Gandhiji at School

We three brothers were learning at the same school. The eldest brother was in a much higher class, and the brother who was married at the same time as I was, only one class ahead of me. Marriage resulted in both of us wasting a year. Indeed the result was oven worse for my brother, for he gave up studies altogether. Heaven knows how many youths are in the same plight as he. Only in our present Hindu society do studies and marriage go thus hand in hand.

My studies were continued. I was not regarded as a dunce at the high school. I always enjoyed the affection of my teachers. Certificates of progress and character used to be sent to the parents every year. I never had a bad certificate. In fact I even won prizes after I passed out of the second standard. In the fifth and sixth I obtained scholarships and rupees four and ten respectively, an achievement for which I have to thank good luck more than my merit. For the scholarships were not open to all, but reserved for the best boys amongst those coming from the Sorath Division of Kathiawad. And in those days there could not have been many boys from Sorath in a class of forty to fifty.

My own recollection is that I had not any high regard for my ability. I used to be astonished whenever I won prizes and scholarships. But I very jealously guarded my character. The least little blemish drew tears from my eyes. When I merited, or seemed to the teacher to merit, a rebuke, it was unbearable for me. I remember having once received corporal punishment. I did not so much mind the punishment, as the fact that it was considered my desert. I wept piteously. That was when I was in the first or second standard. There was another such incident during the time when I was in the seventh standard. Dorabji Edulji Gimi was the headmaster then. He was popular among boys, as he was a disciplinarian, a man of method and a good teacher. He had made gymnastics and cricket compulsory for boys of the upper standards. I disliked both. I never took part in any exercise, cricket or football, before they were made compulsory. My shyness was one of the reasons for this aloofness, which I now see was wrong. I then had the false notion that gymnastics had nothing to do with education. Today I know that physical training should have as much place in the curriculum as mental training.

I may mention, however, that I was none the worse for abstaining from exercise. That was because I had read in books about the benefits of long walks in the open air, and having liked the advice, I had formed a habit of taking walks, which has still remained with me. These walks gave me a fairly hardy constitution.

The reason of my dislike for gymnastics was my keen desire to serve as nurse to my father. As soon as the school closed, I would hurry home and begin serving him. Compulsory exercise came directly in the way of this service. I requested Mr. Gimi to exempt me from gymnastics so that I might be free to serve my father. But he would not listen to me. Now it so happened that one Saturday, when we had school in the morning, I had to go from home to the school for gymnastics at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I had no watch, and the clouds deceived me. Before I reached the school the boys had all left. The next day Mr. Gimi, examining the roll, found me marked absent. Being asked the reason for absence, I told him what had happened. He refused to believe me and ordered me to pay a fine of one or two annas (I cannot now recall how much).

I was convicted of lying ! That deeply pained me. How was I to prove my innocence? There was no way. I cried in deep anguish. I saw that a man of truth must also be a man of care. This was the first and last instance of my carelessness in school. I have a faint recollection that I finally succeeded in getting the fine remitted. The exemption from exercise was of course obtained, as my father wrote himself to the headmaster saying that he wanted me at home after school.

But though I was none the worse for having neglected exercise, I am still paying the penalty of another neglect, I do not know whence I got the notion that good handwriting was not a necessary part of education, but I retained it until I went to England. When later, especially in South Africa, I saw the beautiful handwriting of lawyers and young men born and educated in South Africa, I was ashamed of myself and repented of my neglect. I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as a sign of an imperfect education. I tried later to improve mine, but it was too late. I could never repair the neglect of my youth. Let every young man and woman be warned by my example, and understand that good handwriting is a necessary part of education. I am now of opinion that children should first be taught the art of drawing before learning how to write. Let the child learn his letters by observation as he does different objects, such as flowers, birds, etc., and let him learn handwriting only after he has learnt to draw objects. He will then write a beautifully formed hand.

Two more reminiscences of my school days are worth recording. I had lost one year because of my marriage, and the teacher wanted me to make good the loss by skipping a class a privilege usually allowed to industrious boys. I therefore had only six months in the third standard and was prompted to he forth after the examinations which are followed by the summer vacation. English became the medium of instruction in most subjects from the fourth standard. I found myself completely at sea. Geometry was a new subject in which I was not particularly strong, and the English medium made it still more difficult for me. The teacher taught the subject very well, but I could not follow him. Often I would lose heart and think of going back to the third standard, feeling that the packing of two years’ studies into a single year was too ambitious. But this would discredit not only me, but also the teacher; because, counting on my industry, he had recommended my promotion. So the fear of the double discredit kept me at my post. When however, with much effort I reached the thirteenth proposition of Euclid, the utter simplicity of the subject was suddenly revealed to me. A subject which only required a pure and simple use of one’s reasoning powers could not be difficult. Ever since that time geometry has been both easy and interesting for me.

Samskrit, however, proved a harder task. In geometry there was nothing to memorize, whereas in Samskrit, I thought, everything had to be learnt by heart. This subject also was commenced from the fourth standard. As soon as I entered the sixth I became disheartened. The teacher was a hard taskmaster, anxious, as I thought, to force the boys. There was a sort of rivalry going on between the Samskrit and the Persian teachers. The Persian teacher was lenient. The boys used to talk among themselves that Persian was very easy and the Persian teacher very good and considerate to the students. The ‘easiness’ tempted me and one day I sat in the Persian class. The Samskrit teacher was grieved. He called me to his side and said: ‘How can you forget that you are the son of a Vaishnava father? Won’t you learn the language of your own religion? If you have any difficulty, why not come to me? I want to teach you students Samskrit to the best of my ability. As you proceed further, you will find in it things of absorbing interest. You should not lose heart. Come and sit again in the Samskrit class.’

This kindness put me to shame. I could not disregard my teacher’s affection. Today I cannot but think with gratitude of Krishnashankar Pandya. For if I had not acquired the little Samskrit that I had learnt then, I should have found it difficult to take any interest in our sacred books. In fact I deeply regret that I was not able to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the language, because I have since realized that every Hindu boy and girl should possess sound Samskrit learning.

It is now my opinion that in all Indian curricula of higher education there should be a place for Hindi, Samskrit, Persian, Arabic and English, besides of course the vernacular. This big list need not frighten anyone. If our education were more systematic, and the boys free from the burden of having to learn their subjects through a foreign medium, I am sure learning all these languages would not be an irksome task. but a perfect pleasure. A scientific knowledge of one language makes a knowledge of other languages comparatively easy.

In reality, Hindi, Gujarati and Samskrit may be regarded as one language, and Persian and Arabic also as one. Though Persian belongs to the Aryan, and Arabic to the Semitic family of languages, there is a close relationship between Persian and Arabic, because both claim their full growth through the rise of Islam. Urdu I have not regarded as a distinct language, because it has adopted the Hindi grammar and its vocabulary is mainly Persian and Arabic, and he who would learn good Urdu must learn Persian and Arabic, as one who would learn good Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali, or Marathi must learn Samskrit.

