An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth

by M K Gandhi

  327 Indulal Kanaiyalal Yagnik (1892–1972), member of the Home Rule League and the Servants of India Society, founder editor of Young India, which was later handed over to MKG, one of the founders of the All India Kisan Sabha, post-Independence led the Maha Gujarat Movement for the creation of the separate state of Gujarat, elected to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Lok Sabha (1957–72).

  328 ‘let nobody consider any special merit in living at Anathashram’ to add. Anathashram is an orphanage, founded in 1908.

  329 ‘of us’ to add.

  330 For the pledge, see CWMG, vol. 14, p. 279. There are some variations between the two texts.

  331 Shankarlal Dwarkadas Parikh, Kheda Satyagraha (Ahmedabad: Gujarat Vidya Sabha, first published 1922; second edition 1954).

  332 ‘the fight, which was to them a’ added in the English translation. The original read, ‘this novel experiment’.

  333 ‘for the success of the cause’ added in the English translation.

  334 ‘farmers’ added in the English translation.

  335 ‘than I had expected’ added in the English translation.

  336 ‘for a meagre amount of revenue’ to add.

  337 ‘suffering in the shape of’ added in the English translation.

  338 Mohanlal Pandya and five others from village Navagam were charged on 8 June 1918, in the court of the collector acting as a district magistrate. Two of them were given ten days of imprisonment while the rest were awarded twenty days’ imprisonment.

  339 ‘whether the Mamlatdar’s undertaking was true for the whole district’ added in the English translation.

  340 ‘it will be remembered’ added in the English translation.

  341 ‘This I did not see.’ To add.

  342 ‘even’ to add.

  343 ‘The learned’ to add before her name.

  344 Many towns of Gujarat suffered floods in 1927 due to unusually higher than average rainfall in parts of central and south Gujarat. Vallabhbhai Patel led the relief efforts and persuaded Viceroy Lord Irwin to visit Ahmedabad on 9 December 1927 and provide government assistance for flood relief.

  345 Bardoli, then a taluka in Surat district of Gujarat, had a 222 sq. miles area with 173 villages. The land revenue assessment of the area was revised in 1926 and increased by 30 per cent. The peasants of the area, led by Vallabhbhai Patel, took a pledge of satyagraha on 12 February 1928, after all efforts to reason with the government had failed; intense agitation culminated in the government accepting the chief demands of the peasants in August 1928. Vallabhbhai came to be called ‘Sardar’—the leader—after this satyagraha.

  346 ‘peasant’ added in the English translation.

  347 ‘against the government’ to add.

  348 ‘Now a crisis had arrived, and’ added in the English translation.

  349 The Viceroy opened the war conference on 25 April 1918.

  350 MKG reached Delhi on 26 April and stayed at Professor Sushil Rudra’s house at St Stephen’s College.

  351 On 10 April MKG wrote to J.L. Maffey, the PS to the Viceroy, ‘What vexes me, however is the case of the Ali Brothers.’ CWMG, vol. 14, p. 321. On 14 April he wrote a note to Maffey, ‘In all humility I ask Lord Chelmsford not only to release the brothers but take them in his counsel, as also Mr. Tilak. They are not enemies of the state.’ Ibid., p. 338. Having gone to Delhi, MKG wrote to Sir Claude Hill that he would not be able to serve on any committee nor speak on the main resolution. On 27 April MKG had interviews with Maffey and later with the Viceroy on the matter of participating in the conference.

  352 ‘Lokmanya and others’ to add. Ali brothers refer to Maulana Shaukat Ali (1873–1937) and his brother Maulana Mohammad Ali (1878–1931). Maulana Mohammad Ali, who studied at Aligarh Muslim University and Oxford University, was a poet, scholar, journalist and one of the founders of the All Indian Muslim League as also the Jamia Millia Islamia. The Ali brothers founded and edited an Urdu journal, Hamdard, and English journal, Comrade. In 1924 MKG undertook a twenty-one-day fast from 17 September to 8 October, during which he stayed at the house of Maulana Mohammad Ali from 17 September to 25 September.

  353 ‘close’ added in the English translation.

  354 Hakim Ajmal Khan (1868–1927), took great interest in the expansion of the Unani system of medicine, one of the co-founders of Jamia Millia Islamia and its first chancellor (1920–27).

