’s place. The friend told me that the news of my arrest had incensed the people and roused them to a pitch of mad frenzy. ‘An outbreak is apprehended every minute near Pydhuni, the Magistrate and the police have already arrived there,’ he added.

  Scarcely had I reached my destination, when Umar Sobani and Anasuyabehn arrived and asked me to motor to Pydhuni at once. ‘The people have become impatient, and are very much excited,’ they said, ‘we cannot pacify them. Your presence alone can do it.’

  I got into the car. Near Pydhuni I saw that a huge crowd had gathered. On seeing me the people went mad with joy. A procession was immediately formed, and the sky was rent with the shouts of Vande Mataram and Allaho Akbar. At Pydhuni we sighted a body of mounted police. Brickbats were raining down from above. I besought467 the crowd to be calm, but it seemed as if we should not be able to escape the shower of brickbats. As the procession issued out of Abdur Rahman Street and was about to proceed towards the Crawford Market, it suddenly found itself confronted by a body of the mounted police, who had arrived there to prevent it from proceeding further in the direction of the Fort. The crowd was densely packed. It had almost broken through the police cordon. There was hardly any chance of my voice being heard in that vast concourse.468 Just then the officer in charge of the mounted police gave the order to disperse the crowd, and at once the mounted party charged upon the crowd brandishing their lances as they went. For a moment I felt that I would be hurt.M12 But my apprehension was groundless, the lances just grazed the car as the lancers swiftly passed by.469 The ranks of the people were soon broken, and they were thrown into utter confusion, which was soon converted into a rout. Some got trampled underfoot, others were badly mauled and crushed. In that seething mass of humanity470 there was hardly any room for the horses to pass, nor was there an exit by which the people could disperse. So the lancers blindly cut their way through the crowd. I hardly imagine they could see what they were doing. The whole thing presented a most dreadful spectacle. The horsemen and the people were mixed together in mad confusion.M13