DAY-TO-DAY WITH GANDHI

                        [SECRETARY'S DIARY]

                                 by

                          Mahadev H. Desai

                               Vol-3
                (From October 1920 To January 1924)

                     SARVA SEVA SANGH PRAKASHAN
                    RAJGHAT :: VARANASI -221001


Publisher   : Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan
                  Rajghat, Varanasi-221001
Edition      : First
                  October 1968
Copies      : 1500
Printer      : A. K. Bose
                  Indian Press ( P. ) Ltd.
                  Varanasi.
Price
In India     : Rs. 40.00
In Foreign : 5.00 Dollars or 3.50 Pounds

                   A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T

     The quotations from the writings of Gandhiji reproduced in this
Diary have been taken with the kind permission of Navajeevan Trust,
Ahmedabad. We are indebted to Navajeevan Trust for granting us this
permission on a nominal royalty.

                                                   Narayan M. Desai

©  No quotation or portions in parts or whole or any translation
thereof from this Diary can be published without the permission
of Sri Narayan M. Desai, Shanti Sena Mandal, Varanasi.
                                                         Publishers
¶ãã½ã         : ¡ñ-?ì-¡ñ ãäÌã©ã Øããâ£ããè
                (½ãÖãªñÌã ¼ãã?à ?ã?ãè ¡ã¾
              ãÀãè)
Ôãâ¹ããª?ã?    : ¶ãÀÖÀãè ´ã. ¹ãÀãè?ã
?ã¶ãìÌããª?ã?  : Öñ½ã¶¦ã?ãì?½ããÀ ¶ããèÊã?ãâ?
              ?
ãäÌãÓã¾ã      : ?ããèÌã¶ã ÔãâÔ½ãÀ¥ã
¹ãÆ?ã?ãÍã?ã?  : ÔãÌãà ÔãñÌãã ÔãâÜã ¹ãÆ?ã?
              ãÍã¶ã
                 Àã?ãÜãã?, ÌããÀã¥ãÔããè -
              221001
ÔãâÔ?ã?À¥ã    : ¹ãÖÊãã
¹ãÆãä¦ã¾ããú   : 1500
½ãì³?ã?          ?ã½ãÊã?ãì?½ããÀ ºãÔãì
                ?ã䥡¾ã¶ã ¹ãÆñÔã ¹ãÆã0
              ãäÊã0, ÌããÀã¥ãÔããè-2
½ãîʾ㠼ããÀ¦ã : Á 0 40.00
½ãò
ãäÌãªñÍã ½ãò  : 5.00 ¡ãÊãÀ ¾ãã 3.50 ¹ããõ¥¡




                          PUBLISHERS' NOTE

     It is a matter of privilege for Sarva Seva Sangh to have the
opportunity of publishing Mahadev Desai's Diary in Hindi as well as
in English.

    The relation between Gandhiji and Mahadev Desai is well known to
all. Both names are immortal in the history of our national freedom
movement. Mahadev Desai joined Gandhiji in 1917 and remained with
him till 1942 when Mahadevbhai breathed his last in the lap of
Gandhiji in Agakhan palace while in detention. It is amazing to note
that Mahadevbhai regularly wrote his day-to-day diary despite his
busiest routine with Gandhiji.

    Gandhiji and Mahadev Desai had such an inseparable relation that
they were like two bodies with one soul. Hence, Mahadev Desai's
Diary means Diary of Gandhiji's activities.

    While reading this Diary one feels like actually witnessing the
various incidents with Gandhiji. As there are authentic records of
important interviews of Gandhiji with national and international
leaders, we come across even the utterings of Gandhiji in his
delirious condition side by side with excerpts from Gandhiji's most
important historical as well as epic speeches, we also find here
Gandhiji's typical crackling of jokes with small children.

    There is no other Diary in history of this kind except that of
Bosswel, the learned English writer, who has noted the events of Dr.
Johnson's life in his diary. But the difference between these two
diaries lies in the difference of the life of Gandhiji and that of
Dr. Johnson.

    Mahadev Desai had a knack of snatching some time out of his
overcrowded daily routine for some extra reading. He had
enriched his diary by jotting down some references out of that
study. Mahadevbhai was a voracious reader and a deep thinker. As we
find in his diary glimpses of a critical study of his reading, there
are sprinkling of a lucid description of some new places he had
visited or a running life-sketch of some new personalities he had
met. In all these writings Mahadevbhai's supreme literary genius is
amply revealed.

    The period between 1917 and 1942 was a glorious chapter of
India's non-violent struggle for Independence. We get a peep into
Gadhiji's innermost thoughts through Mahadevbhai's diary. This
period was packed with Gandhiji's most important interviews,
correspondence, and whirlwind tours all over the country. A vivid
picture of the social, political and spiritual atmosphere of our
country in those days is graphically drawn by Mahadevbhai in this
diary.

    It would not be an exaggeration to say that say a publica-tion
is definitely an enriching addition to the world's literature. It is
an irony of fate that Mahadevbhai could not live long to edit his
diary himself. True to his devotion he died in harness. Late Shri
Narharibhai Parikh, Mahadevbhai's dearest and nearest friend,
shouldered the responsibility of editing this diary as a labour of
love for a departed friend. Naraharibhai himself was suffering from
a serious disease. But he persevered relentlessly and completed the
editing of about 3000 pages when he succumbed to the disease. It was
a tremendous task to edit the voluminous matter which would run into
about 20 volumes of about 400 pages each. The remaining volumes are
being edited by Shri Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal.

    The original diaries are in Gujarati. First three volumes in
Hindi, covering the period of 1932-33, were published by Navajivan
Trust. The publication work of these diaries was interrupted due to
some dispute over the right of publication. Finally Shri Narayan
Desi, son of Mahadev Desai, got the right of publication and he
generously entrusted the publication of Hindi and English editions
of the Gujarati Diary to Sarva Seva
Sangh without claiming any royalty. Sarva Seva Sangh is deeply
grateful to Shri Narayan Desai for this generous offer.

    Sarva Seva Sangh has already brought out 5 volumes of Hindi
edition chronologically right from 1917. Sixth and seventh volumes
are expected to be out in October 1968.

    The English translation of Mahadev Desai's Diary is being done
by Shri Hemantkumar Nilkanth. We have published up till now 2
volumes of English edition. We are happy to have been able to bring
out this 3rd volume on the auspicious day of 2nd October 1968, as
announced earlier.

    We propose to bring out the 4th volume before the end of April
1969.


This book is an Exact Copy of the Original Printed Version, because
        of which you may find some pages which are blank...

                     Please go to the next page





                              PREFACE

     A remarkable feature of this Diary is that it deals with two
parts of two distinct periods in the history of India's struggle
with a big gap between the parts, both in time and in the political
and psychological situation of the country.

    The first part begins on 27-10-1920 and ends in June 1921, the
second covers a period of 10 days, viz., from d. 18-1-1924 to d.
27-1-1924. There is thus a time-gap of about 2 years and a half.

    As regards the first part, the last Editor of M. D's Diaries,
Naraharibhai Parikh, has given in his preface to the second volume
of this series such a vivid and thoughtful picture of the
non-cooperation struggle waged in 1921, that there is no need here
to add anything to his observations. But the gap that follows needs
clarification. This intervening period also may be divided into 2
parts, the period before Gandhiji was sent to jail, i. e., between
July 1921 and March 1922, and the period during his confinement in
jail, i. e. from March 1922 to January 1924.

    During the first period, the seeds of non-violent
non-cooperation he had sown at the Congress session of Nagpur and
earlier had yielded a rich crop. As this volume also shows, he made
a hurricane tour all over India and visited various places and
regions, such as Bombay, Poona, Aligarh, U. p., Bengal, Assam,
Madras, South India, the Punjab etc. to explain, to spread, and to
get implemented his message of non-violent non-cooperation. Monster
meetings were held and bonfires of foreign cloth were lighted not
only in leading cities but in towns and villages also.

    The next session of the Congress was to be held at Ahmedabad in
December 1921. The Government's earliest reaction was that of
ridiculing the movement, as it had imagined that the
bonfires etc. were only passing shows. But as time passed and there
was not only no abatement but a more glowing flare-up, it grew
alarmed. It saw that Gandhiji's entirely fearless speeches had begun
to spread a sense of hatred and disgust towards it among the masses.
But in view of the novel character of the agitation, viz., through
non-violence, it was annoyed and per-plexed at first, but finally it
took up arms against the Congress.

    Maulana Mohammad Ali was arrested at Voltair when he was
travelling with Gandhiji from Madras to Calcutta. Maulana Shaukat
Ali was the next, victim of repression. Gandhiji was given an order
not to visit Malabar. Lala Lajpatrai, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal
Nehru and many other distinguished leaders were clapped in jail.
Even Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, the President Elect, was not
spared. The Congress session was held at Ahmedabad never the less
and all this fury of repression failed to suppress the rising spirit
of the nation.

    The Congress decided to make the whole region of Bardoli Taluka
the arena for offering mass civil disobedience. Gandhiji gave an
ultimatum to the Viceroy and the movement, as admi-tted by Sir
George Lloyd, the then Governor of Bombay, came to 'within an inch
of success.' But as the fight was rushing on towards its climax,
there was a sudden jolt --- of a sad event which seemed to Gandhiji the
forbidding finger of God. People at Chauri Chaura (a small town in
U. P.) lost their sanity at Government persecution and they reacted
by burning Police Stations and killing policemen. Though this
happened in U. P., far away from Bardoli in Gujarat, it was the
third outbreak of violence during that year in India. As Gandhiji
believed that if mass civil disobedience were started in Bardoli,
the steam created by its heat might burst into violence at other
places also, though it might remain quite controlled and guided in
Bardoli Taluka itself. When, therefore people were at the height of
sanguine expectations he carried a sudden halt and decided not to
start mass civil disobedience in Bardoli Taluka.

    The flood-tide began to ebb and a sense of frustration and
despair began to overtake the people.


    The Government was but waiting for its chance.

    On March 10,1922 Gandhiji was arrested on the charge of sedition
for his 3 articles, (1) Tempering with Loyalty, (2) The Puzzle and
its Solution and (3) Shaking the Manes ( or the British Lion ). He
was hauled up before the District Judge, Mr. Broomfield. The case
has been regarded by some as the re-enactment of the scene of that
famous trial before Pilate --- though with some differences. Gandhiji
said that he had to choose between submission to a system that had
done irreparable harm to India or incur the risk of the outburst of
mad fury by the people and that he would take that risk again if he
was set free. "I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the
highest penalty for what, in law, is a deliberate crime and what
appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen. The only course
open to you, Mr. Judge, is either to resign your post or inflict on
me the severest penalty, if you believe that the system and law you
are assisting are good for the people." The judge was very courteous
and sentenced him to 6 years' imprisonment on the analogy of
Gandhiji's distinguished compatriot, Loka-manya Tilak.

    This period was to end on March 17,1928, but within two years,
an entirely unexpected event happened which revealed the Hidden Hand
behind all events, for it changed, suddenly again, the course of
history.

    On Jan. 5,1924 Gandhiji had an attack of pain in the abdomen, on
the 10th the doctors suspected appendicitis and on the 12th Col.
Maddock, the Civil Surgeon, grew so alarmed that, on his own
responsibility, he carried Gandhiji in his car to the Sassoon
Hospital, Poona, and performed, with Gandhiji's consent, an
operation on him. Sri Shastri's account, given in App. III in this
connection, has become a historic document as a political opponent's
spontaneous tribute to Gandhiji's sublime character.

    The news of Gandhiji's operation startled India and there was a
universal clamour for his release on the ground of illness.

     By that time the political climate of Britain had undergone a
favourable and significant change. The Labour leader,
Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, had become the Prime Minister and the Labour
Party was more sympathetic towards India than the Conservative.

    A resolution to release Gandhiji was tabled in the Legislative
Assembly, but before it could be discussed on the scheduled date,
5-2-1924, Gandhiji was released on the morning of the same day.

    Gandhiji was, of course, all through the period between his
operation and release, a patient, but a prisoner, in the State
hospital. But in view of his critical health all restrictions
against his visitors were suspended. Accordingly, Gandhiji's first
interview with the public must have taken on Jan 18,1924 and hence,
Mahadevbhai's Diary rebegins on that date.

    But why should there have been this silence right from July 1921
to January 17,1924 ?

    Here is the probable explanation.

    A Nationalist Daily in English The Independent had begun to be
published at Allahabad with Mr. Syed Hussein as the editor. The
sponsor and patron of the paper was Pandit Motilal Nehru. In 1921
Mr. George Joseph ( a non-cooperating lawyer) was its editor.
Repression was in bloom and the conductors of the paper were living
ever under the Sword of Damocles. At the request of Panditji,
therefore, Gandhiji sent Mahadevbhai to Allahabad. The paper's hot
stuff was too much for the Government stomach. It arrested both the
Nehrus, father and son, as well as the editor, and demanded a
security of Rs 2,000/- for 'good behaviour.' On December 7,1921 this
security was given by Mahadevbhai, who got himself registered as the
editor. The title of one of his first articles reveals at once
Mahadevbhai's outlook on life and the nature of the climate
prevailing. It was, 'Abide With Me' --the title of the famous
English hymn. On the 20th of the same month the new security was
confiscated and a fresh one, of Rs. 10,000, was demanded.
Mahadevbhai refused to give it, and started the paper's hand-written
edition bearing the motto : "I change, but I cannot die"


    Would the Government put up with even this little sign of
resistance ? It arrested Mahadevbhai and sentenced him on the 24th
December to one year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 100/-
or, in default, one month more. Mahadevbhai was released on January
23,1923.

    No information is available whether he wrote any diary between
the period from July 1921 to the date of his arrest (24-12-1921).
One has but to come conclusion, that if he did write it, it has been
mislaid and lost. But during this period, he continued to correspond
with Gandhiji. Besides these unpublished letters, the Navajivan has
published his two articles, plus his written statement during his
trial and two letters written by him during his jail life. After his
release, morever, the whole burden --- specially since Kakasaheb
Kalelkar (the editor) was sentenced on February 20, 1923 --- of
conducting Navajivan fell upon Mahadevbhai's shoulders, till
Gandhiji resumed its charge on April 6,1924. In may, therefore, be
said that his articles themselves in Navajivan were his diary notes.
There is thus sufficient materials --- sufficient to make a whole volume?
of Mahadevbhai's writings during the two periods from July 1921 to
December 24,1921 and from January 23,1923 to January 17,1924. All
that can be said at present about these writings is that a separate
volume covering them will be published in future.

    So much for the time gap in the chronicle appearing in this
volume. But there was another big gap, a big difference, in the
Indian situations prevailing in January 1922 and in January 1924.
This change too calls for a rapid review in order to explain
Mahadevbhai's and others' feelings and ejaculations given in this
Diary under the dates of January 1924.

    During the period of Gandhiji's jail life the Congress had no
fighting programme. There was, of course, the constructive programme
suggested by Gandhiji before his arrest. Work on these lines
continued for a while after the arrest, but it slackened with the
passage of time. The waters both of Congress work and the people's
enthusiasm receded further and further and Congressmen began to lose
faith in the efficacy of the non-cooperation programme itself. Even big leaders
thought that the programme was no longer feasible. The boycotts resolved upon
by the congress thus lost much of their virility. Students reverted to
their Government or Government -recognised schools and colleges;
lawyers resumed their practice; and the people in general took to
the use of foreign cloth again. The idea that the boycott of
Councils must be given up and the Government challenged on the
Council-floors took shape and gathered strength. The sponsors
declared, they wanted 'to beard the Lion in his own den.' But there
were others who did not like the changes and thought them a vain
attempt to put up a brave face. There was thus a distinct split
between 'No-changers' and 'Pro-changers or Swarajists'.

    Till Gandhiji was in jail, the schism between the two, though
clear, had not come to a head. The state of the 'No-changers' was
almost like that of a leaderless herd. On the Swarajists' side were
ranged the most powerful-guns-Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Pandit Madan
Mohan Malaviya, and others while the No-changers, mostly composed of
silent constructive workers, had the backing of C. Rajagopalachari
and, later on (Sardar) Vallabhbhai Patel, only second-rank leaders
at the time.

    The Congress was thus torn by internal strife. The situation of
the country, as a whole, was no better, if not worse. Communalism,
in its increasingly dangerous form, had raised its ugly head and
there were grumblings, bickerings, and even riots at different
places, specially in 1923.

    So the situation of the country was in a bog and the only man
whom the people could look up to for salvaging it was behind prison
bars.

    Gandhiji's release was, therefore, like a welcome shower in
suffocating summer. That explains the people's tremendous anxiety at
the illness of their beloved leader and their delirious joy at his
release.

    The second part of the Diary thus deals with the period that
had, all of a sudden, raised high hopes after a period of
increasing darkness. The reader will find this attitude reflected in
the last part of this Diary.

    As the periods dealt with in the texts of the Gujarati volume
and this one are not the same, I had to write this Preface myself,
though I have heavily drawn from the Gujarati Preface of Sri.
Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal, for which thanks are due to him.

                                                Hemantkumar Nilkanth




                              CONTENTS
Diary                                                      ... 17-320
Appendix I-Some open letters :
     1.  To the Trustees of Aligarh College                ...    323
     2.  To Every Englishman of India                      ...    326
     3.  Rejoinder                                         ...    330
     4.  Letter to Duke of Connaught                       ...    334
     5.  To the Parsis                                     ...    337
     6.  To the Moderates                                  ...    340
     7.  To Every Englishman in India                      ...    344
Appendis II
     Synopsis of Congress Resolution on Non-cooperation          348
Appendix III
     The Hon. V. S. Shastri's Statement                    ...    351
Index of Names                                             ...    355
General Index                                              ...    363


                                                          DAY-TO-DAY
                                                                WITH
                                                              GANDHI

Volume -III




    "We cut ourselves free from nature by means of the power which
we exert over natural forces; we even make her in turn our servant.
But in so doing we lose our connection with her and enter into a
universe of environmental conditions whose naturalness is fraught
with manifold dangers. We force nature to work for us by means of
mechanical devices. In the writings of Chuangtzu it is related that
when one of Confucius' scholars saw a gardener who was making
journey after journey to the well with a single bucket in order to
fetch water for his flower borders, he asked him whether he would
not like to have his labour lightened, 'How so?' replied the
gardener. The scholar answered, 'Take a long wooden lever thick and
heavy at one end and thin at the other. In this way it is possible
to arrange matters, so that the water will be forced up without this
constant stooping on your part. That's what they call a drawwell'
But the gardener, who was a sage, replied, ' I have heard my
teachers say that if anyone makes use of machines he gets into the
way of doing all his business mechanically, and the man who does his
business mechanically gets to have a machine-like heart; but if a
man has a machine-like heart in his breast, he has lost his grasp of
pure unity and becomes involved in complexity".1

                          *                               *
                               *

    "Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life. Reverence for
life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that
good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life; and that
to destroy, to harm or to harm or to hinder life is evil".2

                         *                     *
*                     *

    "All attempts to use me for any programme involving violence are
bound to fail. I know not secret methods. I know of no diplomacy
other than of truth. I have no weapon save of non-violence".

                                                              Gandhi
                                                      ( translated )

    "It is the lack of moral perception--this want of faith in the
elemental triumph of Truth and Non-violence".

                                                              Gandhi

_______________
    1-2 (sources not indicated)




                         Gandhiji at Dakore
                                 1

     Speech at Dakore before forty thousand pilgrims on manek-thari
punam (the full moon night of Ashwin) of Samvat 19761 :

                                                           27-10-'20

    You all and myself have gathered at this place of pilgrimage,
but India has fallen today into such a sorry plight that we cannot
experience an atmosphere of purity even at her place of pilgrimage.
And, I for one, have not come here for the darshan of
Ranchhodraiji.2 He has at present lost the power of releasing man
from ( karmic ) debts. The reason is that we, the worshippers, are
no longer real worshippers at all. We have lost our faith. I have
been personally seeing that our places of pilgrimage have ceased to
be holy and become dens of cant and irreligion.3 When, O when, will
you save us, Lord, from this calamity and sin !

    I have often been told that many people who come to Dak-oreji do
not conduct themselves in a becoming manner. They commit rape at
times on their way to Dakore. I do not know whether or how far the
allegation is true. But if our religion --- Hindu as well as Muslim --- does
teach us anything, it teaches us first of all this: We must keep
under control our passions and our senses. All religions without
exception teach us to regard women older than ourselves as our
mothers, equal in age as sisters and younger ones as daughters. I
have been told --- and I believe it --- that some of those who come here
infringe this very first commandment of religion and yet they
believe that their sins will be washed off by a dip into the Gomtiji
( a sacred big
_____________

    1. A. D. 1920. Ashwin is the last Gujarati month, near about
October. This full-moon day is the most important day of the
pilgrimage which lasts several days.
    2. Name of Lord Krishna meaning one who releases man from debts
(of karma).
    3. Gandhiji often uses the same protean word pakhand to mean
cant, irreligion, trickery, villainy, brute force, etc.


pond near the temple). Is there any sense in this belief ? And I,
for one, refuse to accept that they have even the intention of
purifying themselves by a bath. Brahmacharya and truth are commonly
insisted upon for all. Even for worldly men the observance of
brahmacharya is religious duty. Brahmacharya means control over all
the senses --- the ears, the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the skin.
This dharma of self-restraint is not meant solely for monks. It is
enjoined upon lay men also. He is really not a gentleman at all who
does not observe these simple rules. If we want to behave properly
in this world --- in Hindu as well as in Muslim society, if we want to
live as free men and not be slaves of anybody ---- the observance of self-restraint
is our very first dharma.

                   A word to the Thakore-Brothers

     Somebody told me that many Thakore-brothers (a backward
community among the Kshatriyas) would attend this meeting and I
should say something to them specially. I wonder what I should tell
them. But one thing at least I may say. If you have any regard for
your religion, let me tell you it never asks you to rob others. It
is definitely better to commit suicide than to live upon robbery. It
is better to starve than feed ourselves, better to move about naked
than clothe ourselves, by looting others. I have been pleading hard
these days with one and all in the whole of India --- and I address my
appeal not to Brahmins and Banias merely but to all the communities
of India --- the Dheds, the Bhangis (both 'untouchables') the Thakores,
the Mussulmans, the Parsis, the Christians-that if you wish to make
India a happy land, your first and foremost dharma is to live in
hearty unison with all the religious communities in India. That is
our duty as a neighbour. Had not brother Shau-kat Ali been obliged
to go to Bombay on some business, you would have seen him by my side
today in this pilgrimage town of Hindus. Wherever I go I take him?
and now both the bro-thers --- with me. I say to everybody my two full
brothers are no more on earth, but my love for these two brothers is
not a whitess than for a full brother. I claim to be a sanatani (
rigid-adherent of the ancient faith ) Hindu and I can fully observe
the tenets of my Hindu religion while living in comradeship with
these two Mussulmans. In doing so I am serving my own interest. If,
as a Hindu, I can die for Islam, I shall be able to die for
HInduism, if the need arises. Herein lies the test both of myself
and my country.

    An avalanche has descended upon the seven crores of Muslim
brothers. A ferocious Empire is out to make mince-meat of their
religion. Just as, in the sky above, the moon is eclipsed? is
possessed by a demon,1 --- so is Islam eclipsed today, possessed by a
demon called the British Empire, and you must free it. The lunar
eclipse is only a physical phenomenon and it is not in our power to
free the moon. This lunal eclipse does not frighten me at all. It
does not impel me to go on a fast. But I verily tremble at the
eclipse that has shadowed our hearts-our souls. If fasting is the
specific remedy for that eclipse, I pray to God to grant me the
power to fast. If suicide is the remedy, may God enable me to commit
it. The beautiful moon of India is, at present, stained with the
spot called England. I have already given one reason why that is so.
The Empire's sword hangs over and is about to fall on Islam. If it
is Islam that is in danger today, it may be Hinduism tomorrow. How
wicked must be that Empire which has played Islam foul, which,
through the Punjab, has made the whole of India crawl on its belly,
has compelled all the little kids of India to salute the Union Jack?
and taken the lives of two little ones of six or seven as a result?
and under whose regime fifteen hundred or at least one thousand
innocent persons have been murdered ? I cannot even conceive how
thick is the darkness with which this Imperial eclipse has enveloped
our land.
_______________

    1. Reference to the hoary popular superstition that eclipses are
due to the possession of the two Gods, Sun and Moon, by the two
demons Rahu and Ketu. Fasting and alms-giving bring about their
release. haracteristically, these are names in Hindu astronomy of
the exact spots in the firmament where the sun and the moon are when
they are eclipsed.


    The present rule is no Ramarajya; it is Ravanarajya.1 We are
groaning in slavery under that Ravanarajya and learning irreligion.
How can we wrest our freedom from such Ravanarajya ? By becoming
irreligious ourselves to be a match for the irreligious ? By
entering into a contest of villainy with villains? How can we hope
beat them in crookedness ? How shall we be able to defeat the
Machiavellian intrigues of the Empire ? What are our crafty schemers
going to do to that Empire which, has by its wiles, outmatched even
fraudulent Europe ? Even if Hindus and Mussulmans wish to resort to
wiles and might, they are too artless and weak. If we want to beat
Ravana on his own ground, we must have, like him, ten heads and
twenty arms. Whence to bring them ? Only an astute opponent like
Rama can perform the feat of killing him. And what kind of
astuteness did Rama possess ? He observed brahmacharya. He walked in
the fear of God. He had an army, but of monkeys. Have monkeys ever
taken up the sword ? Even today, our Divali Holiday2 is the
celebration of the victory of Rama over Ravana. But we can rightly
celebrate that victory now, only when we can smash into smithereens
the present Ravana who possesses not ten, but a thousand heads. Till
we can't do that, nothing but a life in the wilderness is our
destined lot. You will be able to defeat this empire only if, unlike
Ravana, you do not cast a lustful eye on our women, our Sitajis. If
anyone has been able to overcome Satan it is God. It is He Who
created Satan and He Who can overcome him. Satan cannot be defeated
by human power. It is God alone Who brings about his defeat through
a person who follows God's dictates like a bounden slave.

    What that Empire which possesses so much power, we have to
contend. I don't wish to wail over the sorrows it inflicts on
_______________

    1. Rule of Ravana, Rama's enemy, i. e., Satanic rule. Ravana is
described as having 10 heads and 20 arms to portray his might.
    2. Deepavali, turned into 'Divali", means a row of lights. The
holiday is celebrated with brilliant lights and fireworks.


us. On the contrary, I pray for the indulgence of India to concede
to me lone the privilege of finding its fault. I have seen you
spitting fire on the Government during the period when I was
offering cooperation. Even a censuring tongue against the
Government does not become you. You have never drunk to the dregs,
as bitter draughts of insults etc. from the Government as I have.
You have not got a hundredth part of the power which I have gained
by assimilating those bitter draughts. I have been given much
provocations which would have infuriated me against the Government.
But I have sublimated my anger. Even on this occasion I do not speak
a single word in a fit of anger. I am speaking only what the still
small voice impels me to say. I do not want from you a single word
of anger against the British Empire. Instead of picking holes in
Englishmen, you must see the evil imbedded in you and drive it out.
That will make you free and independent. I do point out defects of
Englishmen, but as a detached witness. After serving the British
Empire with all my heart for full thirty years, I have arrived at
the conviction that it is not Ramarajya, it is Ravanarajya. It does
not mean that because this Empire appears to me so wicked now I have
any hatred for the Englishman. All my hatred is exclusively against
the Empire. So long as the British Empire does not repent, does not
apologise to Indian women and men, does not say, "We are only your
servants and wish to remain in India if you keep us in employment",
so long I am prepared to fling myself against the might of the
Empire. No number of its aeroplanes and machine-guns can frighten
me.

    And I do not see any fall from righteousness in opposing the
Empire. Just as I may rightly non-cooperate with my son if the
occasion demands the step, so may I non-cooperate with the Empire.
This second non-cooperate is equally my dharma when it becomes
necessary. No human being is free from error or sin. I admit I am
not perfect, though I observe the dharma of self-restraint. There is
no dearth of sin and imperfection in me. But with all that, I fear
to commit sin.


There are defects in me, and them I try to remove. I am not their
slave. But this Empire regards sin itself as righteousness. It
crushes other countries in order to make itself prosperous. That is
downright tyranny. I do not wish to make India pros-perous by the
suppression or destruction of other countries. I do not wish to
raise my country by submerging the religion of other people. But
this Empire says, 'We will go to any length in atrocity to maintain
our supremacy.' It does not say so in so many words, but its actions
betray this attitude, as is evidenced in its handling of the Punjab
affair. I, a worshipper of Sri Krishna, ask you to hurl into an
abyss, the schools and courts of such an Empire. For the safety of
my body I am afraid of none. It is only after entrusting the body to
the Empire that I am speaking to you here. You also give the reins
of your heart to God alone. Your chains will give way on the day you
do so.

    Non-cooperation is a weapon worth its weight in gold. It is a
divine weapon. Sri Krishna has given it to Hindus and the Prophet
Mohammed to Muslims. The Parsis got it in their Zand-Avesta.
Wherever you see injustice, wherever you find a person the
embodiment of injustice, have nothing to do with him In his gentle
language Tulsidasji asks us to run away from unholy men, since they
harm us through their contact with us. Just as you would fly from a
conflagration, so should you fly from a wicked man and injustice.
This flight means nothing else than non-cooperation.
Non-cooperation is not hatred or revenge. On the contrary, it is
the righteous action of a righteous person. In a difference between
father and son, non-cooperation is just the thing to do, in that
between husband and wife a bounden duty and in that between
relatives, a social obligation. If my son comes home after an
indulgence in meat and wine, and I, a Vaishnav father, give him
shelter even for a moment in my house, I would be consigned on death
to no other than the worst infernal region. If I am unable to
impress upon you the beauty and necessity of non-cooperation Swaraj
becomes an impossible achievement. If we want to win Swaraj, there
is only one remedy for it and that is non-cooperation.


    Yes, there is indeed another remedy --- the sword. But have you
undergone the necessary discipline ? Have you learnt to bear the
hardship that method involves ? The Mussulmans are ahead even of you
in the use of the sword. But they also realized that the sword was
no good in this matter. Will this Empire be scared at the sporadic
murders of a few and grant you Swaraj forthwith? Will that Empire,
which has been built up on the corpses of thousands of Englishmen
and which has shed like water the blood of thousands of others,
Sikhs and Pathans, be frightened out of its wits by your few murders
? Never. I condemn the British Empire but admire its courage and
tenacity. The Englishman is a patriot through and through. The
spirit that an imates him is wicked and deserves to be shunned. But
I am a man who sings praises of even Ravana for his bravery.
Tulsidasji also has said that if a man is fated to have an enemy, it
is best to have a Ravana for one. The man who dares to cross swords
with Laxman can only be a warrior of Indrajit's1 prowess. If you
want to fight such a powerful Empire, you must boldly enter the
arena, draw the sword and fight it openly. But that fight is beyond
our power. According to the Hindu dharma as I under-stand it, the
Hindu must fight without a sword altogether and cut off his own head
rather than cut somebody else's. I claim to be one of the greatest
Kshatriyas of Hindustan. Do I not know how to fire even five rounds
from a revolver ? Or to poison somebody ? Can I not throw a bomb
from an aeroplane, if someone takes me on a flight? But I have
discarded that thing purposely --- as a result of discernment. Since God
has not given me the power to create life --- even that of a little bug?
it is not for me to take any life either. It is my business simply
to offer my life --- to die. I am a true Kshatriya when I give up my
life in defence of myself, my wife or my country. The physically
weakest man --- and a woman also --- can cultivate in himself the spirit of
a Kshatriya, i. e., can say to the enemy; 'Here I stand
_______________

    1. Indrajit knew the art of being invisible and rain missiles
from different directions in the sky. He even killed Laxman (Ram's
brother), but the latter was brought back to life by the roots of
plant that revived corpses.


as firm as a rock. Do your worst.' If that were not the right sense
of the word, every murderer is a Kshatriya. Even that man who beats
his wife is then a Kshatriya ! That is why I am never tired of
dinning into India's ears, 'In whatever you do, don't fail to keep
up the true spirit of a Kshatriya'. To abuse the Mussulman or abhor
him is to cast a slur on our religion. Supposing he behaves
treacherously with you in future, use that power of non-cooperation
with him, which you must have gained by that time through
non-cooperation with this Government today. You have not till now
even tried the method of cooperation with the Mussulman. Make the
trial for once. With the Government you have cooperated for quite a
long time and we have remained unhappy. That is why I ask you to
non-cooperate with the Government and cooperate with Muslim
brothers. You are not to indulge in bloodshed in order to compel
others to join you in non-cooperation. Physical force can never
convert to your view the man who doesn't want to join. You must bow
to him and plead with him. You will win him over to your side, if he
kicks you and you suffer meekly. If there is truth in you, if there
is humility as well as hearty unity among you and if you become
brave, who can dare to leave you and side with the Government? Be
brave and make sacrifices yourselves, in order to convince such
people of the truth in your view.

    How is it that a mere lakh of Whitemen are able to lord it over
thirty-three crores of Indians ? The reason is we have become slaves
even mentally. If we tell them, 'Brothers, we are not going to
remain your slaves any longer', they would either leave the country
or stay on as its servants. But the first step to gain the power to
give this notice to the Englishman is that we must fraternize among
ourselves, among all our different communities --- the Thakores, the
Bhils, the Muslims and the Scheduled Castes. We must treat them as
our brothers and never look down upon any of them. You are enraged
with the Mussulman, because he kills a cow, but are there not Hindus
also who do the same? To go on milking a cow till not only the last
drop of milk remains but blood comes out, and to prod
a bull --- the progeny of the cow --- with a pointed nail are also acts on a
par with cow-slaughter. With what face can a Hindu, who always
commits the sin of cow-slaughter in this form, approach a Mussulman
and remonstrate with him, 'Why do you kill my holy cow ?' If the cow
is to be saved, the Hindus must first show charity of heart towards
the Mussulman. I, at least, would feel ashamed to beg of the
Mussulman to desist from cow-slaughter. And what of the Englishman
who daily eats your cow ? The English soldier cannot do for a moment
without beef. Why do you detest the Muslims ? There is, at least,
the fear of God in them. A short stay with the Ali Brothers will
show you how God-fearing they are. If you harmonize with Muslims,
Swaraj is just in the offing.

                              Swadeshi

     Withdraw your children from Government schools, don't send any
representative from your constituency to the Councils, ply the
spinning wheel and wear Khadi.

                             Conclusion

     In conclusion, I have to say one thing. We want to give
education (national) to our children and we want to conduct new
arbitration courts. All that requires money. Hence, I request you to
give me your mite.1 I am rather loath to take money from you,
because I don't find many young men whom I can trust with your money
and feel at my ease. If you really want to support non-cooperation
you may give anything you like, from a pice onwards, to the
volunteers who will now be moving among you. The least one can do
for non-cooperation is to give a pice each and that is within
everybody's means. If nothing else could be done, everyone can at
least spin and weave. If you think you observe Swadeshi by wearing
(Indian) mill-made cloth, you are mistaken. The mills cannot
manufacture cloth sufficient for India's needs. It is in Khadi and
Khadi alone that real beauty lies. Fine muslin is an emblem of
slavery, and, therefore, Khadi
_______________

     1. Gandhiji began at Dakor his practice of collecting funds at
his public meetings and continued it, though for varying purposes,
till the last.


seems to me light as air and fine muslin a heavy wear. And please do
withdraw your children from schools right now. They will come to no
harm, if they do not read for a while. Let them sing Lord Vishnu's
hymns during the period they remain at home.

