The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi (The Robert Payne Library)

by Robert Payne

  a sub-caste of the Vaisya caste.

  Moksha

  the vision of God.

  Mordabad

  death to.

  Namaskar

  the Indian salute with folded hands.

  Patel

  village headman.

  Pandit

  scholar.

  Pradosha

  fasting.

  Puma swaraj

  complete self-rule.

  Ram

  God.

  Ramadhun

  a song made up of repetitions of God’s name.

  Ramanama

  the repetition of God’s name.

  Raiyat

  peasant.

  Sadhana

  spiritual discipline, or any discipline.

  Samadhi

  ascetic.

  Sadhu

  ecstasy, and by extension the place where a great man or woman was given to the flames.

  Sanatani

  orthodox Hindu.

  Sarvodaya

  welfare of all.

  Satyagraha

  literally, holding to the truth.

  Sunyasi

  Hindu recluse.

  Swadeshi

  belonging to one’s own country.

  Swaraj

  self-rule.

  Tonga

  two-wheeled horse-driven cart.

  Urdu

  language based on Persian and Sanskritic dialects of North India

  Vaishnava

  a votary of the cult of Vishnu.

  Vakil

  lawyer.

  Vidyapith

  university.

  Yajna

  sacrifice.

  Selected Bibliography

  There are five essential sources for a biography of Gandhi—his two lengthy autobiographies, The Story of My Experiments with Truth and Satyagraha in South Africa, his Collected Works, now being published by the Publications Division of the Government of India on a massive scale, D. G. Tendulkar’s Mahatma in eight volumes, and Pyarelal’s unfinished biography now comprising three huge volumes, one called The Early Phase dealing with his life up to December 1896 and two others collectively called The Last Phase, which begins in May 1944 and ends with the assassination.

  The Collected Works is a monumental enterprise intended to include the entire corpus of Gandhi’s writings, speeches and letters in about sixty volumes. At this writing twenty-five volumes have been published, bringing the story up to January 1925. Some letters known to exist have not been included, and it is in the nature of things that a complete corpus of his works will never appear. Gandhi was a compulsive letter writer, and a complete edition of all his letters, if it were ever seriously undertaken, would comprise at least a hundred heavy volumes. Like the Fathers of the Church he employed an army of secretaries and with their help he was quite capable of writing or dictating sixty letters a day. On April 4, 1932, for example, he wrote fifty-two letters to people in the ashram and seven other letters have been recorded. He did not regard a day in which he wrote fifty letters as being in any way extraordinary. In addition he often wrote an article a day, and he would give six or seven interviews, which would be recorded by his secretaries. No other political figure has written so much over such a long period. For the greater part of his mature life we know what he was doing and thinking at every hour of the day.

  In addition to Gandhi’s own writings there are the reminiscences of his followers, and sometimes it seems that nearly everyone who met him felt an overwhelming need to describe the event. Gandhi’s writings can therefore be tested against the writings of those who knew him, argued with him, or listened silently in awe and wonderment. Inevitably a vast hagiographical literature has appeared, and there is no likelihood that it will come to an end. In the following pages I have listed the books which seemed to me to illuminate his life and thought.

  Andrews, C. F. Mahatma Gandhi at Work. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1931.

  _____. Mahatma Gandhi: His Own Story. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1930.

  _____. Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1930.

  Ashe, Geoffrey. Gandhi: A Study in Revolution. New York, Stein Day, 1968. London, Heinemann, 1968.

  Azad, Maulana Abul Kazam. India Wins Freedom. Bombay, Orient Longmans, 1955.

  Balvantsinha. Under the Shelter of Bapu. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  Bemays, Robert. “Naked Fakir.” London, Victor Gollancz, 1931.

  Beswick, Ethel. Tales of Hindu Gods and Heroes. Bombay, Jaico Publishing House, 1959.

  Bhattacharyya. Mahatma Gandhi, the Journalist. Bombay, Asia Publishing House, 1963.

  Birkenhead, Earl of. Halifax. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1966.

  Birla, G. D. In the Shadow of the Mahatma. Bombay, Orient Longmans, 1955.

