An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth
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318 ‘from cover to cover’ added in the English translation.
319 Friedrich Max Muller (1823–1900), India—What Can It Teach Us? is based on a course of lectures that he gave at the University of Cambridge and was published in 1882.
320 Probably Alladi Mahadev Sastri’s translation of The Yoga Upanishada.
321 Washington Irving (1783–1859) published Mahomet and His Successors in 1849; best known for his short stories ‘Rip Van Winkle’ (1819) and ‘The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow’ (1820).
322 Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). ‘The Hero as Prophet’ lecture delivered on 8 May 1840, part of On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History published in 1841.
323 Sometimes called What Is to be Done? Or What Then Must We Do?
324 Of Oswald Askew, the family to which Balasundaram’s indenture was transferred.
325 ‘Wesleyan’ to add.
326 The original has ‘reading’. ‘Re-reading’ is factually correct as MKG read it for the first time in London with his theosophist friends.
327 ‘having resolved to be cautious’ to add.
328 MKG wrote, ‘Vegetarianism and Children’ for The Vegetarian of 5 May 1894. See CWMG, vol. 1, pp. 126–27.
329 ‘Sunday’ to add.
330 ‘of the Indian community’ to add.
331 Burnett Britton describes the house, which was called Beach Grove Villa: ‘a semi-detached, ginger-brown house, with a dull red corrugated roof and fancy wood-worked balcony and verandah, facing on the lane, between Mrs. Favill’s tea room and Pope’s carriage works on Smith Street, which ran down to the water’s edge and which the corporation thoughtfully had retained with a wall and then paved for Harry Escombe. Across the lane from Gandhi’s thin iron gate was the Attorney General’s manse, Bay View. In the back was a yard of gray soil with a combination of swing and chinning bar.’ Britton, Gandhi Arrives in South Africa, p. 130.
332 Sheikh Mehtab.
333 ‘and help’ added in the English translation.
334 ‘help from one of the’ to add.
335 Vincent Lawrence and his wife.
336 ‘Immediately he saw that he had been the object of my suspicion,’ added in the English translation.
337 ‘I had kept him to look after the needs of the friend.’ To add.
338 ‘for’ in the first edition.
339 ‘of the dirt’ to add.
340 ‘There was no help for it.’ Added in the English translation.
341 To add at the beginning of this paragraph: ‘The wrong are cowardly.’
342 In the original a Gujarati idiomatic phrase; literally, ‘expected mogra flowers from a creeper of bitters’.
343 ‘She had come often before,’ added in the English translation.
344 ‘in public work. I too felt the same.’ To add.
345 ‘had been’ in the first edition.
346 MKG sailed on 5 June 1896. On 4 June Tamil and Gujarati Indians gave him a send-off at the Indian Congress Hall, with Dada Abdullah presiding and Vincent Lawrence acting as the Tamil interpreter. MKG was presented with a gold medal and an address in Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu eulogizing his services.
347 The Natal Advertiser of 5 June 1896 gave the name of the ship as S.S Clan Macleod. The full report under the title ‘Mr. Gandhi’s Departure’ reads: ‘Mr. Gandhi sailed for India this morning by Clan Macleod. He was accompanied from his house in Beach Grove to the point by a crowd of about 500 Indians and several leading Indian merchants in Durban, who cheered him loudly after he had gone on board.’ Sabarmati Nidhi 1005 (henceforth SN).
348 In the Gujarati first edition, reproduced in Akshar Deha, the word is ‘many’. Navajivan of 24 October 1926 has ‘very few’.
349 George Uglow Pope, A Tamil Hand-Book: Or Full Introduction to the Common Dialect of that Language on the plan of Ollendrof and Arnold, Madras, 1859 (second edition). Dr. G.U. Pope (1820–1908) did missionary work in south India (1839–81), took holy orders in Madras (1845), was university lecturer in Tamil and Telugu at Oxford (1884–96), chaplain of Balliol College, author of First Lesson in Tamil, A Handbook of the Ordinary Dialect of the Tamil Language, and A Textbook of Indian History, and translated the Kural and the Tiruvachagam. For his obituary by MKG, see CWMG, vol. 8, pp. 136–37.
350 ‘who read Urdu with me’ added in the English translation.