    If you approve of non-cooperation, if you want to shake off the
yoke of this Satanic Government, do not leave the meeting without
giving something to the volunteers who may approach you now. If
somebody claims to come from me or Vallabhbhai or Swarajsabha and
asks for donation, do not give him anything without proper inquiry.
Give him something only if you know him personally. Those who have
no money with them just now can send their contribution to
Ahmedabad. May God make you courageous and grant you the power of
sacrifice, truth and humility henceforth and may you fear God alone
and drive out any fear of any human being whatsoever from your heart
!

                                 2
                          Address to Women

     (Speech before a meeting of about three thousand women at
Dakore during the same visit).

Sisters,
    You will please, hear me quietly. I will finish in a few words.
Some of you may be from Dakore itself, while the others may have
come from outside as pilgrims. I am certain that hardly anyone out
of these so many women may be knowing what the present situation of
India really is, and what our duty, our dharma, is under that
situation. Inspired by an uplifting feeling, you all have come here,
at this place of pilgrimage. You may be feeling that all your sins
are washed off the moment you have Dakoreji's (Ranchhodji's)
darshan, that you can get everything you want, the moment you have a
bath in Gomtiji. Some sisters may also be convinced that darshan of
a Mahatma like Gandhi means the achievement of the goal of life. All
this is an entirely wrong notion. If, without purifying your mind,
you have a bath in Gomtiji you only make Gomtiji herself dirty.
Going to Dakoreji for darshan and leaving there only the dirt of our feet
when we return, will do us no good. Our darshan of Dakorenath (Lord
of Dakore) will bear fruit only if thereby we purify our mind,
create holy feelings in the heart and gain self-knowledge. You
yourself will say that the darshan will leave a Christian or a man
of no faith like myself as dry and unaffected as before. I want to
show to you that, till our mind is not pure, till our heart is not
clean, the bath in Gimtiji or the darshan of Ranchhodrai is of no
avail.

    'Please understand once for all wherein your true dharma lies'?
that is my first and foremost appeal. I assure you, you are never
going to be free from slavery, so long as you do not see what your
true dharma is, do not know what the plight of India is, and so long
as you look up to the Government as your parent and feel that under
its rule you enjoy peace. I believe the Government has made us
slaves. For thirty years I continued to believe that we were happy
under the sheltering canopy of this Government. But I am now
convinced that under this rule, far from being in a shade we are
shrivelling in a sweltering heat. Religion is passing out of life. I
saw on my way boards hanging at different places with the words, 'To
visit a hotel is to lose our religion' That is true, but partly.
When did the hotels spring up ? Under this rule. And why ? Because
this Government taught us to love an easy sedentary life. We have
now learnt to give up home-made dishes and enjoy prepared articles
of food bought from shops in the market. We have thus transgressed
the maryada-dharma of the Vaishnava.1 This is a sort of government
that has no scruples for earning lakhs of rupees from trading in
liquors and opium. Our scriptures tell us that a king who enters
into business is a second-grade king, while the one who takes
requisite money to enable him to protect the people belongs to the
first grade. But that king who coins
_______________

    1. Maryada --- limitation or restriction. Among the Vaishnavas
(followers of Lord Vishnu) there are some, ladies specially, who do
not take food or water not prepared or drawn out by themselves.
Gandhiji himself belonged to a Vaishnava family.


money for himself by inducing the drug-habit among his subjects is
the worst king. It is to teach you, sisters, that the present rule
over us is of this worst kind that I have come here.

                       The Country's Two Eyes

     The Bhagvadgita teaches us that we must have the same regard
for all creatures. Hindus and Muslims are verily the two eyes of the
country. There cannot be, there must not be, any enmity between the
two. But we detest these same Muslims, non-cooperate with them and
create bad blood between them and us. This Government is out today
to exterminate the religion of these Mussulmans. If it can destroy
their religion today, it can as well destroy ours tomorrow.

    Then there is the Punjab. You may not have even heard the name
of that land. But it was through the Punjab that our rishis (sages)
entered India. The Punjab is that hallowed land where the rishis
when they wrote our scriptures, lived. In that same Punjab, the
Government has dishonoured our brothers and even our sisters. In
that same Punjab little children have been whipped. In that same
Punjab human beings have been compelled to crawl as if they were
snakes. It is irreligion to accept that Government's domination over
us. That is why I say we must overthrow this Ravanarajya and
establish Ramarajya.

    My second appeal to you is to begin to observe the swadeshi
dharma forthwith. This Government has taught us irreligion and sham.
We have learnt to believe that foreign clothes enhance the beauty of
our body. A stench of foreign clothing is coming our even from those
women who are present here. (Indian) Mill-
cloth also is not Swadeshi. The cloth the Indian mills manufac-ture
cannot meet the needs of the whole country. And, poor as you are,
you are not miserable beggars. I have seen persons even poorer than
you. I have seen men having nothing on them except a loin-cloth and
women a torn and tattered skirt. If India adopts the Swadeshi
dharma, today, if all our women start plying the 'good old wheel'
and wear only as much clothing as they can spin for, we would become
free from slavery this very this very day. Our
women of the past believed that good qualities made for beauty.
Those who wear foreign clothes are nothing but ugly. To wish to
appear beautiful through a charming dress is a public women's
attitude. What is our criterion for our adoration of Sitaji and
Damayanti ? Do we worship Sitaji and Damayanti for their perfect
taste in superfine saries ? Not at all. We worship that Damayanti
who roamed in forests with only half a piece of cloth on her and
that Sitaji who spent fourteen years in exile. King Harishchandra's
queen-consort actually drudged in slavery. Did she do so in a sari
that was the last word in finery ? That was a time when some people
covered their shame with leaves. To look beautiful by outer
embellishments betrays the psychology of a woman of ill-fame. If you
want to observe your dharma the first step to it is to understand
and assimilate completely the swadeshi dharma. That is the
observance of the swadeshi dharma by which the family wears clothes
made from yarn spun by its women and woven by its men, singing hymns
the while. I am myself handsome in the right sense, since the
clothes I wear are made of yarn lovingly spun and woven by women and
men themselves. If you want to become free from Ravanarajya and
bring about Ramarajya here, you must adopt the swadeshi dharma and
introduce the spinning wheel in your home. At least at present it is
easy to get women-teachers of spinning. Let every sister spin for at
least an hour, with the accompaniment of hymns, and then get that
yarn woven into clothes.

    It is certain you will find it difficult at first to give up
foreign muslin and wear a hand-spun and hand-woven sari. Some
sisters in Bombay complained to me that the (foreign) saries they
used formerly weighed less than 40 tolas (1 lb.) and now the Khaddar
sari exceeds even 70 tolas (1 3/4 lbs.) in weight. In reply, I used
a somewhat figurative language and said, "You have till now lessened
your own weight (=dignity) by lessening the weight of your clothes."
Joyfully, do women bear the weight of the unborn child for nine
months as well as the terri-ble pain of the travail that follows.
India is in a travail today. Will you not, on this occasion of the
nation's new birth, be ready to bear even the weight of thick clothing ? Only
you bear that weight, you can make India free. If you want India to give a new
birth, every woman shall have to bear the weight of heavy Khadi for,
not nine months merely but nine years.

    And do you know where you send your children to learn ? You are
sending them in schools of Ravanarajya. Would a devout Vaishnav ever
send her child to a school belonging to an irreligious rule ? Would
I ever go to an irreligious man to learn from him the Gita or the
Bhagwat?1 The present schools belong to an irreligious government.
So long as we do not acquire their possession, you must not let your
children learn in them. Teach them Ramaraksha (the verses that grant
Rama's protection) and other hymns or approach the wise men of your
town or village and tell them, "Please teach our children." Do
anything you like, but don't send your children to these schools.

    Today a sister left rupees five with me. I have never accepted
any donation of this sort till now. I have been getting whatever I
want from my friends. But now I want to have Swaraj, and conduct
numerous schools. All that work cannot be maintained from friends'
contribution only. If you want Rama's rajya you have but to strive
for it. You may give whatever amount you like. I will use it for
Swadeshi and for maintaining schools for your children. Things have
come to such a pass today, that there is a fight over Dakorenathji
and the irreligious among us have resorted to law-courts ! What a
travesty, that we carry our disputes about our Gods to the
foreigner's law-courts ! That's what I call an eclipse of religion.
To relieve lawyers of their occupation we shall have to give them
something. If there is truth in the plea advanced by myself and
colleagues, the donation of one pice will give you a return worth
two. Swadeshi activity law-courts for yourselves will be maintained
from your money. The money we give to
_______________

    1. The magnum opus of those who believe in bhaktimarga (the path
of devotion) and hence a very special favourite with the
Vaishanavas.


temples these days is squandered away at the hands of men of no
religion.

    If you aspire to be as chaste as Sitaji, if you want to give up
various subtle forms of adultery exposed by me to your view and to
free other sisters also from them, if you are in earnest about
shedding irreligion and taking to real dharma, you must give your
full share to the Swaraj movement. Everyone must inevitably know how
to discriminate between dharma and its antithesis. There will be
many who will approach you in the name of religion. I won't say you
must give something to everyone of them. It is only after I was
convinced of your faith in me, that I am stretching out my hand for
a donation. I tremble at the idea of allowing filthy lucre to enter
my field of work. I would never beg for money, if, I had in me
sufficient austere self-discipline and knack to enable me to do my
work without money. But I confess I do not possess that much
self-discipline and knack. I too am a man belonging to no other than
kaliyuga (iron age); I am full of drawbacks. But of this one thing I
am certain: I have been incessantly striving to do away with my
drawbacks. If , therefore, you are inclined to trust me, you may
give me any amount from the lowest, a pice, to the highest you like.
Swarajsabha will administer the donation.

                 Wash the Heart on the Eclipse Day

     Finally, it is my appeal to you, sisters, to let not what I
said go in at one ear and out at the other. The swadeshi dharma will
save you some clothing expense, you may spend a part of the saving
after milk and ghee for your children. At present, you simply waste
away after ease and comfort the amount that could provide their milk
and ghee. From the saving that then rema-ins, I ask you to give me
something. But you may do so only if you have a positive desire to
give it. Even if you don't please do perform the dharma I have
pointed out for you --- that of ply-ing the spinning wheel. This is the
day when we purify ourselves from the contamination caused by the
eclipse. The right form of this purification is to wash off the dirt
of the heart.


If all our women chant Ramanam sincerely and pray to God for the
advent of Ramrajya to replace this Ravanarajya, then, I assure you,
that Rama (God) is certain to be the help of the helpless. May God be
the master of your heart and release you all from other kinds of
slavery.

                                                            31-10-'20

     Speech before a ladies' meeting held at Kadiani Vadi in
Ahmedabad.

    "I never fail to get spiritual satisfaction by having the holy
sight of women at all the places I pass through in my all-India tour.
Women in their thousands meet me everywhere. I am going to relate
today a very chastening incident. That there is a city called
Amritsar cannot, I am certain, be now unknown to you. It was there
that a river of blood from thousands of our murdered brothers had
flown and it was there that General Dyer had slaughtered or wounded a
thousand or fifteen hundred of our innocent men. During my visit to
that Amritsar a few days ago, four sisters came over to me early in
the morning at 6.30. It is much colder in Amritsar than here. But the
sisters felt, 'Since this brother is taking so much trouble to serve
us, he must at least be warned, and told the facts as they really
are.' One of them told me, "Brother, you are doing good work in-deed'
but you don't know that our men --- and to some extent we women also?
cheat you?". I was shocked, 'Me ?' I said, "why should they cheat me
? What can they gain ?" She said, "Men are rogues. They put up a show
of purity in your presence. But we, women, have fully realized that
you want for your work men and women of really pure character. That
is why we women flock after you wherever you go, so that your ideals
may germinate in us." That sister then used a Sanskrit word, which we
wouldn't expect from a Punjabi woman. You; too, perhaps do not
understand its meaning. The men are not' jitendriya and we women also
are not jitendriya to the extent that you believe and want us to be."
I saw perfectly what she meant through this little hint. Jitendriya
means one whose senses are under control. That is to say that person is not a
jitendriya who lends his ears to evil or uses his tongue to speak evil. But
the special meaning the word carries now is this: That man or woman who
is not faithful to his or her spouse is not a jintendriya. The
sister continued, "You say we must control anger. But how can he
control anger who cannot control his lust ? And how can he sacrifice
his personal interest and do Qurbani, who cannot control his anger ?
"

    As from the women at Dakore, from the women at Ahmedabad also,
Gandhiji begged for alms of four kinds. The first one was that of
purity of character. Without purity, one cannot conquer the senses
and for one who has not made this conquest, Qurbani is impossible.

    The second kind of alms he begged for was from mothers for the
withdrawal of their children from Government schools. "Both the
Gitaji and Tulsidasji enjoin us to shun the company of the
evil-minded. And this raj, is vile, i. e. of 'evil-minded'. Rather
than go to schools of such a Government it is better, by far, to
regard that education itself as haram. There is no reason to
entertain the fear, 'If my son doesn't take any education, who will
feed me ?' How do those women, who have no sons, feed themselves ?
The one who gives us our bread is none other than God."

    The third thing he wanted from all women was the observance of
the swadeshi dharma. We became slaves for the very reason that we
gave up the swadeshi dharma, he said, and then gave the same
argument as he did at Dakore to refute the plea that Khadi was too
heavy for wearing. He asked the women, "If you know only how to make
thick rotis ( unleaved disks of bread ) and some other woman knows
the art of preparing thin ones, will you eat your self-made thick
rotis or beg of that other woman to give you her thin ones ? You
cannot perform your swadeshi dharma by wearing mill-cloth, even of
Indian mills. If you wear Indian mill-cloth, you will make it dearer
and the poor classes who are its consumers will suffer." Gandhiji
then said, Without first undergoing trouble there is no happiness
for man. It was because Rama suffered exile for fourteen years, that
he was able to free Sitaji. King Nala became immortal only after he
went through great sorrows. The truth that lay in Harishchandra,
queen Taramati and prince Rohit became a resplendent sun and shed
its light over the world only after the three passed through
harrowing troubles. So instead of shying at hardship and feeling
ashamed of wearing a thick Khadi sari, you ought to wear self-spun
and hand-woven cloth only." He then added, "It is necessary to take
God's name; but you cannot gain salvation by a parrot-like
repetition of Ramnam. If Rama dwelt in heart, pity and
fellow-feeling would make a lodgment in it, and if they did, the
person would abstain from a behaviour that causes pain to others.
Take my word for it that if you don't wear handspun and hand-woven
cloth, thousands of our women will have to remain naked or wear only
a tattered clothing. Even today I can show you thousands of pure
women like Damayanti in our country. I asked a woman to have a bath.
She answered back, Give me one sari to change for this and then I
will gladly have a bath'. This is the tragic state of our country at
present."

    Gandhiji then showed the women their fourth dharma and begged
for his last kind of alms. "For the establishment of Swaraj, for the
opening of new schools, money is a necessity. Is does not grow on a
tree, so that I have only to pluck it from the tree. This form of
begging I began at Dakore where an ordinary woman, a corn-grinder
with a hand-mill, gave me the ring she was wearing. Then two or
three sisters gave me rings and a necklace". One brother took off
his gold bracelet and said, "I hope, the man who gives one pice will
get two in return." Gandhiji was not prepared to give that promise,
but he said, "This is Kaliyuga. Religious pretence is the order of
the day. I would be very glad, if I could do without money; then I
would never ask for it. Your donation will not be mis-spent by me or
my colleagues as far as possible. All the same you may give me your
mite only if you believe in what I say." Gandhiji then appealed to
the audience not to celebrate the Divali or such festivals, by preparing sweet
dishes and firing crackers and spend the amount thus saved for the cause of
the country. "The Divali festival celebrates the release of Sitaji by
Rama. As long as we have not gained a victory like the one Rama had
over Ravana, we have no right to enjoy ease and comfort, to adorn
our bodies with ornaments, to indulge in tasteful dishes or in
displays of fireworks."

    Then the collection of the fund began. The scene it presented
was glorious beyond description. Some girls and some Ashramite
sisters began to move among the women and the meeting presented the
appearance of a congregation in a holy temple. All the women, young
and old, rained coins --- pices, annas, quarter rupees and even rupees.
Some women including even the aged, felt grieved at having with them
nothing or not more than what they gave. There were many who gave
their addresses to the volunteers and earnestly requested them to
visit their homes and take away the specified amount. In a
twinkling, loose coins worth about one hundred and twentyfive rupees
piled up. The collection contained not only ordinary brass coins
like pice and two-pice bits but even quite small ones like pies
(one-third of a pice) and half-pice ( 1 pice=1/64th rupee). With
eyes wet with tears of love, Gandhiji seemed almost choked with
emotion. He exclaimed, "This amount is more sacred than donations
worth lakhs of rupees from millionaires. There is an aroma of the
very soul of the women of Ahmedabad in every brass pice given here.
Every coin is steeped with their devotion for the country. From this
hallowed gift I will educate the country's children. It is on the
basis of such sacred small coins that I will erect the edifice of
Swaraj." When this collection was still going on, a girl was
suddenly impelled to take off an ornament from her ear. Another did
the same. A third took off a bangle. And then ornaments streamed
from all quarters, so that, before one could realize what happened,
there was already a neat little pile of finger-rings, ear-rings,
necklaces, bracelets, lockets and other ornaments, big and small. In
the meanwhile, half in jest and half in earnest, Gandhiji would say,
by way of clarification, "I am dead against donations from those sisters who,
on going home, demand or desire new ornaments to replace the ones they give
here." Immediately, a number of women and girls assured Gandhiji that they
were not going to wear any ornaments hence-forth. Gandhiji gave them
one uniform answer, "That's but your dharma and that resolve alone
becomes you in these times of dire distress." It was already evening
when, after finishing the meeting, Gandhiji returned to the Ashram.
At the end of the Ashram evening prayer also, this collection was
continued and some women-inmates stripped off the gold bands fixed
on their shell-bangles and gave them to Gandhiji.

                        Speech at Mehmdabad

                                                            1-11-'20

     I had many things to talk about with you, but I don't wish to
make a long speech. India is in the throes of troubles these days.
The country is in a state so sad, that it is beyond me to give you a
picture of it. Very recently, I said at a ladies' meeting that the
Government which rules the land is diabolic, is Satanic, is a
Ravanarajya. We have two big instances to prove the charge : the
Khilafat and the Punjab. As regards the former, solemn promises have
been broken and there has been foul play. In the Punjab, quite
unnecessarily, there has been a massacre. A man of Satanic nature
alone is capable of committing such crimes. Tulsidasji has branded
such a rule as 'rakshasi rajya' (devilish rule). You must never
cooperate with it. And even that is not enough. It is our duty, our
dharma, to offer active non-cooperation against it. If we take any
help, accept any favour, from such a government, we become abettors
in the crime and injustice it has committed. So long as we remain
accessories in its crime, the country can never be happy.

    How to offer that non-cooperation successfully ? One way to
enable us to do so is the establishment of complete cooperation
between ourselves. Among all the citizens of the country, Hindus,
Mussulmans, Parsis, Christians, one and all, there must be total and
absolute cooperation. The Devil can continue his
rule only by creating division among the ruled. Our Government has
done exactly the same. It engineered dissensions between Hindus and
Mussulmans. In the Madras Presidency it made Non-Brahmins fight
Brahmins. It would not fail to create caste-quarrels here also, if
it can do so. Why, I have been already receiving letters, in which
Dheds and Bhangis are questioning me: "What is going to be our
position in your Swaraj ?" I see clearly what it all portends. And
that is why I say that non-cooperation is an impossibility so long
as there is not a unity of hearts among us. That unity cannot be
established by an insincere show of it. Unity of hearts is possible
only if we do justice to one another among ourselves.

                  Offer Qurbani, Purify Yourselves

     We ought, for that purpose, to have the strength to offer
Qurbani, to undergo self-sacrifices, and know how to die bravely. We
will never be able to gain Swaraj by killing others, burning
buildings, tearing off rails etc. If we want to win Swaraj, we shall
have to be men of pure character. That means we must be jitendriya.

    We are not going to succeed, so long as untruth and trea-chery
are not driven out of our hearts. A very recent incident --- an attempt
to stop the slaughter of a goat --- testifies to this statement. An
irreligious Maulvi began his game of misleading the people. He held
meetings lasting late till 12 mid-night. He declared he had come as
Gandhi's representative and had stayed on in Ahmedabad at his
instance. By a jumble of facts and fictions in his speeches, he
incited the people and a Hindu sadhu (recluse) joined hands with
him. This sadhu believed that his passport to Heaven could be
secured, if he could save a goat from being sacrificed. So this
sadhu brought the Maulvi to help him. The Maulvi browbeat the
slaughterer and saved the goat. But the incident sowed the seed of
discord between Hindus and Mussulmans. Some Hindus believe that a
goat should be offered as a sacrifice at the altar of Mother Kali. A
man like myself believe it must not be. If a sacrifice has to be
given at all, it could be only of my own body. But, in any case, in a quarrel
among Hindus themselves, I would make it a point not to call Maulana
Shaukatali to help me. And yet these cowardly Hindus called for the
Maulvi's interference. The Maulvi entered the scene and, with the
help of his tom-tomers, released the goat. That sadhu came to see
me. I told him, "Take off your ochre robe." To the Maulvi I said,
"Go away from Ahmedabad. You cannot serve the country this way.
Shall we, who do not want to gain self-rule by beating even
Government men, be able to gain it by thrashing our own brothers ?
What would be the result ? In this case also the result would have
been a sight to see. Fortunately, the present Collector of Ahmedabad
happened to be a sensible man and he stopped the slaughter.
Otherwise, in such a case, the Government would send the police and,
with its aid, get the goat sacrificed. And then our non-cooperation
would go to sleep." I called the Maulvi and told him all this. If
such impurity gets into our movement, we would fail miserably. I
told the Maulvi, "Don't leave your province. Don't leave your work,"
He then said, "It was Hindus themselves who pressed me hard." But
how can two hundred cowards compel a man ? If two hundred cowards
can force a man, what cannot one Whiteman do to him ? And the same
thing actually came to pass. When the Collector called the Maulvi,
he got frightened and asked for the help of the mill-labourers, so
that out of the fear of a riot, the Government might desist from
taking any action against him.

    On my arrest or that of Shaukatali, if you indulge in rioting,
incendiarism or uprooting rails, you will lose the battle. I say so
to you because you are not Arabs. You for one, do not know how to
use even a lathi. Beating an ass or one's wife with a stick does not
mean knowing how to use the lathi. The man who knows the art can
brave a thousand opponents single-handed. Since you do not know the
art, I can give you the advice I have given.

    We have forgotten our leonine nature and become meek lambs. If
we try to follow Ireland's or Egypt's example we
will simply go to hell. When the Government flourishes its sword --- and
there is nothing wrong in it; were I the Government, I would myself
arrest trouble? makers; any Government that wants to carryon its
administration would definitely arrest such opponents, it is even
its duty;-when, therefore, the Government takes off the glove and
you create violent disturbances, it is you who will be the loser.
You are cowards if you attempt to browbeat the Government by
rioting. If we want to free India from slavery, we have to be lions.

    You, six thousand men, are at present in danger. A Municipality
for you, so few ! What an absurdity ! It is nothing but a white
elephant that the Government has thrust upon you. An expense of
twelve thousand rupees to be borne by six thousand persons ! You
just wind up that Municipality. It renders you no service. It gives
you education, but with that education we want to non-cooperate.
How can we accept any donation from soiled hands ? I want money for
the Gujarat Vidyapith (National University of Gujarat), but shall I
conduct the Vidyapith with the aid of donation from prostitutes ? Or
by gaining a profit from a public house ?

    For, I assert that the money you get from the Government for
education comes from liquor-booths. When we suggest that the excise
Department be closed, the Government say that schools will have to
be closed if the excise-income is given up. How can our lawyers,
barristers and learned men, educated from that polluted money?
profits in liquor --- do any good to the country ?

    I congratulate the boys of this town on their giving up
Government schools. Now you teach these boys and girls at your
expense. Get the teachers to resign from their posts and, with their
aid, make the auspicious start of national education right from to
day. You begin it in a privately owned building and let the
Government school building remain empty. This is the solution of the
question of education given by the Municipality. The other thing the
Municipality deals with is street-lighting and latrines. As it is,
both these matters are in a miserable state
even under the Municipality. And it does nothing about the
protection of the people, because the Police Department is not in
its charge. And clouds of dust rise from its streets. Thus the
Municipality does no look to real business except conducting
schools. It has one dispensary, but against it, there are three
private dispensaries in the town. So that dispensary also may remain
unused, left to the Government's management. In short, we have no
use whatsoever of a municipality. It is, like an idol, set up for
worship from a distance. So, you, nine hundred taxpayers, do one
thing. Hold a meeting and pass a resolution that the Municipality
must be closed for good. Tell them, 'We don't want either your
Sanitary Board or your Gram Panchayat (village commune)'. And give
the members a notice that they must resign from the Municipality.

                         Don't Pay the Tax

     Tell the Government also that you are not going to pay any
municipality tax. There is no breach of law there. There is no
discourtesy either. Since you do not take any service from the
Municipality, the Government has no reason to say anything against
the step. You are justified in resisting the Government. It will
threaten you for some time. When you do not mind the threats, it
will issue a warrant of attachment of your house. Allow the
Government to sell it. A population of a mere six thousand can
desert the whole little town even. Whose work will the Municipality
then do? But the Government is not foolish enough to go that far. I
have been speaking ill of the Government, but I know it is sane and
shrewd. If it went to that length, it would have to leave the
country right now. But the British Government does not want the
liquidation of the Empire.

                       Beseech Your Opponents

     In order to succeed in this work, you must be of one heart.
Opposition is bound to arise from some people. But, with becoming
respect and civility, you may say to the opponents, "You are the
crown of land. Simply, we respectfully appeal
to you to honour the will of the people." Even if they don't go so
far with us as to be our colleagues, we may pray to them, "Please
refrain, at least, from blocking our path." And after all, what
treasures these few hundreds can amass from cooperation, that they
would like to resist even the united will of six thousands ? But the
advice I have given you can work, only if you, Hindus and Muslims,
love in amity among yourselves.

    I have shown you two conditions for successfully doing this
work. One, self-suffering or non-violence. Even if we accept the
view that non-violence is only a weakling's business, it is
impossible to show you any other method, so long as you have not
acquired the strength of fighting with arms. The second condition is
single-hearted concord between Hindus and Muslims, between all the
communities of the country. You cannot offer non-cooperation
against the Government, unless and until you fulfil these two
conditions. The first step to it is abstaining from sending any
representatives to the Councils and withdrawing children from
Government schools. This done, you have as good as won Swaraj.

                  Be Fearless and Self-sufficient

     Never allow yourselves to feel afraid of any Government
servants, be they even policemen. We have no quarrel or enmity with
them. We have to win their hearts by love. Then you need not be
afraid of them.

    There are now two points left. You send for your cloth from
Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad was once a centre of excellent hand-woven
cloth, but now there is not a single weaver left. If only you have
the will, is there anything that you, six thousand person cannot do
? Why do you require mill-cloth at all? Let your homes be your
mills. You don't order your daily meals from hotels. Why then do you
order your cloth from outside ?

    It will not bring about the closure of the Mills of Seth
Mangaldas or Tata if you stop buying mill-cloth, which is
really for the use of the poor. You must not snatch from the poor a
bit of their scanty bread by using mill-cloth yourselves. Now
remains the question of foreign cloth. But that you must regard as
nothing but haram. We must stop being clad in other people's
clothes. Like a covetous glance on a married woman, a craze for
foreign cloth is a form of adultery. We will never be free from the
British Empire, so long as we remain its slaves for our clothing
needs. Use of Japanese cloth is as bad, because it is the Empire's
steamers which bring that cloth here. The Empire has thus blockaded
us completely all around. That is why I suggest, you begin a new
chapter in history. It may be a difficult thing for crores of men,
but you few can certainly be self-sufficient within the limits of
your town. As for your food-materials you have not to bring them
from outside at all. Any dearth of farm-produce in the Kaira
District is an impossibility. But you must produce cloth not only
enough for your local needs, but also for sending it to other
places. You will not then find it difficult to procure twelve
thousand rupees to meet your civil needs.

                          Appeal for Funds

     And now I come to the question of money. So many things have to
be done and for them money is an indispensable necessity. But I find
the collection of funds my most difficult task. I come across
dishonest persons among those who collect funds, and the fact gives
me the creeps. But you can't do without money. Very reluctantly,
therefore, I have stretched my hand to the public for help. I do not
wish to carry on this work through the help of millionaires alone. I
will accept a donation even from a Bhangi the poorest and the
lowliest. I prize one pice given to me with faith in the heart as
worth a lakh of rupees. Virgins give me rings and other ornaments
and I adore their gifts because the while they give them, they
invoke God's presence. This gift is a thousand times better than a
donation for which I have myself to go to somebody and flatter him.
I ask you, too, not to give me anything for my sake but for God's.


                   Public Money : A Sacred Trust

     Our work advances only if the volunteers, who collect the fund,
consider it haram to use it for personal benefit. The people are
really so guileless that they are easily duped. They accept the word
of anyone who comes to them in my name. The other day one
woman-swindler posed herself as my daughter and collected money in
Dwarka. She has now gone to Hyderabad. There also she was given a
warm welcome. It is unbearable to me that in my name the public is
thus swindled. Then there is the instance of the Maulvi at
Ahmedabad. It was my name he exploited to have a field-day for
himself. Moral cleanliness is, therefore, what I beg of you. If you
become honest, I shall eagerly kiss the ground you tread upon. The
world is never going to be entirely free from fraud. But let not the
poor, simple-minded public be made its victim. If that is not done,
I, to whom the scaffold of the Government holds no terrors, am
terribly afraid of this scaffold? this painful experience.

    Please, therefore, call Heaven to witness your collection of the
public fund.

                          Beware of Crooks

     I warn the public through you, 'Do not give a pice to anyone
however imposing his pretensions, if, unauthorized, he approaches
you in the name of anybody. I am thinking of issuing two
certificates bearing the stamp of the Khilafat Committee and the
Swaraj Sabha each. Don't listen to that man who does not possess
either of them and don't give him anything. Drive the man out. We
want to take the Government in our hands and we shall have to be
stern, where necessary, in order to carry it on.

    That is no freedom, if you cease to be slaves of the Government
and fall into slavery under me. What I wish to do is to steal your
hearts, but never to make you my slaves, since I never wish to be a
slave myself.

                             At Nadiad

     Went to Nadiad from Mehmadabad by the train which leaves the
latter at 11 a. m. We put up this time at the Santaram
Mandir in Nadiad at the special invitation of the monk, Maharaj
Janakidasji. After the mid-day rest upto 2 p. m., Gandhiji met the
Municipal Councillors. The Municipal Board of Nadiad has resolved
not to accept the Government grant of twentyone thousand rupees for
education and has asked the Government to relinquish its control
over the municipal schools of Nadiad. The Collector of the Kaira
District has written in reply that the Board should reconsider its
resolution, since its financial posi-tion is not strong enough to do
without Government grant and since, even by the rejection of the
Government grant, the schools cannot be free from Government
control. Gandhiji was adamant in his advice to the Councillors,
"Then you can be independent not only in education but in all
matters. Take the Municipality in your charge and you collect the
taxes. The Government is certain to exercise pressure for a time and
go on collecting taxes itself, but the tax-payers must oppose the
Government and undergo the consequent suffering". The Councillors
argued that it would be difficult to organise all that work
simultaneously. Gandhiji answered, "We demand Swaraj today. We must
then be prepared to organise all that work this very day. You can
explain the situation to the tax-payers and if they are not prepared
to refuse to pay taxes to the Government, you can non-cooperate
with them also. You can then plainly tell them, they will not be
able to take any work from you, in that case. Leaders must lead, not
be led. You must, moreover, impress upon them that, by refusing to
pay (municipal) taxes to the Government, they would not be able to
save the money for themselves. Money is needed for conducting our
independent Municipality. Only, while from the money they give at
present to the Government, they get a poor return-worth one rupee
for every ten-the money they give you will fetch them a much better
return-worth two rupees for a single one. But money they shall have
to pay." The Councillors, thereupon, agreed to call a meeting of the
tax-payers the next day and persuade them to follow this advice of
Gandhiji. From that meeting he went to a mosque to meet the
Mussulmans. He thanked them for inviting him at
that holy place and impressed upon them how bad it was that tension
grew up at times between the two communities from the words or acts
of individuals, whether Hindus or Muslims. "If," he said, ' we want
to bring about solid unity between the two communities, it is
absolutely necessary that there must be a real unity of hearts
between Hindus and Muslims. So long as our hearts are suspicious,
are quick to feel offended, we shall not be able to achieve
anything. Every men, who have no malice, sometimes stumble into
wrong actions. Our duty then lies in showing them their error, but
without getting excited ourselves."

    After this meeting was over Gandhiji went to a ladies' meeting.
The attendance here was nearly one and a half times as large as at
Ahmedabad. Stating first of all that the present rule was
Ravanarajya and that purity and swadeshi were the two means
necessary to destroy the rule, he asked for four kinds of alms from
the women of Nadiad, viz., purity of character, observance of
swadeshi-dharma, withdrawal of children from Government schools and
contribution in money. Religion, he emphasised, did not mean simply
telling the beads of a rosary and going to temples. It meant
striving for the establishment of Swarajya, i. e., Ramarajya. This
true religion could be observed today only by non-cooperation with
the Government. Women must therefore take an active part in
non-cooperation, he declared.

    The public meeting of the citizens of Nadiad was held at 8 p.m.
in a large maidan at one of the outskirts of the town. Even from
villages people had come there and, though more than ten thousand
people must have been present, remarkable silence was maintained :
Vallabhbhai was given the chair.

Gandhiji said:
    "When, in this grim fight, it is necessary to have hearty unity
between all communities, it is all the more necessary that nothing
should happen which could raise an internal quarrel among Hindus or
Mussulmans themselves from an indiscreet speech of any irresponsible
or irreligious man. I hope, therefore,
the Swaraj Sabha and the Khilafat Committee issue a notice to the
effect that nobody should deliver a speech unless he is permitted by
either of them. You are free and you have the right to hear a speech
delivered by any unauthorised person, but you will then at least
know that the speaker does not represent any of the two
institutions. The Empire we are going to fight is very well
organised and disciplined. None of its officials can speak or do
anything without his superior's order. We shall have to acquire that
power of discipline.

    "If we wish to be independent, unity between Hindus and Muslims
with crystal purity in the heart of both, is quite essential. If
some Mussulman inadvertently says something unpleasant, Hindus must
tolerate him and vice versa.

                       No Hartal On My Arrest

     "You have to go on doing your work silently, without any
demonstration, on my arrest or that of M. Shaukatali or M. Abdul
Bari. You must not go even on a hartal. If you do, it would be
tantamount to losing our battle. Why should you wish to get us
released ? To Zafarali, who has been sent to jail, I simply said, "
We are not going to address a petition for your release, but we will
release you by gaining Swaraj." If you want to get a man like myself
released, you must resolve to take the four steps on
non-cooperation I have shown you. Were I the Government and knew
that Gandhi was all in all in the people's resistance, I would not
fail to arrest Gandhi.

                       No Courage, No Respect

     "If, therefore, courage is not inherent in you, you are of no
value in the world's estimation. You must, therefore, carry out
non-cooperation all the more vigorously, when we are not in your
midst."

    Touching then the different topics, such as, the boycott of
legislative Councils, the evacuation of schools, the renunciation of
legal practice and titles, purity of character, swadeshi, and the
right form of celebrating the Divali, Gandhiji came to the question
of contribution in money.