  Bose, Nirmal Kumar. Gandhi in Indian Politics. Bombay, Lalvani Publishing House, 1967.

  _____. My Days with Gandhi. Calcutta, Nishana, 1953.

  Bourke-White, Margaret. Halfway to Freedom. New York, Simon Schuster, 1949.

  Brecher, Michael. Nehru, A Political Biography. Boston, Beacon Press, 1962.

  Brown, D. Mackenzie. The White Umbrella: Indian Political Thought from Manu to Gandhi. Berkeley, University of Los Angeles Press, 1958.

  Campbell-Johnson, Alan. Mission with Mountbatten. Bombay, Jaico Publishing House, 1951.

  _____. Viscount Halifax. New York, Ives Washburn, 1941.

  Casey, Lord Personal Experience, 1939-1946. New York, David McKay, 1962.

  Catlin, George. In the Path of Mahatma Gandhi. London, Macdonald Co., 1948.

  Chakravarty, Amiya (ed.). A Saint at Work. Philadelphia, Young Friends Movement, n.d.

  _____. The Indian Testimony. Cambridge, National Peace Literature, n.d.

  _____. A Tagore Reader. Boston, Beacon Press, 1961.

  Chander, Jag Parvesh. Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Lahore, Indian Printing Works, 1947.

  Chandiwalla, Brijkrishna. At the Feet of Bapu. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1954.

  Chandra, Dhan. Kasturbai Gandhi. Lahore, Free Indian Publications, n.d.

  Chaplin, Charles. My Autobiography. New York, Simon Schuster, 1964.

  Chaturvedi, Benarsidas, and Marjorie Sykes. Charles Freer Andrews. London, George Allen Unwin, 1950.

  Chaudhary, Ramnarayan. Bapu as I Saw Him. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1959.

  Chaudhury, P. C. Ray. Gandhiji’s First Struggle in India. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1955.

  Coupland, R. The Cripps Mission. London, Oxford University Press, 1942.

  Datta, Dhirendra Mohan. The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1961.

  Desai, Mahadev. The Gospel of Selfless Action. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1956.

  _____. The Story of Bardoli. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1957.

  Desai, Valji Govindji (ed.). The Diary of Mahadev Desai. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1953.

  Deshpande, P. G. (ed.). Gandhiana: A Bibliography of Gandhian Literature. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, n.d.

  Diwakar, R. R. Gandhi, The Spiritual Seeker. Bombay, Bharitiya Vidya Bhavan, 1964.

  _____. Glimpses of Gandhiji. Bombay, Hind Khitab, 1949.

  Doke, Joseph J. M. K. Gandhi: An Indian Patriot in South Africa. Benares, Akhil Bharat Sarva, 1959.

  Drevet, Camille. Gandhi et les Femmes de I’Inde. Paris, Editions Denoël, 1959.

  Edwardes, Michael. A History of India. London, Thames Hudson, 1961.

  _____. The Last Years of British India. New York, World Publishing Company, 1965.

  Elwin, Verrier. Mahatma Gandhi. London, Golden Vista Press, 1932.

  Fielden, Lionel. Beggar My Neighbour. Bombay, International Book House, 1943.

  Fischer, Louis. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1950.

  Gandhi, Manubehn. Bapu My Mother. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  _____. Last
Glimpses of Bapu. Delhi, Shiva Lal Agarwala, 1962.

  _____. The End of an Epoch. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  _____. The Miracle of Calcutta. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1959.

  Gandhi, M. K. Ashram Observances in Action. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1955.

  _____. Autobiography. Washington, Public Affairs Press, 1948.

  _____. Bapu’s Letters to Mira. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1959.

  _____. The Collected Works. New Delhi, Publication Division of the Government of India, 1958 seq.

  _____. Delhi Diary. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1948.

  _____. Discourses on the Gita. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 960.

  _____. Evil Wrought by the English Medium. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1958.

  _____. From Yeravda Mandir. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1957.

  _____. Gandhiji’s Correspondence with the Government, 1942-1944. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House. 1957.