351 ‘and study’ to add.
352 ‘of Tamil or Telugu’ added in the English translation.
353 ‘with me a cherished memory’ in the first edition.
354 ‘to my readers’ added in the English translation.
355 ‘he would say’ added in the English translation.
356 ‘one another’ in the first edition.
357 ‘opposite’ added in the English translation.
358 MKG reached the shores of Calcutta on 4 July 1896, making this a voyage of twenty-nine days.
359 ‘Prayag’ in the original.
360 ‘when he did not see me coming, he’ in the first edition.
361 John Murray in his A Hand Book for Travellers in India, Burma and Ceylon (1901), p. 465, describes the Kellner’s rooms thus: ‘attached to the railway station, afford one comfortable sleeping accommodation, and are perhaps the best place to stop at, Chhota-hazri is provided in the rooms, but other meals have to be taken in the Railway Refreshment Room.’
362 Started by Sir George Allen in 1865, was the first newspaper in north India owned and edited by the British.
363 Sir George Maclagan Chesney (Jr.).
364 ‘which would’ in the first edition.
365 ‘for’ in the first edition.
366 ‘and admiring’ in the first edition.
367 He reached Rajkot on 7 July 1896.
368 ‘on the situation in South Africa’ added in the English translation.
369 ‘and hence’ in the first edition.
370 The drafting of the pamphlet was completed at Rajkot on 14 August 1896. The pamphlet was titled ‘The Grievances of the British Indians in South Africa: An Appeal to Indian Public’. For the full text, see CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 2–50.
371 ‘written in Natal’ to add.
372 The first print run printed at Rajkot was of 6000 copies, the second print run done from Madras was of 4000 copies.
373 ‘and they were sent’ in the first edition.
374 ‘by Reuter’ added in the English translation.
375 ‘London office’ added in the English translation.
376 ‘but exaggerated’ added in the English translation.
377 ‘and an expensive one too, if I should employ paid help’ in the first edition.
378 ‘for preparing wrappers, etc.’ added in the English translation.
379 ‘when they had no school’ added in the English translation.
380 ‘for the first time’ to add.
381 ‘State’ English word in the original.
382 ‘committee’ English word in the original.
383 ‘to have a look at their latrines’ to add.
384 ‘It was like going into hell daily, even while alive.’ To add.
385 ‘we had’ in the first edition.
386 ‘to enable’ in the first edition.
387 ‘To the rest it was something preposterous’ added in the English translation. In the original Gujarati, it is: ‘To visit those quarters and to inspect those latrines.’
388 ‘they are holes’ added in the English translation.
389 ‘There was no fear of an outbreak in those quarters.’ Added in the English translation.
390 ‘In the upper class quarters’ added in the English translation.
391 ‘Vaishnava’ added in the English translation.
392 ‘to the British Constitution’ added in the English translation.
393 ‘intrinsic’ to add.
394 The period that is referred to here was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign. The anthem would have been ‘God Save the Queen’. At the time of writing the Autobio
graphy George V was the monarch.
395 ‘the’ in the first edition.
396 ‘the’ in the first edition.
397 ‘and administrators’ to add.
398 ‘always’ in the first edition.
399 ‘at the meetings’ to add.
400 ‘Victoria’s’ added in the English translation.
401 ‘I’ in the first edition.
402 ‘having done’ in the first edition.
403 ‘as Emperor of India’ added in the English translation. At the time of the coronation on 9 August 1902, MKG was in India, albeit in Bombay.
404 ‘upon my sentiment of ahimsa’ added in English translation.
405 Dr. Robert Booth, minister of St Aidan’s Church, Durban.
406 ‘he’ in the first edition.
407 ‘flying’ added in the English translation. MKG did not ever travel by air.
408 ‘further’ to add.
409 ‘there’ in the first edition.
410 Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842–1901), social reformer and author, judge of the Bombay High Court, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress.
411 ‘Mehta’ added in the English translation.
412 ‘Mehta’ added in the English translation.
413 ‘Mehta’ added in the English translation.
414 ‘I’ in the first edition.
415 ‘chamber’, English word in the original.
416 Mr. (later Sir) Dinshaw Edulji Wacha (1844–1936), one of the founders of the Indian National Congress and its president in 1901, member, Bombay Legislative Council, the Imperial Legislative Council and the Council of States, knighted 1917.