                        The Poor Man's Fight

     "Give your money only after assuring yourself about the honesty
of the volunteer who approaches you. This is not a fight of the
millionaire. It is the fight of the million. If the thirty crores of
us give only a pice each, we can collect fifty lakhs of rupees and
education could be given free. My appeal for money is not an appeal
for charity. It is for a matter wherein your own interest is
involved. If you give me one pice, you will get a return in value
worth two."

    Referring then to the glorious scene which the ladies' meeting
at Ahmedabad had presented, he said, "Little girls from eight to
sixteen took off their rings and necklaces to give them to me. And
they had promised me that they would not ask for new ones from their
parents. For what's the use of wearing ornaments when India has been
widowed ? There are no men in India worth the name today, that she
would love to bedeck herself with ornaments. She will look smiling
and gay, when men in the real sense of the word are born and then
Indian women will be able to wear their ornaments proudly."

    The meeting ended after the collection and at night Gandhiji
left for Broach by the mail train.

                      On The Sands of Narmada

                                                            2-11-'20

     At this meeting held at Broach on the sands of the Narmada
Gandhiji said:

    A battle is raging today between Ravanarajya and Ramarajya,
between God and Satan, between a divine and an anti-divine people. I
conjure up the soul of this present rule as of the form of a devil.
Ever since the day that my eyes were opened to the fact, I have been
spreading among the people this my view about the Government. I am
convinced that the British Empire is replete with Satanism, nay, is
the very form of the arch-fiend. All the world's religions --- Hindu,
Muslim, Parsi, all --- tell us that irreligion has to be ousted by
religion, i.e., that we must cease to lend a helping hand to
irreligion. You can find instances of this
fight in Islam. Zorastrianism speaks of an eternal warfare between
Ahurmazd and Ahriman. The same thing is given in the Gita.
Non-cooperation is the only choice left to us, if we want to
perform our dharma. But if you feel that one can still gain
something from the British Raj, and that it is not steeped in sin,
you may certainly continue to cling to it. I do not mean to say that
the Englishman, as an individual, is bad. But the deep sin he has
sown, the organisation he has created, is harmful to India. There
are definitely some good officials among them, good Viceroys like
Lord Hardinge and Lord Ripon and real gentlemen like the Collector
of Ahmedabad, Mr. Chatfield, but they are parts of a nefarious
organisation and hence promoters of nothing but a devilish activity.
My own father was a servant in an Indian state. The King was a man
of loose character. I as-ked my father, "Why don't you give up
serving such a ruler ?' He said, "We have eaten his salt." So my
father remained faithful to his salt, but our whole family remained
protégés of a king who spent his life in orgies of wine, women and
meat. I have been dinning into the ears of the whole country that,
to follow our dharma, there is no alternative to non-cooperation
left to us. However virtuous a man may be, he does not remain so
after his association with the Government machinery. And that is why
there has arisen a difference between me and men whom I revere and
even adore,-Sri Shastriar and Pandit Malaviyaji, close contact with
whom I heartily cherish and for whom even today I have the highest
regard and love. While they think there is purity in this Empire. I
think there is sin in it. I place Malaviyaji in the position of my
elder brother and I have great respect for Shastriar Saheb and yet I
have but to fight with them. How this non-cooperation is to be
implemented has been shown by the Congress, by the Muslim League and
by the Sikh League.

    There are two basic conditions necessary for its implementation.
One of them is Hindu-Muslim unity, i. e., unity between all our
communities. I have named only the two communities, simply because
they are known the world over. There has been distrust between the
two for a long time past. There is no
victory for us, therefore, so long as either is in a quarrelsome
mood. We must conquer the Parsis also with the same intensity of
love that we want between Hindus and Muslims. We can certainly
subjugate them by Satanic means, i. e., by their murders, but we
must that way massacre all the eighty thousand of them. So we must
win them only by love. If Hindus or Muslims suppress the Sikhs, even
then we are not going to win independence. Even some Jains have
begun to say now-a-days that they are not Hindus. Shall we then
exterminate them ? The strength of the strong lies in winning over
the opponent with love, not in crushing him in the pride of power.
The first thing we must do therefore is the preservation of unity
between all religions.

    Our second means is the power of organisation. Non-cooperation
is impossible, so long as we do not acquire the power of
organisation.

                         Stick of Your 'No'

     The next essential is sympathy. Not even a thought of murder
should strike us. Even if you indulge in cruelty and give up charity
of heart, you will not gain your object. If you take up the sword,
it will be your own sword that will be broken into pieces. Were you
able to save the country with the use of the sword, the question of
its use would have been your concern. But you can't save the country
that way. Don't use single bad word for the Government. Give up
abusing altogether. Listen respectfully to what the cooperators may
wish to say, but stick to your 'NO.' One firm 'no' saves you from a
thousand temptations. This 'no' is a synonym for non-cooperation.

                        Two Great Sacrifices

     In order to make non-cooperation successful, you have to offer
two great sacrifices. The first, in the matter of education. The
question of education has, these days, assumed the greatest
importance in India. The second sacrifice is the refusal to accept
the Councils. Non-cooperation has been offered till
now by the public, by the masses only. The classes have done nothing
in the matter. If we want to make them offer non-cooperation, we
can do so through our own spirited action. We can give them a
monster notice signed by us all requiring them not to go to the
Councils as our representatives and then they cannot go there. But
how shall we tackle the question of non-cooperation in education,
if parents, students and teachers feel perplexed whether to take the
plunge or not? The answer is, our future generation has, at all
hazards, to get out of slavery. It is therefore the duty of the
elders to free the future generation, i.e., the students from the
shackles of Government schools. Provision for that freedom has got
to be made by the teachers and the parents at any cost. They must
not delay the march of national education, even for a moment, for
want of funds. "What will you do if the Government passes a law that
impedes national education?", a doubter may ask. I am not going to
say a word in reply, because the question has no meaning. If you
find that there is someone bent on stopping the march of national
education with his might, you must gather the courage of a hero and
fearlessly come out of Government schools. Then you may teach as
many students, boys and girls and youths, as you can rest content.
Give up the greed to teach one and all.

                              Swadeshi

     Now about Swadeshi. Swaraj is comprised in Swadeshi --- that is one
of my fundamentals. Sri Chintamani1 once wrote that Swadeshi was
dearer to Gandhi even than Swaraj and the Khilafat. Swadeshi is
really my heart's love. Is it possible that after our victory the
Khilafat question does not end ? But Swadeshi is an eternal
principle. That is the dharma indissolubly bound with the body
itself. It is also unfailing. Swaraj is in our hands this very day,
if we observe Swadeshi in its intense form. Some wise men advised me
that boycott of British cloth could
_______________

    1. C. Y. Chintamani, a leading Moderate and editor of 'The
Leader', Allahabad


put down Lancashire. But, I think it is not so easy as all that. We
possess neither the capacity nor the necessary attitude for carrying
out the boycott. If we have the capacity, I am not the man to be
afraid of the boycott, just as I am not afraid of British arms. But,
if India is squeezed dry owing to its non-acceptance of that
temporary boycott, I consider even that contingency as desirable. To
me at least, boycott is boycott. Once I launch it, I will never give
it up. There can be no cooperation with a drunkard or a sinner?
unless he totally gives up his habit. If India accepts this eternal
principle (of Khadi) freedom would be ours, and justice would be
given us on the Khilafat question, in no time. But I have not
succeeded as yet in making the Mussulmans converts to the Khadi
cult. I have not been able to make them fakeers. Nor have I won over
the Hindus in favour of Khadi. That is why the Khilafat question is
still hanging and that is why, despite our loud lamentations,
nothing is done, even still, in the Punjab matter. A conviction that
foreign cloth is haram for us must arise from the depth of the
heart. This is my supplication to the women specially, "Swadeshi is
a matter where you are at home. Spinning is a veritable dharma for
you. In the adoption of Khadi you women must set an example to men.
Of all persons, not mother at least can legitimately complain that
Khadi is too heavy for wear. How can the woman who cheerfully bears
for nine months the burden of the child in her womb say that she
cannot bear one pound of weight ? She can rightfully say so only if
she is prepared to remain barren. I am not going to listen to any
words of complaint from her, so long as she does not wish to be
childless, but wants to be a mother of heroes and heroines. It
passes my comprehension how, when your country goes naked, you can
non-chalantly go on wearing saries made in the mills of Japan,
China, England or France."

               Cultivate the Spirit of Self-sacrifice

     Money is a necessity for the work we have undertaken. This is
the land of such deep faith that even Pharisees can collect
large amounts here. If you can raise money from the public for your
temples, mosques and dharmashalas,1 why can you not get money for
your holier temples --- temples of learning --- from the people ? What is
wanted is sufficient austere self-restraint ( tapashcharya ) and
renunciation (tyaga). Hindus will at once understand the word tyaga.
The scripture says that jewels simply dance attendance upon one who
practises the non-possession vow.2 My own experience attests this.
The ( Satyagraha ) fight in such a poor country as South Africa had
never to be stopped for want of funds. On the contrary, I had to
write to Gokhaleji ( G. K. Gokhale ) that he need not send me money.
During the Champaranya3 and Kaira struggles also, money poured from
the public and I had to stop people from sending any. The
mill-labourers of Ahmedabad offered non-cooperation on a tremendous
scale for full twenty-three days and yet I did not ask for a single
rupee from outside. If there is the spirit of renunciation in us, we
would be simply flooded with money.

    Crores of rupees are rusting for want of use in the Vaishanava,
Jaina and Swaminarayan temples. If you get only a small portion from
them, you can maintain your whole education department. But unlike
the Government, which spends money like water to cavalierly open new
departments in a trice, our activities will be in conformity with
India's poverty. You can make a magic mango-tree grow big before
your eyes, but you cannot have a taste of mango-juice from it. A
real mango-tree takes twenty years to grow fully. On the same
ground, I ask you to reject the offer outright, if somebody comes to
you to give a crore of
_______________

    1. Buildings that provide free temporary lodgment to wayfarers.
    2. Owing to the similarity of the two aphorisms there has been a
confusion here. The original aphorisms of Patanjali say, 'By the
establishment of non-stealing all wealth (jewels) comes to the
Yogi'; and 'When he is fixed in non-receiving (non-possession), he
gets the memory of past life'-II-37-39. Translation from Raja Yoga
by Swami Vivekanand.
    3. In 1916 and 1918 respectively. The first in the Champaranya
district in Bihar for saving the peasants from compulsory
cultivation of indigo on a fixed fraction of their farms and the
second for suspension of land revenue in the Kaira district in
Gujarat, owing to the failure of rains.


rupees for national education. The professors of the Khalsa College
were told that they might non-cooperate with the Government,
provided Gandhi gave them a grant of crore of rupees. They answered,
"We don't want a change of masters and become Gandhi's slaves
instead of the Government's. We will visit the Sikhs in their
hutments and beg from door to door." These Professors, moreover,
have given a notice to the Khalsa College that if it does not free
itself from Government control, they would become fakirs, resign
from their posts, and give national education to the country's
children.

    If you have faith in this programme, please give as much as you
can without any constraint. The amount will not be used solely for
your city. It will be used also for the Gujarat Vidyapith which has
been established in Ahmedabad.

                        Speech at Ankleshwar

     Opening the Lokmanya Rashtriya Shala (national school named
after Lokamanya Tilak), Gandhiji said:

    "Let your conduct befit and adorn the name of the revered person
in whose memory you have named your school. There must be hardly
anybody whom Lokamanya did not surpass in his love for Swaraj. For
no other purpose, therefore, than bringing Swaraj nearer, should his
name be associated with this national school. It is not on account
of the poor quality of the education given in Government schools,
that I ask parents, students and teachers to leave them. The
question of the type of education has not much to do with the
consciousness that I wish to awaken in your heart. There is
definitely need for reform in the education given in Government
schools, but this other work, that has to be done, cannot be allowed
to wait till that reform is brought about.

    For the last fifty years we have been making use of Government
schools and not without some benefit. But at present all these
schools are haram for us. The reason is not the type of education
given in them. The flag that flutters over these schools is the flag
of the Satanic Empire. That flag is the symbol of
that Empire which has wounded the hearts of seven crores of Muslims
and spread a Reign of Terror over the whole of India through the
Punjab atrocities. With one voice the scriptures of all religions
proclaim it a sin to be a protégé of an irreligious king, since it
is as bad as embracing irreligion ourselves or participation in
devilish acts. I appeal to you to fly from the schools of that
Empire, even if, by going there, you get money and are taught the
Quran, the Zand Avesta and the Gita. Even if they teach you your own
scriptures, the motive underlying it is wicked. We do not,
therefore, wish to make slaves of our children by letting them be
taught in that school over which the Devil has hoisted his flag.
Those who realize the import of this fact will not allow their
children to continue in Government schools for a single day. They
will first take out the children and then make a provision for
giving them another kind of education. If we find that our house has
caught fire we will not delay our evacuation till we get a new house
to go to. We will even jump headlong out of the window, even though
there be a trench below. Unless this consciousness of emergency
stirs our heart, we are going to fail in our agitation regarding
education, because the Government men --- the secret agents --- will always
continue to offer us the bait and point out, "See ! How excellent
the education of our Government schools is ! How magnificent our
buildings are! And they give education free in our schools, to boot!
" Our movement will make no headway till the public is animated with
the spirit that, despite all that, Government schools are taboo for
us --- are haram.

    This is my prayer to parents: "Don't let your children rot in
slavery. The very first thing you must do is to withdraw your
children from Government schools. They are not to be allowed to roam
in the streets after they are taken out. So the second thing you
must do is to make arrangements for giving them national education
through your dedication of all that you possess. If we have not
acquired that much capacity, we shall not be able to win Swaraj.
Such capacity is an inevitable necessity in order to conduct Swaraj
which means self-government.


    The second essential for the success of national education is to
have with us teachers of high moral character and efficiency. I
congratulate the Head Master and those other teachers of the local
High School who have sacrificed their jobs for the cause of their
religion and country. I beg of them to maintain the same attitude
towards the work now awaiting them, as the one which impelled them
to undergo the sacrifice. If they become absorbed in their work,
money for the school will be no problem. Your Managing Committee
will find it easy to get the necessary amount, and, though merely
squatting on clean ground, the boys of the national school will then
be quite a match or other boys. If the national school teachers are
men of character, their boys will be more manly than those who
attend Government schools which have an imposing paraphernalia. At
present our men have lost their manliness and women their
womanliness. Our women do not possess the strength to produce a
manly race. And I ask them not to bring forth slaves any more. If a
virile race is born, it will refuse to learn in these schools which
turn out slaves. Those parents, who do not send their children to
schools which impart slavish education, will find that the national
school definitely outshines other schools.

    This is my advice to the Managing Committee: "You must not be
impatient at all. You may certainly request the parents to send
their children here, but let no harsh word escape your lips. It is
no easy matter to persuade parents to send their children to this
school. Do not assume that the eyes of everyone will open and see
things from our angle. This new wind has been blowing since a very
short time and we will fail if we are not able to keep patience."

    I have been told that the rich Parsis of this own, Ankleshwar,
are opposed to non-cooperation. India is the country as much of
Hindus and Mussulmans as of the Parsis. Did not Dadabhoy Naoroji1 (a
Parsi) belong to India? Was Sir Pheroz
_______________

    1. This "Grand Old Man of India" first unfurled the banner of
Swaraj. His book ' Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India' was
avidly read by the people.


Shah Mehta1 (also a Parsi) a non-Indian? Parsi ought to feel for the
country as keenly as the other communities. We will beseech the
Parsis, fall at their feet, and beg money of them. If they send
their children to our schools, we will bow down to them; and even if
they don't, we will do the same. That way we will show them that
they, too, must contribute their due share in the tremendous
movement going on all over India. You will subdue the Parsi brothers
by the strength of your love. Tell them it is our dharma to explain
to them wherein lies their duty.

    The best way to make the national school a success is to avoid
altogether any pretentious show and advertisement. That will save us
from any set-back. One can pull down a structure in all haste, but
for the construction of a strong brick-building, haste is waste. You
can take a sickle in hand and reap a whole field in a single day,
but the sowing cannot be finished so summarily. A single day is all
that is needed to get the Government schools evacuated, but
exceeding patience is necessary where something new has to be
created. If you don't get good teachers, don't lose your patience
and do not employ even a single teacher of no character. If we do
not give up truth and patience, you will have 1200 students in this
school instead of the 120 who have joined at present. If all the
children attending the Government schools flock to this school, even
that is not sufficient, since not all the children of the town go
there. There must not remain a single child in the town, boy or
girl, who does not receive our education, which turns out students
of the strongest character.

    Your work here must adorn both the great name you have
associated with your school and the sacred purposes --- securing justice
for the Khilafat and the Punjab and winning Swaraj --- for which you
have started it. May God enlighten the minds of the parents, the
students and the teachers !"
_______________

    1. He was called "The Uncrowned King of Bombay" for his intrepid
fight for freedom. Both were Presidents of the Congress for some
time.


                                                4-11-'20 to 8-11-'20

                     World-Teacher's Invitation

     The programme of Gandhiji's campaign through Maharashtra was
fixed on the 4th. It did not include Nasik, even though Gandhiji had
received invitations from there. But just then a deputation carrying
a specially weighty invitation --- from the World-Teacher, Shrimat
Shankaracharyaji of Karvirpith,1 --- arrived from there. The deputation
said that the Jagadgure was continuing his halt at Nasik simply for
the sake of Gandhiji, and was cherishing the desire of establishing
a National University at Nasik, for which he wanted Gandhiji's
counsel. "The people", the deputation continued, "have been all
agog, waiting for your visit. Please do manage somehow to spare a
day for Nasik, otherwise, the whole population will be sorely
disappointed." The Nasikites' importunity thus snatched away from
Gandhiji the one little day, --- the 5th ---, which he had left out of his
crowded programme for his rest

    We left Bombay by the night train. According to the schedule we
were to reach Nasik Road Station at 6.00 a. m. (and Nasik City at
6.30), finish the whole Nasik programme by noon and catch the Punjab
Mail for Bombay at 1 p.m., since it had been decided to leave Bombay
the same night for the Maharastra tour. We started from Bombay in
right time. Pandit Motilal Nehru and, on behalf of the Khilafat
Committee, Mr. Moazam Ali, a barrister, who has only recently given
up his practice, accompanied Gandhiji. Unfortunately the train
arrived as many three hours late at Nasik Road and instead of the 6
a. m we got down on the platform at 9 !
_______________

    1. Shrimat Shankaracharya, the well-known exponent of monism,
established, about a thousand years ago, four centers of learning or
'piths' in the North, South, East and West of India for the
propagation of his theology and stationed his four chief disciples
in them. They too began to be called Jagadguru (World-Teacher)
Shankaracharyas. Sub-centres also sprang up. The piths have
continued to the present day from disciple to disciple. Everyone of
them has of course to be an erudite Sanskrit scholar. Karvir is one
such centre. Shrimat is an honorific.


                       The Good Old Disorder

     On the platform itself, we had to be the unhappy witnesses of
the old suffocating congestion, indiscipline and rush and bustle of
the volunteers. Nobody heeded the volunteers' instructions and an
order given by one volunteer was countermanded by another, to the
confusion of all. We huddled ourselves into whatever motor-cars that
came in handy, flung our packages pell-mell as best we could into
them and started. The city is five miles from the station. For about
three and a half miles our cars sped on smoothly. When, however, we
reached a distance of a mile and a half from the city, crowds and
crowds of men surrounded our cars and though, it was already so
late, the procession started with a snail's speed. Gandhiji
earnestly pleaded with the leaders, impressed upon them, left no
doubt in their minds, that even if the programme was not finished he
would start for the station at 12 noon and pointed out that it was
already 10 a. m. But it was found that both the leaders and the
volunteers were entirely helpless in the matter. It was impossible
for them to make this mass of humanity give room for a passage for us.

    At least, wading somehow through the narrow and crowded
market-lanes of the city, we reached Shrimat Shankaracharyaji's math
(monastery) and in a few minutes went to the dry bed of River
Godavari, where we saw a sea of human heads, undulating like the
waves of an ocean on account of the hard rocks, high and low, with
which the bed is studded. The speakers were seated on a
stone-platform in the centre. It was 11 a. m., when Gandhiji, Pandit
Motilalji and others, in company with the Jagadguru, reached the
place. And the sun was burning fairly hot. There was no end to
jostling among the crowds. There was a canopy over the heads of the
speakers, who, none the less, remained completely exposed to the
sun, since the shade of the canopy fell aslant. After the welcome
formally given by Shrimat Shankaracharyaji and the Khilafat
Committee Gandhiji began his speech in Hindi.


    "Brothers, this time, I am not going to have a long talk with
you, at this holy place, I am sorry that M. Shaukat Ali, for whom I
have a brother's love, is not with me here. He and his brother
Mohammad Ali are on a very responsible mission at Aligarh and hence
their brother-in-law, Mr. Moazam Ali of Moradabad, a barrister, who
has only recently given up his practice, is now with me.

    "You must all be knowing, by name at least, Pandit Motilalji
Nehru, the President of the Congress this year. Everybody knows how
splendid have been his services in the Punjab affair and what a
tremendous sacrifice he has undergone. It was through the Herculean
efforts made by Pandit Malaviyaji and him that the lives of
countless innocent Hindus and Muslims were saved there. And now,
renouncing a most flourishing legal practice, which brought him a
monthly income of a lakh of rupees, he has dedicated himself
entirely to the service of the country.

    "The events of the last ten months have convinced me beyond
doubt that the Empire that is ruling over us is Satanic. I call it
Ravanarajya. There are two glaring attestations, well-known to the
public, to prove this charge. The Punjab was subjected to a terror,
perhaps unheard of. Secondly, no king would stoop to the treachery
which this Empire played in the Khilafat question and would thus
wound the hearts of even crores of Muslims. How should the subjects
behave towards such a demonic Empire? Tulsidasji has said that those
who are vile and wicked must be ostracized, be non-cooperated with,
left severely alone, and deprived of the contact and help of
society. This movement is a great sacrifice itself. We cannot be
pure till we offer ourselves for that sacrifice, and only then shall
we be able to establish Ramarajya and demolish this Ravanarajya. By
Ramarajya I mean Swaraj. It is impossible to free ourselves from the
clutches of this Satanic rule without establishing Swaraj.

    "How can we bring about that Swaraj ? By increasing prem and
mohabbat (Sanskrit and Persian words for 'love') and
cooperation between Hindus and Muslims. Till the Empire does not
publicly express regret and does not do any penance for the crimes
it has committed, any dealing with it must be haram for us. We will
not end or bend the Empire by murdering Englishmen and burning down
their buildings. But we can gain our object by snapping all ties of
love and cooperation with them. The only reason, why a mere lakh of
men are making 30 crores of their subjects, helpless and dependent,
is that we ourselves have an infatuation for the rulers. We
ourselves believe that if the Englishman left the land, we would
fight among ourselves to our own destruction. The sooner we free
ourselves from this delusion the better for us. We, thirty crores of
humans, must refuse to be the dumb cattle of a lakh of Englishmen.
Hindus and Muslims must unite and, instead of committing murders,
win freedom by shedding their own blood only. I want to impress upon
you that that is the one and only road to freedom and that there is
no other. The Devil can be con-quered and subdued only by the help
of God and not by Satanic means. And only he can be the recipient of
God's help, whose heart is filled with love.

    "We want thus to construct our edifice of Swaraj on the
foundations of self-sacrifice, of Qurbani. And for that, we have to
renounce all relationship with the Empire including all its grants
and all its favours. Its titles and its honours, its schools and its
jobs must all be haram for us and just as we would at once run out
of a house on fire, we must, first of all, and unque-stioningly,
come out of all these things. We must not be even recruits in the
Empire's army. We must not be caught in the snare it has spread for
us in the form of its legislative councils. I find that there are
some persons who argue, "Whose is the money with which the
Government conducts its schools ? Ours, not theirs. Why should we
then abandon schools maintained from our money ?" To them I say,
"How can you persist in calling that money yours, which a robber has
already taken away from you ? And from the money, which you have
been robbed of, how can you accept a portion thrown at you by way of






charity ? How can we degrade ourselves so much as to accept charity
from one who disgraced and dishonoured us and committed the most
depraved dacoity possible by putting our religion in danger ? Under
these circumstances, only one course of duty is one to us-to fly
from any contact with such persons. We must never resort to their
law-courts for settlement of quarrels among ourselves. We must see
that not a single voter in our constituency cast his vote for
candidates for the new legislative councils, given by them."

    Then, after a few words on Swadeshi, Gandhiji made the following
prayer:

    "I pray to God that, at this holy place, by the side of the
purifying Gunga,1 He may grant all of you the strength to take a
solemn oath to sacrifice your all in order to make India
independent, to heal the wounds inflicted on the hearts of the
Muslim brothers and secure redress for the Punjab wrong."

                        Pandit Motilal Nehru

     Pandit Motilalji rose next. He said, "To everyone of us, there
are two things dearer than all others --- religion and honour. When
these two are attacked and when the community affected offers no
resistance but submits on bended knees to the aggressors, that
community is at the nadir of degradation among all the wretched
communities of the world. A frontal attack has been made today on
the religion of the Mussalmans and, even after the misdeed, we do
not see a tinge of repentance on the part of the assailants. Will
those same people have any scruples about attacking your religion
tomorrow, if it advances their interest anyway ? Analyse any step
taken by the Imperial Government, and you will find the interests of
the bureaucracy as the motive behind it. They will look after the
subjects' interests only to the extent that the step does them no
harm at all. The Punjab affair is now well-known everywhere. Let
alone the innocents who died at Jalllianwala, but others also were
made to
_______________

    1. River Godavari is regarded as the Gunga (Ganges) of the South
Nasik is a city of pilgrimage, replete with the memories of Sri Ram.






rub their noses against the earth, to crawl on their bellies, to
salute the Union Jack subjected to disgrace in a thousand other
ways. And why on earth ? To burn it into our heart that we are their
slaves and they our masters, to brand the conviction in us that we
are not fit for the name of human beings, that we are in no way
better than beasts. What then shall we do to make this sun-dried
bureaucracy recant its misdeeds? It has snatched away from us all
possible weapons of resistance. It has made us totally
helpless-incapable of stirring a little finger in self-defence. All
the same, God, in His wisdom, has kept one weapon in store for us.
And that is soul-force. It is a divine weapon, capable of bending
the enemy without shedding his blood, without even our getting
infuriated with him. What that soul-force is, the Mahatmaji has
explained to you and I will not repeat it. I will only add that till
now whenever a calamity visited our country, or there was need for
any sadhana ( spiritual practice ), we contented ourselves with
prayers and appeals to the God above. Today you must adore Hindus
and Mussulmans. You cannot save the country any other way. I assure
you, the very moment our rulers see the whole nation fired with the
same spirit that is evident here, their self-assertion will give way
and they will grant you what you want. So long as that spirit does
not permeate the nation, so long as we do not consider it a sin to
go to their schools and colleges, their courts and their councils,
and abhore these things as haram, so long, I will take it for
certain, we have not yet freed ourselves from our slave-mentality.
And till then, I can tell you, there will be no end to the insults
daily heaped upon us and no chance for us to walk with our head
erect in self-respect."

                          Janab Moazam Ali

     After this soul-stirring speech by Panditji, Janab Moazam Ali
got up. He began his speech with a pointed reference to the local
Muslims. He said, "I was at once amazed and deeply pained, when I
heard that the local Muslims were afraid of even forming a Khilafat
Committee here. Everyday the Mussulman






says in his Quarnic ayat (verse), "There is no power on earth except
Allah and no one should fear anybody except Him." Do you say that
ayat for nothing ? Life on earth is a moonlit show of a few days.
Everyone has but to stand one day before the Master and render an
account of his deeds on earth. If, in a matter where your religion
and your honour are at stake, you are afraid of the Collector or
Inspector and you prefer the trifles of ease and comfort to your
duty, you will stain your religion, your country and yourself.

    "These Government schools, colleges, courts, councils --- everyone
of their fascinating carnivals in fact --- are nothing but snares. Save
yourself from them. Shake off the dust of your feet from all of
them. Brothers, daily pray to God, 'No one is powerful except Khuda
and we fear nobody', and, from that prayer, go on receiving
inexhaustible soul-force."

                           Closing Speech

     Shrimat Shankaracharya, the President, then got up to close the
proceedings. He thanked the speakers and then said, "Though his
visit to Nasik, Gandhiji has satisfied our cherished desire. The
man, who has, by his austerities, practice of truth and non-violence
etc., succeeded in making even his opponents free from anger, is now
in our midst.

    "It is he, I tell you, who is the real Guru of the people today,
and he, the true founder of religion. It is he who has taught the
public anew the real significance of our ancient yagna (sacrifice).
It is to save our religion, to prove the mettle of our character and
to maintain our self-respect, that he has been preaching
non-cooperation with irreligious, immoral and tyrannical rulers. I
ask you what else do you get from attendance in their councils and
schools and colleges except insults at every step ? Is it not far
better to remain at home than go there and be lost to shame ? How
can you ever think of doing all that, if you have an iota of
self-respect, if you want to call yourselves humans ? I say, don't
fail to treasure in your heart the sacred sermon of this Mahatma and
to give up






Government titles, schools and colleges, courts and councils. 'May our
people get the light to follow this path shown by the Mahatma-this path that
is in full accord with our ancient culture ! And may this movement meet with
a glorious success !'-that is my benediction."

    Closing the meeting, then, Shrimat Shankaracharya took the guests to his
monastery. A ladies' meeting had been arranged in Panchavati on the other
side of the river, but there was hardly any time left to go there and
information was brought to us that the meeting had dispersed; as it was too
late already. The guests, therefore, finished their meals within a few
minutes and left for the station. Shrimat Shankaracharya also came to the
station to see Gandhiji off. On the platform he discussed with him in detail
the question of national education
as well as of the establishment of the Nasik National University.

                               Poona and Vai

                    ' Ôãã£ãì  Ôã¶¦ã  ¾ãñ¦ããè  £ãÀã ã
                    ¦ããñãäÞã  ãäªÌããßãè   ªÔãÀã ãã '

                                   When a saint visits a home,
                                   The home is filled with light;
                                   Of Dussera and Divali
                                   In one, it forms the sight.
                                                                           ?
Tukaram

                    ' ãä?ã?ã?¡ñ ?ãØã ãä¦ã?ã?¡ñ ?ãØã¸ãã¾ã?ã? ã '

                                   Where the world is,
                                   There the Lord of the world is.

?Shree Samratha Ramdas1

     Only now, Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali could find time to accept the
invitation of Maharashtra, the sacred land
the Divali days specially, a tour through Maharashtra, resounding with the
immortal hymns of Tukaram,
_______________

    1. Dussera is a festival to celebrate Rama's start fot conquest over
Ravana. Tukaram and Samartha Ramdas are well-known saints of Maharashtra.
Shree Samartha was King Shivaji's Guru also.






Ramdas, Gnandev1 and other saints, is, for the visitor, a treat at
once bracing and sanctifying. And the masses of Maharashtra also,
who chant the mantra of freedom bequeathed to them by Samartha
Ramdas, Shivaji and Tilak Maharaj, felt the contact of Gandhiji and
Shaukatali, as a soul-uplifting experience.

                          Advent of Saints

     The whole of Poona was bursting with joy on the 5th November.
As our route was blocked by mammoth crowds, there was not much to
say in favour of order and discipline, but it was clear that the
enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. Reminding itself of the
well-known abhang ( a form of verse ) of Tukaram, Maharashtra, the
inherent worshipper of saints and their sayings, was convinced that
its Divali, this year, proved itself worth the name. For, Tukaram
Maharaj has left the word that that day is the real Devali and that
the real Dussera, when a saint visits the home. Throughout our trip
this one and the same verse could be heard from the lips of many a
devout Maharshtrian lady. We saw that no other region was more
conscious than Maharshtra of the fact that this was truly religious
fight.

                          Hectic Pogramme

     We have spent only four days in Maharashtra, but the work put
in within those four days has been marvellous. On the first day in
Poona there was, to begin with, a public meeting at the Deccan
Gymkhana; then, after visits to six or seven homes in the afternoon,
a private conference of the workers; then, in the evening, a big
public meeting at Bhawani Peth and finally, a talk at night with the
Moderates at the Servants of India Society. Two meetings, the next
morning, of students and businessmen; in the afternoon, a
magnificent congregation of women; and then fifty-six miles of
motor-drive from Poona to Vai, followed by a meeting there at night.
Twenty miles again by motor from there.
_______________

    1. His commentary, a big volumes verse, of Bhagawadgita has
found a permanent home in Maharashtra.






Halt for the night at Satara. Women's meeting the next day and then
a public meeting there --- both in the morning. Start at noon for a
thirtytwo-mile journey to Karad. After a speech at Karad, a
seventy-mile dash to reach Nipani at night. The next day, on the 8th
morning, a public meeting at Nipani. Then a women's meeting at
Chikodi, 13 miles from Nipani. Then two meetings at Hukeri and
Sankeshwar en route to Belgaum. At night there, a women's meeting
followed by a monstrous public meeting. I quote this itinerary from
my diary, by way of introduction to a detailed report. We have thus
been able to cover the important centres of Poona, Satara and
Belgaum within 4 days, holding four meetings at the least, reaching
even to seven, in a day.

    From Gandhiji's speech at the Deccan Gymkhana (Poona) I give
below the most noteworthy portion. It referred to the function,
recently held there, of distribution for prizes physical culture and
wrestling. He said :

    "H. E. the Governor was invited here the day before yesterday
and prizes were given away at his hands. I felt ashamed when I heard
of the fact. I know His Excellency quite well. He is fit for his
post. While the Governor of the Punjab had gone mad during the
atrocity-days there, this Governor kept his head cool and maintained
admirable peace. If we wanted the Empire's rule to continue over us,
we would like to have this selfsame Governor for us. But, at
present, I deny him also, because he has not resigned his Government
service. How is it possible for a gentleman like him to continue
serving an Empire which emits, not the aroma of Godliness but, the
stench of Satanism ? If my revered Guru, Gokhaleji, was present in
our midst today and he were made the Governor, even then I would
have decal-red that I had nothing to do with that Governor who
meekly bore with the atrocities of the Empire. The best gentleman
can do no good as an official within the steel frame of this Empire.
Tilak Maharaja, who wore out his whole life in pursuit of Swaraj,
was definitely fit to be our Viceroy; but even to him
I would not have gone to pay my respects, if he had become






the Viceroy under this present regime, which has not yet recanted
its crimes. My quarrel is not with the race of Englishmen but with
the Empire. It talks big, but does nothing. It has forgotten its
Cobden1 and Bright2 and has become the Devil's tool. So long as this
situation lasts, any contact with the Empire must be haram for us."

                  Bhavani Peth's Record Attendance

     The meeting that was held at Bhavani Peth at night made perhaps
a record in the history of Poona. The attendance must have come to
thirty thousand. Among the speakers were Gandhiji, Pandit Motilal
Nehru, M. Shaukat Ali, Haji Siddik, Khatri Saheb, Messrs. Kelkar,
Khadilkar, and Paranjpye. In the beginning Gandhiji exposed the
Satanic nature of this Government and suggested that, in order to
cut off all association with the Devil, we should use not devilish,
but divine means. By that he meant fear of God and absence of
excitement.

