An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth
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37 ‘sceptically’ added in the English translation.
38 MKG left Rajkot on 1 February, reaching Poona via Ahmedabad and Bombay on the 8th, remained there till the 13th and left for Shantiniketan on the 15th from Bombay, reaching there on 17 February 1915.
39 Dattatreya Balkrishna Kalelkar (1885–1981), educationist, writer, constructive worker, member, Rajya Sabha (1952–64), president, Backward Classes Commission (1953).
40 Bar-at-law, a close friend of Sri Aurobindo during their Cambridge days, for some time editor of the English section of Indu Prakash.
41 Vitthal Laxman Phadke, dedicated his life to sanitation work.
42 William Winstanley Pearson (1881–1923), close friend of C.F. Andrews, worked as a missionary in Bengal, accompanied Andrews to South Africa.
43 Jagadananda Ray (1869–1933), taught science and mathematics to Rabindranath Tagore’s children and later a teacher at Shantiniketan.
44 Nepalchandra Ray (1867–1944), educationist and writer.
45 Santosh Chandra Majumdar (1886–1926) of Sriniketan or Santosh Kumar Mitra (1893–1979) of Sishu Vibhaga and Gardening departments of Shantiniketan.
46 Kshitimohan Sen (1880–1960), Sanskritist and educationist.
47 Nagendranath Aich (1878–1956), teacher of art and Bengali.
48 Possibly Sarat Kumar Ray (1878–1935), teacher of English and mathematics.
49 Kalidas Basu (1888–1933), teacher of Bengali and mathematics or Kalimohan Ghosh (1884–1940) of Sriniketan (footnotes 43 to 49, Dr. Uma Dasgupta to Gopalkrishna Gandhi; taken from Gandhi and Bengal: A Frank Friendship, pp. 54–55).
50 This was during MKG’s second visit to Shantiniketan from 6 to 11 March 1915. He and Tagore met on 6 March. Tagore was away from Shantiniketan during MKG’s first visit there from 17–20 February.
51 ‘The Phoenix party’s kitchen was not only a self-conducted one’ in the first edition.
52 ‘From such experiments it was possible to initiate the self-help experiment in the general kitchen.’ To add.
53 ‘world’ to add.
54 Gokhale died at 10.25 p.m. on 19 February, MKG received the telegram on the 20th; he had spent three days at Shantiniketan.
55 ‘Ashram’ added in the English translation.
56 ‘to mourn the national loss’ added in the English translation. For MKG’s speech at the condolence meet, see CWMG, vol. 3, pp. 26–28. MKG and the Phoenix party commenced a ‘half-fast’, i.e. one meal a day. MKG also took a vow not to use any footwear for one year as a sign of mourning.
57 ‘for gaining experience’ added in the English translation.
58 ‘to form or’ to add.
59 ‘until I have finished the period of probation’ added in the English translation. The original further adds, ‘I intend to keep this promise word for word.’
60 ‘It was not for me to join the fray.’ To add.
61 ‘ticket collector’ in the original.
62 For MKG’s letter to the chief manager, East Indian Railways, see CWMG, vol. 13, pp. 28–29.
63 The acting divisional traffic manager replied on 27 March, ‘As the difference in fares was correctly realized according to rules, and there is no record at Mugalsarai of your having travelled from that point to Jubbulpur 3rd Class, under ordinary circumstances refunds are not granted, but I am prepared to accept your statement and will send by Postal Money Order the difference in fares between Mugalsarai and Jubbulpur.’ CWMG, vol. 13, p. 29.
64 ‘some of’ to add.
65 ‘We made preparations for bathing.’ To add.
66 The reference is to Verse 15 of the Ishopanishad that characterized truth as being hidden by a golden orb. ‘The door of the True is covered with a golden disk. Open that, O Pushan, that we may see the nature of the True.’ Friedrich Max Müller (trans.), The Upanishads, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879), p. 313.
67 MKG reached Poona on 22 February and stayed there till 3 March 1915.
68 ‘public’ added in the English translation.
69 ‘Now that he was gone, I was thrown on my own resources, and’ added in the English translation.
70 ‘moreover’ to add.
71 ‘by Gokhale’ to add.
72 ‘If the votes were cast against me, would I not be instrumental in placing the Society in an embarrassing situation?’ To add.