Story of Non Cooperation

I must not devote any more chapters here to a description of the further progress of Khadi. It would be outside the scope of these chapters to give a history of my various activities after they came before the public eye, and I must not attempt it, if only because to do so would require a treatise on the subject. My object in writing these chapters is simply to describe how certain things, as it were spontaneously, presented themselves to me in the course of my experiments with truth.

To resume, then, the story of the non-co-operation movement. Whilst the powerful Khilafat agitation set up by the Ali Brothers was in full progress, I had long discussions on the subject with the late Maulana Abdul Bari and the other Ulema, especially, with regard to the extent to which a Musalman could observe the rule of non-violence. In the end they all agreed that Islam did not forbid its followers from following non-violence as a policy, and further, that, while they were pledged to that policy, they were bound faithfully to carry it out. At last the non-co-operation resolution was moved in the Khilafat conference, and carried after prolonged deliberations. I have a vivid recollection how once at Allahabad a committee sat all night deliberating upon the subject. In the beginning the late Hakim Saheb was skeptical as to the practicability of non-violent non-co- operation. But after his skepticism was overcome he threw himself into it heart and soul, and his help proved invaluable to the movement.

Next, the non-co-operation resolution was moved by me at the Gujarat political conference that was held shortly afterwards. The preliminary contention raised by the opposition was that it was not competent to a provincial conference to adopt a resolution in advance of the Congress. As against this, I suggested that the restriction could apply only to a backward movement; but as for going forward, the subordinate organizations were not only fully competent, but were in duty bound to do so, if they had in them the necessary girt and confidence. No permission, I argued was needed to try to enhance the prestige of the parent institution, provided one did it at one’s own risk. The proposition was then discussed on its merits, the debate being marked by its keenness no less than the atmosphere of ‘sweet reasonableness’ in which it was conducted. On the ballot being taken the resolution was declared carried by an overwhelming majority. The successful passage of the resolution was due not a little to the personality of Sjt. Vallabhbhai and Abbas Tyabji. The latter was the president, and his leanings were all in favor of the non-co-operation resolution.

The All-India Congress Committee resolved to hold a special session of the Congress in September 1920 at Calcutta to deliberate on this question Preparations were made for it on a large scale. Lala Lajpat Rai was elected President . Congress and Khilafat specials were run to Calcutta from Bombay. At Calcutta there was a mammoth gathering of delegates and visitors. At the request of Maulana Shaukat Ali, I prepared a draft of the non-cooperation resolution in the train. Up to this time I had more or less avoided the use of the word non-violent in my drafts. I invariably made use of this word in my speeches. My vocabulary on the subject was still in process of formation. I found that I could not bring home of the Samskrit equivalent for non-violent. I therefore asked Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad to give me some other equivalent for it. He suggested the word ba-aman; similarly for non-co-operation he suggested the phrase tark-i-mavalat.

Thus, while I was still busy devising suitable Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu phraseology for non-cooperation, I was called upon to frame the non-cooperation resolution for that eventful Congress. In the original draft the word ‘non-violent’ had been left out by me. I had handed over the draft to Maulana Shaukat Ali who was traveling in the same compartment, without noticing the omission. During the night I discovered the error. In the morning I sent Mahadev with the message that the omission should be made good before the draft was sent to the press. But I have an impression that the draft was printed before the insertion could be made. The Subjects Committee was to have met the same evening. I had therefore to make the necessary correction in the printed copies of the draft. I afterwards saw that there would have been great difficulty, had I not been ready with my draft. None the less my plight was pitiable indeed. I was absolutely at sea as to who would support the resolution and who would oppose it. Nor had I any idea as to the attitude that Lalaji would adopt. I only saw an imposing phalanx of veteran warriors assembled for the fray at Calcutta, Dr. Besant, Pandit Malaviyaji, Sjt. Vijayaraghavachari, Pandit Motilalji and Deshabandhu being some of them. In my resolution non-co-operation was postulated only with a view to obtaining redress of the Punjab and the Khilafat wrongs. That, however, did not appeal to Sjt. Vijayaraghavachari. ‘If non-co- operation was to be declared, why should it be with reference to particular wrongs? The absence of Swaraj was the biggest wrong that the non-co-operation should be directed,’ he argued. Pandit Motilalji also wanted the demand for Swaraj to be included in the resolution. I readily accepted the suggestion and incorporated the demand for Swaraj in my resolution, which was passed after an exhaustive, serious and somewhat stormy discussion.

Motilalji was the first to join the movement. I still remember the sweet discussion that I had with him on the resolution. He suggested some changes in its phraseology which I adopted. He undertook to win Deshabandhu for the movement. The he felt skeptical as to the capacity of the people to carry out the program. It was only at the Nagpur Congress that he and Lalaji accepted it whole heartedly. I felt the loss of the late Lokamanya very deeply at the special session. It has been my firm faith to this day that, had the Lokamanya been then alive, he would have given his benedictions to me on that occasion. But even if it had been otherwise, and he had opposed the movement, I should still have esteemed his opposition as a privilege and an education for myself. We had our differences of opinion always, but they never led to bitterness. He always allowed me to believe that the ties between us were of the closest. Even as I write these lines, the circumstances of his death stand forth vividly before my mind’s eye. It was about the hour of midnight, when Patwardhan, who was then working with me, conveyed over the telephone the news of his death. I was at that time surrounded by me companions. Spontaneously the exclamation escaped my lips, ‘My strongest bulwark is gone.’ The non- co-operation movement was then in full swing, and I was eagerly looking forward to encouragement and inspiration from him. What his attitude would have been with regard to the final phase of non-cooperation will always be a matter of speculation, and an idle one at that. But this much is certain that the deep void left by his death weighed heavily upon everybody present at Calcutta. Everyone felt the absence of his counsels in that hour of crisis in the nation’s history.

Mahatma Revisited

Sir Michael O’Dwyer held me responsible for all that had happened in the Punjab, and some irate young Punjabis held me responsible for the martial law. They asserted that, if only I had not suspended civil disobedience, there would have been no Jalianwala Bagh massacre. Some of them even went the length of threatening me with assassination if I went to the Punjab.

But I felt that my position was so correct and above question that no intelligent person could misunderstand it.

I was impatient to go to the Punjab. I had never been there before, and that made me all the more anxious to see things for myself. Dr. Satyapal, Dr. Kitchly and Pandit Rambhaj Dutt Chowdhari, who had invited me to the Punjab, were at this time in jail. But I felt sure that the Government could not dare to keep them and the other prisoners in prison for long. A large number of Punjabis used to come and see me whenever I was in Bombay. I ministered to them a word of cheer on these occasions, and that would comfort them. My self- confidence of that time was infectious.