    There has been a tension between Brahmins and Non-Brahmins in
Maharastra. The quarrel is of very recent growth --- hardly more than
three or four years. It is the half-educated class which is
responsible for creating it. The majority of the people are Maratha
Non-Brahmins. A large number of them realize that their interests
are best served by living in cooperation with the Brahmins. But
only from the Maratha section of the Non-Brahmins, an association
called 'Satyashodhak ( Truth-seeker ) Mandal ( association )' has
sprung up, which has raised the standard of violent opposition to
the Brahmins. Its incitement has
_______________

    1. Richard Cobden; a great English economist, who advocated
'free trade at the time when there was an import duty on corn,
which, by the high price of bread, caused great hardship to the
poor. As a result of his strenuous exertion, he got the Corn Laws
annulled in 1846. The repeal made him one of the most popular
figures in England.
    2. John Bright; a famous political leader, who took a prominent
part in making the British Constitution more democratic. He was
Cobden's colleague in the fight against the Corn Laws and was, for
some time, a member of the Cabinet under Gladstone. He made his name
also as a champion of a liberal policy towards India and other
countries.






caused rows between Brahmins and Non-Brahmins. There have been
incidents of the lifting of the Brahmins' cattle, of the burning of
their stacks of hay and grain-in-chief and even of indecent attack
on Brahmin women. This association dubs Brahmins as their tyrannical
government, charges them with offences, both real and imaginary, and
looks up to the Government for help. And yet, as I have said above,
the quarrels are not such as cannot be made up and Brahmins leaders
have been consistently trying to remove this bitterness of feeling
among Non-Brahmins. The Maharashtrians had earnestly requested
Gandhiji that he should somehow solve the problem, specially because
the Satyashodaks clique had extracted several expressions from
Gandhiji's own speech before Madras students to support their claim
that even Gandhiji castigated Brahmins. Gandhiji, therefore,
discussed this point in all his speeches here. In his speech at
Poona Gandhiji said :

    "Till today there has been enmity between Hindus and Muslims. We
have loudly proclaimed our unity of hearts, but in fact, only for
political work there has been some cooperation between the two
communities. There has not been any sincere unity. I now wish we
cleansed ourselves and solidified this unity by a meeting of hearts.
But I see that matters here are worse. Even between Brahmins and
Non-Brahmins here, such shocking things are happening, as make my
flesh creep. I was speaking at Madras before Brahmins one day. It
was a private meeting. The Non-Brahmin problem there is different
from here and extremely acute. Giving one example, I told the
Madrasi Brahmins that, in their dealing with the panchamas (
untouchables )specially, Brahmins were behaving as Satani-callly as
the bureaucracy. It was the Brahmins I was speaking to and so I
found the Brahmins' fault. It is undoubtedly Satanism to treat the
panchamas as untouchables. I also said that so long as we did not do
away with our own Satanic practices, we could not acquire the power
to end the Satanism of others. But my accusation then was not
against the Brahmins, but against the whole Hindu Community.






I did not lash out at the Brahmins of today. The late Gokhaleji was
a Brahmin. The late Lokamanyaji was also a Brahmin and he, too, said
that the so-called 'untouchables' were really touchables' and always
asserted that if we regarded them as 'untouchables', we would not be
able to carry on our Swaraj government.

    "There, I did not even refer to Maharashtra. From my speech at
Madras meant for Madras only, the Non-Brahmins here have extracted a
word and are exploiting it for their own ends. Some Non-Brahmins
even say that they are not Hindus. They at least have no right to
take any side in a quarrel between Brahmins and Non-Brahmins. But I
say to Non-Brahmins, 'Just as we are not going to resort to a court
of law if Muslim brothers abuse us, so you, Non-Brahmins, also shall
have to give up all ideas of a recourse to law.' If, in order to put
down the Brahmins, Non-Brahmins run to this wicked Empire for help,
let them bear in mind that they will have to be slaves of these very
helpers. 'Please do not spread any lie in my name !'-that is my
earnest appeal to the Non-Brahmin. I do not know what kind of
institution this 'Satyashodhak Mandal' is, but it has been declaring
that I am out to destroy the varnashrama dharma.1
_______________

    1. Hindu society was divided into four classes (varnas) and
every individual was required to go through four stages (ashramas)
in life. Hence, the word varnashram. The classes were formed on the
basis of differing aptitudes and so of functions; the society thus
rested upon a division of labour. So there were : (1) Brahmins?
devoted to the pursuit and teaching of knowledge, secular and
spiritual; (2) Kshatriyas --- defenders of the state and holders of
political power; (3) Vaishyas --- businessmen, farmers and such others
and so belonging to the money-earning class; (4) Shudras --- the servant
class. The Aryan conquerors here solved the problem of the most
uncultured among the conquered by absorbing them into their society
as servants. The four ashramas were : (1) the student; (2) the
wordly gentleman; (3)the retired adviser; (4) the ascetic
exclusively intent on Self-realization. Inter-class marriages,
though not the rule, were not infrequent down to the time of Manu
the well-known codifier, who flourished centuries after the
Upanishadic age, as is evident from the different names he gives for
the progeny of different admixtures of classes. Intended interally
at first as mere expressions of different aptitudes, the varnas
came, in course of time, to have inheritance as the basis of
distinction and thus the system slipped






I say this is a canard. The most fantastic frauds have been spread
under cover of my name. But I am a strict Hindu --- a Vaishnava. I have
imperishable faith in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the
Upanishads. I do understand what is defective in my religious
books, but I am a firm believer in Varnashrama. Let anybody, who
wants to, take advantage of my name, but only after clearly
understanding my attitude. If Hindus create a division of Brahmins
and Non-Brahmins among themselves and resort to this Satanic
Government for help, sad disillusionment is in store for them and
they will have but to revert to the old ways of unity among
themselves. Muslims have drunk this bitter draught. Unity among us
all in order to get the injustice against the whole nation
redressed is an unavoidable must for all of us."

    Dealing with the same topic at Vai Gandhiji said :

    "Non-Brahmins misinterpret an expression used at Madras and
exploit it for their propaganda. I say in all humility that my
speech there had no bearing whatever on the Non-Brahmin question
here. Non-Brahmins go to the length of saying that they will drive
out the Brahmins. They harass them in many ways, and even terrorise
them. But our Hindu culture is not of a kind that sanctions such
behaviour towards anybody. It
_______________

into a hierarchy based on birth. The saving grace was that learning
and character received the highest respect in society, not money or
political power.
    Caste owes its origin to this later transformation. Probably
the inroads of the Muslims accelerated the process of rigid
caste-formation, as Brahmins thought it best to save their culture
from being swept off by intercourse with a different culture having
the support of political power for its infiltration. Other Hindu
communities followed the example set by the most respected among
them, as is but natural.
    Gandhiji considered untouchability as an 'excrescence' on
Hinduism and in later days believed in the total abolition of
castes. His later attitude towards varna is not clearly known, but
he always asserted, "Brahmanism is the culmination of other varnas,
just as the head is the culmination of the body. It means capacity
for superior service, not superior status. The moment superior
status is arrogated, it becomes worthy to be trampled under
foot."-Young India, 24-11-1927.






passes my imagination how any man, bred up in Hindu culture, may
wish to say he is not a Hindu. I cannot understand why a Non-Brahmin
should cherish hatred for a Brahmin. I am a Non-Brahmin myself, but
I have no hatred for any Brahmin. I am a student of the Bhagwadgita
and it is my claim that it is easy for a true student of the
Bhagwadgita to shed hatred and aversion. The Gita also says that if
you want to subdue anybody, do it with love. I must say to
Non-Brahmins : "Give up this quarreling, if you really appreciate
Hindu Culture. If Brahmins have done you an injustice, you can
demand reparation. Your first duty is to find out all that Brahmins
have done to you and then ask for redress from some Brahmin leaders.
It is the Brahmins who are trying to remove the excrescences and
repair the defects that have crept into the Hindu dharma of today,
since they are really grieved at them. I am not referring to those
Brahmins, who are groping in darkness themselves and who only repeat
by rote what the Shastras say; but about those other Brahmins who
are the victims of Non-Brahmin attack.', I say, 'If you hate the
Brahmins, you dig a pit for yourselves' Gandhiji then dwelt upon the
services of the late Gokhaleji, Tilak Maharaj, Paranjpye and other
Brahmin leaders and declared, "Enmity towards that community which
has produced such patriots is an act of suicide."

    At Satara also Gandhiji continued the same plea :

    "Even if you are reluctant to hold Brahmins in reverence, you
will have to do so for their austerities, their knowledge, their
self-sacrifice and purity. I would indeed hesitate to pick holes in
Brahmins, who have composed immortal works like the Upanishads, and
yet I did say, and I repeat it, that by sanct-ioning untouchability,
Brahmins committed Satanism to some degree. But you will not be able
to protest your own religion by abusing Brahmins and burning their
buildings. If you claim to be Hindus, let me tell you, you are
acting against Hindu dharma that way. If you are not Hindus, I will
point out that there is another dharma for you. You may as well
gloat over your Non-Hinduism, but I say to you, as to the Jains,
"It's all right






if you are not Hindus, but if you believe that India is your
country, another dharma besides your own faces you --- and that is
swarajdharma. That swarajdharma teaches you to make friends with
Hindus. Tilak, Gokhale, Ranade, Agarkar --- who were all these ? Though
Brahmins themselves, they underwent great austerities to help
Non-Brahmins. Tilak Maharaj had great affection for even a
Non-Brahmin like myself. Your uplift is an impossibility if you
detest the community which has produced Samaratha Ramdas, Tulsidas
(author of Hindi Ramayana), Ranade, Tilak and such others. You will
only sink into deeper slavery by asking for the Englishman's help.
Just ask Shaukat Ali what treasure the Muslim amassed through their
cooperation with the Government.

                  Non-Co-operation : A Sacred Word

     "You are talking of non-cooperation with Brahmins, but the
very utterance of that sacred word requires purity of character. I
call the British Empire Satanic, but I can do so since I have no
hatred for any Englishman. With Lord Chelmsford I would refuse to
cooperate in any way, would even refuse to break my bread with him;
but if that same Lord Chelmsford fell ill, I would attend on him as
ardently as I would on you. If you want justice from Brahmins, you
should, like them, undergo austerities. If you take up the sword
against them, you yourselves will meet with death. I have been
telling this same thing to the Mussulmans. They will not be able to
emancipate Islam by means of the sword. I think that the sword will
only put Islam in greater danger. So I say to Non-Brahmins, 'Make
India free first and then, if you win, you may cut the throats of
Brahmins'. To the Hindus also my advice is the same, viz., to win
Swaraj first and then to fight with the Muslims, if they liked. And
to the Muslims also my advice is exactly similar. For the present,
at least, there is no remedy for our ills except cooperation among
ourselves and non-cooperation with this Empire which has been
insulting the honour of all the thirty crores of us and even
oppressing us".






    Gandhiji gave a still more detailed exposition on this question
at Nipani, where a Maratha gentleman plied him with questions. In
that reply Gandhiji was lavish in his praises of Brahmins. As what
he said there shows his deep appreciation of them, a literal
reproduction of that part is not out of place here.

    A gentleman, Mr. Marutirao Ravan by name, thus indicted the
Brahmins : "Brahmins want to keep Non-Brahmins under their thumb
through the Shastras which are full of lies. They reduced us to a
state worse than that of beasts and kept us out of their pale."

    Gandhiji replied, "I heard carefully all that Mr. Marutirao
said. I want to tell all Non-Brahmins that there is a half-truth in
what he said and half-truths are always dangerous. I do not mean to
say that he deliberately tells a half-truth, but, out of imperfect
understanding of facts, we speak half-truth and follow them in life.
There is no doubt that there are Brahmins in this world high-headed
enough to make others take their charanamrit.1 There are books,
passing muster as religious books of Hinduism, which contain even
dhurtavidya ( the art of cheating ). But we must use our
discrimination and see what is pseudo-religious and what reveals the
truth in these writings. It is an act of suicide to hate the whole
Brahmin community and non-cooperate with it, because a few Brahmins
told lies, because a few of them wrote pseudo-religious books. I am
speaking God's truth when I protest : "I have studied the Quran, the
Zand Avasta and the Bible as best I could. I respect all these
religions at heart and I am certain that there is much truth in
everyone of them. But I believe, no religion exalts self-restraint
and self-denial to the status of a veritable holy sacrifice as much
as Hinduism does. And I want to impress upon all Hindus that we are
indebted wholly to Brahmins for exalting self-denial so much, for
instituting the very immolation of the self as a dharma.

_______________
    1. After worshipping the feet of a holy man with water, the
adorer sips a little of it. The water is called charanamrit. Charana
--- feet. Amrit --- nectar ( here water ). Any saint, not necessarily a
Brahmin only, is sometimes thus adored when he visits a home.






No other community in the world has sacrificed itself as much as the
Brahmins have. And even today, in these very sinful times, in this
Black Age, it is that same community which surpasses all others in
its spirit of sacrifice and purity. That is why to Mr. Marutirao and
other Non-Brahmins of his type, I want to say, "Well, you may be
right in showing these faults of Brahmins, but that reminds me of a
simile. If there are dirty particles in milk they can be seen at
once, but in things already dirty they are not visible immediately.
Non-Brahmins have set such a high standard of good conduct for
Brahmins, that the faults of the latter immediately catch their eye.
But I say, the test of Brahmins lies in the very fact that small
offenses committed by them are made to look large. I have yet to see
any community in any part of the world, which has performed
austerities as severe as the Brahmins. That is why I ask Non-Brahmin
brothers to form an unbiased judgment on the faults of Brahmins and
not to commit sucide by non-cooperating with them.

    "I know that, as contrasted with the very big majority of
Non-Brahmins, the Brahmins form a microscopic minority. And that is
why some Satanic Indian has said that the present Government is also
a Brahmin, since one lakh of Englishmen rule over thirty crores of
Indians having brave and warlike Hindus, Moslems and Sikhs among
them. But while the British Government keeps the thirty crores under
subjection by the might of its sword, the Brahmins of India have
never wished to lord it over the crores of Non-Brahmins by physical
might. But those handful of Brahmins will be able to keep their hold
over the thirty crores of India by the power of their samyama-dharma
( the dharma of self-restraint ). Just as it is with the weapon of
samyama-dharma that we want to fight this tyrannical Government, so
also the Brahmins have till now preserved their freedom, their
sanctity, by keeping up a high standard of purity in conduct. I am
aware of the fact that Brahmins have now lapsed from their dharma.
That is why I earnestly plead with the Maharashtrian Brahmins to
regain their pristine faith and






devotion, and when they do so, there will remain nothing for me to
say to them. To the Non-Brahmins, the only thing I wish to say is
that they should not lose their patience and peace of mind and must
stop hating the Brahmins. I do not mean to say thereby that they
must meekly bear with Brahmins. I never advise spineless submission
to any injustice. By the same power of steadfast dutifulness with
which we want to beat this unjust Empire, we can secure justice from
any caste however traditionally powerful. But even a child can say
that, in the Brahmin-dharma, there is no such Satanism as there is
in the British Empire. On the contrary, the Brahmin-dharma declares
that even a little child can become the King of Kings by keeping his
mind pure and observing the samyama-dharma. It is that same
Brahmin-dharma again which actually worships saints belonging even
to untouchable classes. And yet Brahmins have indeed many faults.
Well, see them if you like; but the judgment over them must be given
by an impartial tribunal. Our dharma really lies in appreciating the
services they have rendered to the world and in continuing our
cooperation with them."

    After this exposition Mr. Marutirao declared that leaders of his
community would meet Gandhiji at Belgaum and were prepared to come
to a compromise with Brahmins. The mer-chant-class among the
Non-Brahmins in Belgaum live on very cordial terms with the Brahmins
there. It is only the salaried Maratha class from which this venom
against Brahmins emanates. The Brahmins have agreed to accept
Gandhiji's judgment on all their defects which this class of
Non-Brahmins point out to him and correct themselves accordingly.

    A special meeting of Marathas is to be held today and there is a
chance of some satisfactory solution of the question being arrived
at right here.

    But I finished nearly the whole letter in giving an extensive
reproduction of those portions of Gandhiji's speeches which related
to the Non-Brahmin question alone. His more note-worthy remarks at
the public meeting at Bhavani Peth in Poona are all yet to be
recorded.






                  Your Violence : My Funeral Pyre

     At the end of his speech there, Gandhiji said, "There are
rumours of our impending arrests. If the Government wants to arrest
us, we can't blame it. we are out to destroy the Empire root and
branch and the Empire has the right to clap us in prison, but you
have no right to go on a hartal therefore; your hartal can carry
only one meaning, viz., you do not wish to go to jail yourselves.
You will get a knock-out blow if any of you go mad, burn down
buildings or murder a stray English man or two. We are not Egypt,
not Russia, not Ireland. Ours is not a fight with arms. Our one
single weapon is non-cooperation. The government believes that, by
arresting us, it will frighten you into meek surrender. But after
our arrests, you can show it that its cold unimaginative calculation
was wrong and things turn out contrary to its expectation. You will
be able to release all the three of us from jail by taking up my
programme of non-cooperation in right earnest and thus securing the
hand seal of Swaraj. Our release must be in your hands. I whish to
be released not by the government but by you, provided your hands
are not bloodstained. Take my word for it, that the moment a murder
is committed as a result of my arrest, the news will be the death of
me. From the depth of my heart will arise the prayer to God to endow
me with some such uncanny power that by it, I would be literally
burnt up in the fire which your deeds would kindle in any heart. I
trust, my community will not betray me. But if it does, I will
beseech God to grant me relief through death." Many leaders spoke
after Gandhiji, but I will give only the following memorable words
of Mr. Khadilkar :

    "Gandhiji has purified his body, mind and intellect by his
austerities. That body is never going to remain for long in the jail
of a Satanic Government. It will always be in the custody of God.
And we give our solemn word hereby that if perchance it happens to
fall into the confinement of a jail, then our weak limbs will be so
charged with the power-with the divine power emanating from the
dynamo of those same austerities of his






that we will be able to secure his release at our own hands and
bring him back to us."

    Purses of Rs. 1001 from Sadar Bazaar, Rs. 1001 from Gujarati
businessmen and Rs. 101 from Mr.Dhanji Ratanji were then presented
in support of the non-cooperation movement. The next day, Rs. 700
from the Jain Mandal, Rs. 101 from the Kesari office (Tilak
Maharaj's paper) and several other small donations were given.

                        Place of Pilgrimage

     On the 5th noon Gandhiji was taken to Gaekwadwada, the
residence of the late Lokamanya Tilak. Gaekwadwada has thus become
no less than a hallowed place of pilgrimage. Mr Kelkar led Gandhiji
to the living room of Tilak Maharaj. Everything there was exactly
the same as when we saw it four months ago, but this time we could
not help feeling an eerie void hanging about the room. The sons of
Tilak Maharaj welcomed all the visitors and gave them Tilak
Maharaj's favourite chew-betelnut. Gandhiji was then decorated with
a silver medallion with the image of Tilak Maharahj embossed on it
and he was also given the present of the small silver box in which
Tilak Maharaj used to put his parings of betel-nuts. Gandhiji was
charmed with all this presentation and he always carries the
medallion and the box with him.

                       Leaders' Want of Faith

     A private meeting of the leaders and workers of Poona was then
held in the very next room of the same building. Most of the local
leaders of the Nationalist Party were present. There was more talk
on doubts and difficulties in the acceptance of the programme than
on how to translate it into action. Some doub-ted the very necessity
of the boycott of schools, some others were in favour of postponing
it till new national schools came into existence and to all the
difficulty of collecting the necessary amount loomed the largest. I
will not give here all the counter-arguments which Gandhiji
advanced, but content myself with only their substance. He first
pointed out that the question was






not whether the present education was good or bad; the ques-tion was
not whether there were defects in it or not. The central point lay
in the fact that it was a sin to get ourselves educated under the
aegis of that Government which had wounded us so sorely. He went on
to say that it would be all right to wait for the establishment of
national educational institutions, so long as this Government
continued to be not unbearable. But it had passed the stage of our
endurance and every situation was better than the one which tied us
down to this intolerable Government. The question of ways and means,
he added, was nothing but want of faith. If there was any defect in
the land of Maharashtra, the land per excellence of sacrifice and
keen inte-lligence, it was this single one --- want of faith. He then
exhorted the workers to make that pursuit i. e. Swaraj, their
dharma, which Tilak Maharaj himself regarded as his very dharma and
which he ardently remembered till his last breath. Speaking on
faith, he went so far as to say, "I want you to be reckless in
faith." Answering the questions, 'If all the students vacated the
present schools in a body, how was it possible to make arrange-ments
for them all ?' and 'Can we get all that amount by begg-ing ?'
Gandhiji said, "If all the students come out, will it be possible
for the professors to stay away from the exodus ? And when all
professors also come out, the whole country will be stirred to its
depth." In reply to the further question, "If there is that stir all
over the country, has India got the money to tackle all the
activities it must handle without Government aid ?" Gandhiji said,
"When the country is roused to that pitch, do you think it possible
for Ramnath Kali Kamliwala1 to sit tight on this hoard ?" But it
seemed that these arguments did not carry much weight with Mr.
Kelkar ( editior of Tilak Maharaj's paper Maratha ) and he said, "It
all seems a child's play to

_______________
    1.Nearly a century ago, a sannyasi, Ramnath, who always wore a
black (kali) blanket (kamli) began to collect money to facilitate
the pilgrimage to Badrinath and Kedarnath and conduct free lodging
houses on the routes. Gifts to him and his successors have streamed
in since then and now there is a huge amount in that institution's
possession.






you, but we don't think it so easy to secure donations from
religious endowments." This want of faith was evident in nearly all
the other leaders. But Poona itself was providing the instance which
showed that its leaders' want of faith was groundless. Let us now
turn to it.

                         'Sacred Sisters !'

     A ladies' meeting was held at the Kirlosker Theatre on the 6th
afternoon. All the space on the ground floor as well as on the two
galleries above was filled with women. Hardly an inch of space was
left vacant. Like a sea at the sight of the full moon, women had
flooded the theatre to overflowing. Women of all ages and all
communities --- Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and others --- were present. The
function began with a beautiful song. I give below some of the
verses to show how apposite the song was :

                ãäª¶ã  ?ããÊãñ  ªì£ãÃÀ  ¼ããÀ¦ã  ¼ãîÊãã
                Ôãâ?ã??ãè  ¾ãã  ¦ããÀ?ã?  ¦ãì½Öãé  ?ã¶ã¦ãñÊãã
                ¹ãƼãì  ªñÌããñ  ¾ãÍã  ¾ãã  Ôã¦?ã?ã¾ããÃÊãã ãã ÞããÊã
                ãã
                ?ãã?â  ªñ  ¶ããäÍãºããÞãñ  Öñ  ¹ããÀ¦ãâ¨¾ã  ãäÌãÊã¾
                ããÊãã ãã
                                     ½ãã¶¾ã  ?ãÔããñ  ÔÌããØã¦ã 0
                ?ãÀãè  ?ãã½ãìÞãã  ºããÊã  ãä¦ãÊã?ã?  ?ãããä?ã  ØãñÊãã
                ?ãÌããäÞã¦ã  Öã  Üãã¦ã  ?ã¶ããâÞãã  ¼ã?ãÊãã
                ¦ããäÀ  ?ãã¦ããâ  ¼ããÀ  ¦ãì½ÖãâÌãÀ  ?ããÊãã ãã ÞããÊã ãã
                ?ñ?ãä¶ã¾ããâ  ãäÌãÔãÁú  ?ãã½Öãé  ¾ãã  ãä¦ãÊã?ã?-ãä¶ã£
                ã¶ãªì:?ããÊãã ãã
                                     ½ãã¶¾ã  ?ãÔããñ  ÔÌããØã¦ã 0

                             When the darkest were the days on which
                              This land of Bharat landed,
                              God sent you, as a beacon-light,
                              To save us all, the stranded.
                              'Grant us success', we pray to God,
                              In this our holy fight;
                              To end our serfdom this we give
                              A welcome royal right.
                              When Tilak, from our midst, was
whisked,






                                   The shaft did strike us sore;
                                   The burden now you bear so well,
                                   Our pain is softened sure.

    Gandhiji addressed the women as pratahsmaraniya (=worth
remembering in the morning i. e., sacred) and gave an exhortation
for nearly three quarters of an hour, but only the most remarkable
portions are given below :

    "Preservation of any religion --- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi or any other?
is all in the hands of women alone, I know. Religion is doomed on
the day when women discard it. Our Shastra says, 'That country
perishes where the king and the women give up religion.' In our land
women have not entirely renounced religion, but the king has. The
Government that rules our land is like the government of Ravana, i.
e., of the Devil." Referring to the injustices of the Punjab and the
Khilafat he said : This is an Empire which reduces brave men to
cowards. If we were not spineless, if our women were giving birth to
heroes, these atrocities would have been impossible. But alas ! our
men have become poltroons these days. I wish, our women felt sore
and shed tears at this sorry plight. There is no hope for the
country so long as our women do not produce a race of heroes --- And
what makes the birth of a race of heroes possible ? When women rise
to such a height that courage inspires, devotion purifies and faith
sustains them, when God becomes the Lord of their heart and they
fear Him alone and cease to be afraid of men, only then can India be
blessed with a generation of men of undaunted spirit --- If we want to
end Ravanarajya, we must create Ramarajya. And so long as our
sisters have not undergone austerities like those of Parvati1 and
Kaushalya,2 so long as they have not performed
_______________

    1. According to the poet, Kalidasa, Parvati was given the name
of Uma (-O, don't) because her mother asked her to desist from
performing severe austerities. But she persisted and Lord Shiva
married her as she prayed for.
    2. Owing to the machinations of the second queen Kaikeyi,
Kaushalya became at one stoke a widow and bereft of her son and
daughter-in-law (Rama and Sita), who were banished. But she forgave
Kaikeyi and keeping her own grief to herself, performed all the
duties of the head of the family and Queen dowager.






their dharma to the extent of Draupadi1 and Damayanti2, any hope of
their acquiring the power to be the mothers of heroes is a mirage."
Gandhiji then narrated the incident of that lady from Amritsar who
had asked him to make his compatriots jitendriya and then began to
ask for his alms : the first, of purifying their character; the
second, of washing their heart of all hatred for Mussulmans; the
third, of withdrawing their children from the schools of this
Ravanarajya; the fourth, of observing the swadeshi-dharma and the
fifth, of giving some sacrifice by contributing in money and
ornaments to the national fund.

    It takes a poet to depict the scene which followed this appeal,
I have seen women at Dakore, Ahmedabad etc., giving away their
ornaments in warm response, but it is no exagge-ration to say that
the Poona women beat them hollow. The auspicious start was made by a
Parsi lady who gave away her gold bangle; and then bangles came out
in quick bewildering succession as if from a conjurer's hat. To
bangles were added necklaces, ear-rings, flower-shaped hair-pins and
rupees. Women were collecting gifts from among themselves and then
handing the collection over to the volunteers. Those sitting in the
gallery took a gentleman's upper garment ( a long draped strip
hanging from the shoulder ), used it as a receptacle for gifts and
let it dangle from their hands so that the volunteer below could
take it. For nearly half an hour this flood of coins and ornaments
continued. The scene impelled Gandhiji to remark to Mr. Haribhao
Phatak, "If Maharashtra does not imbibe faith even after this, I
wonder when it well. But our fate balked us from watching this scene
for long, since we had to catch the bus for Vai and Satara. Leaving
it, therefore, to Mr. Haribhao Phatak to wait and collect all the
valuables the flood brought in, we took leave of these
pratah-smaraniya sisters. Mr. Kelkar met Gandhiji on the way.
Gandhiji gave him a graphic report of the scene he had witnessed
just then. Mr. Kelkar could hardly

_______________
    1. & 2. Both of them, being [loving and dutiful wives,
accompanied their husbands --- the Pandavas and Nala respectively --- to
their exiles in forests and shared with them all their troubles.






believe his ears. To him also Gandhiji said half in jest, "Let at
least the sight of women's faith infect you."

                                Vai

     Leaving the heart-stirring scenes which had taken place at the
Kirloskar Theatre, we got into the bus to go to Vai. There was not
any very particular reason to visit the place. But because the
Brahmin population there is large --- and there are some Mussulmans also
--- and because it is famous as a holy place lying quite near Satara
which we were to visit as per schedule, Gandhiji had decided to halt
there. Vai has the reputation of being a centre of learning since
ancient times and even today revered Narayanshastri Marathe, an
erudite scholar of Sanskrit and a brahmachari all his life, is
conducting a prajna-pathshala ( a Sanskrit college to teach theology
) along the traditional lines. Spinning-wheels have found their way
into the homes of Vai also. Immediately on his return from the
Congress session, one young man manufactured a spinning-wheel as
best he could, learnt spinning on it and is now teaching it to some
others. He had brought his wheel at the meeting to get instructions
for its improvement.

    The meeting was held on the spacious dry bed of river Krishna.
As an air of sanctity permeated the place, Gandhiji's speech took a
more than usually religious turn. Gandhiji began with remarks on the
small attendance of Muslims and then went on to the need for
non-cooperation with the Government and simultaneously for
cooperation among ourselves. This led him on to dwell, for a while,
on the Brahmin and Non-Brahmin question. But I have already given a
report of this portion in my first letter on our tour in Maharashtra
and I will not repeat it here. In answer to the question, "Why do I
non-cooperate ?" which he put to himself, Gandhiji then said :

    "I was a cooperator for thirty years but now I am out for
non-cooperation. And why ? For the simple fact that our scriptures
declare that so long as there is an iota of goodness in a man one
must continue to cooperate with him ; but when a






man becomes doggedly insistent of throwing away to the winds his
very humanness, it becomes the duty of everyone to shun him.
Tulsidas, Tukaram, Ramdas --- one and all --- have taught us the one same
thing, viz., there can be no cooperation between God and the Devil,
between Rama and Ravana. They were but children --- Rama and Laxman --- and
yet they pitted themselves against the ten-headed Ravana. Our
British Government has thrust a sharp dagger into the Muslim heart
and insulted Islam. In the Punjab men, women and students have been
treated with execrable cruelty. There is only one way to prevent a
repetition of such crimes and that is non-cooperation.

    "What is the meaning of Gita's teaching of abhedbuddhi ( a
feeling of no distinction between one's self and all others ) ? So
long as you are not moved by a poignant feeling that it was you
yourselves who suffered the tortures inflicted on the men in the
Punjab, you who underwent the humiliation involved in the orders of
rubbing the nose against the earth and of crawling, and you who were
subjected to the atrocities inflicted on the students there, you
have not acquired that abhedbuddhi. Shree Samartha Ramdas Swami is
said to have felt so deeply pained at the sight of a man being
whipped, that on his own back the same stigmata of the lashes of the
whip could be visible. It is because of his cultivation of this
abhebduddhi that Ramdas Swami has become a figure venerated by us
all. How are we going to defend Islam and so avert any possible
danger to Hinduism, unless we feel that the injustices inflicted on
the Punjab and on Islam have been inflicted on our own selves ?

                     Sitaji's Non-Co-Operation

     To err is human, but, on realization of  his error, everyone
begs for forgiveness, repents for the lapse. But, in its arrogance,
this Empire not only refused to apologise and make amends for the
crimes it had committed, but even asked us to forget all its
atrocities. And that was the unkindest cut of all. Tulsidasji has
asked us to avoid the wicked. It is on the basis of that precept
that I am advising the people to keep away from the Empire.






I do not mean an exodus. It is enough if, remaining in the Empire,
we stop accepting any favour or help from it. During her confinement
within Ravana's Empire, it went against the grain of Sitaji to
accept the richest dishes sent by Ravana or the services of the
female demons of the place. She, therefore, went through hard
ascetic practices and preserved her spotless character and loyalty
to her husband. If we, too, want to preserve the purity of our
character, there is no go for us except to non-cooperate with the
Government. Students desist from leaving their schools under the
fear that their education would suffer if they left their schools. I
give my word to the students that if they first renounce the
education given by this Satanic Empire with the same faith as the
one which inspired Sitaji to refuse to eat the food provided by
Ravana --- and she got sufficient spiritual food from Rama so as to
sustain her --- then Lord Ramchandraji and Lord Sri Krishna are certain
to provide for their education.

                       Our Cultural Heritage

     "But where is your Ramchandraji ?" the students will ques-tion
me. Such doubts arise because we are trained according to the
English system and have learnt our history as taught by them. Our
students are degenerating day by day. We have adopted Western habits
in consequence of our Western education and begum to raise cries of
'shame !' 'shame !' for an unwel-come speech. If you do not love
Mrs. (Annie) Besant, you may not join her schools or attend her
meetings. But it is neither Hindu culture nor Islamic manners to go
to her meetings and make a row there. We must neither express our
appreciation by cheers, nor our aversion by cries of 'shame'. We can
rightly do so only through our action. If you want to
non-cooperate, you must know what your scriptures tell you in such
matters. This is a holy fight. We can defeat irreligion by religion
and stop an irreligious conduct of the opponent by behaving in the
way of righteousness ourselves."

    Addressing the lawyers, Gandhiji said, "When you become
exclusively the servants of India, you will be able to render a






service four times as great as you do now. Our sannyasis used to be
content with nothing more than the food they got from householders.
In like manner you must be sannyasis for one year and win Swaraj."

    Gandhiji then narrated the incident of the sister from Amritsar
and her precept to all to be jitendriya and said "Our yagna (
sacrifice ) has no value so long as it is not really sacred."

    Winding up his speech he declared, "Hinduism is the high-water
mark of all the cultures of the world and it says that he is the
true Kshatriya who knows how to die, not kill. The Bhagwadgita
provided me with a word of the highest import, the word apalayanam (
refusal to escape from a battle-field ). For the man who uses the
sword, there is a chance of his deserting the field under the most
formidable circumstances. As he renounces his faith in God and puts
it on his physical might, he does not practise the apalayana dharma.
I, for me one, will assert that Prahlad1 and such others proved
themselves hundred percent Kshatriyas by practicing the apalayana
dharma."

                                        2
                         Be you a soldier brave
                         For freedom's battle grave;
                         Take up the 'weapon' great :
                         Refusal to cooperate.
                         In hand the 'shield' you hold
                         Of a stand tenacious, bold;
                         Your 'armour' : the country's love;
                         Hold it as all above.
                         Your 'right' must always be
                         Behaviour orderly;
                         Your 'left' must be likewise
                         Stupendous sacrifice.

_______________
    1. King Hiranyakasipu, a demon king, forbade Lord Vishnu's
worship. His son, Prahlad, a mere child, non-violently disobeyed the
order and suffered tortures. In the end the king was killed by the
Man-lion form of Lord
Vishnu.






                              And let your 'halt' erase
                              Alien culture's craze;
                              Your 'trench' be self-dependence
                              And 'canon' be forbearance.
                              Make foreign goods the 'shot'
                              Of volleys quick and hot;
                              So strive with all your might
                              And win this glorious fight.

                          Satara and Karad

     On behalf of Satara, Dadasaheb Karandikar had come to Vai to
request Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali to visit his town. In response to
his solicitation, Gandhiji left Vai for Satara that very night by a
car. Separate meetings for men and women of Satara were held the
next morning. The interval between the end of the meetings and the
scheduled time for leaving Satara for the next halt was so short
that no other work could be done beyond those speeches at the
meetings. What Gandhiji was most keen on was a talk with the local
workers, but it was discovered that no such conference was arranged
by Dadasaheb. So, at last, Gandhiji saw Dadasaheb. A talk with him
revealed that Dadasaheb was not very enthusiastic about implementing
the non-cooperation programme in toto. So Gandhiji remarked, "Then
there was no sense in your inviting me here." "But I may not be
ready for the programme," rejoined Dadasaheb, "while the people may
be; and it was in order that the public might hear your precept that
I had called you here." And on their part, the people were really
enthusiastic. Women flocked to their meeting in large numbers and
Gandhiji's appeal for money and ornaments met with a very
enthusiastic answer. At the meeting for men the citizens gave a
purse of Rs. 100/- for the Swaraj Fund. From there we went to Karad,
where also the meeting was a remarkable success. People from
villages around had thronged the meeting. A purse of Rs. 400/- was
given at the meeting, where, another Rs. 200 - was collected. What
is really striking, however, was the fact that the students






of Karad and places round about collected small sums and gave Rs. 25
/- for the Swaraj Fund.

