DOVER BOOKS ON HISTORY, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Six-GUNS AND SADDLE LEATHER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS ON WESTERN OUTLAWS AND GUNMEN, Ramon F. Adams. (0-486-40035-2)
THE GIFT To BE SIMPLE, Edward D. Andrews. (0-486-20022-1)
THE PEOPLE CALLED SHAKERS, Edward D. Andrews. (0-486-21081-2)
GOD AND THE STATE, Michael Bakunin. (0-486-22483-X)
THE STORY OF MAPS, Lloyd A. Brown. (0-486-23873-3)
THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE, E. A. Wallis Budge. (0-486-23501-7)
THE BOOK OF THE SWORD, Sir Richard F. Burton. (0-486-25434-8)
HISTORY OF THE LATER ROMAN EMPIRE, John B. Bury. (0-486-20398-0, 0-486-20399-9) Two-volume set.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMEN, Howard Carter and A. C. Mace. (0-486-23500-9)
ESSENTIAL WORKS OF LENIN, Henry M. Christman (ed.). (0-486-25333-3)
THE RIVER WAR, Winston Churchill. (0-486-44785-5)
THE MEDIEVAL TOURNAMENT, R. Coltman Clephan. (0-486-28620-7)
BUFFALO BILL’S LIFE STORY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, W. F. Cody. (0-486-40038-7)
THE WORLD’S GREAT SPEECHES: FOURTH ENLARGED EDITION, Lewis Copeland, Lawrence W. Lamm, and Stephen J. McKenna (eds.). (0-486-40903-1)
THE MEDIEVAL VILLAGE, G. G. Coulton. (0-486-26002-X)
THE EXERCISE OF ARMES: ALL 117 ENGRAVINGS FROM THE CLASSIC 17TH-CENTURY MILITARY MANUAL, Jacob De Gheyn. (0-486-4()442-0)
MY BONDAGE AND MY FREEDOM, Frederick Douglass. (0-486-22457-0)
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BATTLES, David Eggenberger. (0-486-24913-1)
LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT, Adolf Erman. (0-486-22632-8)
GREAT NEWS PHOTOS AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM, John Faber. (0-486-23667-6)
THE ARMOURER AND His CRAFT, Charles ffoulkes. (0-486-25851-3)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY: THE STORY OF My EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH, Mohandas K. Gandhi. (0-486-24593-4)
WOODROW WILSON AND COLONEL HOUSE: A PERSONALITY STUDY. Alexander L. and Juliette L. George. (0-486-21144-4)
ANARCHISM AND OTHER ESSAYS, Emma Goldman. (0-486-22484-8)
LIVING MY LIFE, Emma Goldman. (0-486-22543-7, 0-486-22544-5) Two-volume set.
THE DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND, William Harrison. (0-486-28275-9)
UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES IN AMERICAN, 1680–1880, Mark Holloway. (0-486-21593-8) THE COMMON LAW, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (0-486-26746-6)
THE WANING OF THE MIDDLE AGES, Johan Huizinga. (0-486-40443-9)
THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE, H. Montgomery Hyde. (0-486-20216-X)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, Thomas Jefferson. (0-486-44289-6)
MUTUAL AID, Peter Kropotkin. (0-486-44913-0)
NOSTRADAMUS AND His PROPHECIES, Edgar Leoni. (0-486-41468-X)
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, David Lowe (ed.). (0-486-23771-0)
THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660—1783, A. T. Mahan. (0-486-25509-3)
RENAISSANCE DIPLOMACY, Garrett Mattingly. (0-486-25570-0)
THE COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES, Charles Nordhoff. (0-486-21580-6)
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF WEAPONS: ARMS AND ARMOUR FROM PREHISTORY TO THE AGE OF CHIVALRY, R. Ewart Oakeshott. (Available in U.S. only.) (0-486-29288-6)
THE BOOK OF THE CROSSBOW, Ralph Payne-Gallwey. (0-486-28720-3)
TATTOO, Albert Parry (0-486-44792-8)
THE NAVAL HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR, Admiral David D. Porter. (0-486-40176-6)
THE EXPLORATION OF THE COLORADO RIVER AND ITS CANYONS, J. W. Powell. (0-486-20094-9)
THE GEOGRAPHY, Claudius Ptolemy. (0-486-26896-9)
How THE OTHER HALF LIVES, Jacob A. Riis. (0-486-22012-5)
THE GREAT DIRIGIBLES: THEIR TRIUMPHS & DISASTERS, John Toland. (0-486-21397-8)
CASTLES AND WARFARE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. (0-486-44020-6)
THE WANDERING SCHOLARS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, Helen Waddell. (0-486-41436-1)
ANCIENT EGYPT: ITS CULTURE AND HISTORY, J. E. Manchip White. (0-486-22548-8)
THE STORY OF THE TITANIC AS TOLD BY ITS SURVIVORS, Jack Winocour (ed.). (0-486-20610-6)
This Dover edition, first published in 1983, is an unabridged republication of the edition published by Public Affairs Press, Washington, D.C., 1948, under the title Gandhi’s Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y 11501
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869–1948.