73 The letter mentioned herein is not available. However, a letter of 13 January 1916 seems to suggest that Srinivas Sastri wrote to MKG to inform him of the views of the members. MKG in response wrote, ‘The members are coming to a just decision in not having me as a member.’ CWMG, vol. 13, p. 200.
74 ‘and friends’ to add.
75 ‘divorced from the spiritual is like body without soul’ in the first edition.
76 ‘Mela’ added in the English translation.
77 MKG reached Shantiniketan on 6 March and then Calcutta on 12 March; he left for Rangoon on 14 March and returned to Calcutta on 26 March 1915.
78 ‘I next went to Rangoon, where I wanted to meet Dr. Mehta’ in the first edition.
79 Bhupendra Nath Bose (1859–1924), president, Indian National Congress (1914), vice-chancellor, University of Calcutta (1923–24). His residence was 14, Balram Ghosh Street.
80 ‘and my son Ramdas was with me,’ to add.
81 ‘in the Indian style’ added in the English translation.
82 ‘amongst whom was my son Ramdas’ added in the English translation.
83 MKG, Kasturba, Ramdas and four others left by S.S. Lanka.
84 ‘No one considered the comfort of anyone else.’ To add.
85 MKG wrote to the agent of the British India Steam Navigation Company on 19 March 1915. ‘I have been in the habit of travelling as a deck passenger now for sometime. I was surprised to find that the arrangements for the deck passengers on S.S. Lanka were the worst I have yet seen.’ CWMG, vol. 13, p. 41.
86 Bulloch and Brothers, the agents of the BISN Company, replied on 20 March expressing regret at the inconvenience and assured that ‘We are taking up the matter with the Commander of “Lanka” in regard to your complaint about the state of the latrines and as requested your letter will be forwarded to Managing Agents, Calcutta.’ SN 6168.
87 ‘number of’ added in the 1940 edition.
88 ‘I might eat’ added in the English translation.
89 ‘which is held at Hardvar once every 12 years’ added in the English translation.
90 Dr. Hridaynath Kunzru (1887–1978), president of the Servants of India Society (1937–78), member, Central Legislative Assembly (1927–30), member, Rajya Sabha (1952–62).
91 MKG reached Haridwar on 5 April 1915.
92 ‘Here was work for the Phoenix party.’ Added in the English translation.
93 ‘bear the burden and’ to add.
94 ‘Giving darshan perturbed me.’ To add.
95 ‘I could not sit by myself even for a moment anywhere in the tent.’ To add.
96 ‘But this was no enviable position to be in.’ Added in the English translation.
97 ‘who had so lavishly entertained me’ added in the English translation.
98 ‘daily’ added in the 1940 edition.
99 ‘whilst in India’ added in the English translation.
100 MKG wrote in his diary for 9 April 1915: ‘Water not included in five articles. Cardamom etc. included. Groundnut and its oil to count as one article.’ CWMG, vol. 13, p. 164.
101 ‘I am able to testify that’ added in the English translation.
102 Acharya Ramdev (1881–1939), Arya Samajist, educationist, principal of the Gurukul, author of Bharat Varsha ka Itihas.
103 ‘saw that we’ to add.
104 ‘(a hanging bridge over the Ganges) some distance from Hrishikesh’ added in the English as an explanation.
105 Mangalnathji, vide the entry under 7 April, ‘Diary for 1915’, CWMG, vol. 13, p. 164.
106 ‘(tuft of hair)’ added in the English as an explanation.
107 ‘Now there is a history as to how I came to dispense with both.’ Added in the English translation.
108 ‘an urchin of’ added in the English translation.
109 ‘to wear the sacred thread’ to add.
110 See n. 184 in Chapter X, Part I.
111 ‘well-meaning’ added in the English translation.
112 ‘naturally’ added in the English translation.
113 ‘for us, the two brothers’ to add.
114 ‘this cowardly feeling carried me so far that’ added in the English translation.
115 ‘Thus I was ashamed of the shikha.’ To add.
116 ‘false’ added in the English translation.
117 ‘and fear’ to add.
118 ‘fine’ added in the English translation.
119 ‘albeit very strong’ to add.
120 ‘(aspirants)’ added in the English as an explanation.