But my going to the Punjab had to be postponed again and again. The Viceroy would say, ‘not yet,’ every time I asked for permission to go there, and so the thing dragged on.

In the meantime the Hunter Committee was announced to hold an inquiry in connection with the Punjab Government’s doings under the martial law. Mr. C.F. Andrews had now reached the Punjab. His letters gave a heart-rending description that the martial law atrocities were in fact even worse than the press reports had showed. He pressed me urgently to come and join him. At the same time Malaviyaji sent telegrams asking me to proceed to the Punjab at once. I once more telegraphed to the Viceroy asking whether I could now go to the Punjab. He wired back in reply that I could go there after a certain date. I cannot exactly recollect now, but I think it was 17th of October.

The scene that I witnessed on my arrival at Lahore can never be effaced from my memory. The railway station was from end to end one seething mass of humanity. The entire populace had turned out of doors in eager expectation, as if to meet a dear relation after a long separation, and was delirious with joy. I was put up at the late Pandit Rambhaj Dutt’s bungalow, and the burden of entertining me fell on the shoulders of Shrimati Sarala Devi. A burden it truly was, for even then, as now, the place where I was accommodated became a veritable caravanserai.

Owing to the principal Punjab leaders being in jail, their place, I found, had been properly taken up by Pandit Malaviyaji, Pandit Motilalji and the late Swami Sharddhanandji. Malaviyaji and Shraddhanandji I had known intimately before, but this was the first occasion on which I came in close personal contact with Motilalji. All these leaders, as also such local leaders as had escaped the privilege of going to jail, at once made me feel perfectly at home amongst them, so that I never felt like a stranger in their midst.

How we unanimously decided not to lead evidence before the Hunter Committee is now a matter of history. The reasons for that decision were published at that time, and need not be recapitulated here. Suffice it to say that, looking back upon these events from this distance of time, I still feel that our decision to boycott the Committee was absolutely correct and proper.

As a logical consequence of the boycott of the Hunter Committee, it was decided to appoint a non-official Inquiry Committee, to hold almost a parallel inquiry on behalf of the Congress. Pandit Motilal Nehru, the late Deshbandhu C.R. Das, Sjt. Abbas Tyabji, Sjt. M.R.Jayakar and myself were appointed to this Committee, virtually by Pandit Malaviyaji. We distributed ourselves over various places for purposes of inquiry. The responsibility for organizing the work of the Committee devolved on me, and as the privilege of conducting the inquiry in the largest number of places fell to my lot, I got a rare opportunity of observing at close quarters the people of the Punjab and the Punjab villages.

In the course of my inquiry I made acquaintance with the women of the Punjab also. It was as if we had known one another for ages. Wherever I went they came flocking, and laid before me their heaps of yarn. My work in connection with the inquiry brought home to me the fact that the Punjab could become a great field for Khadi work.

As I proceeded further and further with my inquiry into the atrocities that had been committed on the people, I came across tales of Government’s tyranny and the arbitrary despotism of its officers such as I was hardly prepared for, and they filled me with deep pain. What surprised me then, and what still continues to fill me with surprise, was the fact that a province that had furnished the largest number of soldiers to the British Government during the war, should have taken all these brutal excesses lying down.

The task of drafting the report of this Committee was also entrusted to me. I would recommend a perusal of this report to any one who wants to have an idea of the kind of atrocities that were perpetrated on the Punjab people. All that I wish to say here about it is that there is not a single conscious exaggeration in it anywhere, and every statement made in it is substantiated by evidence. Moreover, the evidence published was only a fraction of what was in the Committee’s possession. Not a single statement, regarding the validity of which there was the report. This report, prepared as it was solely with a view to bringing out the truth and nothing but the truth, will enable the reader to see to what lengths the British Government is capable of going, and what inhumanities and barbarities it is capable of perpetrating in order to maintain its power. So far as I am aware, not a single statement made in this report has ever been disproved.

The Conversation

From its very inception the Khadi movement, Swadeshi movement as it was then called, evoked much criticism from the mill-owners. The late Umar Sobani, a capable mill-owner himself, not only gave me the benefit of his own knowledge and experience, but kept me in touch with the opinion of the other mill-owners as well. The argument advanced by one of these deeply impressed him. He pressed me to meet him. I agreed. Mr. Sobani arranged the interview. The mill-owner opened the conversation.

‘You know that there has been Swadeshi agitation before now ?’

‘Yes, I do,’ I replied.

‘You are also aware that in the days of the Partition we, the mill- owners, fully exploited the Swadeshi movement. When it was at its height, we raised the prices of cloth, and did even worse things.’

‘You, I have heard something about it, and it has grieved me.’

‘I can understand your grief, but I can see no ground for it. We are not conducting our business out of philanthropy. We do it for profit, we have got to satisfy the shareholders. The price of an article is governed by the demand for it. Who can check the law of demand and supply ? The bengalis should have known that their agitation was bound to send up the price of Swadeshi cloth by stimulating the demand for it.’

I interrupted: ‘The Bengalis like me were trustful in their nature. They believed, in the fulness of their faith, that the mill-owners would not be so utterly selfish and unpatriotic as to betray their country in the hour of its need, and even to go the length, as they did, of fraudulently passing off foreign cloth as Swadeshi.’

‘I knew your believing nature,’ he rejoined; ‘that is why I purt you to the trouble of coming to me, so that I might warn you against falling into the same error as these simple-hearted Bengalis.’

With these words the mill-owner beckoned to his clerk who wa standing by to produce samples of the stuff that was being manufactured in his mill. Pointing to it he said: ‘Look at this stuff. This is the latest variety turned out by our mill. It is meeting with a widespread demand. We manufacture it from the waste. Naturally, therefore, it is cheap. We send it as far North as the valleys of the Himalayas. We have agencies all over the country, even in places where your voice or your agents can never reach. You can thus see that we do not stand in need of more agents. Besides, you ought to know that India’s production of cloth falls far short of its requirements. The question of Swadeshi, therefore, largely resolves itself into one of production. The moment we can increase our production sufficiently, and improve its quality to the necessary extent, the import of foreign cloth will automatically cease. extent, the import of foreign cloth will automatically cease. My advice to you, therefore, is not to carry on your agitation on its present lines, but to turn your attention to the erection of fresh mills. What we need is not propaganda to inflate demand for our goods, but greater production.’

‘Then, surely, you will bless my effort, if I am laready engaged in that very thing,’ I asked.

‘How can that be ?’ he exclaimed, a bit puzzled, ‘but may be, you are thinking of promoting the establishment of new mills, in which case you certainly deserve to be congratulated.’

‘ I am not doing exactly that,’ I explained, ‘but I am engaged in the revival of the spinning wheel.’