Autobiography: the story of my experiments with truth.
Translation of: Satyanā prayogo athavā ātmakathā.
Originally published: Washington : Public Affairs Press, 1948.
1. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869—1948. 2. Statesmen—India—Biography. I. Desai, Mahadev H. (Mahadev Haribhai), 1892—1942. II. Title. III. Title: Story of my experiments with truth.
DS481.G3A348 1983 954.03’4’0924 [B] 83-5353
9780486117515
Table of Contents
DOVER BOOKS ON HISTORY, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Copyright Page
INTRODUCTION
PART I
I - BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
II - CHILDHOOD
III - CHILD MARRIAGE
IV - PLAYING THE HUSBAND
V - AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
VI - A TRAGEDY
VII - A TRAGEDY
VIII - STEALING AND ATONEMENT
IX - MY FATHER’S DEATH AND MY DOUBLE SHAME
X - GLIMPSES OF RELIGION
XI - PREPARATION FOR ENGLAND
XII - OUTCASTE
XIII - IN LONDON AT LAST
XIV - MY CHOICE
XV - PLAYING THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN
XVI - CHANGES
XVII - EXPERIMENTS IN DIETETICS
XVIII - SHYNESS MY SHIELD
XIX - THE CANKER OF UNTRUTH
XX - ACQUAINTANCE WITH RELIGIONS
XXI -
XXII - NARAYAN HEMCHANDRA
XXIII - THE GREAT EXHIBITION
XXIV - ‘CALLED’—BUT THEN?
XXV - MY HELPLESSNESS
PART II
I - RAYCHANDBHAI
II - HOW I BEGAN LIFE
III - THE FIRST CASE
IV - THE FIRST SHOCK
V - PREPARING FOR SOUTH AFRICA
VI - ARRIVAL IN NATAL
VII - SOME EXPERIENCES
VIII - ON THE WAY TO PRETORIA
IX - MORE HARDSHIPS
X - FIRST DAY IN PRETORIA
XI - CHRISTIAN CONTACTS
XII - SEEKING TOUCH WITH INDIANS
XIII - WHAT IT IS TO BE A ‘COOLIE’
XIV - PREPARATION FOR THE CASE
XV - RELIGIOUS FERMENT
XVI - MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES
XVII - SETTLED IN NATAL
XVIII - COLOUR BAR
XIX - NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS
XX - BALASUNDARAM
XXI - THE £ 3 TAX
XXII - COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGIONS
XXIII - AS A HOUSEHOLDER
XXIV - HOMEWARD
XXV - IN INDIA
XXVI - TWO PASSIONS
XXVII - THE BOMBAY MEETING
XXVIII - POONA AND MADRAS
XXIX - ‘RETURN SOON’
PART III
I - RUMBLINGS OF THE STORM
II - THE STORM
III - THE TEST
IV - THE CALM AFTER THE STORM
V - EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
VI - SPIRIT OF SERVICE
VII - BRAHMACHARYA—I
VIII - BRAHMACHARYA—II
IX - SIMPLE LIFE
X - THE BOER WAR
XI - SANITARY REFORM AND FAMINE RELIEF
XII - RETURN T
O INDIA
XIII - IN INDIA AGAIN
XIV - CLERK AND BEARER
XV - IN THE CONGRESS
XVI - LORD CURZON’S DARBAR
XVII - A MONTH WITH GOKHALE—1
XVIII - A MONTH WITH GOKHALE—II
XIX - A MONTH WITH GOKHALE—III
XX - IN BENARES
XXI - SETTLED IN BOMBAY?
XXII - FAITH ON ITS TRIAL
XXIII - TO SOUTH AFRICA AGAIN
PART IV
I - ‘LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST’?