                         Nepani and Chikodi

     The slight disappointment we felt in Satara evaporated on
stepping into the Belgaum District. The impress of the excellent
organising capacity of Sri Gangadharrao Deshpande, who has been
spending every moment of his life after the non-cooperation
movement, could be seen wherever we went in that district. There is
a large majority of Non-Brahmins and a fair sprinkling of Gujarati
businessmen at Nepani, which is a big centre of the hand-weaving
industry. At the meeting held in the morning Gandhiji said something
with reference to Non-Brahmins and a Non-Brahmin gentleman,
Marutirao Ravan, stood up to reply on behalf on Non-Brahmins. What
happened subsequently has been dealt with by me already in my first
letter, and I have also given there Gandhiji's statements on the
differences between Brahmins and Non-Brahmins. What effect these
statements created could be seen from an incident which happened
only a few days back. Mr. Latthe, the originator and leader of the
Non-Brahmins agitation, visited Nepani some days ago. He had planned
to speak on "Mahatma Gandhi and the Non-Brahmins" to a Non-Brahmin
audience there. The meeting was attended exclusively by
Non-Brahmins. They requested Mr. Latthe to desist from delivering
his speech, since what he was going to say was evident to everybody.
They also declared that Gandhiji, being a Non-Brahmin himself, knew
wherein the interests of Non-Brahmins lay and that, in pursuance of
his advice, Non-Brahmins must not accept the Councils. They
therefore, appealed to Mr. Latthe to drop his idea of going to the
Council. I do not know whether Mr. Latthe bowed to this request, but
it is certain that not only did he drop his speech at Nepani but
also gave up his programme of going to Chikodi for a speech on the
same subject.

    Nepani gave Rs. 700/- in purse plus Rs. 300/- collected at the
meeting.






    Chikodi is fourteen miles from Nepani and is also a hand-weaving
centre. Owing to Sri Gangadharrao's exertions, plentiful yarn is
being spun these days both at Nepani and Chikodi and there is a good
output of Khadi also from the yarn. There was even an exhibition of
yarn and Khaddar organised at Chikodi by the women there. Among the
exhibits, the sample of yarn spun at Sankeshwar was really
wonderful. Many women have taken to spinning. From the high standard
of culture, to which women in even such small villages had attained,
it seemed that the women of Maharashtra could easily take the first
place among all the women of India. At the meeting at Chikodi also,
a purse of Rs. 500/- was presented to Gandhiji and in addition a
respectable amount was collected at the meeting.

                  Belgaum's Excellent Organisation

     The well-organised functions at Nepani and Chikodi had led us
to hope for excellent arrangements at Belgaum and hope was
fulfilled. We reached Belgaum in the evening of the 8th.Under the
leadership of volunteers clad in 'pure' (hand-spun and hand-woven)
Khadi, multitudes of men were standing in a disciplined manner all
along the route on both its sides after leaving a vacant space for
two carriages to run abreast. There was no uneasy stir, no noise and
bustle, among the people even when Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali passed
by. With perfect quiet the people gave a welcome to their leaders
and, with equally perfect quiet, they allowed the working of the
meeting to continue to its end. But, before I come to the meeting, I
had better say a few words about the women of Belgaum.

                      Women's Hearty Response

     The women's meeting was held at 7 p. m. in the courtyard of the
Maruti Temple. Not only the expansive courtyard, but even the
interior parts of the temple were overflowing with women. It was
because the women themselves had insisted on inviting Maulana
Shaukat Ali to come into the holy precincts of
the temple, that he was sitting close by the side of Gandhiji.






After a melodious song by a sister, Gandhiji was requested to
deliver his speech. His heart was bubbling with joy. I have given at
the end of this letter his speech before them almost word for word.
His call for funds was enthusiastically heeded. There was a
repetition here of the moving scenes at Poona, but while we had to
break away from there, our eyes were feasted to the fill here.
Before even Gandhiji ended his speech, a woman in dirty rags came
forth and putting Rs.10 at Gandhiji's feet, said, "Please accept
this present from an indigent widow." And after it ended, there was
the same rain of ornaments here as at Poona. In pursuance of the
fixed programme, we went straight from this meeting to the public
meeting for men. On the next day also, so long as Gandhiji was at
Belgaum, there was a regular stream of women coming to him to give
him their presents. Let me give just here an unforgetable incident
to show how discriminating this devotion was. Gandhiji never fails
to tell the donor that he wants any ornament only on condition that
the donor entirely gives up the use of that particular kind of
ornament, so as to make the donor perform an act of real
renunciation. When a sister came in the evening and took off three
ornaments, Gandhiji repeated his condition. The sister was not
prepared to give up wearing forever one of the three ornaments she
was offering. So she at once took back that particular ornament.
What an example of transparent self-honesty that !

    But my letter would fill pages and pages, if I wrote down all
that I have to say about the women. Even after two days, when we had
to pass through Belgaum station on our way to Bombay, women did not
fail to present themselves at the platform with their presents in
hand. It is impossible for time to wipe off the remembrance of that
occasion, when these valuable gifts, dripping with the incessant
flow of tears of love, were given by the women.

                     Public Meeting at Belgaum

     The public meeting had the dignified look of a conference and
even outstripped it owing to the complete silence that






prevailed there. The volunteers, of Belgaum at least, proved that
they were fit to become soldiers for Swaraj as envisaged in the poem
at the head of this letter. The function began with welcome
addresses to Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali given in two different
caskets. As the first address was written in English, the fact was
mildly and lovingly criticised by Gandhiji. He expressed his
displeasure at the unequal sizes of the two caskets also. When Sri
Gangadharrao explained that two boxes of the same size were not
available in the market, Gandhiji retorted that the bigger one could
then have been given to M. Shaukat Ali.

    The tribute Gandhiji paid to the women during this speech is
worth quoting :

    "It is beyond me to put down in language the tremendous surge,
which the scene I just now witnessed at the Maruti Temple, produced
in my heart. And I saw the same fervour at Poona also. They (the
women) have showered on us not only their ornaments but their
hearts' love --- and with the clear consciousness that the object behind
the appeal for ornaments was to win Swaraj, i.e.,Ramarajya. Our
millionaires have never given us donations, so valuable as these. In
order to make them loosen their purse-strings you have to kiss their
feet and earnestly entreat them, and then their hearts melt a
little. The women needed no such pleading from me. They gave,
whatever they wanted to, solely out of sincere love and enthusiasm.
And these gifts of the heart are essentially more precious than even
a windfall of crores of rupees."

    I do not reproduce his remarks at this meeting on the present
situation and on the Non-Brahmin question, since it would mean only
a repetition of what he has said elsewhere. A purse of Rs. 3200 for
the Swaraj Fund was presented at the end of the meeting and the
usual collection during the meeting itself came to a very
respectable figure. On the next day the two caskets were sold by
auction and they fetched Rs. 1100 and Rs. 800






    All this gives some idea of the achievement of the workers of
Belgaum. It is very necessary to introduce some of these workers to
the reader, but that I will do in my next letter.

    And now Gandhiji's speech before the women gathered in the
Maruti Temple, Belgaum :

    "Revered ( pratahasmaraniya ) sisters,
    "I feel myself sanctified at the darshan of you all gathered
here, at this holy temple. What delights me still more is the fact
that you have shown your eagerness to meet my brother Shaukat Ali
also. We were all tired and were taking a little rest, but when I
learnt that you wanted Shaukat Ali also to come with me here, I
called him. In this brotherly regard I see one of the achievements
of India, because I know that so long as our Hindu women do not look
upon Mussalmans as their brothers, these evil days of India are
never going to end. Sitting in this yard, I do not wish to give any
shock to your religious sentiments. I am myself a follower of
sanatani ( ancient and sacrosanct ) Hindu dharma. But it is from
that same Hinduism that I have learnt the lesson of never looking
down upon or hating any other religion. I have also realized that it
is impossible to achieve the welfare of our country so long as we,
Hindus, do not love the followers of all other religions and our
neighbours. I have not come here to tell you that you must begin to
arrange inter-religious dinners and marriages, whether with
Mussalmans or followers of other creeds. But I have definitely come
here to say that we must have love for every human being. I
earnestly pray to you to teach your children to cultivate love for
followers of other religions.

    "I also want you to thoroughly realize the present state of our
nation. In order to do so, it is not at all necessary to be highly
educated or ponder over big volumes. I wish to tell you that our
Government is a fiendish government. It resembles clo-sely the
Ravanarajya of old, because it has deeply wounded the feelings of
our Muslim brothers, because it has committed deeds of unspeakable
cruelty on man, woman and child in the Punjab and because, even
after doing all these things, the Government






does not admit that it has erred and does not repent for its crimes.
On the contrary, it asks us to forget those atrocities. That is why
I call this Government 'demonic'. And now our men and women have to
offer non-cooperation against this Government, just as Sitaji
offered it, just as Ramchandraji offered it, against Ravan in
ancient times. Ravana offered temptations to Sitaji, sent her sweet
dishes of various kinds, but Sitaji ignored them and performed
severe penances to get herself released from the clutches of Ravana.
So long as she was under the heavy hand of Ravana, she never
bedecked herself with rich clothes or ornaments. Ramchandraji and
Laxmanji also put a severe curb on sense-pleasures. Contenting
themselves with taking only fruits and edible roots to sustain their
body, they observed brahmacharya very rigorously. What I mean to say
therefore, is that so long as this tyrannical Government is riding
on us, neither you, the women, nor we, the men, have any right to
decorate ourselves. Strict self-denial is a necessity for us all,
till India becomes free and the wounds of Mussulmans are healed. We
must light such a fire of grief at the our plight, that it would
burn into ashes all our easy ways of life. In all humility and
earnestness, I pray to you to renounce worldly comforts, perform
austerities and keep your mind and heart pure.

    "Fifty years ago, the sacred spinning wheel used to hum in the
homes of all our women-Hindu, Muslim and others --- and every woman used
to wear clothing made from hand --- spun yarn. Let me point out to you,
my sisters, that ever since we gave up our swadeshi-dharma our
degradation began and with it the imposition of slavery on us. And
now, there are places all over our country, where the people are
dying of starvation and moving about naked for having nothing to
wear. Under this situation, do please, each one of you sisters, spin
for at least one hour for the sake of the country and dedicate the
yearn to the nation. It is at present difficult for you to get fine
hand-spun clothing, but even that you will get as you begin to spin
fine yarn yourselves. But clothing made from fine yarn ought to be
haram for us as long as the country remains under subjection.






Spinning fine yarn takes up much time and, in India of today, every
minute counts for much."

    Gandhiji then requested the women to withdraw their sons and
daughters from Government schools and then made the following appeal
for donations for starting national schools and colleges for them.

    "I have already begged for money at Dakore and Ahmedabad. Only
the day before yesterday, I did the same at Poona. Some sisters,
even quite little girls, took off their rings, bangles, nose-buttons
and necklaces. If I have succeeded in creating in you an urge for
renunciation --- and that was the object of my coming here --- you should
have no hesitation about giving away all your ornaments for the
country's cause. The money obtained from them will be utilized by
Sri Gangadharrao for national education and swadeshi. If any of you,
sister, intend to donate something in cash or ornament, please give
it to the country with the same religious fervour with which you
offer something at this temple. India is at present like a helpless
cow in the clutches of a butcher and it is your business as well as
mine to save it. Any amount given by you for securing its release
earns for you as much virtue as the same amount given to a temple.

    "And the last form of alms I beg of you is to give your
blessings for the success of the work Shaukat Ali, myself and
Ganga-dharrao are doing. Let me also say that I want your gift only
if it is free of mental reservations. If a conviction wells forth
within you that it is at once an act of virtue, a matter of duty, to
give me anything, you may do so. May God endow you with purity of
character, courage and an urge for sacrifice for the country's
cause."

                                                           15-11-'20

     Speech as Chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith on the occa-sion
of founding the Gujarat Mahavidyalaya ( national college ) at
Ahmedabad :






                         A Self-revelation

Sisters and Brothers,
     I have done many things in life, for many of which I am proud,
while for some I feel repentant. Many of those were deeds of high
moment and responsibility. But when I say that not a single one of
them can stand comparison with the monumental work I am about to do,
I think I am not at all exaggerating. I feel overwhelmed with a
sense of tremendous responsibility in taking up this work, not
because the work is harmful to the country, but because, I feel
myself unequal to the task. That consciousness pains me. I am not
saying so out of modesty, but I am revealing before you what my
conscience says. I would not have been compelled to say all this as
a preface to my speech, had I been certain that the work I am going
to do is in conformity with the essential trait of 'education'. The
object of the establishment of this college is not to give a merely
academic education. The college also wants to give practical
training to the students so as to enable them to earn their
livelihood. And I simply shudder at the thought when, for that
object, I compare this college with others like the Gujarat College
( local Government college ). There is no exaggeration in this
statement also.

                 No Comparison in Brick-and Mortar

     What a difference, again, between Gujarat College and the like
and this our small Mahavidyalaya (maha=big; vidyalaya=seat of
learning. Hence a College ) ! In my eye it is definitely what it
means-a 'big' institution. But I fear that when you compare this
Mahavidyalaya with the magnificent colleges extant in India, you may
be thinking of this as not a maha but an anu (anu=atom or atomic, i.
e., small) vidyalaya. Your mind must be comparing this institution
with others from the brick-and-mortar angle. As for that
brick-and-mortar, 1 also see a far larger quantity of it used in the
Gujarat College. As I was coming here by the train, the one thought
that exercised me was, 'What more attractive thought must I put
before you which could succeed in driving away from your minds this
comparison ? It






grieves me that that impressive thought has not yet struck me. I
have never before created for myself a situation, so difficult as
this. And even at present the occasion has not come of my choosing.
I fear I shall not be able to infect you with the same certainty
that I have of the truth I see. 'How can I convince you that what
you think to be 'defects' are really not so ?' I ask myself.
Kishorilalbhai1 has made my task easier by frankly pointing out what
these 'defects' are. But, believe me, despite all those defects this
is a really great thing we are doing. May God instil in you the same
faith for this undertaking as I possess ! I myself have not the
power to implant that faith in you. I do not possess the power of
penance sufficient for the purpose and I must admit my want of
capacity. I have not done any such service in the field of education
by means of which I can show that this work (national education) is
of the greatest importance. But the type of work we are doing here
is the only one that becomes us in these difficult times for India.
Any comparison on the score of buildings has no sense. Things have
come to such a pass at present that we cannot call an inch of earth
our own. Everything is Government property. This ground, this tree?
everything --- is under Government 0wnership. Even our bodies belong to
the Government and I doubt if we are still masters of even our
souls. Under this pitiable condition, how can we afford to be in the
look-out for good buildings for our Mahavidyalaya ? How can we
afford to seek for scholars of repute as our professors ? If a most
illiterate boor came here and could convince you that our soul has
become dry as a bone, that this country has lost its luster and sunk
into igno-rance, I would readily instal him on the Principalship of
this college. But I am not sure you would be prepared to let that
position be given to an ignorant shepherd of that type. Hence, we
had to hunt out Sri Gidvani for the position. I am not

_______________
    1. K. G. Mashruwala, an earliest and staunchest colleague of
Gandhiji and one of the best exponents of Gandhian philosophy in all
its aspects. He succeeded him to the editorship of Gandhiji's
weeklies. He was also the first registrar of the Gujarat Vidyapith.






enamoured of the (foreign) degrees he holds. Perhaps you do not know
him except as a man possessing these degrees. But I wish you to find
out a different touchstone, a new standard of judgment, to test the
worth of this college. If you use the common touchstone, the college
will give you an outward appearance of being made, not of gold, but
of brass. But if you put the college on the touchstone of
character-training, you will realise that it is made of gold, not
brass.

    The confluence that has taken place here makes it a place of
pilgrimage.1 Men of sterling character, the pick of Sindhis,
Maharastrians and Gujaratis have come together in this college. Is
not such a confluence itself a rare event ?

    I will first pray to the elders --- both brothers and sisters --- who
have come here : 'You are witnesses to the installation ceremony of
this Mahavidyalaya. If any of you regard all this as an empty show,
it is my appeal to their hearts that they should desist from
attending the function any longer. You may continue to sit here for
the one purpose of giving your blessings to the occasion. When this
Mahavidyalaya gets your blessings, it will be acknowledged as really
mahan ( great ). But your blessings must come from the heart, not
from your lips merely, and blessings from the heart can only be
given by sending your sons and daughters to this college. India does
not lack in the capacity for bountiful donations. No activity has
ever been brought to a standstill for want of funds. Its progress
stops for want of right men --- for want of a good teacher or leader,
or, if he is there, for want of good disciples, i. e., soldiers for
the cause. I believe, where the leaders are really worthy, soldiers
are always forthcoming. No carpenter quarrels with his tools,
however blunt they be. The use of the bluntest of them will be for
him a child's play. In the same way if the leader is an expert
artisan, he will be able to bring out the best products from
whatever he gets in hand. He will create men out of mud.

_______________
    1. A confluence of rivers is regarded in Hinduism as a holy
place.






                       Miracle of Moral Worth

     "Please do that" is my prayer to the Principal. One and the
same lofty motive has brought you all, the Principal and the
professors, here. It will be your character, not your learning, that
will perform the miracle of bringing Swaraj for us. It will be by
confronting our divine peaceful force --- imperfect though it be --- against
the feverish and fiendish forces of the Government, not by matching
our sword against their lustrous sword, that miracle will be
achieved. Our object here is to sow the seed of freedom, bring it up
and make it grow into the beautiful tree of Swaraj. The tree can be
cultured only by our high character and the purely divine force it
generates. As long as you, the Principal and the professors, hitch
your wagon to this star, our work here is certain to go on unsullied
by even a trace of stain. May you, the Principal and professors,
prove true by results the faith that I personally have in students.
Had there not been that unshakable faith in me, I, an ulettered
fellow, would never have agreed to accept the sacred position of
Chancellorship of this Vidyapith (University). I am prepared to live
for this work and die for it. It is because I know that, like
myself, you, too, regard losing life for this cause as really
winning it, that I continue to live in your midst and have accepted
this very responsible position.

    If you, the Principal and the professors, do your duty, what
will remain for me to say to the students ? I am not going to commit
the sin of hurling accusations against the students. They are simply
mirrors which reflect the prevailing situation. They are free from
lie, hatred and pretence. They disclose themselves as what they
really are. It is not their fault if they have no truth , on
brahmacharya, no asteya (non-stealing), no aparigraha
(non-possession) and no ahimsa (non-violence). The fault lies with
the parents, with the teachers, with Principals and with the King.
But why blame even the King ? Only yesterday I said to the students
in Bombay, 'Just as ¾ã©ãã Àã?ãã ¦ã©ãã ¹ãÆ?ãã ( As the King, so the
subjects ) it true, so is ¾ã©ãã ¹ãÆ?ãã






¦ã©ãã Àã?ãã (As the subjects, so the King)also true. Perhaps the
latter alone is true. The fault lies, first of all, with the people.
Their weaknesses have found a concentrated expression in the
student-world and are, therefore, clearly visible in it. It is we
therefore, the parents and the teachers, who have to do whatever
should be done to lift up the students.

    Every home in India is a University --- a college. The parents are
the Principals. The parents discarded their dharma when they ceased
to perform the duties of the Principal. We have not yet been able to
appraise the foreign civilisation at its true value, have not found
out what its merits and defects really are. We have, as it were,
hired this foreign culture and, as we do not pay any rent, we may
say we have simply stolen it. How can India ever rise through this
stolen civilisation ?

    It is the national, and not the educational, point of view which
has urged us to found this college. In order to make our students
men of strong character, I have been giving out all over the country
my conviction that we will be fit for Swaraj to the extent of our
success in building up the character of our students. The edifice of
Swaraj cannot be raised on any other foundation. No expenditure in
money and in energy of men character is too great for the purpose of
making such institutions successful.

    This is not the time for talk, but for action. I have simply
transmitted to you my thoughts just as they came to me. And so I
have begged of you everything that was worth begging. Now I am
begging something from the students also. That they possess the
spirit of adventure is beyond doubt. That entitles me to refuse to
regard those who have already joined the college as nothing more
than students and I am not going to consider that they are free from
every other responsibility than of a student. These daring
enthusiasts, who were the first to enroll themselves in a college
that was yet to be formed, are semi-teachers. It is they who have
founded the college. It is to them that all the other adjuncts of
the college have been appended. Had they not enrolled themselves,
the college could






not have come into being. Their responsibility, therefore, is very
great indeed. You (the students) have full partnership in this firm.
If you do not contribute your full share to this work, the teachers
will not succeed --- certainly they will not fully succeed --- however much
they strive. Those students who have left their college must know
clearly the implications of their step and what they will get from
here. May God instil into them the power to tenaciously continue
their work here, all the while this grim struggle lasts, however
long it continues. If they get that power,  am certain that a
handful of students though it may have, this college will shed a
lustre all its own and become an ideal college for the whole
country.

    The reason lies neither in Gujarat's wealth nor in Gujarat's
scholarship. It lies in the fact that Gujarat is the birth-place of
non-cooperation. It is in Gujarat that the seed of non-cooperation
has been sown. It is in Gujarat, that that seed has been watered.
And it is in Gujarat again that the necessary compost, in the form
of austerities performed, has been made. Do not, from these words,
imagine that all this is nothing but the vapour of a conceited
fellow. And do not believe for a moment that I alone have undergone
these ascetic practices or that none but myself has planted this
root. All I have done is to give Gujarat the mantra ( a potent charm
). If it is possible for a Vaishya to do the work of a rishi ( a
Brahmin sage ), I have done that work.

                  Colleagues' Contribution : Faith

     I have done nothing more. The roots have been really sown by my
colleagues. It was because their faith exceeded even mine that this
work could be done. It is my claim that I possess wisdom born of
experience. Even if the Gods descend on earth and try to dissuade
me, my faith in this matter will remain unshaken. As clearly as the
trees before me, I see that India's uplift will come through
non-cooperation and that alone. But my colleagues have convinced
themselves of this same truth by means of reflection, logic and
faith.






    Neither in India nor anywhere else in the world does everybody
do anything solely on the basis of self-experience. While
experiential knowledge impels some persons to begin some work,
others do it out of faith in the former.

    Thus the foundation has been laid by my colleagues. Many of them
are Gujaratis. There are some Maharashtrians also, but they are
those who have become, by their stay in Gujarat, fifty, seventy-five
or even one hundred and twenty-five per cent Gujaratis. It is
through them that this weapon (of non-cooperation) shines bright.
We have not yet witnessed its full miraculous powers. It will take
six months still to let this work, for which little girls have given
me their bangles, reveal its wonder-working glory more clearly. But
the source of that power --- its visible image --- is this Mahavidyalaya.
Hindus are idol-worshippers and we are proud that we are. This idol
has different limbs. One limb, the Chancellor, is myself. The
Principal, the professors and the students are the other parts of
the body. But I am like a sere leaf. I am engaged in other
activities, besides. If this yellow leaf falls off, the tree will
not suffer at all. The Principal and the professors, too, are simply
leaves, but at present they are young and green. In a few years'
time they, too, will grow old and fall off. But the students are the
branches that Principals and professors will shoot forth as leaves.

                    Light a Fire Like Prahalad's

     It is my request to the students that they should put as much
faith in their professors as they have in me. But if you find your
Principal or your professors to be weak and timid, you must then
light a fire like the one Prahlad lighted in the days of yore and
consume in it that Principal or those professors and press on with
your work. That the students be so bold is at once my prayer to God
and my blessings to them.

    Finally, this is my prayer to God and I wish you all approved of
it and joined in it with all your heart : "O, God ! Make this
Mahavidyalaya so virile that through it we may attain






that freedom which incessantly, day and night, we long for. And may
that freedom be the harbinger of happiness not only of India but of
the whole world, wherein India is like a mere drop in the ocean !"

                                                           15-11-'20

              Speech before the students at Ahmedabad

Mr. President, students, sisters and brothers,
     Our worthy Principal has asked us to bear in mind the fact that
the people must not fail to implement the resolve they made at the
Calcutta Congress. I want to remind you of another and, to my mind,
a more important resolve. Last year when I went to Punjab, we
unanimously decided on the boycott of the Hunter Committee (The
Disorders Inquiry Committee appoin-ted by the Government). We had
discussed the matter for many days before coming to that decision.
Pandit Malaviyaji had given many arguments against it. He had
reminded us of our many weaknesses, of our lassitude after showing
feverish enthu-siasm in starting a thing and of the possibility of
the leaders being clapped in prison. And yet, after mature thinking,
all those who had come there including the four of us, Pandit
Mala-viyaji, Pandit Motilalji Mr. C. F. Andrews and myself, resolved
with one voice to non-cooperate with the Hunter Committee. Let me
first remind you of that resolve. As early as even at that time, I
had warned those present that if we kept aloof from the Hunter
Committee, it would be incumbent upon us all to issue our own
independent report, and that if, on our inquiry, the atrocities were
proved true, we might have even to die in order to secure justice.
If the whole country was to be sacri-ficed, I had added, to gain
that objective, even that sacrifice had got to be made. Despite this
grave warning from me, all those present hailed the resolve of the
boycott. That resolve is graver in import than even Congress
resolution. It has been alleged about the latter that the people did
not get sufficient time to reflect over it, that they were hustled
into passing it owing to the spell cast over them by my speech and
that it secured a






majority simply because of the substantial support of the Muslims
who were present in the Congress in large numbers for the first
time. This last charge is certainly not true. The fact was that
votes were taken province-wise and, with the exception of two
provinces, all others had passed this very same resolution by a
majority. All the same, it is true that all the voters may not have
given sufficient thought to that ( Congress ) resolution and, on
that ground, you may, not, if you like, give any weight to it. But
even there those at least, who have a regard for the Congress and
who have no conscientious objection against the Congress resolution,
must unhesitatingly implement it. But the resolve of the Committee
held in the Punjab was taken with full deliberation in an atmosphere
completely cool and uncharged by any excitement and with the full
consciousness of the dangers it involved. It is your own highly
respected leaders who have made that grim resolve to save the honour
of the Punjab for which we are all fighting. It was that oath I
wanted to remind you of and I do so hereby.

                          The Golden Chain

     And now I ask those students who have not joined the National
College what they really want. Are you earnest about having
independence, i. e. Swaraj, for India ? What is your choice?
preservation of your own culture or subjection to a foreign rule ? I
have not a single word to say to you, if you are prepared to bear
with subjection. In the Gujarat College you are provided with an
extensive ground for your recreation, many games both indoor and
outdoor, erudite scholars as professors and a laboratory the like of
which it will take a long time for the National College to be
equipped with. You won't get all such amenities in this (National)
College. But unless a chain is not a chain because it is made of
gold and studded with jewellery, you are veritable prisoners in the
Gujarat College. But if you believe that you cannot maintain your
honour except in a climate of freedom, you must quit the Gujarat
College, no matter how many its other advantages be, and enter this
Mahavidyalaya, despite all






its inconveniences. I do not want to excite your passion but to
awaken the dormant spirit of discrimination in you and to make you
conscious of your duty. I wish to build a bridge of understanding
between my intelligence and yours. And yet if you feel that you
cannot entertain any thought of freedom so long as you attend
Government schools and that the very thought is an act of treachery,
you may not leave your Government school. We may indeed speak well
of a government, so long as we get our education through its
schools; but this Government has forfeited that claim to loyalty,
since it has become insolent, rained atrocities on us, bled the
subjects white and attacked our religion. After all this how can we
honestly wish well of it ? How can we proudly say that this Empire
is so just that the sun never sets on it ? And since we cannot
sincerely wish well of it, we must fly from it. Every religion,
without exception, teaches us that there is no sin more heinous than
treachery to one's religion. That is why I have stated that studying
in these Government schools is like cutting the very branch of a
tree on which we stand. I, therefore, ask those students who have
not yet left their school or college to search their hearts again
and again. If you are then convinced that there is no course open to
us except to end this Government, then your strength of character,
your courage lies in no other act but that of leaving your
institution.

    Our respected Principal has shown you how cooperation in some
matters with the Government is unavoidable, while in others we can
withdraw it at once. In order to do without some things provided by
the Government, a wholesale renunciation is necessary. A time may
come --- I don't say that it can never come-when even that step may have
to be taken. But that time has not yet arrived and we won't discuss
the question now. At present our austerity ( of renunciation ) must
be confined within the limits of our individual activities. If a man
wants to gain purification of the mind or a cure of his disease upto
a particular degree, and if he can achieve his aim by one day's
fast, it would be foolish on his part to go on a fast for two days.
We need not,






therefore, undergo more severe austerity than what is capable of
gaining our object. That same answer stands good for the question
why we cooperate with the Government in such matters as the use of
railways, telegrams etc. But we must undoubtedly non-cooperate in
those matters where cooperation fades our lustre and we
deliberately stretch the beggar's hand for charity from the
Government. Attending Government schools is this form of
cooperation. Fortunately, the National College has now been opened.
You won't find such a Principal and such professors everywhere. I do
not wish to make their comparison with the staff in the Gujarat
College here. Which of the two is the better staff will be evident
automatically in a short time. But now those students, who were
afraid to leave their college for want of an alternative
institution, have no reason for that fear. They cannot now complain
of the uncertainty of their fate, if they left their college without
having another college to go to. Such students must now immediately
join the Mahavidyalaya.

                      Students Under Agreement

     A medical college student asked me what medicals should do if
they wanted to non-cooperate. There are two types of these
students. Those among them who pay their college fees may
immediately leave their college. But I don't advise those stu-dents
to leave their college right today, who are getting a Government
scholarship and, in return, have either bound them-selves to serve
the Government for a certain number of years after graduation or to
return the loan within a fixed period. I cannot give such students
any amount from the pubic fund we collect in order to enable them to
pay off their loan and leave the college. It is their duty to gain
their freedom from the college, if they can find the means from
somewhere else to return the loaned amount. But more pressing
question facing me pertains to those medical students who pay their
fees. Whether we get the necessary facility of a national medical
college or not, we must give up the present college, if we feel
that, by continuing in it, we only delay the day of our deliverance.
We must






give up our fascination for learning medicine and engage ourselves
in some other avocation, so long as we do not get that facility in a
national college. What will our people gain by any learning, if once
they become spineless cowards ? Not that I condemn this fascination
itself for learning. I accept the plea that it is, on the contrary,
the duty of a young man to cherish the aspiration to become a
learned man. But our country and our religious must not be
sacrificed at the altar of that ambition.

                       Definition of Learning

     That is learning worth the name which gives us the power to
preserve dharma, and that is the motto the Vidyapith has accepted. I
am charmed with that epigram: Ôãã ãäÌã£ãã ¾ãã ãäÌã½ãì§ã?¾ãñ
is learning which leads to Freedom or Redemption. ) Freedom is of
two kinds. One freedom releases the country from foreign subjection.
This freedom is not the one that abides. The other kind means
freedom that is eternal. But even for gaining this second freedom?
moksha ( release from the chain of births and deaths, pleasures and
pains etc. ) which we call as our dharma par excellence --- the former
worldly freedom is an essential first step. A man, hemmed in by many
fears, cannot at a bound attain that higher and eternal freedom
called moksha. If anybody wants to gain that everlasting moksha,
wants to make that purushartha ( striving for a particular object )
which is of the highest kind, there is no other go for him except to
reach first the nearer stage of worldly freedom. And that learning
which makes our eternal freedom recede from us is, therefore,
devilish, irreligious and worth discarding. However good the
learning provided in the Government college be, it deserves to be
given up by us owing to its tainted source, i. e., the Satanic
Government.

                    Discrimination in Obedience

     I shall now tell you how you, students, should behave towards
your parents and whether you should ever disobey their injunctions
or not. It is your paramount duty to obey your parents in the best
possible manner. But more compelling even






than this is the duty of following the voice of your conscience. If
it says that it is fear that impels your parents in their
prohibition and that your spiritual effort lies in leaving your
college, you must give it up despite your parents' 'no'. But to whom
does this call of the still small voice come ? I repeat what I have
often said in answer to this question. That man alone can transgress
the parents' injunction, who is extremely modest and courteous, who
has always obeyed his parents and who understands and puts into
practice the standards of morality. He alone can say, 'This is the
voice of my conscience', who has given a high place in life to
charity of heart, has attained control over his senses by observing
brahmacharya, has not soiled by sin either his body or his mind and
has kept the non-stealing and the non-possession vows by refusing to
saddle himself with a stock of various possessions. Don't approach
your parents with the plea of the voice of Gandhi in your support.
Go to them on the strength of your own voice and, after making a
deep obeisance, tell them, 'I cannot obey your injuction in this
matter,'

    A student told me that though his parents forbade him, he gave
up the government college and now they asked him not to join the
national college. I advised him to definitely obey his parents in
that matter. If the parents feel that it is harmful for their son to
learn what is taught in a particular new school, they have every
right to wish him to desist from learning in that school and it is
the duty of the son to obey them in that case. Parents are entitled
to stop their children from learning something new, if they think it
harmful for the children. But they cannot compel their son to fill
his mind with sin. Every student must first see clearly what his
duty is in this matter and then perform it even at the cost of the
opposition from his parents or the Government. The country cannot
rise without that behaviour on his part.

    Now let me tell you of a recent incident in Bombay. Some
students there raised shouts of 'shame', 'shame' at a meeting. Bhai
Nimkar was one of them. At the Bombay meeting I laid stress on the
insulting treatment given to Mrs. ( Annie ) Besant.






I detest any disturbance in peace made by a single non-cooperating
student. He must heartily accept the three facets of
non-cooperation. And the first among them is the one of peace. Let
it be indelibly imprinted in the mind that the non-cooperator must
neither cause a row, nor abuse anybody, nor lose his temper, nor
slap anyone, nor raise shouts of 'shame'. No one should join this
fight, so long as he cannot help doing any of these things. I said
to Bhai Nimkar, "You have committed a breach of the peace. It was
not your dharma to cry out 'shame', 'shame', on matter how gravely
Mrs. Besant or Sri Purshottamdas or Sri Setalwad wounded your
feelings. Your dharma simply lay in keeping quiet at the meeting or
stealing away from it quietly." Bhai Nimkar saw the wisdom of my
plea and openly expressed regret for his act in a well-attended
public meeting and thus proved what courage he possessed. He is one
of the truly brave who admits his errors and repents for them. Bhai
Nimkar has thus raised his moral stature by his admission of error.

                  Three Facets of Non-cooperation

     In the same way, I wish you all --- those who have joined the
Mahavidyalaya as well as those who go to the Gujarat College --- not to
lapse from your dharma. The non-cooperation resolve has three
facets. The first is peacefulness. Non-cooperation must be
peaceful, must have no room for the sword --- and the tongue is a sword,
the hand is a sword and a sharpened piece of steel is also a sword.
The second is discipline or self-restraint and the third is yagna,
sacrifice. Only when we are pure we can perform a yagna, i. e.,
undergo a sacrifice. Without making a sacrifice, none can be pure or
holy; and till you do not become pure, do not leave your school.
There are nearly sixty students today here (in this Mahavidyalaya).
But with even five students the Vidyapith will carry on. The
essential thing for the Vidyapith is purity for its basis. If it is
there, the structure of Swaraj will be constructed on it. He,
therefore, who has not purified himself will not only be able to
enhance the purity of this sacred basis,






but will cast a slur on it. Hence I say to those students who intend
to join this Mahavidyalaya that they should give up their idea, if
they do not wish to live according to all the three facets of
non-cooperation.