‘What is that ?’ he asked, feeling still more at sea. I told him all about the spinning wheel, and the story of my long quest after it, and added, ‘I am entirely of your opinion; it is no use my becoming virtually an agent for the mils. That would do more harm than good to the country. Our mills will not be in want of custom for a long time to come. My work should be, and therefore is, to organize the production of handspun cloth, and to find means for the disposal of the Khadi thus produced. I am, therefore, concentrating my attention on the production of Khadi. I swear by this form of Swadeshi, because through it I can provide work to the semi-starved, semi-employed women of India. My idea is to get these women to spin yarn, and to clothe the people of India with Khadi woven out of it. I do not know how far this movement is going to succeed, at present it is only in the incipient stage. But i have full faith in it. At any rate it can do no harm. On the contrary to the extent that it can add to the cloth production of the country, he it ever so small, it will represent so much solid gain. You will thus perceive that my movement is free from the evils mentioned by you.’

He replied, ‘If you have additional production in view in organizing your movement, I have nothing to say against it. Whether the spinning wheel can make headway in this age of power machinery is another question. But I for one wish you every success.

A Farewell

The time has now come to bring these chapters to a close.

My life from this point onward has been so public that there is hardly anything about it that people do not know. Moreover, since 1921 I have worked in such close association with the Congress leaders that I can hardly describe any episode in my life since then without referring to my relations with them. For though Shraddhanandji, the Deshabandhu, Hakim Saheb and Lalaji are no more with us today, we have the good luck to have a host of other veteran Congress leaders still living and working in our midst. The history of the Congress, since the great changes in it that I have described above, is still in the making. And my principal experiments during the past seven years have all been made through the Congress. A reference to my relations with the leaders would therefore be unavoidable, if I set about describing my experiments further. And this I may not do, at any rate for the present, if only from a sense of propriety. Lastly, my conclusions from my current experiments can hardly as yet be regarded as decisive. It therefore seems to me to be my plain duty to close this narrative here. In fact my pen instinctively refuses to proceed further.
It is not without a wrench that I have to take leave of the reader. I set a high value on my experiments. I do not know whether I have been able to do justice to them. I can only say that I have spared no pains to give a faithful narrative. To describe truth, as it has appeared to me, and in the exact manner in which I have arrived at it, has been my ceaseless effort. The exercise has given me ineffable mental peace, because, it has been my fond hope that it might bring faith in Truth and Ahimsa to waverers.

My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God than Truth. And if every page of these chapters does not proclaim to the reader that the only means for the realization of Truth is Ahimsa, I shall deem all my labor in writing these chapters to have been in vain. And, even though my efforts in this behalf may prove fruitless, let the readers know that the vehicle, not the great principle, is at fault. After all, however sincere my strivings after Ahimsa may have been, they have still been imperfect and inadequate. The little fleeting glimpses, therefore, that I have been able to have of Truth can hardly convey an idea of the indescribable luster of Truth, a million times more intense than that of the sun we daily see with our eyes. In fact what I have caught is only the faintest glimmer of that mighty effulgence. But this much I can say with assurance, as a result of all my experiments, that a perfect vision of Truth can only follow a complete realization of Ahimsa.

To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.

Identification with everything that lives is impossible without self- purification; without self-purification the observance of the law of Ahimsa must remain an empty dream; God can never be realized by one who is not pure of heart. Self-purification therefore must mean purification in all the walks of life. And purification being highly infectious, purification of oneself necessarily leads to the purification of one’s surroundings.
But the path of self-purification is hard and steep. To attain to perfect purity one has to become absolutely passion-free in thought, speech and action; to rise above the opposing currents of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion. I know that I have not in me as yet that triple purity, in spite of constant ceaseless striving for it. That is why the world’s praise fails to move me, indeed it very often stings me. To conquer the subtle passions to me to be harder far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms. Ever since my return to India I have had experience of the dormant passions lying hidden with in me. The knowledge of them has made me feel humiliated though not defeated. The experiences and experiments have sustained me and given me great joy. But I know that I have still before me a difficult path to traverse. I must reduce muself to zero. So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him. Ahimsa is the farthest limit of humility.

In bidding farewell to the reader, for the time being at any rate, I ask him to join with me in prayer to the God of Truth that He may grant me the boon of Ahimsa in mind, word and deed.

Mahatma Speaks

A Tragedy

Amongst my few friends at the high school I had, at different times, two who might be called intimate. One of these friendships did not last long, though I never forsook my friend. He forsook me, because I made friends with the other. This latter friendship I regard as a tragedy in my life. It lasted long. I formed it in spirit of a reformer. This companion was originally my elder brother’s friend. They were classmates. I knew his weaknesses, but I regarded him as a faithful friend. My mother, my eldest brother, and my wife warned me that I was in bad company. I was too proud to heed my wife’s warning. But I dared not go against the opinion of my mother and my eldest brother. Nevertheless I pleaded with them saying, ‘I know he has the weaknesses you attribute to him, but you do not know his virtues. He cannot lead me astray, as my association with him is meant to reform him. For I am sure that if he reforms his ways, he will be a splendid man. I beg you not to be anxious on my account.’ I do not think this satisfied them, but they accepted my explanation and let me go my way.

I have seen since that I had calculated wrongly. A reformer cannot afford to have close intimacy with him whom he seeks to reform. True friendship is an identity of souls rarely to be found in this world. Only between like natures can friendship be altogether worthy and enduring. Friends react on one another. Hence in friendship there is very little scope for reform. I am of opinion that all exclusive intimacies are to be avoided; for man takes in vice far more readily than virtue. And he who would be friends with God must remain alone, or make the whole world his friend. I may be wrong, but my effort to cultivate an intimate friendship proved a failure.

A wave of ‘reform’ was sweeping over Rajkot at the time when I first came across this friend. He informed me that many of our teachers were secretly taking meat and wine. He also named many well-known people of Rajkot as belonging to the same company. There were also, I was told, some high-school boys among them.

I was surprised and pained. I asked my friend the reason and he explained it thus: ‘We are a weak people because we do not eat meat. The English are able to rule over us, because they are meat-eaters. You know how hardy I am, and how great a runner too. It is because I am a meat-eater. Meat-eaters do not have boils or tumours, and even if they sometimes happen to have any, these heal quickly. Our teachers and other distinguished people who eat meat are no fools. They know its virtues. You should do likewise. There is nothing like trying. Try, and see what strength it gives.’

All these pleas on behalf of meat-eating were not advanced at a single sitting. They represent the substance of a long and elaborate argument which my friend was trying to impress upon me from time to time. My elder brother had already fallen. He therefore supported my friend’s argument. I certainly looked feeble-bodied by the side of my brother and this friend. They were both hardier, physically stronger, and more daring. This friend’s exploits cast a spell over me. He could run long distances and extraordinarily fast. He was an adept in high and long jumping. He could put up with any amount of corporal punishment. He would often display his exploits to me and, as one is always dazzled when he sees in others the qualities that he lacks himself, I was dazzled by this friend’s exploits. This was followed by a strong desire to be like him. I could hardly jump or run. Why should not I also be as strong as he?