  _____. Gokhale: My Political Guru. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1958.

  _____. Hindu Dharma. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1950.

  _____. How to Serve the Cow. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1959.

  _____. In Search of the Supreme (three vols.) Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1961.

  _____. India of My Dreams. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1947.

  _____. Key to Health. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1967.

  _____. Letters to Manibahen Patel. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1963.

  _____. Letters to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1961.

  _____. My Appeal to the British. New York, John Day Company, 1942.

  _____. “My Dear Child”: Letters to Esther Fearing. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1956.

  _____. My Socialism. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1959.

  _____. Nature Cure. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1964.

  _____. Ramayana. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1964.

  _____. Sardovaya. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1951.

  _____. Satyagraha in South Africa. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1928.

  _____. Selected Letters. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  _____. The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Boston, Beacon Press, 1957.

  _____. The Supreme Power. Bombay, Pearl Publications, 1963.

  _____. To Students. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1953.

  _____. Untouchability. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1954.

  _____. Young India 1919-1922. New York, B. W. Huebsch, 1924.

  Gandhi, Prabhudas. My Childhood with Gandhi. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1957.

  Gandhi Murder Trial. Glasgow, The Strickland Press, 1950.

  Garnett, David. The Golden Echo. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1954.

  Ghosh, Prafulla Chandra. Mahatma Gandhi as I Saw Him. Delhi, S. Chand Co., 1968.

  Ghosh, Sudhir. Gandhis Emissary. Calcutta, Rupa Co., 1967.

  Gopal, S. The Viceroyalty of Lord Irwin. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1957.

  Halifax, Earl of. Fullness of Days. London, Collins, 1957.

  Hancock, W. K. Smuts: The Sanguine Years. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1962.

  Haque, Mazharul. The Great Trial. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1965.

  Holmes, John Haynes. My Gandhi. London, George Allen Unwin, 1954.

  Hoy land, John S. Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Calcutta, Y.M.C.A. Publishing House, 1947.

  Hutheesing, Krishna Nehru. We Nehrus. New York, Holt, Rinehart Winston, 1967.

  Hyde, H. Montgomery. Lord Reading. New York, Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1968.

  Jack, Homer A. (ed.) . The Gandhi Reader. New York, Grove Press, 1961.

  Jain, Jagdishchandra. I Could Not Save Bapu. Benares, Gran Sahitya Mandir, n.d.

  Jones, E. Stanley. Mahatma Gandhi, an Interpretation. London, Hodder Stoughton, 1948.

  Kalarthi, Mukulbhai. Ba and Bapu. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  Kalelkar, Kaka. Stray Glimpses of Bapu. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1960.

  _____(ed.). To Ashram Sisters. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1960.

  Karaka, D. F. Out of the Dust. Bombay, Thacker Company, 1945.

  Karanjia, R. K. The Mind of Mr. Nehru. London, George Allen Unwin, 1960.

  Kanshala, R. S. The Light of the World—Bapu. Delhi, Prem Educational Stores, 1949.

  Karmarkar, D. P. Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Bombay, Popular Book Depot, 1956.

  Keer, Dhananjay. Veer Savarkar. Bombay, Popular Prakashan, 1966.

  Khipple, R. L. (ed.). Famous Letters of Mahatma Gandhi. Lahore, Indian Printing Works, 1947.

  Khosla, G. D. The Murder of the Mahatma. London, Chatto Windus, 1963.

  Koestler, Arthur. The Lotus and the Robot. London, Hutchinson, 1960.

  Kraus, René. Old Master: The Life of Jan Christiaan Smuts. New York, E. P. Dutton, 1944.

  Kripalani, Krishna. Rabindranath Tagore. New York, Grove Press, 1962.

  Krishnadas. Seven Months with Mahatma Gandhi. Madras, S. Ganesan, 1928.

  Lester, Muriel. Entertaining Gandhi. London, Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1938.

  Mayo, Katherine. Mother India. London, Jonathan Cape, 1927.

  Meherally, Yusuf. Leaders of India. Bombay, Padma Publications, 1946.

  Menon, V. Lakshmi. Ruskin and Gandhi. Benares, Sarva Seva Sangh, 1965.

  Meyer, Johann Jakob. Sexual Life in Ancient India. New York, Barnes and Noble, 1953.

  Morton, Eleanor. The Women in Gandhis Life. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1953.