                           To The Parents

     To the parents who have come to this meeting I say, "You were
present at the National Conference. You have passed its resolutions
by raising your hands. The Congress also has your moral support.
Please understand fully your grave responsibility. Don't stab your
own progeny, don't stab your motherland. If your sons and daughters
want to join in this sacrifice, do not debar them, but send them to
this Mahavidyalaya with your hearty blessings. If you don't do so,
you will disgrace yourselves, disgrace Gujarat and prove that
Gujarat, and so India as a whole, is morally bankrupt.

                             Conclusion

     Gujarat never counted in Indian politics till today. It has
resolved to enter the field new. May it remain steadfast in its
resolve and may Gujarat and Gujaratis make a name in the whole of
India. If you have imbibed even a little the qualities of truth and
heroism you must never fail to nourish them. 'May God endow you with
the power to do so' ! That is my closing prayer.

                                                           26-11-'20

                       At the Sacred Baranasi

     All eyes were rivetted on Gandhiji's visit to Benares (now
Varanasi). "How will the Hindu University fare ?" "Will not
Gandhiji's visit give a shock to Panditji ( Malaviyaji, the Father
of the University ) ?" "Will it not make his weak health even worse
?"-These and such other questions were agitating many minds. Some
friends had even suggested to Gandhiji that he should drop for the
present his idea of going there, in view of the condition of
Panditji's health. But Gandhiji had inquired of Panditji's health
from three or four sources by






telegrams and when he received a wire from Panditji himself, saying
that Gandhiji was always welcome whenever he chose to visit the
place, he decided to go there. And now Gandhiji has even returned
from Benares. All that happened there was like a meeting between two
brothers, who embrace each other, drop a few tears over their
difference in views and then separate as lovingly. The reason for
this perfectly cheerful and peaceful finale was only one : the
indissoluble bond of love which subsisted between revered Panditji,
revered Anandshankarbhai1 and Gandhiji. One cannot say today what
the students there will do and how many of them will leave their
studies, but there is nothing wrong in saying that the very
open-hearted discussion that took place there between the students,
the professors and the Panditji has resulted in making the
atmosphere clear and purer.

    But let us now turn from general observations to the spee-ches
of Gandhiji before the students there.

                         A Harmonious Duet

     Those who heard Gandhiji's two speeches during the two days
there as well as that of Malaviyaji have only one word to say of
them?'superb'. The beauty of their speeches lay in the fact that
both the speakers were striking, not discordant, but harmonious
notes, as in a duet. Their speeches were comple-mentary, not
contradictory.

    On the first day early in the morning, Gandhiji spoke before the
students for nearly an hour and a quarter at the 'Non-cooperation
Grounds' situated near the College. It is difficult to give a full
report of the speech and I have not had time enough to show my
report to Gandhiji. I must say, however, I took down the notes of
the speech there and then and from them I reproduce it here as best
I can :

_______________
    1. A profound Gujaratii philosopher, who was then the Registrar
of the Benares Hindu University. He was also the arbitrator in the
dispute between Gandhiji and the mill-owners during the strike in
Ahmedabad in 1919.






                     No Incitement to Insolence

     A few months ago I had talked to you on self-restraint and
today also, in my view, I have come to speak on the same theme. It
has been alleged against me these days that I am making the students
self-willed and insolent. With the full sense of responsibility I
say, I never wish to incite anybody to indiscipline. I am incapable
of such an act. I was myself a student once and I always behaved
respectfully in my student days. I am, besides, the father of four
sons and hundreds of boys have passed through my guidance, whose
father I claim to be even today. As I am a man of that type, it is
impossible for a language encouraging insolence among boys to escape
my lips.

                   My Language : Not Discourteous

     But times have come when parents believe I am doing injustice
to them in whatever I do. They feel that both my claims of
insistence on truth and politeness in language have lost their
validity more or less. All these things have made me sit up and
think. But my conscience attests that I am not using discourteous
language. What I say, I say after grave deliberation and with mental
equipoise. The fact is, the delusion which I was nursing till
December last has been smashed up and a language, different from the
old, comes out of my lips. But I am doing nothing beyond presenting
facts as they actually stand. It would be a travesty of truth as
well as of decorum, if I see a thing dirty and don't call it so. In
showing up a thing in its true colours, one commits no breach of
good manners but only speaks the truth. Absolute truth, indeed, lies
in silence alone. But since one has but to use language in life,
complete truth can come out only in that language in which I give
you a faithful picture of the situation as I see it.

                          My Elder Brother

     The Leader has published a speech made by Pandit ( Mala-viyaji
). I see that it is an authentic report, since Panditji's pre-vious
sanction was taken. I want to draw your attention to one sentence
appearing therein. He tells students "After fully






weighing the Pros and cons, you may act according to the dictates of
your conscience." I also want to say the same thing. And if you have
the slightest doubt as to what the voice of your conscience says, if
you are unable to decide for yourself your course of action, I ask
you not to listen to me or anybody else but only to your revered
Bhaisaheb Panditji. I have not seen a greater dharmatma ( a
religious soul ) than Malaviyaji. I do not see any living person who
has rendered more yeoman services to our land than he has. Panditji
and myself ! How close we are ! I have been his adorer ever since I
returned from South Africa. Many a time I have felt myself relieved
of my heart's burden by pouring out my troubles to his sympathetic
ears. He is to me verily like an elder brother.

                  In Case of Doubt Follow Panditji

     That is the affinity between us. So all I can say to you is
"Only then you may follow my advice when your conscience tells you
that truth lies only on the side of Gandhi. But if you feel that
both are great leaders and that you have to choose between one of
the two for guidance, let me tell you, you must follow Panditji and
not myself. If you have the slightest doubt about my view, you
better leave me out. Following me in that case is quite likely to be
harmful to you." Panditji is the arch-guru of the University.
Panditji has founded it and Panditji is the soul of it. It is our
duty to pay him our respects. I see Pan-ditji's error in this
matter, but if you have the least little doubt about the correctness
of my view, you must reject my plea. The other day a gentleman
approached me. He said, "Panditji's health at present is so delicate
that your visit to Kashi (Benares) will give him a serious shock and
it is possible that we may have to lose our Panditji. Is not your
visit likely to mean the end of Panditji ?" "But who am I," I
replied, "to bring Panditji's life to an end ? And if you mean the
extinction of his soul, that is utterly impossible." But the
gentleman felt that my visit to Kashi would mean the death of
Panditji's body. He said, "The boys will listen to your advice,
vacate the University and Panditji






will feel that the creation of his life-time has been brought to
nought ; and that will kill him." The fear moved me to a smile. I
thought the gentleman did not know Panditji's mettle. He is no
coward. He is not the man to die of a shock over such a matter.

                          India Is Dearer

     It is true the Hindu University is dear to him as life itself.
But I, for one, think that he loves India even more than his
University. Panditji is an optimist of optimists. He rightly
believes that India is beyond the reach of harm from any power
human, that the reins of India are in God's hands --- not in anybody
else's --- and that God is there to advance India's welfare. All the
same, I did wire to Panditji and, in his reply by wire, he sent me
an invitation couched in sweet language to come over here.

    Panditji did feel worried because of his conviction that some of
you were taking a plunge without previous careful thinking and that
if you took a precipitate step you would be nowhere. But if you
consider it a sin to continue your studies here, you may leave the
institution at once and Panditji will bless you. But if your
conscience is not burning with that sense of sin, you must listen to
none else than Panditji.

                 What is the Voice of Conscience ?

     That act alone is inspired by the voice of conscience, where-in
the process of performance is clean, the object behind the act is
pure and the outcome healthy. But our Shastras have impo-sed a still
stiffer restriction to define clearly what such acts are. He alone
who is self-controlled and observes non-violence, truth and
non-possession can say he has received the call of conscience. If
you do not observe brahmacharya, if your heart is hard and
unsympathetic, if it is untruthful and unrestrained, you cannot say
of any of your acts as impelled by the voice of conscience. But if
you possess a heart with qualities I have already enume-rated, if
you have discarded the modes of the West, if your






heart is as pure as a temple and so made by God His abode, you can
respectfully disobey even your parents. You are entitled to take
this step, since you are a free soul in that state of your being. I
know there has been an inundation of undisciplined and self-willed
behaviour in the West. But I do not wish to make the students of
India self-willed and insolent. I am quite unfit for my work, if, in
this holy city of Varansi and at this holy place, I wish to make you
irresponsible.

                   Reason for Boycott of Schools

     Why then am I appealing to the students to realize that their
dharma lies in leaving their schools ? Do I want that your student
life must go to rack and ruin ? No. I have myself been spending a
student's life right till today. But I mean to say that he who has
not learnt the lessons of liberty --- and definitely you cannot learn
them by the study of Mill's book, 'Liberty' --- can never be called a
free man. Your education is worse than even what the boys in Arabia
get. A gentleman who came from those parts told me that our students
do not have even a quarter of the training which the Arab boy has.
There is not a single Arab student who accepts the rule of this
Empire. The Arab were tempted in various ways; postal and telegram
and tram services were offered; aeroplanes also were promised; they
were even told that their desert sands, which grow so hot that
khichri (rice and lentil boiled together ) can be cooked with the
heat, would be cooled down and magnificent schools would be opened
for them. But the students of Arabia said they did not want that
education. They receive a strict religious education. What is needed
for you is such religious education. The environment under which you
get your education is such as cannot but make you afraid of human
beings. But I would call that student an M. A. (Master of Arts ) who
has mastered the art of giving up all fear of man and walking in the
fear of God. Your education is worth the name, when you become so
strong that you need not stretch the beggar's hand for employment
before any man. You are an educated man only when the truth dawns in
your heart that, to






gain your livelihood, you need not approach anybody with a
crestfallen mien, so long as your hands and feet are alive and
vigorous.

                    Sattu in Janak's1 Holy Land

     It is English historians themselves who say that there are
three crores of men in India who do not get a square meal. A large
part of the people in Bihar manages to exist on nothing else but
sattu, a food that has little nourishing value. I have myself seen
people pushing that draught --- a mixture of water, maize-flour and red
chillies --- down their throat and my eyes have fired up at the sight.
Pray, tell me, how long can you pull on with life, if you get that
food to eat ? In that land of Ramachandraji, in that holy land of
King Janak, not to talk of ghee ( melted butter ), people can't get
even milk. How can you sit at ease, when such is the plight of our
land ? That education has no meaning which does not teach everyone
to be a Macswiney.2 May you get the strength to be azad ( free ) by
dying of hunger, if freedom is the price you have to pay to keep
your body alive.

    I am told that the boys in Arabia and Mesopotamia have got that
kind of education. They are braving the might of the Empire. But
they have arms with them, while we have none. But in India's
truthfulness lies a great power --- that of the soul --- and thereby we have
the capacity to beat down the brute force of the Empire. Tulsidasji
has left us the word to dissociate ourselves from the wicked. I say
this Empire is demonic and hence dissociation from it becomes our
dharma. This definitely means exodus but I do not ask you to go that
far. Where can we go, if we emigrate ? I, for one, see no where to
lay our

_______________
    1. King of Mithila and father-in-law of Rama. He was called
Rajarshi ( sage-King ) because he was an ideal example of an ascetic
who, however, performed all the duties of a worldly gentleman and a
king.
    2. Terrance Macswiney, a freedom fighter of Ireland and Mayor of
Cork, who, when he was imprisoned, declared he would be free in a
month alive or dead. But death came after a tortuous delay of about
70 day's fasting. In India there was one hero like him, Jatin Das,
who fasted unto death in jail for about the same period.






heads on except the bottom of the Indian Ocean or the Bay of Bengal.
But Tulsidasji has also said, "If you cannot shun the wicked
completely, avoid them as far as you can." I have not the least
doubt that India would be doomed to destruction, would go on rotting
in slavery, if you cannot imbibe the power of peaceful
non-cooperation --- like the one Sitaji resorted to, when she subsisted
on the fruits and roots growing in her place of confinement
Ashoka-vatika and refused the sweet dishes as well as the
ministrations by female demons sent by Ravana.

                    India Systematically Ruined

     I do not wish to enter into the reasons which prove that the
Empire has become Satanic. But to me it is the climax of adharma
(irreligion) to learn at the schools and colleges domina-ted by that
Empire which has committed awfully wicked deeds in the Punjab, has
compelled little children of six or seven to walk under a blazing
sun and thus killed them, has insulted the honour of women, and, to
crown it all, has declared the perpetrators of these horrors to be
innocent and has even hailed them as 'saviours of the Empire'. My
respected elder brother Panditji (Malaviyaji) considers it a dharma
But my sciptures do not teach me so. I may never be a disciple of
Ravana to learn from him either the Bhagwadgita or the Quran or the
Bible. I would learn the Gita from one who has studied it with
religious reverence. How can I learn it from a reeling drunkard ? It
is beyond the power of my language to give you an idea of the
blazing fire that consumes my heart. I served this Empire for thirty
years I do not mean to say I did anything wrong in it. Only, it is
impossible for me to continue the service, any longer, since I have
seen the horrors of the Punjab. And that is not all. I see clearly
that ever since its inception, this Empire has been systematically
grinding India into dust, a fact, in comparison with which the
Punjab horrors pale into insignificance. When I was of your age, I
read Dadabhai Naoroji's, 'Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India.'
Has what he proves therein, 'the progressive drain of India ',
abated in the






slightest degree ? Is it or is it not true that the Army Expenditure
has been consistently increasing ? Is the outflow of India's wealth
through 'pensions' to Covenanted Servants greater now than before or
not ? If the answer is yes, then, I say, let Lord Sinha, or, for
that matter, let the Panditji himself become the Viceroy, but I
should be the last to go to him to pay my respects. The fact is, our
slavery is ever increasing under the British regime. And when the
slave is fascinated with the shining polish of his chains that
slavery has bloomed to perfection. I assert that we are more abject
slaves than we were even thirty-five years ago. We are sinking ever
deeper in despair and cowardice. So, if I take perspective view, I
would definitely say that slavery has been consistently tightening
its coil round us.

                       India Made Irreligious

     A portion of Babu Bhagwandas's learned speech1 continues to
haunt my memory. He said, when our rulers become Banias (
businessmen ), and not merely ordinary Banias, but those who deal in
liqueurs like bhang and ganja (Indian intoxicants), they become the
meanest of rulers. Such rulers must be non-cooperated with. This
Empire has made India napak (unholy). The Excise Department is
thriving ever more. Men like Gokhaleji had advocated the increase of
schools. But as matters stand, while in 1857 there were 30,000
schools in the Punjab, at present there are only 5000. The
Government thus suppressed those many schools. The Government
possesses the power of organisation and discipline. Do we have it ?
But the rulers have adroitly kept us in delusion. What kind of
lessons of Swaraj can people of that sort teach us ? Shall we learn
these lessons by going into the Council-chambers ? If you want to
learn how to get Swaraj, you must go straight to the Arabs or to the
Boers. But even at present we do possess, I affirm against doubters,
the innate power to win Swaraj, but have deluded ourselves into the
belief that we are but lambs, though in reality

_______________
    1. Supra. Vol. II, Pages-269-272






we are lions. 'Who, on earth, can browbeat me, when the soul within
is all-powerful ?' Only when that conviction is awakened in you, can
you be said to have got true education. After learning these
fundamental lessons of freedom, and not before, can you rightfully
have learning of any other kind. But today you are getting an
education that only strengthens your chains. It is because we have a
craze for degrees that we say we cannot do without a 'Charter' from
the Government. Why do we not sit under these trees to get our
education ? Why do we require such magnificent buildings ? When so
many of your countrymen cannot have sufficient food to eat, when
your sisters cannot bathe for days on end, since they have no spare
clothing for a change, do you want palatial buildings for your
studies ? If you do, forget non-cooperation. But if you have any
feeling for your land, if a fire is glowing in your heart as it is
in mine, you must brush aside all talk of buildings and the like and
plunge at once into non-cooperation of the kind I have suggested.
If you do that, I repeat at this holy place the sacred promise I
have given elsewhere and that is, we will get Swaraj in one year.

                     Fly From This Raging Fire

     But let me warn you again and again that Swaraj can be gained
only if you realize wherein lies your dharma. Loud cheers will not
bring us Swaraj. And what is it that impels me to speak in this
strain ? It is not honours and titles, not land and money, not power
and kingship I want. The one thing I hanker after is India's
freedom. Many good people tell me I must align myself with other
leaders. But I can't. I cannot set aside the compelling urge of my
heart, the clear call of my conscience in order to be one with
others. I don't want an agreement with others at the cost of my
principle. And that fundamental principle is, you cannot gain the
freedom or Swaraj for all before first breaking your own chains. If
your inner eye perceives, as clearly as you see the trees opposite,
that this Empire is Satanic, is treacherous, that it is a sin to
study in this institution and that






the Lieutenant Governor, despite all his protestations, does exert a
subtle but effective influence over this institution's working,
then, I tell you, don't tarry for a minute, keep miles away from it.

    "Out from this raging fire, dare all possible risks to fly"-that
is my appeal to you. Don't ask me any question. Not even what you
should do after coming out. Don't ask me how you will study, with no
professors to teach, no buildings to shelter.  f you have the
nerves, go back to your homes. The home is your University then. If
you can become more respectful and more truthful there, your home is
definitely the University for you. But if you wish to have something
that can match these temples ( pointing his finger at the University
buildings ), you will fall from virtue. Your soul is fallen, if you
have an infatuation for these temples there any common ground
between our houses and these imposing temples ? In England there
is-to some extent-but not even that here. In India such edifices are
made simply from looted money. The slave cannot even pray to God
undisturbed. But it is possible for you to win your physical, mental
and spiritual freedom right today. That student has already won all
these three freedoms in whom the faith arises that, if he only
chanted the mantra of Narayan, remembered Rama after leaving this
institution, that itself would be a great education. If I can instil
this indomitable faith in India's students, I can raise a Swaraj
army from them. I say that there is no other course open to you
except to give up these colleges, so long as the Empire breathes its
influence on this institution directly or indirectly. But if you
have not gained that self-confidence, you better continue where you
are.

                        Unconditional Exodus

     Two hundred students have resolved to leave this institution
and I feel worried. I am not unhappy over their vow, but I am
concerned lest they have little faith in themselves. It is a
delusion you are cherishing, if you think that Gandhi is a conjurer
and, on his coming, he will create a national college for you. In
that






I would say, not to start a venture (owing to the recognition of
one's limitations) is the first sign of intelligence,1 for you. If
you leave this college without thinking that much, it is I who will
fall into sin. All that I tell you is this : After leaving the
college sit quietly at home. Save yourself from this raging fire. If
you have faith in yourselves, you will be able to create a college
right today. But, as Pandit Jawaharlal has declared,-and so has
Mohammed Ali at Aligarh-you must leave this University without any
mental reservations and pre-conditions. Leave it only if at any cost
you must, and in your own personal interest. Otherwise, it is best
you returned. And if you are ever going to return, please don't
leave it at all. Our country is not ours, if we do not follow the
behests of our ( national ) dharma. Don't forget that in speaking to
you, I am addressing your higher self, your ancient cultural
heritage. Let me repeat again that, if there lingers in your mind
even a trace of doubt, you must follow only Malaviyaji. He has cut
down the span of his life in his Herculean effort to build up this
University. But if it is as clear as daylight to your soul that it
is a sin to remain here, you may bid it a good-bye. 'When the son
attains the age of sixteen, he must be treated like a friend'-so
says our Shastra : And as you are above sixteen, I have the right to
tell you what I have done. I have given this selfsame kind of
education to my sons and I have not done them any harm. And now at
the end, this is my prayer for you : "May Kashivishvanath ( The Lord
of the World at Kashi ) instil in you purity, courage, the power of
performing austerities and all the other necessary ingredients for
your step !"

                     Speech at the College Hall

     This speech was delivered on the University campus, but
Panditji insisted on Gandhiji discoursing t the students from
_______________

    1. Reference to a Sanskrit verse which adds in the second line
that the second sign of intelligence is to bring every hazard to its
proper end, if once it is begun.

               ''?ã¶ããÀ½¼ããñ ½ã¶ãìÓ¾ãã¥ããâ ¹ãÆ©ã½ãâ ºãìãä®Êãàã¥ã½ãá
               ý
               ?ããÀ½¼ãÔ¾ãã綦ãØã½ã¶ãâ ãä´¦ããè¾ãâ ºãìãä®Êãàã¥ã½ãá
               ýý'






the same platform from where Panditji himself had done. So the next
day Gandhiji agreed to speak to the students at the spacious hall of
the College itself. Panditji as well as all the professors and
others were present. I will drop here those portions which were a
repetition of his preceding speech. Gandhiji began his speech with
the comparison of the work that faced him at Aligarh and Benares :

    "As I am sitting here, I remember the scene I witnessed at
Aligarh. When I went there and talked to the students, I said what I
wanted to say at the Hall there. I was quite aware of the great
responsibility that lay on my shoulders then. I was aware that that
was an old institution, older than this. I was aware that the
students of that institution loved it dearly and that a great Muslim
was its creator. And yet I summoned up courage to have my full say.
None the less, my heart was shedding silent tears and feeling amazed
at what I was doing. At the sight of these magnificent buildings
around me my heart is weeping today also. It is crying even more
bitterly, since the soul of this institution is revered Panditji,
whom I have looked up to as my respected elder brother. It was a
habit with me not to take any step without taking his advice. I used
to cherish the aspiration that in India I would spend ;my life in
his company. That is the relationship between us. The situation at
Aligarah was different. I do not even know who is all in all there.
And I tremble at the fear lest, while I am sitting in this
University hall, something comes out of my lips that causes pain to
my respected elder brother. But my dharma teaches me that I must
part from the object of my deepest love, when the occasion demands
that I should speak out what appears to my conscience as my dharma.
This very thing I am doing today. But let me assure you that despite
our serious difference of views, my reverence for Panditji will not
be a whit less than before. In the same way even if you accept my
advice, you will, I hope, retain the same reverence you have for him
now.

              N. C. O. : Not for Lapse into Indolence

     "My heart testifies that Panditji has been doing what he does






as a matter of religious duty. It is, therefore, impossible for our
friendship to cool down the slightest. Similarly, I wish, your
reverence for Panditji and the professors continues to be as great
as now. And don't imagine that your patriotism or your intelligence
is greater than theirs. What happens to be is nothing more than a
difference of views. India can become free this very day, if all the
men and women of India become of one mind. But every country that
has fought for freedom has had the experience of such differences of
views. It could become independent only after crossing all these
difficulties. Our country also cannot be free without undergoing
those same trials and tribulations, which these countries had to
pass through. I ask you not to lapse from your modesty, your
politeness and your humility; don't look down upon those who remain
in the college and don't harass them. Behave in such a way as would
drive out the fears and doubts which our honoured elders have for
you. You will get only their blessings, and nothing less, if, after
coming out of the College, you are more religious in thought and act
than before. It will pain their souls as well as mine, if, leaving
the College thoughtlessly, you advance only your own interest,
become hypocrites, or addicts to bad habits and give up your dharma
of service to others. If you are open to anybody's advice, take only
that of Panditji. But if there remains for you no need to consult
anybody and you are resolved in the matter, if your heart
insistently cries out that it is your duty to non-cooperate, then
do get out of the institution without any hesitation. And when you
come out, don't fail to take Panditji's blessings. He will not try
to detain you for a minute."

                    Why Not My Own Emigration ?

     After declaring further that he was appealing for
non-cooperation, not because the present system of education is
very defective but because to accept any charity, be it of gold or
education, from the hands of a wicked man in morally bad. Gandhiji
said :

    "I would definitely leave this Empire, but if I did so, I feel






I cannot give to India message I want to deliver. That is the only
reason why, even under this intolerable situation, I manage to live
on in India. As Tulsidasji has spoken in no uncertain terms about
the wickedness of Ravanaraj, so am I saying with equal emphasis that
this is for us nothing but Ravanaraj. The one question I am asking
myself, --- the one object for which I chant my mantra every hour and
every minute of my life-is how to mend or end this Empire. That is
the one and only object that keeps me tied to this land."

                  Sacrifice Even Higher Education

     Asking the students to give up their present education, whether
they can learn anywhere else or not, Gandhiji again said, "Leave
your College only if a strong aversion against the ruling conditions
--- the like of mine --- has arisen in your mind, only if you are convinced
that it is your duty to sacrifice, without any hesitation, even your
body for the cause of freedom. Even if this College provides you
with education and personal facilities of the highest type, a
sacrifice of even these amentities is now necessary for the good of
India.

                   Self-restraint and Politeness

     "Non-cooperation means the dharma of self-restraint at its
highest. You can't be a non-cooperator if you are intolerant. As
for your duty towards parents, I may only say that if you have
resolved on non-cooperation, approach them with deep respect, plead
with them with great politeness and if the talk shakes your resolve,
you must definitely obey your parents. In every one of your acts I
expect you to be courteous and to follow your dharma. You will be
committing a breach of that very oath, after taking which you leave
the College, if you discard your dharma. The first lesson you must,
therefore, learn is that of being respectful. And you will have to
undergo heavy sacrifices. I call them 'heavy', because our miserable
condition has made us cowards and renunciation of the means of
livelihood is also a 'heavy' sacrifice."






    "In conclusion let me repeat again and again that only after
discussing the matter with those professors in whom you have faith
and with Malaviyaji and after getting their blessings you may leave
the College."

                        Panditji Malaviyaji

    Panditji then got up. He said,

    "I hope, you will ponder with faith and devotion upon every word
of the solemn soul-stirring exhortation you have heard just now and
then come to a decision. The question that faces you is this : If,
from the acts of the British Government, you feel that it is painful
to live in that land or that institution which has any connection
with that Government, then give up the contact by all means. There
is no dharma for man higher than obedience to the voice of one's
conscience. But do not do anything in excitement, in haste or
without due deliberation. If your conscience is uneasy about your
stay here, you must definitely obey its mandate and leave. But do
what you think best only after carefully reflecting over the sacred
sermon you have just now heard and the hard tests it has posed. This
Empire is tainted with countless ills. The other day, during the
lecture I gave you for hours together, I had harped upon the same
thing, viz., there are no two opinions about these ills. Let me tell
you, you have learned nothing here, if, after completing this
education or leaving it just now, the urge to sacrifice your very
life for the country does not arise in you. I wish our students
continued their education here for the one object of establishing
Swaraj in the country, of dedicating their wealth, their body and
their mind to national service. But if you are convinced at heart,
that your dharma to get education here no longer obtains, you may go
to your parents and tell them what you feel. If their dissuasion
fails to change your conviction, bow down to them and take your
leave. If the father is like Hiranyakashipu, you must do exactly as
Prahlad did. If you have the light that had illumined Prahlad's
heart, you, too, may certainly disregard your parents' advice
respectfully and disobey them. If that disobedience entails






any sin, I will willingly share it. The one thing I want to impress
upon you is this. Only then you may leave the institution, when you
can sufficiently steel your heart to make the grim resolve to get
out at any cost. And be determined never to return, if once you
leave it. Don't leave this college with the impetuousity of a raw
sannyasi. I will definitely give you my blessings, if you leave this
college with the single purpose of serving the country. May God
grant you intelligence, spirit of adventure and firmness in order to
enable you to be true servants of the country."

    I will close this letter with the expression of my desire that
every Indian students should treasure in his heart this sublime
sermon. The students of Benares are now thinking what they should
do. Professor ( J. B. ) Kripalani has resigned from the College and
has become their adviser. Babu Shivaprasad and Babu Bhagwandasji
also are helping them. There is no doubt about the happy outcome of
these efforts.

                      Dialogue with Professors

     The professors of the Hindu University had arranged a dia-logue
with Gandhiji at the Central Hindu College. He prefaced his speech
with these remarks : "I wish we had a heart-to-heart talk here. I
know there is a sharp division of opinion in the matter of advising
students to leave their colleges. It has been charged against me
that after my failure to appeal to the intellect of the country, I
have entered upon this wild cat scheme. The second charge against me
is that my temperament is so frail, that, after arriving at a
certain decision, I am not open to correction. I will say only one
thing in reply. I have not embar-ked upon this scheme in haste or
anger or even righteous indignation. In my letter to the Viceroy I
had given a warning of serious consequences for the breach of
promises given to Islam. There was another warning also that
declaration of grief alone was not sufficient. I have also told in
my letter to the Viceroy that a case had been made out for the use
of the sword. But India is incapable of wielding the sword. I found
non-co-






operation to be the only alternative and which in the detail I have
placed before the country.

    The student problem has come into prominence. The poor response
of professors and teachers has been an eye-opener. I have not been
able to find any cogent reasons for it except the atmosphere in
which we were born and the very system of education which has made
us incapable of the sacrifice required for the country and for
revolutionising India's opinion.

    There is nothing that I can see in our mental constitution which
should debar us from having Swaraj today. No nation has had to go
through a period of tutelage for winning freedom. In many instances
the sword has decided the issue, for example, in the Boer War. In
India either the sword will revolutionise opinion or
non-cooperation, not any other method. I have come here to take
notes with you, to be mercilessly challenged by you. I am not going
to advance any argument for non-cooperation in education.

    ( The following dialogue then took place-)

    Q : Does your programme mean non-cooperation ire-spective of
the fact whether we are prepared to give them any other education ?

    Bapuji : It is certainly not a sine qua non and I think that
this self-denying ordinance is a sine qua non and to be infinitely
preferred to the literary education that the students receive today.
We would be able to finance the education suited to the needs of the
country in an easier manner than the top-heavy education system
obtaining today. But we have to be confronted with a mad career of
repression. When the country responds to the repression fittingly,
we would have Swaraj in a month.

    Anandshankar Dhruva : Will this sacrifice help in main-taining
Swaraj ?

    Bapuji : It will certainly help in winning Swaraj. We are
engaged in a battle with a brave nation. My idea of the future is
that the English are an ultimately sane nation and they will seek
our cooperation. I don't for a moment believe that there will be
complete sundering.






    Q : But what about the intellectual hiatus ?

    Bapuji : This is a programme capable of being worked out in a
year or two. If you open my heart, I read Swaraj in one year.

    Anandshankar : There is a genuine difference in this forecast.
The war will have to last much longer.

    Bapuji : Then you will have to be prepared for sacrifices all
the greater. But I see a ray of hope if the educated class is
converted to my view. It is only the educated class which is
hindering the work.

    Anandshankar : We will serve better by doing what we are doing (
educational work in the Hindu University ) here.

    Chhabalani : The habit of not working together is an age-old one
and that has made us a prey to the foreigner. All the good this
British despotism has done by way of national conscious-ness will be
gone. Education, elementary education, is even necessary for
understanding of the orders of the Field Marshall.

    Bapuji : I am not striving for a monarchy of the type of Akbar.
India may present a large problem than any other country. The
question is whether the country has got that political
consciousness. And it is asserting itself in an astounding manner.
The demonstration all over the country is not a matter of personal
equation. Supposing I lead an anti-vaccination campaign. Do you
think I could command an audience ? But the reason why the people
flock to me is that they are filled with hope and a consciousness of
the wrong. We would be grievously erring if we place before the
country a programme of the three R's before we can conceive Swaraj.
Primary education is not indispensable for the awakening of national
consciousness. A few more Jallianwala Baghs and you will see the
nation free. To say that non cooperation is a process of
destruction is to caricature it. Literacy is not necessary either
for political consciousness or parliamentary government.

    Chhabalani : We are known for the unparliamentary attitude of
the mind.






    Bapuji : My reading of the masses tells me that they are trained
arliamentarians. Sir Henry Maine bears me out. There is my personal
experience also. Where they are deeply interested, you will find
them taking part as much as the English in the boxing matches.

    Sheshadri : Conscience test is dangerous. 'No man should act
according to his conscience, if it be that of an ass', says Ruskin.
The Spanish tyrants and Aurangzeb claimed to follow the voice of
conscience. The boys cannot be expected to have that divine
conscience capable of judging between right and wrong.

    Bapuji : I certainly share the feeling in connection with the
appeal to individual conscience and I am most grateful for your
caution. I fully realize the tremendous responsibility that lies on
my shoulders. But I have to steer clear of the greater danger today;
that is, being brought up in a certain atmosphere, we find it
difficult to wriggle out of it. In spite of the bad examples quoted,
we have equally good examples of good lads having used their
conscience for the good of mankind. I would say that I would
tolerate examples of one thousand errors, if I can get one clear
example of a boy having used his conscience aright. Without that it
would be impossible to do anything in this priest-ridden and
authority-ridden land.

    Am I not to teach the youth of this country that it is a sin to
regard anybody as an untouchable ? Am I not to teach the youth that
if the parents are drunkards, they are to resist the authority of
the parents, if they placed a cup of wine before them ? I appeal,
however, to the conscience not of an ass, but to a disciplined
conscience. I try to place the truth unadulterated before the
students and I have discharged my duty. With some of them the wish
may be father to the thought and if such vagrant students hail this
talk of boycott of schools, the fault does not lie with me. I would
risk the students' youth running riot, rather than crush its budding
enthusiasm.

    Anandshankar : That means judgment instead of conscience.
Self-restraint and politeness and a spiritual attitude in life.






    Bapuji : Yes.

    Sheshadri : Ram Ram Ram ! You didn't mean it literally ? The
sooner we try to be more material, the greater will be the hope of
our salvation.

    Bapuji : I was speaking to a number of young men full of zeal
and enthusiasm. They had laid aside the religious culture of the
country and become athiests and scoffers. Speaking to them and
knowing that their religious sense had been fully starved, I told
them if they had nothing to do they should utter these words from
the heart : 'Seek ye the kingdom of God and everything shall be
added unto you.'

    Sheshadri : Any kind of association is bad. Why don't you preach
leaving the country for good ? Why do you use stamps, telegrams,
coins and such other things ? On that principle do you draw the line
somewhere ? Why don't you proceed logically ?

    Bapuji : Whilst my logical nature recognises the inexorable
nature of the logic just cited before me, I realize the limitations
of human nature and feel that my country is not able to go the whole
hog. Nor is it even necessary. Through the non-cooperation
programme the country denies itself the use of only those things
which are the most visible signs of degradation. Stamps etc. don't
come in among them. The coil of Satan has so wound itself round us,
that it is impossible for us to extricate ourselves completely.

    Adhikari : Do you seek to get any work by means of undisciplined
men ? You are beginning at the wrong end. I have been teaching them
for the last twentyfour years. They will raise a guillotine to kill
you one day, Sir.

    Bapuji : If they were an undisciplined rabble, it is a sad
commentary on the present system of education. I know I am running
big risks. But surely, you are not going to win a big battle by
running away from big risks. I say that even that state is
infinitely better than the present. I am getting impatient, I
confess. But to save myself I have adopted the least risky of the
methods. The students are good at heart and they would take time
before they are disciplined.






    Anandshankar : What makes you think that this education has been
a failure ?

    Bapuji : I am not quarreling with the system of education. My
fight is against the domination of the mind. This education has
produced vacant minds and manufactured servants for the Government.
It has produced Malaviyaji and Nehru ( Motilal Nehru ), but these
are not because of this education, but in spite of it. If our
education were healthy, we would have had better results. I do not
know of any educated class in any part of the world which is so
enervated and unmanly as our educated class. It is like the coil of
the snake which has taken the lifeblood itself.

    Anandshankar : Is it intellectual domination you talk of or
administrative domination ? The helpless of the educated is not on
account of the system, but of the intellectual poverty of our
people.

    Bapuji : The products of our universities have become
nincompoops. The poverty of the mind has been produced by an
erroneous education imparted through a foreign medium. Our educated
men are the blotting sheets of Eurpoean civilisation.