II - AUTOCRATS FROM ASIA
III - POCKETED THE INSULT
IV - QUICKENED SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE
V - RESULT OF INTROSPECTION
VI - A SACRIFICE TO VEGETARIANISM
VII - EXPERIMENTS IN EARTH AND WATER TREATMENT
VIII - A WARNING
IX - A TUSSLE WITH POWER
X - A SACRED RECOLLECTION AND PENANCE
XI - INTIMATE EUROPEAN CONTACTS
XII - EUROPEAN CONTACTS (Contd.)
XIII - ‘INDIAN OPINION’
XIV - COOLIE LOCATIONS OR GHETTOES?
XV - THE BLACK PLAGUE—I
XVI - THE BLACK PLAGUE—II
XVII - LOCATION IN FLAMES
XVIII - THE MAGIC SPELL OF A BOOK
XIX - THE PHŒNIX SETTLEMENT
XX - THE FIRST NIGHT
XXI - POLAK TAKES THE PLUNGE
XXII - WHOM GOD PROTECTS
XXIII - A PEEP INTO THE HOUSEHOLD
XXIV - THE ZULU ‘REBELLION’
XXV - HEART SEARCHINGS
XXVI - THE BIRTH OF SATYAGRAHA
XXVII - MORE EXPERIMENTS IN DIETETICS
XXVIII - KASTURBAI’S COURAGE
XXIX - DOMESTIC SATYAGRAHA
XXX - TOWARDS SELF-RESTRAINT
XXXI - FASTING
XXXII - AS SCHOOLMASTER
XXXIII - LITERARY TRAINING
XXXIV - TRAINING OF THE SPIRIT
XXXV - TARES AMONG THE WHEAT
XXXVI - FASTING AS PENANCE
XXXVII - TO MEET GOKHALE
XXXVIII - MY PART IN THE WAR
XXXIX - A SPIRITUAL DILEMMA
XL - MINIATURE SATYAGRAHA
XLI - GOKHALE’S CHARITY
XLII - TREATMENT OF PLEURISY
XLIII - HOMEWARD
XLIV - SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE BAR
XLV - SHARP PRACTICE?
XLVI - CLIENTS TURNED CO-WORKERS
XLVII - HOW A CLIENT WAS SAVED
PART V
I - THE FIRST EXPERIENCE
II - WITH GOKHALE IN POONA
III - WAS IT A THREAT?
IV - SHANTINIKETAN
V - WOES OF THIRD CLASS PASSENGERS
VI - WOOING
VII - KUMBHA MELA
VIII - LAKSHMAN JHULA
IX - FOUNDING OF THE ASHRAM
X - ON THE ANVIL
XI - ABOLITION OF INDENTURED EMIGRATION
XII - THE STAIN OF INDIGO
XIII - THE GENTLE BIHARI
XIV - FACE TO FACE WITH AHIMSA
XV - CASE WITHDRAWN
XVI - METHODS OF WORK
XVII - COMPANIONS
XVIII - PENETRATING THE VILLAGES
XIX - WHEN A GOVERNOR IS GOOD
XX - IN TOUCH WITH LABOUR
XXI - A PEEP INTO THE ASHRAM
XXII - THE FAST
XXIII - THE KHEDA SATYAGRAHA
XXIV - ‘THE ONION THIEF’
XXV - END OF KHEDA SATYAGRAHA
XXVI - PASSION FOR UNITY
XXVII - RECRUITING CAMPAIGN
XXVIII - NEAR DEATH’S DOOR
XXIX - THE ROWLATT BILLS AND MY DILEMMA
XXX - THAT WONDERFUL SPECTACLE!
XXXI - THAT MEMORABLE WEEK!—I
XXXII - THAT MEMORABLE WEEK!—II
XXXIII - A HIMALAYAN MISCALCULATION
XXXIV - ‘NAVAJIVAN’ AND ‘YOUNG INDIA’
XXXV - IN THE PUNJAB
XXXVI - THE KHILAFAT AGAINST COW PROTECTION?
XXXVII - THE AMRITSAR CONGRESS
XXXVIII - CONGRESS INITIATION
XXXIX - THE BIRTH OF KHADI
XL - FOUND AT LAST!