Moreover, I was a coward. I used to be haunted by the fear of thieves, ghosts, and serpents. I did not dare to stir out of doors at night. Darkness was a terror to me. It was almost impossible for me to sleep in the dark, as I would imagine ghosts coming from one direction, thieves from another and serpents from a third. I could not therefore bear to sleep without a light in the room. How could I disclose my fears to my wife, no child, but already at the threshold of youth, sleeping by my side? I knew that she had more courage than I, and I felt ashamed of myself. She knew no fear of serpents and ghosts. She could go out anywhere in the dark. My friend knew all these weaknesses of mine. He would tell me that he could hold in his hand live serpents, could defy thieves and did not believe in ghosts. And all this was, of course, the result of eating meat.

A doggerel of the Gujarati poet Narmad was in vogue amongst us schoolboys, as follows: Behold the mighty Englishman He rules the Indian small, Because being a meat-eater He is five cubits tall.

All this had its due effect on me. I was beaten. It began to grow on me that meat-eating was good, that it would make me strong and daring, and that, if the whole county took to meat-eating, the English could be overcome.

A day was thereupon fixed for beginning the experiment. It had to be conducted in secret. The Gandhis were Vaishnavas. My parents were particularly staunch Vaishnavas. They would regularly visit the Haveli. The family had even its own temples. Jainism was strong in Gujarat, and its influence was felt everywhere and on all occasions. The opposition to and abhorrence of meat-eating that existed in Gujarat among the Jains and Vaishnavas were to be seen nowhere else in India or outside in such strength. These were the traditions in which I was born and bred. And I was extremely devoted to my parents. I knew that the moment they came to know of my having eaten meat, they would be shocked to death. Moreover, my love of truth made me extra cautious. I cannot say that I did not know then that I should have to deceive my parents if I began eating meat. But my mind was bent on the ‘reform’. It was not a question of pleasing the palate. I did not know that it had a particularly good relish. I wished to be strong and daring and wanted my countrymen also to be such, so that we might defeat the English and make India free. The word ‘Swaraj‘ I had not yet heard. But I knew what freedom meant. The frenzy of the ‘reform’ blinded me. And having ensured secrecy, I persuaded myself that mere hiding the deed from parents was no departure from truth.

Being a Young Polytician

The first experience of political agitation into which Gandhi had been pitch forked cured him of what once had seemed an incorrigible self-consciousness. Not that he had a sudden attack of egotism; he was conscious of his limitations, and in a letter dated July 5, 1894 to Dadabhai Naoroji, the eminent leader of the Indian National Congress, wrote: “A word for myself and I have done. I am inexperienced and young and, therefore, quite liable to make mistakes. The responsibility undertaken is quite out of proportion to my ability. So, you will see that I have not taken the matter up, which is beyond my ability, in order to enrich myself at the expense of the Indians. I am the only available person who can handle the question.” The concept of inferiority is a relative one; in a community looking to him for leadership, Gandhi forgot his own limitations. As the only available person, he undertook a task from which elsewhere he would have shrunk.

Gandhi had come to South Africa in 1893 for a year. He could hardly have imagined that he would have to stay on for the best part of two decades. The struggle of the Indian immigrants for elementary civic rights was to be long and hard The disfranchising of the Indians which had been the immediate cause of Gandhi’s intervention in the politics of Natal was only a symptom of the racial malaise that had begun to afflict the Dark Continent.

“The Asiatics”, wrote Lord Milner, “are strangers forcing themselves upon a community reluctant to receive them.” In fact, the Indian emigration to South Africa in the eighteen- sixties started at the instance of the European settlers who were in possession of vast virgin lands ideal for tea, coffee and sugar plantations, but lacked man-power. The Negro could not be compelled to work after the abolition of slavery. Recruiting agents of the European planters toured some of the poorest and most congested districts of India and painted rosy prospects of work in Natal. Free passage, board and lodging; a wage of ten shillings a month for the first year rising by one shilling every year; and the right to a free return passage to India after five years’ ‘indenture’ (or alternatively, the option to settle in the land of their adoption) drew thousands of poor and illiterate Indians to distant Natal.

The European planters and merchants did not relish the idea of Indian Labourers settling down as free citizens at the end of the five year’ ‘indenture’. A tax of £3 was therefore levied on every member of the family of an ex-indentured labourer even though he was merely exercising his right to settle in Natal in terms of the agreement which had governed his emigration from India. It was a crippling tax for the poor wretches whose wages ranged between ten and twelve shillings month.

The Indian merchant who had followed the Indian labourer to Natal had disabilities of his own. No one could trade without a licence, which a European could have for the asking and Indian only after much effort and expense, if at all. And since an educational test in a European language was made a sine quanon for an immigrant from India, except of course the semi-slave indentured labourers who continued to be imported.

The legal disabilities on Indians were bad enough, but the daily humiliations they suffered were worse. They were commonly described as “Asian dirt to be heartily curse, chokeful of vice, that live upon rice and the black vermin”. They were not allowed to walk on footpaths. First and second class tickets were not issued to them. If a white passenger objected, they could be unceremoniously bundled out of a railway compartment; they had sometimes to travel on footboards of trains. European hotels would not admit them.

Gandhi realized that what the India urgently needed was a permanent organization to look after their interests. Out of deference to Dadabhai Naoroji, Who had presided over the Indian National Congress in 1893, he called the new organization Natal Indian Congress. He was not conversant with the constitution and functions of the Indian National Congress. This ignorance proved an asset, as he fashioned the Natal Congress in his own way to suit the needs of the Natal Indians, as a live body functioning throughout the year and dedicated not only to politics but to the moral and social uplift of its members. Though it served a community which had very little political experience, it was not a one-man show. An indefatigable secretary though he was, Gandhi enlisted popular interest and enthusiasm at every step. He made the enrolment of members and the collection of subscriptions into something more than a routine. He employed a gently but irresistible technique for exerting moral pressure on halfhearted supporters. Once in a small village, he sat through the night and refused to take his dinner until at dawn his host, an Indian merchant, agreed to raise his subscription for the Natal Indian Congress from three to six pounds.

In these early years of his politics apprenticeship, Gandhi formulated his own code of conduct for a politician. He did not accept the popular view that in politics one must fight for one’s ;arty, right or wrong. He avoided exaggeration and discouraged it in his colleagues. The Natal Indian Congress was not merely an instrument for the defence of political and economic rights for the Indian minority, but also a lever for its internal reform and unity. He did not spare his own people and roundly criticized them for their shortcomings. He was not only the stoutest champion of the Natal Indians, but also their severest critic.