    Anandshankar : Then change the medium.

    Bapuji : I will. But I have given only the chief cause. Not only
have we suffered from intellectual poverty, there is no
correspondence between the needs of the country and the education
given. 80% of the people need be agriculturists. But that subject
does not occur in any curriculum of our universities. We have no
religious education worth the name. You cannot have true education
in any country where the soul is starved. That is why I only say,
'Get out of this domination. Get out of this mark of the beast.'

    Anandshankar : Then you come forward as an educational reformer,
rather than as a non-cooperationist.

    Bapuji : But today my purpose is higher. I want the nation to be
free from this enslaving atmosphere.

    Telang : When you speak of 'slave-mentality', you are laying too
much stress on what is the portrait of the moment and not






looking at it historically. When you speak of parliamentary
institutions in India, you overlook that they were not on the
national scale at all. The idea of 'national democratic government'
has come from the West. If we cut off the contact with the West just
now, when we are beginning to imbibe the idea, we shall reel back to
the period of benevolent despotism. What is necessary is to improve
the education. I, for one, think that the Hindu University and the
Aligarh University --- with all their sins on their heads --- are exactly
the institutions that we want.

    Bapuji : These institutions are retarding national progress
today. I wish, both these institutions become purer. I have no
quarrel with the West. I detest Western civilization, but
condemnation of all that is West is totally different. I have given
ample recognition to the scientific spirit of the West, its
accuracy, its relentless search after truth. But my quarrel centres
round the present system of Government and I should destroy the
system. I have no quarrel with learning many a lesson of the West. I
want a meeting ground. I am quarreling with Kipling's1 teaching. But
today there is really no meeting ground. A perpetual quarrel between
East and West is out of the question. If anything can bring them
together it is non-cooperation, which is essentially a cleansing
process. I want you to understand the distinction between what I am
aiming at and what is imputed to me. I am certainly not instilling
hatred into the minds of the people. I am certainly bringing to the
surface all the bad feelings lying unexpressed in the public mind,
but that also for purification. I may tell you that many an
Englishman testifies that I am doing that process of purification
and now the country is rivetting its attention more and more on the
purity of means and on reform from within. This scheme of
non-cooperation contains so many automatic checks and so many
safety-valves, that it will not lead to an explosion. I am sorry I
have opposed one whom I revere. If

_______________
    1. Reference to the well-known liness of Rudyard Kipling:
         "East is East and West is West
         And never the twain shall meet."






I could have saved Panditji his pangs, and my pangs I should have done
so. Say what you will, claim for yourself all the liberties, but the
fact is, the hand that holds you is hidden. It is the velvet glove
which hides it. I cannot possibly tolerate the crushing weight of this
domination.1
                                                             28-11-'20

    Met the Gujaratis in Benares.

    My invaluable meeting with a great soul-Babu Satish Mukherjee.
Left for Allahabad by the night train.

    Talked about Mukherjee in the train. Babu wrote letters to Devdas,
Deepak, Saraladevi, Harkishanlal and Maganlal. He prepared a
translation of his favourite hymn with its analysis.
                            Vaishnavajana

              ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã  ?ã¶ã  ¦ããñ  ¦ãñ¶ãñ  ?ã?ãäÖ¾ãñ, ?ãñ  ¹ããè¡  ¹
              ãÀã?à  ?ãã¥ãñ  Àññ,
              ¹ãÀª:?ãñ  ?¹ã?ã?ãÀ  ?ã?Àñ  ¦ããñ¾ãñ,  ?À  ?ããä¼ã½ãã¶ã
              ¶ã  ?ãã¥ãñ  Àñ ã ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã 0
              Ôã?ã?Êã  Êããñ?ã?½ããâ  ÔãÖì¶ãñ  Ì㶪ñ, ãä¶ã¶ªã  ¶ã  ?ã?
              Àñ  ?ã?ñ¶ããè  Àñ,
              ÌããÞã  ?ã?ã?  ½ã¶ã  ãä¶ãÑÞãÊã  Àã?ãñ,  £ã¶ã-£ã¶ã  ?ã¶ã
              ¶ããè  ¦ãñ¶ããè  Àñ ã ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã 0
              Ôã½ã³ãäÓ?  ¶ãñ  ¦ãðÓ¥ãã  ¦¾ããØããè, ¹ãÀÔ¨ããè  ?ãñ¶ãñ  ½
              ãã¦ã  Àññ,
              ãä?ãÛ ã  ©ã?ã?ãè  ?ãÔã¦¾ã  ¶ã  ºããñÊãñ  ¹ãÀ£ã¶ã  ¶ãÌã
               ¼ã?ãÊãñ  Öã©ã  Àñ ã ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã 0
              ½ããñÖ  ½ãã¾ãã  Ì¾ãã¹ãñ  ¶ãÖãé  ?ãñ¶ãñ, ³¤  ÌãõÀãØ¾ã  ?
              ãñ¶ãã ½ã¶ã½ããú  Àñ,
              Àã½ã¶ãã½ã  Íãìâ  ¦ããÊããè  ÊããØããè, Ôã?ã?Êã  ¦ããèÀ©ã  ¦
              ãñ¶ãã  ¦ã¶ã½ããú  Àñ ã ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã 0
              Ìã¥ãÊããñ¼ããè¶ãñ  ?ã?¹ã?-ÀãäÖ¦ã  ?ñ, ?ã?ã½ã-?ã?ãñ£ã  ãä
              ¶ãÌãã¾ããà  Àñ,
              ¼ã¥ãñ  ' ¶ãÀÔãõ¾ããñ ' ¦ãñ¶ãìâ  ªÍãÃ¶ã  ?ã?À¦ããâ, ?ãì?
              Êã  ??ã?ãñ¦ãñÀ  ¦ãã¾ããÄ  Àñ ã ÌãõÓ¥ãÌã 0

    ( A new translation has been given below, as Gandhiji's
translation could not be traced-Translator. )
                              He is a Vaishnava, and none else,
                              Who in virtue ever excels;

_______________
    1. Mahadevbhai took down long-hand notes of this dialogue, which
were, therefore, hastily written and rather scrappy. It is possible
that in the reproduction of the arguments there may be some
misrepresentation. I must, therefore, offer my apology. But as the
dialogue is at once instructive and interesting, I have ventured to
reproduce it ( in Gujarati ) as best I could.
    The translator has tried to be as faithful as possible to the
original notes, taken down in English, in the Diary itself.
                                                              -Editor.






                              Who feels, as his, another's grief
                              And wipes the tear and brings relief.
                              He, yet, with pride doth never swell;
                              Humility true in him doth dwell.
                              In praises free, in scandal untrained,
                              In body, mind and speech restrained.
                              Not his the eye that lusts,
desire-free,
                              With equal love the world doth see.
                              Others' wealth he does not crave,
                              Speak truth in temptations grave.
                              No craze, no spell, disturb his peace;
                              Renunciation firm is his.
                              In tune with God, himself the sage
                              Becomes a place of pilgrimage.
                              Is crooked wiles and greed without;
                              Anger and lust are all thrown out.
                              Hail, mother ! thou who gave him birth
                              And brought up a son of glorious
worth.
                              The holy sight of such a sage,
                              Says Narsinh, saves our whole lineage.

    From the qualities of a Vaishnava which Narsinh Mehta1 has
enumerated here, we find that :

                              1. He is a good Samaritan;
                              2. Is free from pride never the less;
                              3. Respects and praises all;
                              4. Slanders none;
                              5. Is restrained in speech;
                              6. Is restrained in mind;
                              7. Is restrained in body;
                              8. Loves all equally;

_______________
    1. Father of modern Gujarati poetry who flourished in the 16th
century and was a devout 'Vaishnava' himself. Vaishnava=follower of
Lord Vishnu, who does not mean merely one of the Trinity --- the
Preserver. Apte's Dic- tionary gives the 'popular' derivation of the
word as meaning the One Supreme.






                                9. Is, hence, free from desire;
                              10. Is a loyal husband;
                              11. Is truthful;
                              12. Does not covet other's wealth;
                              13. Is beyond infatuation;
                              14. IS filled with the spirit of
renunciation;
                              15. Is in tune with God;
                              16. Is, therefore, saintly;
                              17. Is free from greed;
                              18. Is free from wiles;
                              19. Is free from lust;
                              20. Is free from anger.

    Letter to Lal Harkishenlal ( a Moderate leader ) :

    "Your letter has followed me in my travels. If your prove a true
prophet the blame will be partly yours also. You many not sit still
and let the roots of violence sprout and say : Behold ! what I said
has proved true.' But whether you prove a true prophet or false,
non-cooperation has to go on till it stops by the weight of its own
violence. Therefore, you are expected to strain every nerve to
falsify your prophecy.

    "The demand regarding Khilafat is : Restore to Turkey what was
hers at the time of the War with completest safeguards for the
self-determination of Arabs and the Armenians. Regarding the Punjab,
full reparation in accordance with the demands of the Punjab. This
should be followed by complete Swaraj in accordance with the wishes
of only chosen leaders of the people. You will see this suggestion
in my letter to every Englishman."

A portion of a letter to Saraladevi :

    "Deepak asks for being relieved from English studies for the
time being. I honour the boy for it. If you do not even mentally
resist I would like to let Deepak have his way. I will see to it
that some day he learns English. But I assure you he will lose
nothing by omitting English for the time being. Do you know that
when a boy has acquired linguistic talent and has






mastered the science of language, it is an easy thing for him to
learn a new language ? Thus did Max Muller learn sixteen languages.
When you have mastered the science, you have only to memorize a few
hundred root words and yiou know your language. Do, therefore,
please give me your willing consent. Deepak is a great and noble
boy. I would not force him in the matter of learning or anything
else, so long as he remains busy and trains himself to think. Please
tax yourself and give me your true decision. Remember it is ever
safe to trust one's children's teacher. Take all the precautions you
like about your choice; but having made it leave the training to the
teacher.

    "I had a nice time in Benares. What the outcome will be I do not
know. The atmosphere is certainly clear and Malaviyaji is calmer if
not entirely calm."

Letter to Deepak :

    "I will write to you henceforth in Gujarati only. I had your
letter. I have asked for Mother's opinion whether you should give up
studying English at present. There will be no harm in leaving the
study of English now, if you become a real student. Take care of all
the three-your body, your mind and your soul, For the body, physical
exercise, healthy jokes, good food and cheerful temperament. For the
mind, reading and reflection. For the soul, a pure heart; and for
this, early rising, deliberate effort to get absorbed in prayers and
the study of the Gita. Everyday you must say to yourself : "Only the
truth I will speak, meditate on and act. I will love all. I will
gain control over all my senses. I will not cast a covetous glance
at anything belonging to another. I will regard nothing as my own,
but will dedicate my all to God." Such contemplation will purify the
heart."

    An extract from the letter to Devadas :

    "Spent two full days at Kashi. Had fairly good experiences. I
had no fear of a bitterness arising with Panditji (Malaviyaji).
Others might have some doubt, but even that must have been
dissolved. Had long talks with students. Now we have to






mastered the science of language, it is an easy thing for him to
learn a new language ? Thus did Max Muller learn sixteen languages.
When you have mastered the science, you have only to memorize a few
hundred root words and yiou know your language. Do, therefore,
please give me your willing consent. Deepak is a great and noble
boy. I would not force him in the matter of learning or anything
else, so long as he remains busy and trains himself to think. Please
tax yourself and give me your true decision. Remember it is ever
safe to trust one's children's teacher. Take all the precautions you
like about your choice; but having made it leave the training to the
teacher.

    "I had a nice time in Benares. What the outcome will be I do not
know. The atmosphere is certainly clear and Malaviyaji is calmer if
not entirely calm."

Letter to Deepak :

    "I will write to you henceforth in Gujarati only. I had your
letter. I have asked for Mother's opinion whether you should give up
studying English at present. There will be no harm in leaving the
study of English now, if you become a real student. Take care of all
the three-your body, your mind and your soul, For the body, physical
exercise, healthy jokes, good food and cheerful temperament. For the
mind, reading and reflection. For the soul, a pure heart; and for
this, early rising, deliberate effort to get absorbed in prayers and
the study of the Gita. Everyday you must say to yourself : "Only the
truth I will speak, meditate on and act. I will love all. I will
gain control over all my senses. I will not cast a covetous glance
at anything belonging to another. I will regard nothing as my own,
but will dedicate my all to God." Such contemplation will purify the
heart."

    An extract from the letter to Devadas :

    "Spent two full days at Kashi. Had fairly good experiences. I
had no fear of a bitterness arising with Panditji (Malaviyaji).
Others might have some doubt, but even that must have been
dissolved. Had long talks with students. Now we have to






for the last week, it remains empty. I am unable to express in
words, the pain all this news has given me. These events are, to me,
a clear sign of our slavery. That man becomes a beast, a coward, who
dishonours a solemn pledge. After coming from England and staying in
Bombay for a short while, Lord Willingdon, giving an account of his
Indian experience, declared that in India he did not meet with a
single Hindu or Muslim who had the courage to say 'No'. That charge
holds good still. We look at the man opposite, sense from his face
what he expects from us, whether 'yes' or 'no', and say what pleases
him. But here, I cannot get Panditji's daughter, a kid of three or
four, do anything against her will. I tell her, "Sit on my lap", and
pat. She says, "No". I ask her, "Will you wear Khadi ?" and out
comes "No." We do not possess the strength of even this little baby.
A great man has stated that we shall have to be like children, if we
want to ascend to heaven. To be like children is to have the courage
and innocence of the child. Edwin Arnold1 has given an excellent
exposition on the innocence of a child. It catches a scorpion, even
a snake, and thrusts its hand in fire, but without the least
consciousness of fear. You must cultivate that freedom from fear. It
is because you have lost your faith in God that you are a prey to
fear.

    "Often I cry to myself, 'O, for a flight from India or freedom
for her !' Freedom means nothing else than the capacity to speak out
or act according to our conviction without fear or favour. That is
the boy with true courage who says his say in face of a million men.
So the first lesson for you is to learn to say, 'No'. It is far
better you did not take a vow at all. But I call it a seri-ous
crime, if you took a vow and then violated it. If you have got the
highest education, acquired imposing degrees, but are easily prone
to break your vow, I will say, "Better drown your-self in the Jamuna
nearby." You may perhaps defend yourself on the ground that your
heart said one thing and you acted accord-

_______________
    1. A great English poet and Sanskrit scholar celebrated for his
"Song Celestial" and "Light of Asia", translations in verse form of
Bhagwadgita and Buddha-charita.






ingly and it then said something else which, too, you followed. But
the answer is, 'You should not then take a vow at all'. Our
scriptures say, "If you take a vow, die for it." And these
injunctions were proved true by Raidas1, and Harishchandra2 who had
served a Bhangi's home ( the lowest cast among even the
'untouchables' ). How can you forget that you are children of these
spiritual heroes ? True, one can definitely break a vow taken to
tell a lie or commit debauchery, because the man only raises himself
by the breach. But a vow for renouncing something can never be
retracted. If a Hindu takes a vow to abjure cow's flesh or a Muslim
wine or pork, he should refuse to take those things even in illness,
despite the danger of impending death or the strong pressure of a
doctor. Only to that man who has, at the cost of life itself,
refused to take the forbidden food and remained loyal to his vow,
will the Lord say, when he is carried to heaven, 'You are verily a
lion's cub.'

    "In all religions of the world, there is this strictness of
injunctions about a vow. You cannot tell a lie to save a man or even
a whole town, if you have taken a vow to speak the truth. I must --- I
have to --- show in some way or other how deeply pained I am at the
scant respect shown to the vow. I may manage to understand a
decrepit old man going back on his word. I am an old man and it is
possible I may err; but you ? You are in the bloom of youth, new
blood courses through your veins; how can I forgive you ? In this
context I cannot help giving you a bit of my experience, even at the
risk of irrelevancy. Under the shade of a tree on the bank of the
river Sabarmati, thousands of mill-workers, invoking the presence of
God, took a solemn pledge at Ahmedabad two years ago not to resume
work till their demands were granted. They held on for twenty days,
but then I sensed that they were on the point of lapsing from the
vow. I told them, "If you fall, I too will end my life by fasting.
Had you not taken the vow, it would not have mattered much.

_______________
    1. A mediaeval 'untouchable' saint, who nevertheless received
homage from the high and mighty. His hymns have earned immortality.
    2. To keep his promise of charity, he sold himself to a
low-caste man.






But I can't bear your taking a vow and then breaking it." The
workers began to weep, fell at my feet and appealed to me to give up
the fast, saying, "We will make our bread by physical labour, but
will not return to work." I had thus to take a vow of fasting to
save them from a moral fall. Don't be more indisciplined than even
those mill-workers. Don't have less faith in God than even they had.
Give up the slavery of man and accept that of God. If you want to
destroy this Empire, you will have to free yourselves first from
your personal slavery. Not that Swaraj can never be gained if you do
not take a vow, but it is certain to recede from us, if you break a
vow once taken. Muslims are not going to be able to help their
brother-muslims with the aid of students who will not keep their
oath. It, is, therefore my earnest entreaty to you not to take a vow
and, if you once take it, not to give it up even if the heavens
fall. If only a handful among you bind themselves with a pledge,
Swaraj will be ours with the help of those few. There are the
examples of Imam Hasan and Hussein to inspire Muslim students. It is
not the sword but such great fakirs with indomitable resolve who
have sustained Islam. You will not be able to make the country free
as much by taking the M. A. degree or becoming a volunteer of
sevasamiti ( society for service ) or gaining the power to deliver a
harangue on a Congress platform, as by honouring a pledge."

                     This Government and Ravana

     After thus speaking at length on the duty of keeping a vow,
Gandhiji came to his usual subject. In his comparison of British
rule with that of Ravana, he made some improvement : "There is no
difference between this rule and Ravanaraj. If there is any, it is
simply this. In Ravana's heart there may be a grain of pity, a
little less of bad faith. He had even said to Mandodari ( queen
consort ) "Can I be a match for Rama, just because I have ten heads
? You have gone crazy. I know he is an avatar (God's incarnation to
destroy evil ). And I am quite conscious that I have grown so
wicked, that it would be nothing wrong if I die at His hands." But
our Empire has lost all fear of God. It






has not even the consciousness that God is there to destroy it. It
behaves as if it has God in its pocket. Superior airs, abundant
wealth and bad faith-these are its Trinity. European culture is
steeped in Satanism, but the British Empire is the worst even in
that culture. Till yesterday, I thought the British Empire to be
less wicked than all other countries in Europe. But now I am
convinced that there is no Empire that has forgotten God as
completely as the British. I am not going to serve it any more. Not
for a moment can I stay under the aegis of that Empire.

                      Don't Be Greater slaves

     "If you have any doubts about the truth of my statements, if
you don't think the Empire as wicked as I do, you may unhesitatingly
continue to study in your school. But if you agree with me, even the
study of the Gita in this Empire's school is no good for you. The
Government that enslaves us will build palaces for us and teach the
Gita in them, teach us medicine, science, engineering and what not,
but can we study in them ? I say 'no', because all these forms of
learning are drugged with poison, because all that education is only
to bind us down all the more in slavery. We are fighting for dharma,
the Government for adharma (irreligion). How can we take any help
from, or have anything to do with that Government which knows quite
well the crimes of its officers like Sir Michael O'dwyer ( the
Lieut. Governor of the Punjab ) and still defends him, knows the
beastliness of ( General ) Dyer ( of Jallianwala Bagh fame ) and
calls it merely "a grave error of judgment ?" To continue our
contact with it is to be more beastly, is to sink into deeper
slavery.

                  "What is the Provision for Us ?"

     "For God's sake don't ask this question. I don't ask you to
give up Government slavery in order to be slaves under me. If you
intend to be my slaves, I don't know you. If you have not sufficient
strength to earn your livelihood and support your parents by
exerting yourself in every possible way, you must definitely refrain
from leaving your school or college. It is our business to make a
provision for you and we are certainly going






to make it as best we can. The Indian climate is so vitiated that I
should not wonder it professors and teachers consider me a lunatic
and their help you may not get. I do not want help from such people
either. But if you don't get teachers or professors, you may become
your own professor and stand on your own legs. If you think of
coming to us in the hope of getting support and strength from either
myself or Motilalji or Shaukat Ali, you best remain where you are."

    Putting to himself the question, "Whence to bring Satyagrahis
like Prahlad in these days ?" he answered it by narrating incidents
from the life of Swami Dayananda1. Somebody suggested that if
Gandhiji wanted to take real work from the people by showing to them
that a state of war existed, he should provide some excitement to
them. Gandhiji replied, "I do not want to provide any excitement to
anybody. The way you are educated is sufficient excitement for you.
What I want to instil in you is cool courage. What I wish is that
your heart is pure enough to enable you to undergo austerities,
sacrifices." In reply to the complaint that parents did not give
permission, (to leave the school or college), he said, "The fact is,
parents are not stopping their children, but the boys themselves do
not wish to leave, even if the parents ask them to. At the Hindu
University I had asked a hundred or a hundred and fifty boys. They
had told me that the parents not only permitted them, but were even
ready to pay for the expenses. Be that as it may. Whatever some one
else may say, you may leave your institution only if your conscience
told you that it was a sin to continue in it. In case of the
slightest doubt, follow Malaviyaji's advice. I came to India only
five years ago, while he has spent his whole life in the country'
service. Hence I say, if my voice does not tally with the voice of
your conscience, obey Malaviyaji. If it does, you must definitely
reject even Malaviyaji's advice."

    In his short but charming speech Maulana Azad Saheb said two
things : The first that he was crazy about education. Even

_______________
    1. Founder of Arya Samaj (1824?1863). A fearless fighter for
reformed Hinduism. He was the target of vicious attacks from the
orthodox.






during his confinement at Ranchi, he had tried to spread education
and had raised a fund for starting an independent school. Nobody
could, therefore, accuse him of being against education as such. The
second thing, he said, was the fact that the country's good depended
on none others as much as on students. If, at this invaluable
opportunity, the students did not play their part creditably, the
country was never going to extricate itself from its present state.

    After his speech ended, those students who had decided to leave
their institution were asked to form a separate group. 75
collegians, 35 high school students and some girls of the Krosthwait
Girls' High School declared their decision to do so. The next day
Gandhiji had a long talk with all these boys and girls. A list of
those among them, who had no means of livelihood, was then made in
order to provide for them. On the following day Gandhiji opened a
school "Tilak Vidyalaya", for the non-cooperating schoolboys. The
education of non-cooperating collegians lay, he declared, in
keeping patience at present, in regularly attending the Ashram and
in becoming adepts in the art of spinning. Jawaharlal was in the
look out for a building for these students. He must have got it by
now. He has also undertaken to advise them and make other
arrangements for them.

    Left for Patna on the 1st December. I halted at Allahabad for a
while. I could not help breaking down when I had to separate from
Bapu. Meeting with Mrs. Joseph. Bapu reached Patna on the night of
the 1st, while I on the morning of the 2nd.

                                               2-12-'20 to 13-12-'20

        (Mahadevbhai's letter published in the Navajivan is
                      first given here --- Editor)

    It is nine p. m. now. I am writing this letter in the train
going to Calcutta from Bhagalpur. This is the only time when I can
have some quiet. The stream of visitors and public meetings take up
my daytime fully. At every station, even at night, hundreds, nay,
thousands, eager for Bapu's darshan would






always be seen waiting on platforms. One is, therefore, compelled to
keep awake at least during the first half of the night. Not that
people don't come at 2,3 and 4 a. m. but by that time we would be so
exhausted that we would begin to doze and be half-asleep despite
their invasion. But the early hours of our nights in a train are
always a vigil for us. The interval during which the train is in
motion is one of quiet and hence of work.

    Our Bihar tour ends today. Bihar --- Gandhiji's beloved Bihar --- was
yearning to have his darshan for so many months past. Mazharul Haq
Saheb had been bombarding Gandhiji with wires for the last two
months. At last his patience was exhausted and, at the end of the
last month, he finally telegraphed : "You have failed to keep your
word for the second time. If you don't come even now, we shall have
to give up public life and fly away somewhere." Even while Gandhiji
was at Benares, Haq Saheb had come there with an eleven days' tour
programme completely drawn out. The tour had proceeded according to
schedule and is now over. Covering first Arrah, Patna and Chhapra,
Gandhiji went south to Gaya and then north to Muzaffarpur, and
further northward to that Champaran which made Gandhiji's worth
recognised all over India, i. e., to Betia and Motihari. From there
he proceeded eastward to Darbhanga and Samastipur and again down
south on the bank of the Ganges to Monghyr, Jamalpur and Bhagalpur.
Bihar was thus completed in II days. No province can be covered in
that short period, but that shows how speedily the whole work was
done. The people, too, have become politically conscious and they
used to come to Gandhiji's halting town from long distances of forty
and even fifty miles.

                           Boundless Love

     It is impossible to put in language the exuberance of love
which Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali experienced in Bihar. Our train on
the B. N. W. Railway line stopped at all stations and there was not
a single station which was not crowded with hundreds of people at
that time. Even women, who never stir out of their






homes, did not fail to present themselves so that they could see and
hear him. A huge concourse of students would everywhere smother
Gandhiji with their enthusiasm. If at some place a sister would take
off her coral necklace and tell him, "I give this specially for your
wear", at some other, sannyasis would come and leave their rosaries
on his lap. If beautiful sheets handspun and hand-woven cloth, many
yards long, would be presented at one place, at some other places
would turn up a loving villager from the woods, boastful of his
trophy, saying, "Maharaj, ( an address of reverence ) this is my
feat of strength. The tiger was a terror to our people; I am giving
the skin to you." At some places, guns normally used as fog-signals
were fired in his honour. At some others, we came across railway
officers who would not give the green flag, when our train came
within their jurisdiction, in order to have and let others have
Gandhiji's darshan. Not minding the fact that our 'Special' was
certain to pass by them in terrific speed, people were seen at some
places, standing along the railway lines in the distant hope of
having just a glimpse of Gandhiji or at least of making their loud
shouts of "Gandhi-Shaukat Ali-ki-jai", reach his ear. We have met
with even policemen who had the courage to approach Gandhiji to
salute him or touch his hand, and C.I.Ds. also who would plaintively
say, "We have taken to this dirty work for the sake of the sinning
flesh, but please do accept these five rupees."

                Political Colleagues or Sannyasis ?

     The second remarkable experience of the Bihar tour was our
meeting with Gandhiji's and M. (Maulana) Shaukat Ali's colleagues as
great in renunciation as fakirs. As soon as one steps on the
threshold of Bihar, one has the darshan of Mazharul Haq Saheb who
has become a fakir for the cause of Swaraj and Islam. What a world
of difference between his royal style of living two or three years
ago and his present simplicity befitting only a God-mad mystic ! The
man who was ranked among the best lawyers of Bihar has auctioned
away his law books and resolved 'never to drink that poison any more
in this life.' The man who used






to possess the most luxurious motor-car in Patna, now borrows a
friend's car or walks out the distance he wants to cover. He, who
was most particular that there should be not a single wrinkle in his
luxurious suit, now wears hand-spun and hand-woven Khadi from top to
toe and moves about for days together without caring to change his
achkan ( a long coat ) and pyjama. The gentleman who could not have
a wink of sleep without first shaving his face clean, now says, "A
Muslim and no beard ! What a fall !" and is now growing a
silvery-white beard. That Haq Saheb, who, when he went to bed,
rolled on a quilt stuffed with the softest silk till the late hours
of the morning, is now sleeping on a bare mattress spread on the
floor and gets up quite early in the morning to say his prayers. His
palatial building "Sikandar Manzil ( palace )" will lose its
life-spirit from the first of the next month. He will teach
thenceforth students of his own selection in the "Sadakat Ashram"
which he has established on the bank of the Ganges and his wife, who
belongs to the illustrious Tyabji family, will content herself with
70 rupees per month and, with her two sons, stay in her own house
situated in a village.

    Non-cooperation cannot be condemned as a failure, even if it
had produced only this single ascetic. But in this India, the land
of ascetics, there may be many others of his ilk who maintain her
purity to the end of time. When we proceed further on to
Muzaffarpur, we find there Maulvi Mohammad Shafi who has given up
his roaring practice and turned into a fakir from a barrister. His
'Moti-Manzil' is now used for public activities and he himself lives
in a small house. Further on at Monghyr there is Mr. Zuber, a
bar-at-law, who has shut up his shop and burnt his beats since the
first of August. Among Hindu brothers there are besides others the
already well-known names of Babu Rajendraprasad of Patna, Babu
Brjkishoreprasad of Darbhanga and Babu Dharnidharprasad of
Samastipur.

                          Women's Courage

     The third striking feature was the fact of women's meetings all
over Bihar. Haq Saheb remarked that a meeting of women in Bihar was
an unheard of event for many long years past. It






was in his house that the women had gathered; even in the house
there were ( purdahs ) curtains, but through them the women saw
Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali as these two were beyond the purdah code.
And what was their response to the appeal for funds ? Mrs. Haq Saheb
gave away her most valuable four bangles studded with pearls and
rubies. When Haq Saheb came to know of it, his joy knew no bounds.
He remarked, "She does not possess any bangles more costly than the
ones she gave." Somebody queried, "Did she not wince at all, when
she gave away those bangles worth a thousand or fifteen hundred
rupees each ?" Immediately Shaukat Ali Saheb returned, "But she has
given away her heart's beloved lord to the cause ! What is a bangle
before that ?" There were hardly a hundred women at the meeting, but
more than a hundred and fifty rupees were collected on the spot. And
afterwards throughout the three days of our stay a regular stream of
ornaments flowed into Gandhiji's hands, as at Belgaum. This was
Gandhiji's first visit to Patna since Babu Parmeshwarlal's death
last year and he visited the widow. He had gone there simply to
condole the bereaved family. But even there there was a rain of
necklaces belonging to the daughters and wives of the family ! The
response of the women has been quite creditable everywhere, but
today the women at Bhagalpur made a record. There was not the
slightest flaw in the arrangements made at Darbhanga by Babu
Deepnarayansingh --- that enthusiastic patriot born with a silver spoon
in his mouth --- and his highly educated wife. But the women's meeting
organised by them beggars description. Ornaments did not rain; they
simply poured. Diamond rings, pearl and rugby bracelets, gold
necklaces and quite a heap of silver ornaments ! Thousands of women
presented themselves, a fact, by itself, remarkable. The cash
collection at the meeting came to rupees six hundred and fifty.
Delhi, Allahabad, Patna and Bhagalpur ! Will not the women of all
these places instil faith in the hearts of skeptics ?

                          Students' Spirit

     At nearly every place there has been a students' meeting. At
the sight of students, who love him to madness, Gandhiji, who






never fails to keep to the schedule, forgets the time factor,
forgets his meal also and becomes wholly one with them. The
students, too, are more absorbed in listening to this great teacher
than probably they ever were before in their lives. And he speaks
with naked frankness now, "I have had enough of lectur-ing. If ever
you believe that a slave-owner can teach lessons of freedom to his
bondsmen, if you think you can learn freedom in schools conducted by
him, you must not vacate your school." "If you notice a snake coiled
on your quilt, you have but to fly from it, no matter whether you
are supplied with another quilt or not." "You may certainly become
engineers, doctors, scientists, whatever you like to be, but only
after making India free." "If you can't continue your studies for 2
years, your mind, like a field allowed to remain fallow, will yield
a harvest, all the richer in future and, in the interval, there are
these hand-sp-inning and hand-weaving arts which you have got to
learn." "If you have nothing else to learn, there is your Ramayana?
that masterpiece in the exposition of non-cooperation --- for you to
study. Read it, chew the cud and digest it." "Give up your craze for
football and play with clods of earth in your own field." With
numerous charming talks like these, he has captured the hearts of
students, and the results are now coming out. 130 students of the
Engineering College at Patna --- the remaining six or seven are only
waiting for their parents' permission - have left their college.
They filled about 10 trucks with their baggages, started on foot in
a procession from their hostel with posters bearing the words,
"Farewell to the Government college" and passed by another college.
Haq Saheb is already there to advise and guide them. Even
Muzaffarpur College, that castle of 'interned' students is being
breached. After Gandhiji's departure from there 85 students left the
college on the 9th inst. Those 10 or 15 students who had left it
even before Gandhiji's visit are rendering very useful service to
the public. The songs of one of them, Manoranjanprasad, composed
after he left the college, bring tears to the eyes of many a hearer.
The situation at that place is being looked after by Shafi Saheb and
Babus






Brijkishore and Dharnidharprasad. If the students carry on their
work with patience and perseverence, other students in Bihar are
sure to catch their infection.

    The bright side of the picture is now over. Let us turn to that
unhappy land in Bihar, Champaran, where sorrow and oppression have
made their home for years past. After a fight for one year and a
half, Gandhiji released the agriculturists from the clutches of the
planters there and ended an age-long-oppression. It had appeared
that the people imbibed some strength as a result of the fight. But
the fact that the blackest oppression can still flourish in at least
some parts of Champaran was seen with our own eyes, when we visited
a village fourteen miles from Betia. And all this atrocity has
arisen from a petty, street-brawl. A goldsmith was given an order
for an ornament. The man did not give the customer the ordered
article for many months. The customer went to the goldsmith's shop
and refused to leave the premises till he got the ornament. They
come to blows and some blood was shed. One of the two lodged a
complaint. The police added the other's name in the charge-sheet.
When they came to arrest this man some of them were hounded out and
some others were surrounded by the crowd. The police lost their
temper and riding on horses and elephants, invaded the villages as a
measure of reprisal. The poor villagers ran helter-skelter for their
very lives, leaving even their children at home. The policemen and
their hired henchmen broke open barns, rifled the contents of boxes
and trunks, carried away whatever they could and, smashing the
villagers' belongings to pieces, scattering the contents and making
a hash of everything in the village, even pursued the women fleeing
in deadly peril. One of them was unclothed, robbed of her wear and
covered with dust. Another who had gone out to ease herself was
beaten there and even harassed. I give this brief report of the
misdeeds of the Ravanasena (Ravana's army) from the attestations?
which were thoroughly checked by cross-examination --- given to us, when
Gandhiji, Shaukat Ali and I visited those three villages, Phulvania,
Sisvania and Sedha. Haq






Saheb is preparing a report from his separate inquiry into the
outrage. The Government also, is preparing a report to prove that
all these facts are cooked-up. How can any man, if he is a human
being and has seen the streaming, red eyes of these villagers who
have lost their all, say that the still visible signs of the ravage
are all faked ? But did not even ( General ) Dyer come from the
human species ?

    The speech that Gandhiji delivered on his return to Betia after
giving consolation to those villagers is worth verbatim
reproduction. ( I have condensed some portion, but have shown this
whole report to Gandhiji ) :

                          Speech at Betia

     "Champaran is not a strange place for me. Whenever I come to
Champaran, it strikes me that, in the whole of India, Champaran is
my birth-place and feel the sorrows of the people here as my own.
Though I come here after two years, I tell you I have never
forgotten your troubles. I have always remembered your sorrows, i.
e. my sorrows, and have never failed to do something for your
relief. But it is bound to be less than what you can do for
yourselves. Hence, today I wish to tell you how you can save
yourselves.