417 Probably Rustom Cama, a leading lawyer, married to Madam Bhikhaji Cama.
418 ‘the secretary,’ added in the English translation.
419 Vrindavandas, husband of Raliyatbehn.
420 ‘(his wife)’ added in the English translation.
421 ‘under strain’ to add.
422 ‘etc.’ to add.
423 The meeting was held on 26 September 1896, MKG reached Bombay on the 25th, his brother-in-law died on 23rd September.
424 ‘Sir Pherozeshah instructed Mr. Munshi to collect the speech at that hour and have it printed that very night and bade me good-bye.’ To add.
425 The meeting was held at Framji Cowasji Institute and not at Sir Cowasji Jehangir Institute. The original Gujarati has Framji Cowasji Institute; also CWMG, vol. 2, p. 50, n. 1, has Framji Cowasji Institute.
426 ‘no one’ in the first edition.
427 For the text of the speech. See CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 50–60.
428 ‘shame’ English word in the original.
429 The Parsi lawyer was F.S. Talyarkhan. See MKG’s letter to him, CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 67–69.
430 ‘Both expressed their resolve to accompany me to South Africa.’ Added in the English translation.
431 ‘he never came.’ In the first edition.
432 Barjorji Jamaspji Padshah (1864–91), studied at universities of Bombay and Cambridge, professor and vice-principal of Dayaram Jethamal College, Sindh, close associate of Jamsetji Tata.
433 ‘that he would yield to nobody’ to add.
434 ‘Prothonotary’ English word in the original.
435 ‘in the High Court’ added in the English translation.
436 ‘to the motherland’ added in the English translation.
437 Discourse III, verse 35. Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation.
438 MKG reached Poona on 12 October 1896. For other recollections of the visit, see CWMG, vol. 20, pp. 369–71 and vol. 29, pp. 44–46.
439 ‘Tilak’ added in the English translation. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920), the first one to articulate ‘Swaraj’, at various points associated with the Indian National Congress and the Indian Home Rule League, sentenced to six years imprisonment to Mandalay Prison for sedition, author of Gita Rahasya.
440 Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), scholar, orientalist, taught at Elphinstone College, Bombay, and Deccan College, Poona, served as vice-chancellor of Bombay University.
441 ‘You must also meet Professor Gokhale.’ To add.
442 Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866–1915), founder of the Servants of India Society, mentor to both MKG and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
443 Established in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society, named after Sir James Fergusson, Governor of Bombay.
444 ‘exultantly happy’ added in the English translation.
445 ‘has been’ in the first edition.
446 ‘That’s it.’ English phrase in the original.
447 ‘these days’ to add.
448 MKG reached Madras on 14 October 1896 and left it on 27 October. He stayed at Buckingham Hotel on Mount Road, where his bill was some Rs 74.
449 See, CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 94–121. The meeting was held on 26 October at Pachaippa’s Hall.
450 ‘in Madras’ to add.
451 Barrister G.P. Pillay (1864–1903), admitted to the Middle Temple, 1898, called to the Bar in 1902. The Madras Standard began publication a few years before The Hindu.
452 Ganapathy Dikshitiar Subramania Iyer (1855–1916), founder, proprietor, editor of The Hindu from 1878–98 and founded and edited the Tamil newspaper Swadesamitran in 1881.
453 Founded in September 1878, began as a weekly, became a tri-weekly (1883) and then a daily in 1889.
454 Sir S. Subramania Iyer (1842–1924), one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, hon. president, Home Rule League, vice-president, Theosophical Society (1907–11), judge, Madras High Court (1895–1907), knighted 1900, conferred Doctor of Law, honoris causa (1908).
455 MKG left Madras on 27 October, reaching Calcutta on 31 October 1896, via Nagpur.
456 Founded in 1841 as Auckland Hotel, situated on Old Church Street, regarded as Asia’s first luxury hotel.
457 John Ellerthorpe. See Gopalkrishna Gandhi, A Frank Friendship (Kolkata: Seagull, 2007), p. 6
458 Founded on 1 February 1827, it is the oldest surviving club of its kind; Indian members have been admitted since 1959.
