by M K Gandhi
100 The first edition has ‘classmates together’.
101 ‘I was too proud a husband’ in the first edition, changed in the 1940 edition. Srinivas Sastri, while suggesting the change, remarked, ‘The expression “proud husband” means the party was proud of his wife. It is best to omit them.’ This is on page 52 of the first edition, preserved in the archives of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, Ahmedabad.
102 ‘One should not venture into deep waters even for the sake of reform.’ To add.
103 ‘than virtue’ added in the English translation. ‘Acquisition of virtue involves an effort.’ To add. The first edition reads, ‘for a man far more readily takes in vice than virtue’.
104 ‘with the Atman’ to add.
105 ‘Hindu’ to add.
106 ‘a great runner’ in the first edition.
107 ‘or tumours’ added in the English translation.
108 ‘they’ in the first edition.
109 ‘They know its virtues.’ Added in the English translation.
110 ‘on behalf of meat-eating’ added in the English translation.
111 ‘also dazzled’ in the first edition.
112 ‘Again’ in the first edition.
113 ‘I was tormented by these fears.’ To add.
114 The first edition reads: ‘How could I disclose my fears to the wife sleeping by my side, now at the threshold of youth?’
115 This was composed by not poet Narmad but by Navalram. It is part of his Bal Lagna Batrsi, poem 23, Naval Granthavali (first edition, 1891), part 1, p. 248.
116 A literal prose translation of the Gujarati original would be: ‘The Englishmen rule, the natives are suppressed. Compare the two bodies. He is five cubits tall and a match for five hundred.’
Gopalkrishna Gandhi has translated the verse thus:
The Englishman rules, and the ruled the Indian is;
Ruled the Indian is, just look at their frames!
On one stands five hands tall,
He can make five hundred of us fall.
From the Foreword to An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth: A Table of Concordance, by Tridip Suhrud (New Delhi: Routledge, 2010).
117 ‘was’ in the first edition.
118 ‘Under the circumstances, my decision to eat meat was for me a serious and a terrible thing.’ To add.
119 ‘And having ensured secrecy, I persuaded myself that mere hiding of the deed from parents was no departure from truth.’ Added in the English translation.
120 ‘A Tragedy (2)’ in the original.
121 ‘Sleep eluded me.’ To add.
122 ‘Every time I dropped off to sleep,’ added in the English translation.
123 ‘river was chosen’ in the first edition.
124 ‘allurements of’ to add.
125 ‘bait’ added in the English translation.
126 ‘expensive’ added in the English translation.
127 ‘and polluting me’ to add.
128 ‘surreptitious’ added in the English translation.
129 ‘abstinence from’ in the first edition.
130 ‘when’ in the first edition.
131 ‘But I was saved by the skin of my teeth.’ Added in the English translation.
132 ‘I had only to amuse myself.’ To add.
133 ‘and dumb’ added in the English translation.
134 On 17 May 1925, writing in Navajivan in response to questions posed by a correspondent about the attributes of Ramanama, MKG recalled these instances. See CWMG, vol. 27, pp. 107-11.
135 ‘and only to that extent’ to add.
136 ‘as far as possible’ to add.
137 ‘Perhaps’ added in the 1940 edition.
138 ‘and suffer in silence’ to add.
139 ‘of the so-called high castes’ to add.
140 Emphasis in the original.
141 MD’s footnote: Ahimsa means literally innocence, not hurting, non-violence.
142 MD’s footnote: Brahmacharya means literally conduct that leads one to God. Its technical meaning is self-restraint, particularly mastery over the sexual organ.
143 ‘good or bad’ to add.
144 ‘dark’ added in the English translation.
145 ‘at’ in the first edition.
146 ‘We had no money.’ To add.
147 Throughout this chapter the original word ‘bidi’ has been translated as ‘cigarette’ or as ‘Indian cigarette’.
148 ‘that we knew’ to add.
149 ‘(whose name I have forgotten)’ to add.
150 A poisonous vespertine flowering plant.
151 In his ‘Guide to London’ MKG citing the authority of Count Leo Tolstoy describes tobacco as ‘acrid poison’ and advises abstinence from it, whether smoked, chewed or snuffed. See CWMG, vol. 1, p. 89.