Under his leadership, the Indian community in Natal endeavoured to secure the repeal of discriminatory laws and vexatious regulations and stave off further oppressive measures. Gandhi was in touch with Naoroji and other members of the British committee of the Indian National Congress in London. He sought their advice and support in representing the South African Indian Indian’s case to the Secretary of State for India, and British Colonial Secretary.

Founders of the Natal Indian Congress

Gandhi with the Indian Ambulance Corps during the Boer War

He was an indefatigable correspondent, bombarding his friends, opponents, newspaper editors and men in authority in three continents, with telegrams, letters and memoranda on the grievances of the India in South Africa. It is a measure of Gandhi’s success as a publicist that the Indian National Congress Recorded its protest against the disabilities imposed upon the Indian settlers in South Africa, and the London Times devoted several leading articles to this problem. In 1896 he paid a brief visit to India to canvass public support for the cause he had made his own. On return to Natal from this trip on January 10,1897, he was nearly lynched in the streets Durban by a mob of Europeans who had been infuriated by Press reports of Gandhi’s advocacy of the Indian cause in his native land.

On the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi organized an Indian Ambulance Corps of 1100 men. Vere Stent, the editor of the Pretoria News, has left a fascinating pen-portrait of Gandhi in the battlefield: “After a night’s work which had shattered men with much bigger frames, I came across Gandhi in the early morning sitting by the roadside-eating a regulation biscuit. Every man in (General) Buller’s force was dull and depressed, and damnation was heartily invoked on everything. But Gandhi was stoic in his bearing, cheerful and confident in his conversation and had a kindly eye.”

It must be recognised that Gandhi’s ideas on non-violence had not yet fully matured. His argument at this time was that Indian settlers in British colonies, while demanding all the privileges of citizenship must also accept all its obligations, which included participation in the defence of the country of adoption. Gandhi’s gesture in raising an ambulance corps on behalf of a minority which was denied elementary rights was a fine one, but it was wasted. The end of the Boer War brought no relief to the Indians. Their grievances remained unredressed. Indeed, new chains were forged for them in the former Boer Colonies.

Mahatma Tolerated

Gandhiji Tolerated Arrests and Imprisonment…..

SOUTH AFRICA
10 January, 1908	Arrested for faing to register or to leave Transvaal and sentenced to two months simple imprisonment. On 30th January, following a compromise, he was released.
07 October, 1908	While returning from Natal, as he was unable to show his registration, which he had burnt, his sentence was imprisonment with hard labour.
25 February, 1909	Arrested, sentenced for 3 months imprisonment at Transvaal for not producing registration certificate.
06 November, 1913	After the ‘great march’ he was arrested at Palm Ford, released on 7th on bail furnished by Kallenbach.
08 November, 1913	Again arrested and released on bail.
09 November, 1913	Arrested and sentenced to nine months imprisonment. At Volkhurst sentenced for further three months. But unexpectedly released on 18 December, 1913.
INDIA
16 April, 1917	While touring Champaran served with a notice to leave the district but was not arrested.
10 April, 1919	Arrested at Palwal on his way to Amritsar and was taken back to Bombay where he was released on 11 April.
10 March, 1922	Arrested near Sabarmati Ashram for writing three articles in Young India. Sentenced to six years imprisonment. Released from Yervada prison on 5 February, 1924 unconditionally after an operation on 12 January, 1924
05 May, 1930	At 12.45 a.m. arrested at Karadi near Dandi for violating Salt Law, without trail was imprisoned and released on 26 January, 1931 unconditionally.
04 January, 1932	Arrested in Bombay at 3 a.m. and taken Yervada Jail. On 8 May, 1933 as he started fast was released at 6 p.m.
01 August, 1933	Arrested early morning at Bombay following his March toward Rass and released on 4 August at 9 a.m. and was asked to leave Yervada limits by 9.30 a.m. Did not comply, so arrested on 4th at 9.50 a.m. and sentenced to one year imprisonment. Started fast on 16th August and was released unconditionally on 23 August due to serious health condition.
09 August, 1942	Arrested under Defense of India Rules in the early hours of the morning following ‘Quit India’ resolution and was lodge in Agakhan Palace Jail. Released unconditionally at 8 a.m. on 6 May, 1944.