459 Surendranath Banerjee (1848–1925) was for a brief period in the Indian Civil Service, twice president, Indian National Congress (1895, 1902).
460 Founded in 1851 at Calcutta, with Raja Radhakanta Deb as president and Devendranath Tagore as secretary.
461 Pyari Mohun Mukherjee (1840–1923), C.S.I., M.A., B.L. See Gandhi, A Frank Friendship, p. 6.
462 Jatindramohan Tagore (1831–1908).
463 ‘gave me a cold reception and’ added in the English translation.
464 First published on 20 February 1868 as a Bengali weekly, published bilingually from the following year; as an English weekly from March 1878; as an English daily from 1889. Ceased publication in 1996. See Gandhi, A Frank Friendship, p. 7, n. 22.
465 First published on 10 December 1881 with Jnanendralal Roy as editor. See ibid, n. 23.
466 Started as The Indian Statesman in 1875 by Robert Knight.
467 Founded in 1821, merged with The Statesman in 1934.
468 ‘South African’ to add.
469 See CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 124–27, 131–35.
470 John O’Brien Saunders (1852–1905), given C.I.E. for his conduct of the newspaper at the Delhi Durbar in 1903.
471 ‘the proof of which he sent me in advance’ added in the English translation.
472 ‘before he began to sympathize with my cause,’ added in the English translation.
473 It was received on 12 November 1896.
474 See CWMG, vol. 2, pp. 127–30.
475 ‘he insisted’ in the first edition.
476 S.S Courland set sail on 30 November 1896.
477 ‘I set’ in the first edition.
478 Harilal and Manilal.
479 Gokuldas (1887–1908), son of Raliyatbehn (1863–1960).
480 S.S Naderi set sail on 28 November 1896.
481 ‘Indian’ to add.
1 ‘in the course of this narrative’ added i
n the English translation.
2 ‘amongst Indians’ added in the English translation.
3 ‘for’ in the first edition.
4 ‘But I have an impression that’ added in the English translation.
5 ‘for these signs of civilization’ added in the English translation.
6 ‘shoes and stockings and’ to add.
7 ‘which seemed like home to me,’ to add.
8 ‘so gales,’ in the first edition.
9 ‘therefore’ added in the 1940 edition.
10 ‘Christians’ added in the English translation.
11 Captain Alexander Milne.
12 ‘them all’ in the first edition.
13 ‘god’ to add.
14 MD’s footnote: ‘The famous word in Hindu philosophy which is nearly untranslatable, but has been frequently translated in English as, “delusion”, “illusion”.’
15 MD’s footnote: ‘The prayer prescribed by the Koran.’
16 ‘bhajan’ in the original.
17 S.S Naderi and S.S Courland cast anchor on 18 December 1896, at 2 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. respectively.
18 ‘in the port of Durban’ added in the English translation.
19 ‘quarantine’ English word in the original, it is preceded by the Gujarati word ‘sutak’, literally, segregation.
20 ‘lest’ in the first edition.
21 The officer of health, Durban, was Dr. Robert Thomas Sutherland. He refused to take orders from Harry Escombe and the demonstration committee to extend the period of quarantine and was subsequently discharged with three months’ pay. Dr. Daniel Birtwell was appointed by Harry Escombe as the port’s Acting Health Officer.
22 ‘and Co.’ added in the English translation.
23 The Reuters cable appeared in the Natal newspapers on 16 September 1896; on the same day a European Protection League was formed in Maritzburg to defend and preserve the rights of the European colonists. In Durban, the Colonial Protection Union was formed to prevent further influx of Asians. On 30 December Harry Sparks, a butcher by trade, called a public meeting to protest against landing of passengers from the Courland and the Naderi, attended by nearly 2000 persons; a demonstration committee comprising representatives of various tradesmen was formed that continued to challenge the Government of Natal. On 13 January 1897, the day on which both the ships were to commence disembarkation of passengers, a crowd of over 3300 men gathered to oppose the landing of 600-odd Indians, and took possession of the wharf. The Naderi had 356 passengers, including infants in arms, of which 100 to 120 were old Natal residents returning after a home visit and forty women waiting to join either their fathers or husbands; the Courland’s passengers or cargo did not contain either a printing press or skilled artisans of any kind.