152 ‘It is unbearable to me’ in the first edition.
153 ‘small’ to add.
154 ‘We, the brothers, thought of ways of paying it off.’ To add.
155 ‘One tola’ in the original. ‘Tola’ in Gujarat measures about 10 grams.
156 ‘a’ added in the 1940 edition.
157 In the Gujarati original this line comes after ‘I handed the confession to my father.’
158 ‘great’ to add.
159 ‘beyond measure’ added in the English translation.
160 ‘Double’ added in the English translation.
161 ‘a’ added in the 1940 edition.
162 The English word ‘nurse’ used in the Gujarati original.
163 On 25 March 1909 MKG wrote to his son Manilal; ‘Let me tell you that when I was younger than you are, my keenest enjoyment was to nurse my father.’ CWMG, vol. 9, p. 205.
164 ‘These were the days of my high school.’ To add.
165 ‘Vaidya’ in the original.
166 ‘on my father’ to add.
167 ‘went to’ in the first edition.
168 ‘But God had willed otherwise.’ Added in the English translation.
169 ‘which were now useless’ added in the English translation.
170 ‘about external cleanliness’ added in the English translation.
171 ‘external’ to add.
172 ‘defecation and’ to add.
173 ‘of death’ to add.
174 ‘to his feet’ to add.
175 ‘whom I have mentioned earlier’ to add.
176 The date was 16 November 1885. J.M. Upadhyaya, Mahatma Gandhi: A Teacher’s Discovery (Vallabh Vidyanagar: Sardar Patel University, 1969), p. 76.
177 ‘honour’ in the first edition.
178 ‘of tulasi beads’ added in the English translation.
179 ‘of lust’ added in the English translation.
180 The child, whose gender remains unknown, was born on 20 November 1885. Upadhyay, A Teacher’s Discovery, p. 76.
181 In the first edition, ‘And yet things here and there I kept picking up.’
182 ‘for that was her name’ added in the English translation.
183 Amritlal Tulsidas.
184 A Sanskrit hymn in praise of Rama, recited as prayer for protection, composed by Budha Kaushika. They were taught by Anandji Tulsi Adhyaru. J.M. Upadhyaya, Mahatma Gandhi: As a Student (New Delhi: Publications Division, 1965), p. 12.
185 ‘of my respect for the elder cousin and partly because’ to add.
186 ‘in the Ramji Mandir’ to add.
187 MD’s footnote: Eleventh day of the bright and the dark half of a lunar month.
188 ‘be so read as to’ to add.
189 1861–1946. Twice president, Indian National Congress (1909, 1918), later member, Hindu Mahasabha, and president of its two special sessions (1921, 1923), founder Banaras Hindu University (1916), founder English newspaper The Leader (1909) and chairman, Hindustan Times (1924–46.)
190 From 17 September to 8 October 1924, at Delhi for Hindu–Muslim unity.
191 ‘I deeply feel that’ to add at the beginning of this
sentence.
192 ‘nurse’ in the Gujarati original.
193 ‘And for a reason.’ Added in the English translation.
194 In the first edition, ‘stomach’.
195 Rev. H.R. Scott after reading the Autobiography wrote a letter to MKG. ‘I was the only missionary in Rajkot during those years (from 1833 to 1897), and what you say about Christian Missionaries in Rajkot standing at a corner near the High School and pouring abuse on Hindus and their gods fills me with a painful wonder. I certainly never preached “at a corner near the High School”; my regular preaching station was under a banyan tree in the Para Bazar; and I certainly never “poured abuse on Hindus and their gods.” That would be a strange way to win a hearing from Hindus. Then you say that a well-known Hindu was baptised at that time, and that “he had to eat beef and drink liquor, and to change his clothes and go about in European costume, including a hat.” . . . I have been over 42 years in India, and I have never heard of such a thing happening; and indeed I know it to be quite contrary to what all missionaries with whom I am acquainted teach and believe and practice . . . But surely you must have had many opportunities since then of discovering that that particular libel is without foundation, and as a sincere lover of truth you cannot wish to lend the great weight of your authority to perpetuate such a wilfully malicious misrepresentation of Christian Missionaries.’ Young India, 4 March 1926, vol. VIII, no. 9.