  355 ‘the late’ to add.

  356 Shuaib Qureshi, editor, New Era.

  357 Khwaja Abdul Majid (1885–1962), studied at Cambridge, called to the Bar in 1910, chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia (1936–62), founded the All India Muslim Majlis to oppose the two-nation theory and the partition.

  358 Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari (1880–1936), studied medicine in Madras and in England, president, All India Muslim League (1918, 1920), and of the Indian National Congress (1927).

  359 Dr. Abdur Rahman, general secretary, Delhi Satyagraha Sabha.

  360 ‘of my life I realize that’ added in the English translation.

  361 ‘My experiment continues.’ To add.

  362 MKG had gone to Aligarh before attending the All India Muslim League at Calcutta. He was at Aligarh on 28 November 1917 (CWMG, vol. 14, p. 98) and spoke at the Muslim League meeting on 31 December 1917. His next visit to Aligarh was from 11–13 October 1920.

  363 The Khilafat movement (1919–24) sought to hold the British Empire to maintain the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as the Caliph of Islam. A deputation was sent to England in 1920 but failed to influence the provisions of the Treaty of Sevres. The Lucknow Pact of 1916 led to the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League working closely on the non-cooperation and the Khilafat movements. The abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate in 1922 and the Caliphate in 1924 led to the dissolution of the Khilafat Movement, while MKG suspended the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922.

  364 ‘For me the Khilafat question was simple.’ To add.

  365 ‘I felt I must render help.’ To add.

  366 ‘Lloyd George’ to add. David Lloyd George (1863–1945), chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–15), prime minister of the War-time Coalition Government (1916–22).

  367 ‘from a limited point of view’ to add.

  368 ‘severely’ to add.

  369 ‘then current’ to add.

  370 The original would translate ‘Enlisting Rangroot’; rangroot, a widely prevalent corruption of ‘recruit’.

  371 For the speech, see CWMG, vol. 14, p. 375.

  372 ‘tabooed’ in the first edition.

  373 In Navajivan of 14 October 1928, a footnote from the editor (that is, MKG) states, ‘A translation of the letter is given at the end of the chapter.’ For the letter, also see CWMG, vol. 14, pp. 377–80.

  374 The practice of governor generals and Viceroys shifting the capital to Simla began in 1823.

  375 ‘and hand it personally at the Viceregal Lodge’ added in the English translation. The Viceregal Lodge was built atop the Observatory Hill, Simla, during the viceroyalty of Lord Dufferin. He and Lady Dufferin took up residence at the Lodge designed by Henry Irwin on 23 July 1888. After Independence it became Rashtrapati Nivas, which was transferred to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in October 1964.

  376 Rev W.F. Ireland, educated at Cambridge, joined St Stephen’s College in 1916, left the college in 1920 to do ‘District work’. F.F. Monk, St Stephen’s College: A History (1935), p. 247 (Staff List).

  377 Cambridge Mission, an Anglican Christian missionary initiative in India led by graduates of Cambridge University. The Brotherhood established St Stephen’s College in Delhi in 1881.

  378 ‘eased my mind and’ added in the English translation.

  379 No record of this is available. Though on 10 June 1918 the Governor of Bombay Lord Willingdon chaired a stormy meeting of the Bombay Provincial War Conference, from which Tilak, Gandhi, Jinnah and others staged a walkout and on 16 June MKG presided over a mass meeting in Bombay to protest against Lord Willingdon’s intemperate utterance
s with regard to the Home Rule League.

  380 ‘Appeal for Enlistment’, CWMG, vol. 14, p. 439–43.

  381 ‘I knew that the butter could be easily overeaten to the detriment of one’s health, and yet I allowed myself to overeat it.’ In the first edition.

  382 The date was 11 August 1918.

  383 ‘I recollect’ to add.

  384 ‘told me that she’ to add.

  385 ‘whole’ to add. That is, ‘unsplit’.

  386 ‘angel of death’ translates as ‘Yamaraj’, ‘the god of death.’

  387 ‘only’ added in the English translation.

  388 ‘one and a quarter mile’ in the original.

  389 ‘or other companions’ to add.

  390 ‘at about ten o’clock’ added in the English translation.