XLI - AN INSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE
XLII - ITS RISING TIDE
XLIII - AT NAGPUR
FAREWELL
INDEX
A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER - BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST
INTRODUCTION
I agreed to write my autobiography at the instance of some of my co-workers. Scarcely had I turned over the first sheet when riots broke out in Bombay and the work remained at a standstill. Then followed a series of events which culminated in my imprisonment at Yeravda. Sjt. Jeramdas, who was one of my fellow-prisoners there, asked me to put everything else on one side and finish writing the autobiography. I replied that I had already framed a programme of study for myself, and that I could not think of doing anything else until this course was complete. I should indeed have finished the autobiography had I gone through my full term of imprisonment at Yeravda, for there was still a year left to complete the task, when I was discharged. Swami Anand has now repeated the proposal, and as I have finished the history of Satyagraha in South Africa, I am tempted to undertake the autobiography for Navajivan. The Swami wanted me to write it separately for publication as a book. But I have no spare time. I could only write a chapter week by week. Something has to be written for Navajivan every week. Why should it not be the autobiography? The Swami agreed to the proposal, and here am I hard at work.
But a God-fearing friend had his doubts, which he shared with me on my day of silence. “What has set you on this adventure?” he asked. “Writing an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the West. I know of nobody in the East having written one, except amongst those who have come under Western influence. And what will you write? Supposing you reject tomorrow the things you hold as principles today, or supposing you revise in the future your plans of today, is it not likely that the men who shape their conduct on the authority of your word, spoken or written, may be misled? Don’t you think it would be better not to write anything like an autobiography, at any rate just yet?”
This argument had some effect on me. But it is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind, if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I believe, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all these experiments will not be without benefit to the reader. My experiments in the political field are now known, not only to India, but to a certain extent to the ‘civilized’ world. For me, they have not much value, and the title of ‘Mahatma’ that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply pained me, and there is not a moment I can recall when it may be said to have tickled me. But I should certainly like to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to myself, and from which I have derived such power as I possess for working in the political field. If the experiments are really spiritual, then there can be no room for self-praise. They can only add to my humility. The more I reflect and look back on the past, the more vividly do I feel my limitations.
What I want to achieve,—what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years,—is self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain Moksha.1 I live and move and have my being in pursuit of this goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, and all my ventures in the political field, are directed to this same end. But as I have all along believed that what is possible for one is possible for all, my experiments have not been conducted in the closet, but in the open, and I do not think that this fact detracts from their spiritual value. There are some things which are known only to oneself and one’s Maker. These are clearly incommunicable. The experiments I am about to relate are not such. But they are spiritual, or rather moral, f
or the essence of religion is morality.
Only those matters of religion that can be comprehended as much by children as by older people, will be included in this story. If I can narrate them in a dispassionate and humble spirit, many other experimenters will find in them provision for their onward march. Far be it from me to claim any degree of perfection for these experiments. I claim for them nothing more than does a scientist who, though he conducts his experiments with the utmost accuracy, forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality about his conclusions, but keeps an open mind regarding them. I have gone through deep self-introspection, searched myself through and through, and examined and analysed every psychological situation. Yet I am far from claiming any finality or infallibility about my conclusions. One claim I do indeed make and it is this. For me they appear to be absolutely correct, and seem for the time being to be final. For if they were not, I should base no action on them. But at every step I have carried out the process of acceptance or rejection and acted accordingly. And so long as my acts satisfy my reason and my heart, I must firmly adhere to my original conclusions.
If I had only to discuss academic principles, I should clearly not attempt an autobiography. But my purpose being to give an account of various practical applications of these principles, I have given the chapters I propose to write the title of The Story of My Experiments with Truth. These will of course include experiments with non-violence, celibacy and other principles of conduct believed to be distinct from truth. But for me, truth is the sovereign principle, which includes numerous other principles. This truth is not only truthfulness in word, but truthfulness in thought also, and not only the relative truth of our conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God. There are innumerable definitions of God, because His manifestations are innumerable. They overwhelm me with wonder and awe and for a moment stun me. But I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded be my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it. But as long as I have not realized this Absolute Truth, so long must I hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. That relative truth must, meanwhile, be my beacon, my shield and buckler. Though this path is strait and narrow and sharp as the razor’s edge, for me it has been the quickest and easiest. Even my Himalayan blunders have seemed trifling to me because I have kept strictly to this path. For the path has saved me from coming to grief, and I have gone forward according to my light. Often in my progress I have had faint glimpses of the Absolute Truth, God, and daily the conviction is growing upon me that He alone is real and all else is unreal. Let those, who wish, realize how the conviction has grown upon me; let them share my experiments and share also my conviction if they can. The further conviction has been growing upon me that whatever is possible for me is possible even for a child, and I have sound reasons for saying so. The instruments for the quest of truth are as simple as they are difficult. They may appear quite impossible to an arrogant person, and quite possible to an innocent child. The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of truth. The dialogue between Vasishtha and Vishvamitra makes this abundantly clear. Christianity and Islam also amply bear it out.