Early life of Gandhiji

Early Life of Gandhiji …
 

Year	Month	Date	Event
1869	October	2	Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born of a Bania (Vaishya or trading caste) family at Porbunder, Kathiawar, the youngest of the three sons of Karamchand alias Kaba Gandhi, Prime Minister successively in Porbunder, Rajkot and Vankaner States, and his fourth wife Putlibai
1876			Goes to Rajkot with parents; attends primary school there till twelfth year; is betrothed to Kasturbai, daughter of Gokuldas Makanji, merchant.
1881			Enters High School at Rajkot
1883			Marries Kasturbai
1884-85			Takes to meat-eating in secret, but abandons habit after about a year to avoid deceiving his parents. Father dies, aged 63.
1887			Passes Matriculation examination; joins Samaldas College at Bhavnagar (Kathiawar), but gives up studies at close of first term.
1888	September	4	Sails for England.
	October	28	Reaches London. Lives on vegetarian diet. Takes lessons in dancing and music for a short time, thinking they are necessary parts of a gentleman’s equipment.
1889			Reads books on simple living and decides to reduce expenses by half; studies religious literature; reads Gita for first time and is deeply impressed
1890			Cultivates contacts with vegetarian movement; for short while conducts vegetarian club.
	June		Passes London Matric.
	September		Joins Vegetarian Society.
1891	June	10	Called to the Bar.
		12	Sails for India.
	July		Reaches Bombay.
	November		Applies for admission to Bombay High Court.
1892			Struggles with legal practice at Rajkot and Bombay; later settles down at former place as legal draftman.
1893	April		Leaves for South Africa, being engaged by a Muslim firm for legal work.
	May-June		Experiences colour bar in various forms; decides to remain and fight race prejudice.
1894	August	22	Founds Natal Indian Congress.
	September		Enrolled as Advocate of Supreme Court of Natal, being first Indian to be so enrolled. Studies religious literature including the Bible, he Koran and Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You.
1895			Gets more committed to South African Indian cause. Issues The Indian Franchise: An Appeal to Every Briton in South Africa.
1896	July		Returns to India and starts agitation on behalf of South African Indians.
	August	14	Publishes The Green Pamphlet at Rajkot. Tours Bombay, Madras, Poona and Calcutta educating Indians in regard to grievances of South African Indians.
	November	30	Sails for South Africa with wife and children.
1897	January	13	Mobbed on landing at Durban by crowd excited by reports of his speeches in India on conditions of indentured Indian labour in South Africa.
		20	Declines to prosecute assailants.
	April	6	Submits long memorial to Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Colonies, regarding landing incidents, background. Carries on programme of petitioning local and Imperial authorities, as well as of communicating with British and Indian public men regarding discriminatory laws.
1898-99			Represents to Indian National Congress, Colonial and Imperial authorities, against Locations and restrictions on Indians’ trading rights.
1899			Raises Indian Ambulance Corps in Boer War, which goes into action and is mentioned in dispatches; awarded war medal.
1900			Sends Dadabhai Naoroji draft resolution on South African Indian problem for Congress session.
1901	October	18	Sails for India.
	December	14	Reaches Rajkot via Porbunder.
		27	Moves resolution on South Africa at Congress.
1902	Jan28-Feb	1	Visits Rangoon. Stays for a month with Gokhale at Calcutta. Returns to Rajkot, settees down to practise.
	July		Shifts to and sets up practice at Bombay.
	November		Is called to South Africa to champion Indians’ cause against anti-Asiatic legislation in Transvaal.
	December		Arrives in Durban: leads delegation to Chamberlain.
1903			Enrolled as Attorney of Supreme Court of Transvaal; founds Transvaal British Indian Association. Sends weekly statements regarding situation to Dadabhai Naoroji.
	June		Indian Opinion commences publication.
1904			Reads Ruskin’s Unto This Last : founds Phoenix Settlement near Durban (Natal); organizes hospital during outbreak of plague in Johannesburg; writes series of articles in Gujarati on dietetics which are later translated into English and published under the title Guide to Health.
1905			Opposes Bengal Partition, supports boycott of British goods. During Gokhale- Lajpat Rai deputation to Britain, appeals to Colonial statesmen to treat India, ‘an integral part of the Empire’, with consideration.
1906	May	12	Support ‘home rule’ for India ‘I the name of justice and for good of humanity’.
		27	Writes to brother, Lakshimidas, declaring disinterestedness in worldly possessions.
	June-July		Raises Indian Stretcher-bearer Corps in Zulu Rebellion; takes vow of brahmacharya for life.
	Sept	11	Addresses mass meeting of Indians at Johannesburg, which takes oath of passive resistance against newly promulgated Transvaal Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance.
	Oct 21-Nov	30	In England on deputation to present Indians’ case to Colonial Secretary.
	December	18	Returns to South Africa
1907	Jan-Feb		Writes series of 8 articles in Gujarati on “Ethical Religion”, published weekly in Indian Opinion and later, as a book.
	March		Asiatic Registration Act passed in Transvaal Parliament. Indians hold protest meetings.
	April		Sees Smuts at Pretoria, acquaints him with resolutions adopted at mass meetings. Pledges, in Indian Opinion, opposition to ‘Black Act’.
	August		Writes to Smuts criticizing Registration Act, suggesting amendments. Passive resistance, picketing of Permit Offices; defends passive resisters in court.
	December		Smuts decides to prosecute Gandhiji.
1908	January	8	Asks Government for suspension of Registration Act, offers voluntary registration.
		10	Adopts word : ‘Satyagraha’ in place of ‘Passive Resistance’. Sentenced to 2 months’ imprisonment for failure to leave Transvaal.
		21	Agrees to settlement on basis of voluntary registration, if Registration Act is repealed.
		30	Summoned to see General Smuts at Pretoria and released, on reaching a compromise.
	February	10	Nearly killed by Pathans who regard the compromise, under which Indians are expected to give their finger-prints voluntarily, as a betrayal of Indian interest; refuses to prosecute his assailants.
	March-June		Negotiates with Smuts for fulfillment of promise of repeal of Act which Smuts denies.
	July		Correspondence with Smuts released; Indians in mass meeting decide to refuse thumb impressions and burn registration certificates.
	August		Declares use of violence ‘harmful, even useless to uproot British rule’ in India. Appeals to Smuts to repeal ‘Black Act’. Registration certificates burnt at meetings; passive resistance resumed.
	September		Royal assent is given to amended Registration Act. Smuts refuses Indian terms for settlement.
	October	15	Arrested and sentenced to 2 months’ rigorous imprisonment.
	December	12	Released from Volksrust Gaol Indian National Congress adopts resolution on South Africa, criticizing the harsh, humiliating and cruel treatment of British Indians in South Africa as injurious to British Empire.
1909	January	16	Arrested at Volksrust for failing to produce registration certificate; on deportation, returned and is re-arrested, but released on bail.
		20	Writes to Press calling on Indians to prepare for final phase of struggle.
	February	25	Arrested at Volksrust; sentenced to 3 months.
	May	2	Transferred to Pretoria Central Gaol.
		24	Released.
	June	21	Leaves with Haji Habib, on deputation to England to represent Indian case.
	July	10	Arrives in London. With the assistance of Lord Ampthill, works ceaselessly to educate influential British leaders, the public, and to move Imperial authorities.
	October	1	Writes to Tolstoy regarding Passive Resistance movement.
	November	9	The Times reports failure of Gandhi Government negotiations on Transvaal laws.
		10	Replies to Tolstoy, sends his biography by Doke.
		13	Leaves England for South Africa. Writes Hind Swaraj on board “s. s. Kildonan Castle”.
		30	Reaches South Africa.
	December	29	Congress at Lahore adopts resolution praising Indians’ struggle in South Africa, urging ban on indenture.
1910	April	4	Sends Tolstoy copy of Indian Home Rule, seeks comment.
	May	8	Tolstoy replies: question of Passive Resistance of greatest importance not only for India but for humanity.
		30	Founds Tolstoy Farm.
	December	4	Pays memorial tribute to Tolstoy.
1911	January		Communicates with Smuts regarding amendments to Immigrants’ Restriction Bill; latter assures; no colour bar taint in laws.
	March	27	Interviews Smuts at Cape town.
	April	22	Smuts agrees to assurances demanded by Indians in reciprocation of suspension of Passive Resistance movement.
	May	3	Meets Smuts: ‘Provisional Settlement’ arrived on Smuts’ promise of repeal of Asiatic Registration and Immigrants’ Restriction Acts.
	June	24	Pledges loyalty to King-Emperor on coronation.
	December	8	Invites Gokhale to South Africa