  391 ‘Hindu’ added in the English translation.

  392 ‘where we had our headquarters’ added in the English translation.

  393 ‘I had to go to the lavatory every fifteen minutes. At last I was defeated. I made public my unbearable pain, and took to bed.’ To add.

  394 ‘Bapooji’ to add. Fulchand Bapooji Shah.

  395 Dr. Balwantrai Narasinhprasad Kanuga. Dr. Kanuga and Dr. G.R. Talwalkar reached Nadiad from Ahmedabad on 22 August 1918.

  396 MKG was taken to Shanti Sadan on 23 August 1918.

  397 MKG was removed to the Ashram on 7 September 1918.

  398 ‘But I could not accept anyone’s advice.’ To add.

  399 1 October 1918.

  400 ‘I had no strength for any work.’ To add.

  401 ‘without taking the degree’ translates the original ‘had not received the imprint from Dwarka’.

  402 ‘and obstinate’ added in the English translation.

  403 See CWMG, vol. 15, p. 98. MKG and the ashramites were considering other names for him. ‘We are thinking of giving him a third name, Dudabhai (Brother Milk) as these days he has gone milk-crazy.’

  404 ‘which was that of ice, which is water’ to add.

  405 ‘Moral’ to add.

  406 MKG stayed at Ambalal Sarabhai’s house, Bombay View, from 2–12 December 1918.

  407 MKG left Matheran on the 13th, reaching Bombay on 14 December where he stayed till 9 February 1919.

  408 Dr. A.K. Dalal.

  409 ‘guarantee’ English word in the original.

  410 ‘I told him the whole history and reasons behind my vow, how’ added in the English translation.

  411 ‘listening all the while that this conversation was going on’ in the first edition.

  412 The date was 8 January 1919.

  413 ‘by adhering to its outer form only’ added in the English translation.

  414 ‘or weakness’ added in the English translation.

  415 ‘is, therefore, my prayer day and night’ added in the English translation.

  416 The operation was performed on 21 January 1919.

  417 ‘As I recuperated, my desire to live revived, especially because God had kept work in store for me.’ Added in the English translation.

  418 The Rowlatt Committee, appointed in 1918 to evaluate political terrorism in India, especially in Bengal and the Punjab, and their links with the German government and the Bolsheviks in Russia. Justice Sidney Rowlatt (president), J.D.V. Hodge (secretary), Justice Basil Scott, Justice C.V. Kumaraswami Sastri, Verney Lovett and P.C. Mitter (members) comprised the committee.

  419 Called Bill No. 1 and Bill No. 2 of 1919, the bills made provision for the ordinary criminal law to be supplemented and gave emergency powers to the government. For a summary of the bills, see CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 110–18.

  420 ‘in defiance of it’ added in the English translation.

  421 The conference was held on 24 February 1919.

  422 Benjamin Guy Horniman (1873–1948), British journalist, editor of the daily British Chronicle founded by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta; he broke the story of the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, was arrested and deported to England for his criticism of the colonial government.

  423 For the satyagraha pledge, see CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 101–02.

  424 ‘wonderful’ added in the English translation.

  425 For the Satyagraha Sabha rules, see CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 132–33.

  426 ‘that would appear to be peculiar’ added in the English translation.

  427 ‘and the movement gathered head rapidly’ added in the English translation.

  428 V.S. Srinivas Sastri.

  429 ‘the hot stream of’ added in the English translation.

  430 ‘That was precisely the Government’s position.’ Added in the English translation.

  431 See CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 129–30, 218–20, 225, 274–75, 302–03, 311.

  432 ‘but when I received an invitation from Madras’ added in the English translation.

  433 ‘throbs’ in the first edition.

  434 MD read out MKG’s speeches in Madras.

  435 ‘But I felt that I must accept the invitation from Madras.’ To add before this sentence.

  436 ‘have’ to add.

  437 ‘and the people of Southern provinces’ to add.

  438 S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar (1859–1923), lawyer, nationalist, journalist, purchased The Hindu in 1905 and became its editor and managing director till his death in 1923.