  Muzumdar, Haridas T. Gandhi Versus the Empire. New York, Universal Publishing Company, 1932.

  _____. Mahatma Gandhi, a Prophetic Voice. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1963.

  Nag, Kalidas. Tolstoy and Gandhi. Patna, Pustak Bhandar, 1950.

  Naidu, Sarojini. The Bird of Time. London, Heinemann, 1919.

  Nanda, B. R. Mahatma Gandhi. Boston, Beacon Press, 1958.

  _____. The Nehrus. London, George Allen Unwin, 1962.

  Nayar, Sushila. Kasturba: A Personal Reminiscence. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1960.

  Nehru, Jawaharlal. A Bunch of Old Letters. New York, Asta Publishing House, 1960.

  _____. An Autobiography. London, John Lane, 1942.

  Nehru, Rameshwari. Gandhi Is My Star. Patna, Pustak Bhandar, n.d.

  Norman, Dorothy (ed.). Nehru: The First Sixty Years (two vols.). New York, John Day, 1965.

  Panjabi, K. L. The Indomitable Sirdar. Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1964.

  Parikh, Nahari D. Mahadev Desat’s Early Life. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1953.

  Payne, Robert. The Revolt of Asia. New York, John Day, 1947.

  Polak, Millie Graham. Mr. Gandhi: The Man. Bombay, Vora and Company, 1950.

  Prabhu, R. K. (ed.). Bapu and Children. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  ____. Sati Kasturba, A Life Sketch. Bombay, Hind Kitab, 1944.

  ____. Truth Called Them Differently. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1961.

  ____. Two Memorable Trials of Mahatma Gandhi. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1962.

  Prakasa, Sri. Annie Besant. Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962.

  Prasad, Rajendra. At the Feet of Mahatma Gandhi. Bombay, Asia Publishing House, 1961.

  ____. Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar. Bombay, Hind Kitan, 1949.

  ____. Satyagraha in Champaran. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1949.

  Pyarelal. The Epic Fast. Ahmedabad, Mohanlal Bhatt, 1932.

  ____. Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1965.

  ____. Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (two vols.). Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1956, 1958.

  ____. The Santiniketan Pilgrimage. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1958.

&nb
sp; ____. Thrown to the Wolves: Abdul Ghaffar. Calcutta, Eastlight Book House, 1966.

  Rajagopalachari, C. (ed.). The Nations Voice. Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1947.

  Ramachandran, G. Thoughts and Talks of G. Ramachandran. Gandhigram, 1964.

  ____, and T. K. Mahadevan (ed.). Gandhi: His Relevance for Our Times. New

  Delhi, Gandhi Peace Foundation, 1967.

  Reading, Marquess of. Rufus Isaacs, First Marquess of Reading. London, Hutchinson, 1945.

  Reynolds, Reginald. A Quest for Gandhi. New York, Doubleday and Company, 1952.

  Rhadakrishna, S. (ed.). Mahatma Gandhi: Essays and Reflections. Bombay, Jaico Publishing House, 1956.

  Rolland, Romain. Inde, Journal (1915-1943). Paris, Editions Vineta, 1951.

  ____. Mahatma Gandhi. Paris, Stock, 1924.

  Chapter Notes

  References to major sources are given in a shortened form. Thus The Story of My Experiments with Truth is given as Story; Satyagraha in South Africa appears as Satyagraha; and D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma, appears as Tendulkar. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi appears as CW.

  Volume numbers are in Roman, and page numbers in Arabic, numerals.

  The White City

  20

  The exact age of Putlibai at the time of her marriage is unknown. Pyarelal and Prabhubas Gandhi agree that she was born about 1845. Prabhubas Gandhi says she was “about fifteen” at the time of her marriage, and then says that the marriage took place in 1857, which would indicate that she was about twelve.

  20

  a notorious band

  CW, XII, 381.

  21

  Judged by common

  CW,XII, 381.

  21

  The State Treasurer incident is given in Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: The Early Phase, 176-77, and Prabhubas Gandhi, My Childhood, 12,13.

  22

  Why do you salute

  Story, 3; Prabhubas Gandhi, My Childhood with Gandhi, 14.

  22