Gandhiji in South Africa

Gandhiji in South Africa
 

Year	Month	Date	Event
1912	March	16	Commends Gokhale’s attempts for abolition of indenture system.
	September	12	Phoenix Trust is set up.
	October	22	Accompanies Gokhale, on tour of South Africa, Laurenco Marques, Mozambique and Zanzibar. Gives up European dress and milk and restricts himself to diet of fresh and dried fruit.
1913	January	18	Refers in Indian Opinion to the possibility of return home to India by mid-year.
	March	14	Indian marriages in South Africa invalidated by Searle’s Supreme Court judgment.
		30	Indians in mass meeting protest against Searle judgment.
	April	12	In Indian Opinion draws attention to new Immigration Bill’s failure to fulfill terms of Provisional Settlement of 1911. Kasturba decides to join Passive Resistance struggle.
	May	19	Warns Government of certainty of revival of movement if it fails to grant promised relief.
	June	7	Idea of return to India deferred in view of stringent application of discriminatory laws and likely resumption of Satyagraha.
		28	Expresses readiness for negotiations.
	September	13	Announces negotiations “proved abortive”.
		15	Passive Resistance is revived.
		16	Kasturba is arrested.
	October	17	Visits Newcastle; urges indentured Indians to cease work till repeal of £3 tax. 3000 miners strike.
		24	Proposes ‘March’ into Transvaal.
		28	‘March’ from Newcastle begins.
		30	Reaches Charlestown.
	November	3	Announces ‘March’ into Transvaal to court arrest.
		5	Telephones Smuts seeking assurance of repeal of £3 tax.
		6	Leads ‘ Great March’.
		7	At Volksrust, released on bail; rejoin Marchers.
		8	Arrested at Standerton; released on recognizance; ‘March’ continues.
		9	Arrested at Teakworth, taken to Balfour.
		10	Takes ‘one meal a day’ pledge till repeal of tax.
		11	Sentence, at Dundee, to 9 months’ rigorous imprisonment.
		13	Removed to Volksrust gaol.
		14	Sentenced to 3 months on fresh count at Volksrust.
	December	18	Released unconditionally; from time of release till settlement take only one meal a day and puts on indentured labourer’s dress.
1914	January	13,16	Interviews Smuts, submits proposals.
		22	Suspends satyagraha following agreement with Smuts. Fourteen days’ penitential fast for moral lapse of inmates of Farm.
	June		Indian Relief Act is passed.
	July	18	Sails for England, en route to India.
	August	4	Reaches London. Raises Indian Volunteer Corps
	October		Volunteer Corps on duty. Offers satyagraha over administrative interference in corps.
	December	19	Sails for India.
1915	January	9	Reaches India Awarded Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal for Ambulance services.
	May	20	Founds Satyagraha Ashram (later known as Sabarmati Ashram after the name of the river) at Ahmedabad.
1915-16			Tours India and Burma, travelling 3rd class on the railways.
1917			Successfully agitates against indentured Indian emigration; idea of making use of spinning-wheel to produce handmade cloth on large scale takes root in his mind.
	April		Goes to Champaran (Bihar) to investigate conditions of labour in indigo plantations; arrested and later released; appointed by Bihar Government as member of committee set up to inquire into ryots’ grievances.
1918	Jan-March		Takes up cause of textile labourers of Ahmedabad and fasts to secure amicable settlement of dispute; initiates satyagraha in Kaira District (Bombay) to secure suspension of revenue assessment on failure of crops.
	April	27	Attends Viceroy’s War Conference at Delhi and addresses it in Hindustani; subsequently tours Kaira District to raise recruits for army.
1919	February	28	Signs Satyagraha Pledge to secure withdrawal of Rowlatt Bills.
	April	6	Inaugurates all-India satyagraha movement; countrywide hartal.
		8-11	Arrested on way to Delhi for refusal to comply with order not to enter Punjab; escorted back to Bombay; outbreaks of violence in several towns.
		13	Jallianwala Bagh tragedy at Amritsar, troops firing on an unarmed crowd and killing over 400. Addresses public meeting near Sabarmati Ashram and declares three days’ penitential fast.
		14	Confesses at Nadiad his ‘Himalayan miscalculation’ regarding satyagraha martial law declared in Punjab.
		18	Suspends satyagraha.
	September		Assumes editorship of the Gujarati monthly, Navajivan, later published weekly in Hindi also.
	October		Assumes editorship of the English weekly, Young India; joins non-official committee of inquiry into official excesses in Punjab.
	November	24	Presides over All-India Khilafat Conference at Delhi.
	December		Advises acceptance of Montague-Chelmsford Reforms by Congress at Amritsar.
1920	January		Leads deputation to Viceroy to press on British Government not to deprive Sultan of Turkey (who was also Khalifa of Muslims) of his suzerainty over Holy Places of Islam.
	August	1	Addresses letter to Viceroy surrendering Kaiser-I-Hind Medal, Zulu War Medal and Boer War Medal.
	September		Special session of Indian National Congress at Calcutta accepts his programme of non-co-operation to secure redress of Punjab and Khilafat wrongs.
	November		Founds Gujarat Vidyapith at Ahmedabad.
	December		Nagpur Congress session adopts his resolution declaring object of Congress to be attainment of Swaraj by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means.
1921	April		Launches programme of enlisting a crore of members in Congress, raising a crore of rupees for Tilak Swaraj Fund and setting up 20 lakhs of charkhas in the country in furtherance of national constructive movement.
	August		Leads campaign for complete boycott of foreign cloth and lights monster bonfire of foreign cloth in Bombay.
	December		Invested with full dictatorial powers by Congress session at Ahmedabad.
1922	February	1	Gives notice to Viceroy of intention to launch satyagraha campaign in Bardoli (Gujarat).
		5	Following Chauri Chaura (U.P.) tragedy, in which 21 police constables and one sub-inspector were burnt to death by a mob, fasts for five days and abandons plan of satyagraha movement.
	March	10	Arrested for sedition at Sabarmati and sentenced (March 18) to six years’ imprisonment.
1924	Jan-Feb		Operated on for appendicitis in Sassoon Hospital, Poona (Jan. 12) and released on Feb. 5
	April		Resumes editorship of Young India and Navajivan.
	September	18	Begins 21 days’ fast for Hindu-Muslim unity.
	December		Presides over Congress session at Belgaum.
1925	September		Founds All-India Spinners’ Association.
	November		Seven days’ vicarious fast for misdeeds of Ashram inmates. Commences writing his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
1927	November		Visits Ceylon.
1928	December		Moves resolution at Calcutta Congress session in favour of Independence if Dominion Status is not granted by end of 1929.
1929	December		At his instance Lahore Congress session declares that Swaraj in Congress creed shall mean Purna Swaraj (complete independence).
1930	February		Appointed by A.I.C.C. as Congress Disobedience movement.
	March	2	Addresses letter to Viceroy intimating his intention to break Salt law if Congress demands are not conceded.
		12	Commences march to Dandi sea-beach, where he ceremoniously picks up salt (April 6).
	May	5	Arrested and imprisoned without trial; hartal all over India; over 100,000 are jailed before close of year.
1931	January	26	unconditionally released from prison.
	Feb-March		Has series of talks with Viceroy resulting in Irwin-Gandhi Pact.
	August	29	Sails for England as sole Congress delegate to Second Round Table Conference.
	Sept-Dec		Attends sessions of Conference.
	December	5	Leaves England for India.
		28	Lands in Bombay.
1932	January	4	Arrested and imprisoned without trial.
	September	20	Commences ‘fast unto death’ in jail to secure abolition of separate electorates for Harijans in Communal Award.
		26	Breaks fast on Government of India’s acceptance of his demand regarding Harijans.