121 On 11 May 1915 MKG saw the bungalow at Kochrab, which belonged to Barrister Jivanlal Desai. On the same day he prepared an estimate of expenditure and other requirements for the Ashram and gave them to Sheth Mangaldas Girdharlal. The list contains the names of the first forty inhabitants of the Ashram. See CWMG, vol. 13, pp. 84–87. On 20 May MKG performed the Vastu Puja at Kochrab.
122 Vaidyanath Dham, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva, located in the earlier Santhal Pargana, in the present-day state of Jharkhand.
123 ‘naturally’ added in the English translation.
124 ‘(the abode of service)’ added as translation in the English.
125 ‘(the abode of austerities)’ added as translation in the English.
126 ‘in India’ added in the English translation.
127 For the draft rules of the Ashram, see CWMG, vol. 13, pp. 91–98. The third revised draft was adopted on 7 November 1915. The revised draft had two significant inclusions: a vow against untouchability and a paragraph on Varnashrama Dharma, which clearly states, ‘The Ashram does not follow the varnashrama dharma.’ Ibid., p. 94.
128 Sir Gurudas Banerji (1844–1918), judge of Calcutta High Court, first Indian to be appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta (1890–92), chairman, Banga Jatiya Vidya Parishad (Society for the Promotion of National Education in Bengal).
129 The first draft had six observances: truth, non-violence, celibacy, control of palate, non-stealing, non-possession and two subsidiary observances, swadeshi and fearlessness.
130 ‘(salvation)’ added as translation in the English.
131 In his note to Mangaldas Girdharlal, MKG had given the number as forty, with their names. In the draft rules the number is thirty-five.
132 Amritlal Thakkar (1869–1951), known as Thakkar Bapa, worked as a civil engineer in East Africa, joined the Servants of India Society in 1914 and dedicated his life to the service of ‘untouchable’ and tribal communities, founded Bhil Seva Mandal (1922) and became general secretary of the Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932).
133 Danibehn and Dudabhai handed over their daughter Lakshmi to MKG on 5 October 1920. MKG said later, ‘Lakshmi, lives in my house moving like Lakshmi indeed.’ CWMG, vol. 19, p. 154.
134 Dudabhai Dafda sent a letter on 6 September 1915 expressing his intent to join the Ashram and abide by its rules. He visited the Ashram on 11 September and joined it with his family on Sunday, 26 September 1915. The letter written in Gujarati is given below in English translation.
Bombay
Date 6.9.15
Pujya Deshbhakta Sriyut Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at Ahmedabad
Respected Sir
The applicant Dudabhai Malji requests with Namaskar and in humility that—since I am desirous of joining the Satyagraha Ashram recently opened by you, I take the liberty, with respect, of giving a brief account of my life.
I was born in an antyaja (scavenger) Hindu caste in a small village called Devrajya of Amreli in Kathiawad. In my infancy my parents died in the terrible famine of 1956 (i.e. 1900 AD). I was then aged about four. My other relatives did not care for me and hence I had to spend many days in great hardship. The Patel Talati of the village in order to save me admitted me in an orphanage in Amreli opened by Namdar Maharaja Gaikwad Sarkar. When I joined the orphanage food, clothing and all other needs were provided for by the Namdar Maharaja. Moreover, all of us were given education and vocational training of various kinds. I lived there, passed Gujarati class six and joined weaving class. I have passed elementary, middle and highest grade examinations. I am an expert on traditional loom. I have average knowledge of shuttle loom.
At the age of eighteen I was asked to leave the orphanage and was appointed in the same institution as a teacher. At that time my salary was Rs. 7. After I had worked for two months the State got me married to a girl named Danibai, who was also an inhabitant of the orphanage. Danibai has studied up to Gujarati class four and has average knowledge of embroidery and tailoring. We could not meet our expenses in our salary of Rs. 7 and it became necessary for me to come to Bombay. I came to Bombay. I stayed with a teacher from my community named Sampat Nanji Marwadi and acquainted him with my condition. Hence, he took me to the Superintendent of the Municipal Gujarati Schools. He acquainted himself with my story and admitted me as a teacher at a salary of Rs. 15. He assessed my work and gave me an increase of Rs. 4. After that I called my wife Danibai to Bombay from Amreli. She too found work as a teacher in the Depressed Class Mission School. Her salary is Rs. 12. Both of us work as teachers and our combined monthly salary is Rs. 31 and from that, with the grace of god, we are able to meet our expenses quite well. We have a daughter of fifteen months. My Danibai is aged approximately eighteen years and I am about twenty-one years of age. We are, as enumerated above, three of us in the family. Sometime ago I received the rules of Sevashram opened by you from Rajman Rajeshri Amrutlal V. Thakker, LCE of the Servants of Indian Society. It gave me great joy to read the rules. I met Ra. Ra. Thakker Saheb two–four times and sought clarifications on them and now I have full comprehension of them. Moreover, I have also explained the full import of these rules to my wife, Danibai. Therefore, she has also given an assurance to observe all rules. I have ascertained that she will abide by the rules.
