Mahatma Gandhi - The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Mahatma Gandhi

An Autobiography

e-artnow, 2021

Contact: info@e-artnow.org

EAN 4066338119254

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 (Contd.)

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 TO 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

Table of Contents

Four or five years ago, at the instance of some of my nearest co-workers, I agreed to write my autobiography. I made the start, but 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 sent the reply 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 reach 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 Grod-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 just yet, or even at all ? ” 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.