MKG’s response was:
‘Though the preaching took place over forty years ago the painful memory of it is still vivid before me. What I have heard and read since has confirmed that first impression . . . And whilst I accept Mr. Scott’s repudiation I want to say that though I have mixed freely among thousands of Christian Indians, I know very few who have scruples about eating beef or other flesh meats and drinking intoxicating substances.’ CWMG, vol. 30, pp. 70–71. CWMG identifies Rev. Scott both as H.R. Scott and S.R. Scott. The Young India has H.R. Scott.
196 MD’s footnote: Laws of Manu. A Hindu law-giver. They have the sanction of religion.
197 Khushalchand, son of Jivanchand.
198 In the Gujarati original: ‘My second uncle’s son’.
199 ‘(for me)’ added in the English translation.
200 By Shamal Bhatt (1718–65), a Gujarati poet.
201 MKG’s marks in the matriculation examination were: English 89/200, Second Language (Gujarati) 45.5/100, Mathematics 59/175, General Knowledge (which included History and Science) 54/150; total 247.5/625= 39.5%, see Mahatma Gandhi as a Student, p. 56. MKG’s seat number for the examination was 2275. Of the total 3067 candidates enrolled for the examination, 799 were declared successful. His rank in the list of successful candidates was 404.
202 ‘and of the Gandhi family’ to add.
203 ‘take’ in the first edition.
204 The year MKG enrolled in the college the professors were: R.N. Gurion, principal and professor of English literature and history, J.N. Unawala, vice-principal and professor of physics, Fardunji M. Dastur (mathematics and natural philosophy), Manibhai Nabhubhai Dwivedi (philosophy, Sanskrit), B.A. Ente, (logic and political economy), B.H. Munshi (Sanskrit), Sheik Mohmad Isphani (Persian). He was required to study the following subjects: English, history, second language, algebra, Euclid, logic and physics. Established in 1885 by the then Maharaja Sir Takthasinhji of Bhavnagar and named Samaldas College in memory of his Diwan Samaldas Mehta.
205 Alias Mavji Joshi, a leading lawyer of Kathiawar; for another account of the decision to go to England, see CWMG, vol. 1, pp. 2–15.
206 ‘after that’ to add.
207 ‘be’ in the first edition.
208 ‘would’ in the first edition.
209 ‘about the acceptance of his advice’ to add.
210 ‘if he so pleases.’ To add.
211 The send-off was on 4 July 1888. MKG said, ‘I hope some of you will follow in my footsteps, and after you return from England you will work wholeheartedly for big reforms in India.’ CWMG, vol. 1, p. 1.
212 MKG left Rajkot on 10 August 1888, reaching Bombay on 12 August.
213 Harilal Gandhi (1888–1948). For a biography of Harilal Gandhi, see C.B. Dalal, Harilal Gandhi: A Life, edited and translated from the original Gujarati by Tridip Suhrud (Chennai: Orient Longman, 2007).
214 ‘after Diwali that is in’ to add.
215 ‘continually of going to’ added in the English translation. The original reads: ‘I dreamt of England.’
216 ‘over my going to England’ added in the English translation.
217 ‘three’ added in the English translation.
218 ‘at the dock’ added in the English translation.
219 ‘What if he were to lose courage?’ to add.
220 ‘to sail’ added in the English translation.
221 ‘I found them quite strange.’ To add.
222 ‘necktie’, English word in the Gujarati original.
223 ‘which was uppermost in me’ added in the English translation.
224 He enrolled at the Middle Temple on 1 November 1888 was called to the Bar on 10 June 1891. The Inns of Courts are unincorporated associations which have existed since the fourteenth century. The Inns of Courts hold an exclusive right to call candidates to practise law at the Bar of England and Wales and during the colonial period to the British colonies. They consist of Honourable Societies of the Inner Temple (1388), the Middle Temple (1388), Lincoln’s Inn (1422) and Gray’s Inn (1388).