Based on this I make a humble submission that I, my wife and our daughter, all three of us be admitted as novices in your Ashram. I am hopeful of obtaining this grace. I conclude this letter with the hope and faith in god that my aspiration shall be fulfilled. If you wish to try me out for some days before admitting me to the Ashram at Ahmedabad, I will be quite happy to do so as well.
Bombay Hopeful of your grace
Dust of thy feet
Dudabhai Malji Dafda
Babula Talav
Post no. 8.
SN: 6229. Translated from the original Gujarati by TS.
135 There was quite a ‘flutter’ at the Ashram as well. On 11 September, the day of Dudabhai’s visit, Santok Maganlal Gandhi, a satyagrahi in South Africa, fasted in protest. MKG wrote in his diary, ‘There was quite a scene. Santok refused to eat, and I, too, therefore.’ CWMG, vol. 13, p. 177. Kasturba also expressed her deep unhappiness at the admission. MKG wrote to Srinivas Sastri on 23 September. ‘There was quite a flutter at the Ashram. There is a flutter even in Ahmedabad. I have told Mrs. Gandhi she could leave me and we should part as good friends.’ CWMG, vol. 13, pp. 127–28. Maganlal and Santok Gandhi left the Ashram on Friday, 24 September, but returned on 3 October 1915.
136 ‘all costs’ in the first edition.
137 ‘help we could get or what’ to add.
138 In the original ‘Shamla’, that is, ‘the dark god’ or Krishna. The reference is to the help sent by Krishna to the poet Narsinha Mehta to meet the customary expenses for his daughter Kuvarbai, as also to God in the form of Shamalshah Sheth, honouring a promissory note made out by Narsinha Mehta.
139 Ambalal Sarabhai (1890–1967), leading industrialist, played an important role in India’s freedom struggle. President of Ahmedabad Mill Owners’ Association in 1918–19. MKG had a m
eal at his and Sarladevi Sarabhai’s house on 3 February 1915, his first visit to Ahmedabad after his return to India. A close associate of MKG, he and several members of the Sarabhai family had a deep and abiding relationship with MKG and the institutions that he founded.
140 ‘a Sheth was waiting in a car outside and that he wanted’ in the first edition.
141 ‘sharp’ to add.
142 ‘attentive’ to add.
143 ‘for five or less years’ in the first edition.
144 See CWMG, vol. 13, pp. 247–50.
145 ‘Bharat Bhushan’ to add, which was an honorific used for him.
146 Sir John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby (1877–1969), member of the Indian Civil Service (1899–1924), private secretary to the Viceroy (1916–20), chief commissioner of NWFP (1921–24).
147 Jehangir Bomanji Petit (1879–1946), nationalist, mill owner, philanthropist, secretary, South Africa India Fund, joint-secretary, South African Indian Passive Resistance Fund, chairman, Bombay Mill Owners’ Association.
148 The Imperial Indian Citizenship Association was founded in 1915. MKG addressed a public meeting on the issue at the Excelsior Theatre.
149 Sir Herbert Stanley Reed (1872–1969), editor, The Times of India (1907–24), later a Conservative member of parliament in the British Parliament.
150 Sir Lallubhai Samaldas, businessman, a liberal politician of Bombay, pioneered the cooperative movement in western India.
151 Kamakshi Natarajan, editor, Indian Social Reformer, hon. secretary, Imperial Indian Citizenship Association.
152 Apparently a slip for ‘31st May’. See CWMG, vol. 13, p. 342.
153 Lady Meherbai Dorabji Tata (1879–1931).
154 MKG addressed a meeting under the aegis of the Citizens’ Association at Khalikdina Hall on 2 March 1917.
155 On 6 March he addressed a meeting in Calcutta at the Town Hall.
156 The two other recorded meetings were on 4 February at Ahmedabad and 26 February at Surat.