  439 Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), joined the Rowlatt Satyagraha and the non-cooperation movements, edited Young India during MKG’s imprisonment in the early 1920s, member of the Congress Working Committee (1922–42), Governor of Bengal (1947–48), the only Indian Governor General of independent India (1948–50), served as Premier of Madras (1937–39) and as chief minister of Madras (1952–54), awarded the Bharat Ratna (1954), founder of the Swatantra Party (1959), accomplished writer. His daughter Lakshmi married MKG’s youngest son, Devadas.

  440 MKG stayed in Madras from 18 March to 23 March 1919.

  441 C. Vijayaraghavachari (1852–1944), member of the Indian National Congress and its president (1920), member, Madras Legislative Council (1895–1901), Imperial Legislative Council (1913–16).

  442 ‘as a response to this Act’ to add.

  443 ‘to this appeal of ours’ added in the English translation.

  444 See CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 145–46. MKG called for the observation as a ‘day of humiliation and prayer’. This was drafted and released on 23 March 1919.

  445 ‘there was hardly any time to give longer notice’ in the first edition.

  446 ‘from one end to the other’ added in the English translation.

  447 ‘Memorable’ added in the English translation.

  448 MKG reached Bombay on 3 April 1919.

  449 Dr. Satyapal, a medical practitioner, whose arrest led to protests which finally resulted in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

  450 Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew (1888–1963), nationalist politician, studied at Cambridge and obtained a doctorate from Munster University, Germany, member of the Punjab Congress Committee and general secretary, AICC, was the first Indian recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize; he was arrested along with Dr. Satyapal.

  451 The procession moved to Madhav Baug and not Thakurdvar. This is indicated in a footnote in the Gujarati edition of the Autobiography—Gandhiji No Akshrdeha, vol. 39, p. 298, as also CWMG, vol. 15, p. 188.

  452 Sonapuri Mosque, near Peal House.

  453 Vithaldas Jerajani, a constructive (rachnatmak) worker, started the Shuddha Swadeshi Bhandar in Bombay.

  454 ‘at the Chaupati grounds’ to add.

  455 ‘Needless to say’ added in the English translation.

  456 ‘from sea-water’ added in the English translation.

  457 ‘on the 7th’ to add.

  458 In the original, ‘all that is white is not milk’.

  459 MKG boarded the train on the afternoon of 8 April at 4 p.m.

  460 ‘echoes’ in the first edition.

  461 The order was served at Kosi station on 9 April. For a copy of the order, see CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 207–08, n. 2.


  462 ‘accompanying’ in the first edition.

  463 ‘gentleman’ English word in the original.

  464 Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer (1864–1940), Lt. Governor of the Punjab (1912–19), endorsed General Reginald Dyer’s action in Jallianwala Bagh, assassinated by Udham Singh on 13 March 1940 in Caxton Hall, London.

  465 ‘help’ in the first edition.

  466 For details of the arrest, see CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 227–28.

  467 ‘beseeched’ in the first edition.

  468 ‘in that vast concourse’ added in the English translation.

  469 ‘at the speed of a rail car’ to add.

  470 ‘In that seething mass of humanity’ added in the English translation.

  471 ‘Memorable’ added in the English translation.

  472 Sir Francis Charles Griffith (1878–1942), appointed police commissioner of Bombay (1919), inspector-general of Bombay (1922) and later chief constable, New Scotland Yard.

  473 ‘soldiers’ English word in the original.

  474 ‘even about the Punjab’ added in the English translation.

  475 The meeting was held on 11 April 1919.

  476 ‘soldier’ in the original.

  477 The meeting was held on Monday, 14 April. See CWMG, vol. 15, pp. 220–24.

  478 Vallabhbhai Patel read out MKG’s speech.

  479 MKG had commenced the fast on 13 April after his meeting with commissioner Pratt.

  480 ‘Neither did the people confess to the crime, nor did the Government condone them.’ To add.

  481 ‘Sir’ added in the English translation.

  482 Sir Ramanbhai Mahipatram Nilkanth (1868–1928), author of the Gujarati classics Bhadram Bhadra and Rai no Parbat, social reformer, president, Ahmedabad Municipality.

  483 In the original ‘mountainous’. Throughout the chapter the word ‘mountainous’ has been translated as ‘Himalayan’.

  484 MKG was in Nadiad on 24 April, having been in Bombay from 18–21 April and in Ahmedabad from 22–23 April.