225 ‘and knew the world’ added in the English translation.
226 In S.S. Clyde. She sailed at 5 p.m.
227 ‘in’ added in the 1940 edition.
228 ‘steward’ English word in the Gujarati original.
229 ‘in the second saloon’ added in the English translation.
230 ‘and fruits’ added in the English translation. The original has ‘sweets etc.’
231 Mr. Jeffery. See ‘London Diary’, CWMG, vol. 1, p. 12.
232 ‘when we were in the Red Sea’ added in the English translation.
233 ‘before we reached Port Said,’ to add.
234 ‘for you cannot live without it’ added in the English translation.
235 ‘in order to remain there’ added in the English translation.
236 The passengers disembarked at the new docks at Tilbury, 20 miles down the Thames from London, on Saturday, 29 September 1888. Most biographers give an inaccurate date for arrival of the S.S. Clyde at London and also the wrong port of entry. The original source of these errors is MKG himself. We owe it to James Hunt for having provided the accurate date and port of entry. MKG in his ‘London Diary’ (CWMG, vol. 1, p. 15) states that he reached London on 27 October 1888; while in the Autobiography he states that he reached London ‘in last days of September’. Hunt shows that the October date would make it a fifty-three-day voyage, instead of the normal twenty-two days. Hunt confirms the date on the evidence of The Times, 1 October 1888, p. 10, which reported the arrival of S.S. Clyde on 29 September at London.
The Autobiography twice mentions Southampton, on the south coast of England, as the port of entry; but MKG in his ‘London Diary’ (CWMG, vol. 1, p. 15) states that he and his fellow companions ‘reached Victoria Hotel via Tilbury station’. James D. Hunt, Gandhi in London (New Delhi: Promila and Co.; second revised edition), pp. 7–8, footnote 10, provides extensive evidence for this.
237 Dr. Pranjivandas Jagjivandas Mehta (1864–1932) received his Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery from Grant Medical College, Bombay, in 1886, acquired an MD from Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, in 1889 and enrolled at the Middle Temple on 7 May 1887. While still studying for his MD, he was called to the Bar on 21 June 1889. He and MKG became lifelong friends and collaborators. Dr. Mehta, a wealthy diamond merchant, provided generous financial help to MKG both in South Africa and in India. For a detailed account of their relationship, see S.R. Mehrotra, The Mahatma and the Doctor: The Untold Story of Dr. Pranjivan Mehta, Gandhi’s Greatest Friend and Benefactor (186
4–1932) (Mumbai: Vakils, Feffer and Simon Pvt. Ltd 2014).
238 Dalpatram Bhagwanji Shukla, a Brahmin from Morvi, enrolled at the Inner Temple on 13 November 1886, and was called to the Bar on 3 July 1889.
239 Ranjitsinhji (1872–1933), ruler of the Indian princely state of Navanagar (1907–33), noted test cricketer who played for University of Cambridge and the English cricket team. The first-class cricket tournament in India, the Ranji Trophy, was so named in his honour. He had reached England in March 1888.
240 Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917), also called the ‘Grand Old Man of India’, nationalist leader, Liberal member of parliament in the UK House of Commons (1892–95), provided an economic critique of the colonial rule through his Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901).
241 Victoria Hotel, located on Northumberland Street, near Trafalgar Square.
242 ‘to whom I had wired from Southampton’ added in the English translation.
243 ‘He smiled at my being in flannels.’ Added in the English translation.
244 ‘As we were talking’ added in the English translation.
245 ‘somewhat angrily’ added in the English translation.
246 ‘was’ in the first edition.
247 ‘sir’ English word in the Gujarati original.
248 ‘master’ in the first edition.
249 ‘And so on and so forth.’ Added in the English translation.
250 ‘Dr. Mehta left after giving some advice.’ To add.
251 ‘home and’ added in the English translation.
252 ‘Strange were to ways of living in the home.’ To add.
253 Literal translation of the Gujarati proverb would be ‘like a nut being sliced by a nutcracker’.