    "I am coming here from a visit of the affected villages. I was
already grieved at what I had heard, but after what I saw with my
own eyes my grief knows no limit. I cannot find fault either with
the Government or with the planters for the atrocities that have
been committed this time. I find that the fault lies with our police
officials, their underlings and the villagers. But we will not
secure justice against these people from the law courts. We want the
offenders themselves to do us justice. The police-men are our
brothers. Their duty is to protect, not devour, the public. When I
heard that the local daroga ( Sub-Inspector of Police) and other
policemen went there and perpetrated all these horrors, I felt
exceedingly grieved. Perhaps they will not admit that they have done
all this, but I think that what the villagers told me cannot all be
false. It is the duty of the respectable






persons here to make the police see wisdom. I want to tell all the
policemen present here : 'You are our brothers. You are also the
brothers of the villagers. That is why I tell you, you must draw the
line and never do any dirty work the Government may ask you to do.
If you regard us also as your brothers, you would help us and never
persecute us. If you are the servants of the Government, the
Government, in turn, is our servant and hence, it is by no means
your duty to do any dirty work which the Government orders you to
do'. But in the present instance, the Government, at least never
ordered the police to rob people's houses, to make other villagers
their helpmates in robbery and inflict atrocities on a woman. The
Government is, therefore, not to blame for what has been done in
this case. It is the police themselves, who have, of their own will,
ridden roughshod over the people. The remedy lies in our respected
people making policemen realise that their red turban is meant for
the protec-tion of the people, not for their destruction. I say to
the police, 'Return the property you have looted; and, knowing that
villagers are your own men, you must make them really your own."

    "But, to prevent the repetition of such atrocities there is
another method besides the one of making the policeman see his duty.
I have always been proclaiming that the remedy for all these
afflictions is satyagraha. I have been showing a way to bring about
the end of this Empire and a way that is peaceful never the less.
But while advocating the peaceful method, I never wish that the
Indian ryots become unmanly, dependent on others and incapable of
defending their women. What did the villagers show me ? What did
they tell me ? (Gandhiji here narrated what he saw and heard; I have
already given its substance). What spirit did they show when the
robbers invaded their villages ? They ran away in all direc-tions.
The fact provoked me to ask myself, "Have Indians sunk to such
sickening cowardice that they cannot protect their pro-perty and
their women ? Have we not the strength to defend ourselves even from
thieves ? Can it ever be called satyagraha, if a robber is left free
to work his will and we run away in






mortal fear ?" If you voluntarily give away your goods to dacoit
that is a different matter. But if you don't want him to carry them
away, you may reason with him and if he does not see reason, you can
even thrash him. If the policeman is about to commit atrocities and
you prepare yourself to die at his hands, I will call you a brave
man, a satyagrahi. But it is better to beat him and drive him out,
than simply to look on and cover yourself with disgrace. Satyagraha
never means fleeing away and leaving the women of the family to
their fate or seeing them made naked before one's very eyes. Do you
consider that as satyagraha ? I ask you, you have brought imposing
long lathis ( thick wooden sticks ) here. Our religion does not
teach us to be cowards and to go on meekly bearing with atrocities.
Religion teaches us that it is better to give our own blood than to
take the blood of the oppressor. If we thus prepare ourselves to
shed our own blood, we become angles. But, if, at the sight of
injustice perpetrated before our eyes, we show a clean pair of
heels, we prove ourselves worse than beasts. We have evolved from
beasts into human beings. The behaviours of the beast man adopts
from his very birth. As he goes on imbibing wisdom, humanness enters
his spirit. As we go on becoming more and more human, we
increasingly discard brute-force and learn to rely on soul-force.
But if somebody employs brute force against us and, far from pitting
our soul-force against him, we simply run away, we cease to be
either humans and animals. We are simply cowards, impotents, then.
See what a dog does. He does not offer satyagraha, but he does not
run away also. He barks at the oppressor and even fights with him.
If India cannot show that it possesses humanness, it has certainly
the right to prove that it is capable of using brute-force. Let me
never hear henceforth that a hundred young stalwarts were present at
the scene, but at the very sight of the police, they all fled away.
On hearing that you stood against them and died non-violently, I
will hail you as heroes. Even if I hear that you fought bravely with
them, I will congratulate you. But if some-body tells, me "What
could we do ? We were afraid that the






police might whisk us away," I will retort, "It is better to die
than to live by saving your skin that way." The Government also
gives you the right to use physical force for the defence of your
life or property. The right of self-defence is clearly recognised in
law. So now every Champarani ( resident in Champaran ) will fight on
such an occasion and kill or die. It gives me the creeps, if I have
to hear a complaint like the one I heard today.

    "But you must understand me clearly. I do not ask you to get
ready to thrash your opponent at each and every occasion. If a
policeman, with an arrest warrant in hand, approaches you and you
people start fighting with him, it only means you are cowards.
Suppose, there are fifty of you and one policeman gives one of you a
Government order. You can thrash him, but that is no feat. It is in
obeying the order that manliness lies. It is the duty of the
policeman to arrest the man. Even if the warrant is improper, we
must not release that man from police custody. If the policeman
while arresting you abuses you and beats you, even then you must
bear with all that. But if, illegally, the police rush into your
house to rob you of your cattle, your property, you may certainly
oppose them and use your lathi, if of course, you are not prepared
to die by offering non-violent resistance. And let me impose another
condition. In asking you to beat the culprit on such an occasion, I
do not mean to say that that if you see a thief, you may beat him to
death. Has not even warfare its laws of conduct ? Use of the sword
against a lathi is not dharma, but of fisticuffs against a lathi is.
It is not dharma, but cowardice, to collect with us an army of men
to charge one opponent. By drawing the sword against lathi, by
pitting fifty men against one man, we have become cowards.

    "I cannot help feeling afraid lest you may even misuse this my
advice. But I wish that those men of understanding who are sitting
here will repeatedly explain my view to you. It would be dereliction
of duty on my part, if I did not give vent to my reaction at what I
saw today. I felt I would then be going away






without doing my duty. Don't be cowards; never be unmanly; and yet
don't murder anybody --- that is what I want from you.

    "The Government did commit one mistake. It tried to browbeat the
volunteers who went there to inquire into the outrage; tried even to
hoodwink them. But you must not be cowed down by threats. A great
responsibility has fallen on the shoulders on the volunteers. They
will have to go on doing their work quietly and without fear".

    I will not reproduce what Gandhiji said by way of connecting
these remarks with his exposition on non-cooperation. I will only
say that Gandhiji added a third condition for the use of physical
force during the time non-cooperation was offered. The people were
required not to use it at all then.

        ( The following is now reproduced from Mahadevbhai's
                          original diary )

Letter to one Mr. Goodfellow on the 4th inst. :

    *"I was thankful for your letter. Has it struck you that this
Government of ours is deliberately increasing the drink evil and
that all effort at amelioration must be fruitless until this
Government is either destroyed or radically mended ? I should be
glad to meet you when I am in Calcutta for any length of time."

    In a letter to Mr. Hyderi, written on the way to Arrah at the
same night, Gandhiji referred to Mrs. Haq's gift of the bangles :

    *"We have just left Bankipore. Mazharul Haq is with us. I write
this to say that Mrs. Haq gave me last night at a ladies' meeting to
my call for donations her choicest four bangles made of pearls and
rubies. Will you please tender my congratulations to Mrs. Hyderi on
possessing a sister who gives away her choicest things for the
country and her faith ? I was simply overwhelmed with joy when she
produced the bangles and thanked God that He had brought me in touch
with the Tyabji family."

An extract from a letter to Saraladevi :

    *"? ?I shall not deliberately omit to write to you but you must
cultivate patience and trust. You may not accuse me of






sainthood and dignify yourself by adopting the role of a sinner.
Each one of us must recognize (his/her) own limitations. Among
lovers and friends there is neither sinner nor saint. We are all
equal, but there are wise and unwise men and women among equals. And
who knows who is wiser ? You must let me delude myself into the
belief that I am wiser than you and, therefore, fit to teach you and
train you. But it has not unoften happened that the learner becomes
the teacher. Gorakh1 became the teacher of Machhander. And in trying
to teach you, may God give me the wisdom to learn from you. Believe
me, I will not grudge you the post. Indeed I shall count my teaching
the most perfect if I can make you superior to me. Anyway that is
the belief that keeps me attached to you. And, therefore, it is that
I ever pray for a humble and contrite heart for you."

    Wrote a letter to Swami Anand ( Manager, Navajivan ) rich in
appreciation of his action in making Gandhiji completely free from
any anxiety about Navajivan.

    Went to have the darshan of Bodhigaya2, after the meeting at
Gayaji3 ended. There were four of us in the car --- Bapu, Ba, Abul Kalam
Azad and myself. During the drive we learnt some facts about Azad's
life. He is of Arab descent. His grandfather and father were in
India during the 1857 national rebellion. Laterly, they went away to
Mecca where his father married an Arab lady whose son he is. He
spent 10 years in Mecca, but, as he could not keep up his health,
his father brought him to Cal-cutta for medical advice. He has now
numerous disciples there. He studied Persian under an adept and then
went to Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo where he picked up the highest
education in Arabic. He can deliver fluent speeches in both Arabic
and Persian. In 1910, at the age of 21, he started a paper Al Hilal
( =The Crescent Moon ) which published articles espousing the

_______________
    1. The disciple, in this popular story, saves his guru from
falling a prey to lust.
    2. The place where Lord Buddha attained Buddhahood.
    3. The town is a place of pilgrimage both for Hindus and
Buddhists. Hence, the 'ji' --- suffix of respect --- after Gaya.






cause of Hindu-Muslim Unity. People even like Mohammed Ali were then
opposed to it. As he used to write fiery articles on the War, even
when it was going on, a security of rupees 2000 was demanded from Al
Hilal. That was confiscated and a fresh one for Rs. 5000 asked for.
That also was seized and with it the press. After six months he
started the same paper under another name Al Balal. That paper could
continue for 6 months. The Maulana was conducting a school along
with the paper. Under the excuse that the school was nothing but a
secret organisation of conspirators, he was kept in detention at
Ranchi for five years. Though he had five or six assistants for Al
Hilal, the Maulana used to shoulder the largest part of the burden
and responsibility. He wrote an article turke mavalat, in July 1914,
in which he declared that the Muslims' quarrel could only be with
the Englishmen, never with the Hindus. He had also expressed the
view in Al Hilal that the Muslim University ought to sever all
connection with the British. Mohammed Ali wrote an article against
it in his paper Comrade. During the internment period at Ranchi, he
collected about 8000 rupees and opened a school there. He was at
present engaged in preparing an Urdu translation of the Quran. He
had written many other books during the enforced retirement at
Ranchi.

    At 4 p. m. on the 8th Bapu went to visit the goshala ( a shed
for decrepit and disabled cows ) which he had himself established at
Betia. The thoughtful statements he made there are worth noting down
:

    "Protection of the cow is an outer form of Hinduism and I would
not regard him a Hindu, who is not prepared to give his life to save
a cow. Cow-protection is dearer to me than life itself. Were it the
duty of a Muslim to kill a cow, as it is his to do his namaz, I
would have told him, "I should have to fight with you also." But
that ( cow-killing ) is not his religious duty. It is our ( enemical
) behaviour towards the Muslim that has driven him to cow-slaughter.

    "The right thing for Hindus to do is for themselves to begin
protecting the cow, because Hindus also are killing the cow. To






draw out the last drop of milk from a cow by blowing air and
expanding the udders, to persecute the cow's progeny, the bullock,
by goading it with a nailed stick, to make it carry a load too heavy
for it-all these acts are as bad as cow-killing. If we want to
protect the cow, we must first put our own house
in order.

    "The Muslim kills the cow only sometimes for food, but the
Englishman cannot do without beef for a day. And yet we are their
obedient servants. We like the schools and courts of that Government
which does not protect our religion. It is not that I came to know
of this fact only today, but I was putting up with the cow-slaughter
perpetrated by the Empire till now, because I had hoped I could
succeed in getting some good work done by it. That hope has
vanished. I have, therefore, declared non-cooperation against it.
If, at this juncture, we want to pro-tect the cow, we must give
unconditional help to the Muslims. I have been moving about day and
night in the company of Shaukat Ali, but have not spoken a word
about cow-protection to him, because my immediate dharma is only to
serve the Muslim. I am today prepared to dedicate my all-myself, my
son, wife, friend-for that cause. You cannot protect the cow by
remaining enamoured of the Government. But you can drench the Muslim
heart with love by boycotting the Government.

    "The cow is not really protected, moreover, by goshalas like
this one. A 'goshala', rightly so called, ought to supply excellent
milk to a city. That could happen when there are thousands of good
milch-cows in it and it possesses thousands of acres of land. Only
then will a kamadhenu (the legendary wish-fulfilling cow) be
produced, when we shall be able to give the fullest protection to
the cow. And only then will all this misery of India, this hunger,
this nakedness, this mental helplessness be rooted out. These are
expressions that have come out spontaneously from my lips. I have
never before given vent to these grave thoughts anywhere else. May
you protect the Cow, the Mother, and She will protect you !"

    Getting up in the morning at 5 a. m. on the 9th, Gandhiji






wrote out at a stretch an article entitled, 'Dyerism in Champaran.'
It contained the following thoughts on the essence of satyagraha :

    *"Whenever such cases of loot happen, the people should be
prepared to defend themselves. It is better if they can manfully
stand persecution and allow themselves to be robbed, instead of
hitting in defence of their persons or property. That would indeed
be their crowning triumph. But such forbearance can only be
exercised out of strength and not out of weakness. Till that power
is acquired, they must be prepared to resist the wrongdoer by force.
But in no case would they be justified in doing more bodily injury
than was needed on the occasion. It is invariably a sign of
cowardice and madness to use excessive force. A brave man does not
kill a thief, but arrests him and hands him to the police. A braver
man uses just enough force to drive him out and thinks no more about
it. The bravest realises that the thief knows no better, reasons
with him, risks being thrashed and even killed, but does not
retaliate. We must, at any cost, cease to be cowardly and unmanly."

    During the one hour he got for himself in the train going to
Bhagalpur on the night of the 11th, Bapu wrote two letters, to
Barodada and Saraladevi. In his latest letter, the former had
strongly supported Bapu in his campaign of non-cooperation in
education, by propounding the principle that some destructive work
was a sine qua non in order to start a constructive activity. Bapu
wrote in reply :

    *"Your letter was a consolation to me. Your approval I count as
a blessing. I am in Calcutta on the 13th and in Dacca on the 14th.
May you live to see Swaraj established in India."

To Saraladevi :

    *"I had two letters from you, one a scrap, the other a longish
letter which shows that you do not understand my language, i. e., my
thoughts. I have certainly not betrayed any annoyance over your
complex nature, but I have remarked upon it. If a person






is born with a deformation, one may not quarrel with nature for it,
but one may pardonably take note of it and try to remove it. And
that is what I have done. I refuse to call an indefinable complexity
a piece of art. All art yields to patient analysis and shows a unity
of design behind the diversity on the canvass. You are hugging your
defects, even when they are pointed out by a friend in a friendly
manner. I do not feel vexed, but it makes my task of helping
difficult. What art can there be in moods, in fits and starts ? The
simplest natures are certainly complex in a sense. But they are
easily analysed. But they are called simple, because they are easily
understandable and readily yield to treatment. But I do not want to
quarrel with you. In you I have an enigma to solve. I shall not be
impatient. Only bear with me whenever I try to point ( out ) what to
me appear to be your obvious limitations. We will have them. It is
the privilege of friendship to lay the gentle finger on the weak
spots. Friendship becomes a divine institution only when it educates
friends. Let us try to elevate each other.

    I await with interest your letter on Shuddhi.1

                                                            Calcutta
                                                           13-12-'20

    Reached Calcutta in the morning.

    Another article on the antyajas (=the lowest born, i. e., the
'untouchable' classes) O Important extract :

    "I would sacrifice even the country at the altar of religion. My
patriotism is limited within the four corners of my love for
religion. Where the interest of the country clashes with that of
religion, I would let the country's interest suffer. I consider it
irreligion to regard the antyajas as untouchables and I have no
desire at all to serve the country by doing some irreligious act. It
is my firm belief that we can have Swaraj only after our religious
consciousness, in the right sense of the term, is awakened. The time
for that awakening has definitely arrived.

_______________
    1. A movement to convert non-Hindus into Hinduism.






That is why I consider the attainment of Swaraj in a year a
possibility? ?Does the statement, 'To throw dust at the sky is to
make our own eyes filled with dust' need the prop of any argument ?
He who likes to raise dust that way will learn the wisdom of
discriminating between good and evil only by raising it. To strive
for Swaraj and refuse at the same time to throw out the dirt of
untouchability is like kicking up a dust-storm".

                         Speech at Calcutta

     *The very fact that so many of you cannot understand Hindi,
which is bound to be the national medium of expression through-out
Hindustan in gatherings of Indians belonging to different parts of
the land, shows the depth of the degradation to which we have sunk,
and points to the supreme necessity of the non-cooperation movement
which is intended to lift us out of that condition. This Government
has been instrumental in degrading this great nation in various
ways, and it is impossible to be free from it without cooperation
amongst ourselves, which is in turn impossible without a national
medium of expression.

    But I am not here today to plead for that medium. I am to plead
for the acceptance by the country of the programme of non-violent,
progressive non-cooperation. Now all the words that I have used
here are absolutely necessary and the two adjectives, 'progressive
and non-violent', are integral parts of a whole. With me
non-violence is a part of my religion, a matter of creed. But with
the great number of Mussulmans non-violence is a policy; with
thousands, if not millions of Hindus, it is equally a matter of
policy. But whether it is a creed or a policy, it is utterly
impossible for you to finish the programme for the enfranchisement
of the millions of India without recognizing the necessity and the
value of non-violence. Violence may for a moment avail to secure a
certain measure of success, but it cannot in the long run achieve
any appreciable result. On the other hand, all violence would prove
destructive to the honour and self-respect of the nation. The
blue-books issued by the Government of India show that, in as much
as we have used






violence, military expenditure has gone up, not proportionately but
in geometrical progression. The bonds of our slavery have been
forged all the stronger for our having offered violence. And the
whole history of British rule in India is a demonstration of the
fact that we have never been able to offer successful violence.
Whilst, therefore, I say that, rather than have the yoke of a
Government that has so emasculated us, I would welcome violence, I
would urge with all the emphasis that I can command that India will
never be able to regain her own by methods of violence.

                          My Ideal Swaraj

     Lord Ronaldshay, who has done me the honour of reading my
booklet on Home Rule, has warned my countrymen against engaging
themselves in a struggle for a Swaraj such as is described in that
booklet. Now, though I do not want to withdraw a single word of it,
I would say to you on this occasion that I do not ask India to
follow out today the methods prescribed in my booklet. If they could
do that, they would have Home Rule not in a year but in a day and
India, by realizing that ideal, wants to acquire an ascendency over
the rest of the world. But it must remain a day-dream more or less
for the time being. What I am doing today is that I am giving the
country a practicable programme not for the abolition of law-courts,
telegraphs and railways, but for the attainment of parliamentary
Swaraj. I am telling you that so long as we do not isolate ourselves
from this Government, we are cooperating with it through schools,
law-courts and councils, through service, civil and military, and
payment of taxes and foreign trade.

                 Why 'Progressive' Non-cooperation

     The moment this fact is realized and non-cooperation is
effected, this Government must totter and fall to pieces. If I knew
that the masses were prepared for the whole programme at once, I
would not delay in putting it at once to work. It is not possible,
at the present moment, to prevent the masses from bursting out into
wrath against those who come to execute the






law; it is not possible that the military would lay down their arms
without the slightest violence. If that were possible today, I would
propose all the stages of non-cooperation to be worked
simultaneously. But we have not secured that control over the
masses; we have uselessly frittered away precious years of the
nation's life in mastering a language which we need least for
winning our liberty; we have frittered away all those years in
learning liberty from Milton and Shakespeare, in deriving
inspiration from the pages of Mill, whilst liberty could be learnt
at our doors. We have thus succeeded in isolating ourselves from the
masses; we have been Westernized. We have failed these 35 years to
utilize our education in order to permeate the masses. We have sat
upon the pedestal and from there delivered harangues to them in a
language they do not understand and we see today that we are unable
to conduct large gatherings in a disciplined manner. And discipline
is the essence of success. Here is, therefore, one reason why I have
introduced the word 'progressive' in the non-cooperation
resolution. Without any impertinence I may say that I understand the
mass-mind better than anyone amongst the educated Indians. I contend
that the masses are not ready for suspension of payment of taxes.
They have not yet learnt sufficient self-control. If I was sure of
non-violence on their part, I would ask them to suspend payment
today and not waste a single moment of the nation's time. With me
the liberty of India has become a passion. Liberty of Islam is as
dear to me. I would not therefore, delay a moment if I found that
the whole of the programme could be enforced at once.

                          Why Non-violent

     It grieves me to miss the faces of dear and revered leaders in
this assembly. We miss here the trumpet voice of Surendranath
Banerji1, who has rendered inestimable service to the country. And
though we stand as poles asunder today, though we may

_______________
    1. Sir Surendranath Banerji (1848-1925), eminent orator and
politician and president of the Congress in 1895 and 1902, who later
joined the Liberal Party and was opposed to Gandhiji's
non-cooperation programme.






have sharp differences with him, we must express them with becoming
restraint. I do not ask you to give up a single iota of principle. I
urge non-violence in language and in deed. If non-violence is
essential in our dealings with the Government, it is more essential
in our dealings with our leaders. And it grieves me deeply to hear
of recent instances of violence reported to have been used in East
Bengal against our own people. I was pained to hear that the ears of
a man who had voted at the recent elections had been cut off and
night-soil had been thrown into the bed of a man who had stood as a
candidate. Non-cooperation is never going to succeed in this way.
It will not succeed unless we create an atmosphere of perfect
freedom, unless we prize our opponents' liberty as much as our own.
The liberty of faith, conscience, thought and action which we claim
for ourselves must be conceded equally to others. Non-cooperation
is a process of purification and we must continually try to touch
the hearts of those who differ from us, touch their minds and their
emotions, but never their bodies. Discipline and restraint are the
cardinal principles of our conduct and I warn you against any sort
of tyrannical social ostracism. I was deeply grieved, therefore, to
hear of the insult offered to a dead body in Delhi and feel that, if
it was the action of non-cooperators, they have disgraced
themselves and their creed. I repeat we cannot deliver our land
through violence.

                         Swaraj In One Year

     It was not a joke when I said on the Congress platform that
Swaraj could be established in one year, if there was sufficient
response from the nation. Three months of this year are gone. If we
are true to our salt, true to our nation, true to the songs we sing,
if we are true to the Bhagwad Gita and the Quran, we should finish
the programme in the remaining nine months and deliver Islam, the
Punjab and India.

    I have proposed a limited programme workable within one year,
having special regard to the educated classes. We seem to be
laboring under the illusion that we cannot possibly live






without Councils, law-courts and schools provided by the Government.
The moment we are disillusioned we have Swaraj. It is demoralizing
both for the Government and the governed that a hundred thousand
pilgrims should dictate terms to a nation composed of three hundred
millions. And how is it they can thus dictate terms ? It is because
we have been divided that they have ruled. I have never forgotten
Hume's1 frank confession that the British Government was sustained
by the policy of "Divide and Rule."

    Therefore, it is that I have laid stress upon Hindu-Muslim unity
as one of the most important essentials for the success of
non-cooperation. But it should be no lip-unity nor bania-unity (=
diplomatic); it should be a unity broad-based on a recognition of
the heart. If we want to save Hinduism, I say, for God's sake do dot
seek to bargain with the Mussulmans. I have been going about with
Maulana Shaukat Ali all these months, but I have not so much as
whispered anything about the protection of the cow. My alliance with
the Ali brothers is one of honour. I feel that I am on my honour,
the whole of Hinduism is on its honour, and if it will not be found
wanting, it will do its duty towards the Mussulmans of India. Any
bargaining would be degrading to us. Light brings light, not
darkness, and nobility done with a noble purpose will be twice
rewarded. It will be God alone who can project the cow. Ask me not
today, 'What about the cow ? Ask me after Islam is vindicated
through India. Ask the Rajas what they do to entertain their English
guests. Do they not provide beef and cham-pagne for their guests ?'
Persuade them first to stop cow-killing and then think of bargaining
with Mussulmans. And how are we Hindus behaving ourselves towards
the cow and her progeny ? Do we treat her as our religion requires
us ? Not till we have set our own house in order and saved the cow
from the Englishmen, have we the right to plead on her behalf with
the Mussulmans. And the best way of saving the cow from

_______________
    1. A. O. Hume, a justice-loving Englishman who was one of the
founders of the Indian National Congress.






them is to give them unconditional help in their hour of trouble.

    Similarly what do we owe to the Punjab ? The whole of India was
made to crawl on her belly, inasmuch as a single Punjabi was made to
crawl in that dirty lane in Amritsar; the whole womanhood was
unveiled, inasmuch as the innocent women of Manianwalla were
unveiled by an insolent officer; and Indian childhood was
dishonoured in that school children of tender age were made to walk
four times a day to stated places within the Martial ( Law) area in
the Punjab and to salute the Union Jack, through the effect of which
order two children, seven years old, died of sunstroke, having been
made to wait in the noon-day sun. In my opinion it is a sin to
attend the schools and colleges conducted under the aegis of this
Government, so long as it has not purged itself of these crimes by
proper repentance. We may not with any sense of self-respect plead
before the courts of the Government, when we remember that it was
through the Punjab courts that innocent men were sentenced to be
imprisoned and hanged. We become participators in the crime of the
Government by voluntarily helping it or being helped by it.

    The women of India have intuitively understood the spiritual
nature of the struggle. Thousands have attended to listen to the
message of non-violent non-cooperation and have given me their
precious ornaments for the purpose of advancing the cause of Swaraj.
Is it any wonder if I believe in the possibility of gaining Swaraj
within a year after all these wonderful demonstrations ? I would be
guilty of want of faith in God, if I under-rated the significance of
the response from the women of India. I hope that the students will
do their duty. The country certainly expects the lawyers, who have
hitherto led public agitation, to recognize the new awakening.

                             Conclusion

     I have used strong language but I have done so with the
greatest deliberation. I am not actuated by any feeling of






revenge. I do not consider Englishmen as my enemy. I recognize the
worth of many. I enjoy the privilege of having many English friends,
but I am a determined enemy of the English rule as conducted at
present and, if the power --- tapasya (austere spiritual effort) --- of one
man could destroy it, I would certainly destroy it, if it could not
be mended. An Empire that stands for injustice and breach of faith
does not deserve to stand if its custodians will not repent and
non-cooperation has been devised in order to enable the nation to
compel justice.

    I hope that Bengal will take her proper place in this movement
of self-purification. Bengal began swadeshi and national education
when the rest of India was sleeping.1 I hope that Bengal will come
to the front in this movement for gaining Swaraj and gaining justice
for the Khilafat and the Punjab through purification and
self-sacrifice.

                                                           14-12-'20

     Bengali non-cooperators saw Gandhiji in the morning. One of
them was a Mr. Shyamsundar Chakravarti. Talk about his paper The
Servant. A reporter of the paper made a queer suggestion to the
effect that if there were a few articles in Young India, that did
not smack of sedition, they could be reproduced in The Servant;
would not the paper's security be confiscated otherwise ? That
explains why Bapu's statements on the destruction of the British
Empire were not reproduced in the report of his speech appearing in
The Servant.

    A part of a letter to Saraladevi :

    *"My love for you is not a task. It is one of the keenest
pleasures of my life. It is based on faith in you, i. e., in your
ultimate goodness. It will go only if I find you to be bad. My love
is nothing, if it does not draw out the best out of you and make you
better and purer than you are. And you must bear with me if, in the
process of helping you, sometimes I seem to

_______________
    1. This was in 1905 and 1906 when the popular agitation against
the Government resolution for partition of Bengal was in full swing.






be rubbing you up the wrong way. Any way I am studying you and shall
endeavour not to do so."

                                                           15-12-'20

                       From Calcutta to Dacca

     Boat-travel from Golando to Narayanaganj on the river Padma.
Exceedingly charming scenes. Began to send excerpts from Goswami (
Tulsidasji's Hindi Ramayana ) to Durga ( Mrs. Mahadevbhai ).

    Bapu wrote an article entitled 'Curse of Secrecy',

    There was total lack of organisation either in the reception
procession or in the public meeting at Dacca. Bapu, therefore,
commented upon it in his speech :

    "We have assumed that our work ends with the organisation of
demonstrations, discussion of questions and the raising of our hands
for voting. But practical work is not done that way. Practical work
has no need for perorations. If you want to give me some relief and
help me in keeping up my voice, you must gain the power of
organisation and save me as much as possible from having to inhale
dust. So many times I have said that we must give up organising
processions. They spoil our work. I save myself from dust and
preserve my voice because I observe some laws of nature. But I
cannot maintain my health, if you do not let me keep to those laws.
We raise loud shouts of victory, but there is no melody, no art in
them. Bengal is known for proficiency in fine arts and musical
talent. In the past it was here that I heard very charming music.

    "We must employ our musical talent in making our meetings and
processions orderly. Music that is heard in our audience-halls or in
the homes of our English-educated families is not real Indian music.
It is necessary to spread music among the masses."

      x                          x                          x

    Proceeding further Bapu said :

    "I am not an enemy of the Englishman, but I believe that the
Empire is filled with the stench of Satanism. I solemnly






declare that if God gives me the strength, I will either end or mend
the Empire. That is my supreme duty. Neither will I rest myself, nor
let you have any rest, till we bring about the fall of this Empire.
I am bent upon tearing the Seditious Act to pieces and throw the
scarps into the waste paper basket, because I am straightforward. I
speak out what I really feel. I am not a subject of the Englishman
but his loyal and honest friend. That is why I don't mince matters
in telling them what I feel."

    There were some remarkable expressions in his speech before the
Lawyer's meeting of Dacca :

    "We must cease to attend meetings out of idle curiosity. I hope
those who are not lawyers will leave the meeting.

    "I had hoped for a small group here, so that we could talk
freely and frankly. If we express our views without any constraint,
we can understand each other better. I wish to speak before you as a
lawyer of twenty years' experience. My practice also was by no means
negligible. It did not compare unfavourably with that of the leading
lawyers and barristers of India, though I had to live in the midst
of very hostile surroundings. I have, besides, attended the Bombay
High Court as a briefless barrister. I have practised in Kathiawar (
Saurashtra ) also, where I was quite a success. So I am speaking
before you as a very experienced lawyer. I am speaking as a
barrister who had had a lion's share of the prey. I gave up my
practice, when I was making a mint of money out of it. I had never
pocketed a dishonest penny from my work and yet I felt disgusted
with the legal career, since it began to come in the way of my
national service. I realised that I could not find time to do two
things side by side, viz., adequate justice to my clients and
service of the public. I called my clients together and told them
that they should not expect me any longer to give them as much time
as I used to. That telling expression of Gokhaleji, 'arm-chair
politicians', was ringing in my ears. But I am not asking you today
to give up your practice for these reasons. My reason today is the
fact that we are supporting this unjust






Government as long as we practise in its courts. This Government has
forfeited all its claim over our loyalty and affection. We are
called 'officers of the law court'. I have had my full share in the
release of many innocent clients from the clutches of the law. I
also know that it is possible that a client may have to suffer owing
to the want of a good lawyer. And yet, if we all lawyers give up our
practice and some innocent person has to be hanged, would not that
be an ideal outcome ? If that happens, these law-courts will stink
like caresses. That well-known lawyer of this same place, Shri
Manmohan Ghosh, has stated that courts often become instruments of
injustice. Even where justice is done, what a tremendous expense and
delay it costs ! Justice has become a dear commodity because lawyers
like Manmohan Ghose are rare among us. He used to accept without fee
so many cases both civil and criminal ! But the real point is that
this programme ( of boycott of courts ) is literally for one year
only. Hence, I wish you all to give up your practice. I have faith
in you because I am bred up in your tradition and know that you
cannot live without the inebriation of national service. I wish the
situation came to such a pass that it became impossible for a
practicing lawyer to stand on any public platform with dignity and
respect. I wish to bring you to a more exalted platform. Instead of
becoming the champions of the million, you have, till now, become
helpmates of the millionaires. I wish you gave up that practice now
and took your share in national service. But you cannot do it so
long as you continue to earn your thousands. I am told that East
Bengal is the real Bengal. I appeal to you to prove that you
represent what is best in Bengal. I wish to come in contact with the
masses and the farmers of Bengal. I wish a time came, when the
people refused to listen to anything said by title-holders, lawyers
who have not renounced their practice, students who have not given
up their school and those who have been willing tools of the
Government.

    I am myself so caught up in the coils of this Satan, that I have
not been able to free myself completely from his slavery. I cannot
do without travelling in the Government's railway trains






and using its post and telegraph. But I am a practical man. What I
cannot act upon my view to its logical end, I admit my inability to
that extent. I have such an aversion for these railways etc., that,
if it were possible, I would walk out the distance or swim the whole
river to reach Dacca. But if I do so, your Governor H. E. Lord
Ronaldshay will declare, "Gandhi is a lunatic". The programme,
therefore, which I am putting is still very Western in character.
The Swaraj which I am fighting for today is the Swaraj which
Deshbandhu Das1 and other politicians aspire after. The Swaraj, the
Congress is striving for, is completely of the swadeshi
parliamentary type which is entirely independent of any foreign
control. My own ideal of 'Swaraj' I have given in my book Hind
Swaraj. I do not wish to change a word from it. But today the Swaraj
we want is of the type the public wants. That is practical Swaraj.
When we win it, we shall be able to refuse to incur heavy military
expenditure, to help the mills of Lancashire2 and to maintain from
our treasury Chelmsford ( Viceroy ) and Dyers.

    When we shall get ready to bend our back to do physical work and
to refuse to stand as helpless suppliants before anybody, we shall
gain the capacity to maintain respectably a family of even twenty
persons, if we have that number, after we discard our practice. I
assure you that you will be able to earn enough to supply your
simple needs, though not according to Western standards. Thousands
of men prepared to do their work intelligently, honestly and
sincerely are needed today for swadeshi work. I see in swadeshi the
vision of Swaraj, of swadharma ( one's religion ) and of the purity
of women, all in one. I am clinging to swadeshi, as does a child to
its mother's breast".

           ( Then followed questions and answers in which
                    there was nothing unusual. )

_______________
    1. Popular title given to C. R. Das in appreciation of his
national service. It means 'brother of the country'.
    2. The British Government had imposed an excise duty on Indian
mill cloth, to help the British cloth industry.






                                                           16-12-'20

     Visit of Gendaria Ashram. Remarkable peace and simplicity.
Started from Narayanganj at 11 a. m. Bapu had a nice siesta on the
way. Nine hours' travel in a steamer on the river Padma ! Could its
raptures be translated into language ? Revised the article on 'Sin
of Secrecy'. Wrote notes for Young India. Corrected my report of his
speech at Calcutta. Talk with two barristers of Calcutta, Mr. Mitra
and Mayor, in the evening. (The talk has been reproduced below).

    The subject of the common teacher in India came in our talk at
night. "I have seen teachers who have never looked beyond the pages
of their books", remarked Bapu. He gave them a striking epithet,
'They are bhogalbhatias ( street-palmists, content with their very
limited knowledge ).'

    Wrote a letter to Saraladevi. Also a short letter in reply to
Brook's letter and discussed it in Young India. Wrote a small
article of a very high caliber on 'Moral Values'.

                   Talk on the Steamer, 'Gurkha'

     It is not always that I have to narrate the woes of our
travels. Our journeys, from Golando to Narayanganj on our way to
Dacca and from Narayanganj to Golando on return, have made us
completely forget the strain of the whole tour. In the nine hours'
journey, the steamer halted at only 2 or 3 places. Trains which halt
seven or eight times, or at least once in an hour, can never stand
comparison with this steamer in the deep and unbounded silence that
pervaded it. No bustle of the railway train here, no grating noise
of its rattling wheels and no annoyance. Not even the heaving waves
of an ocean that toss a steamer. Our steamer glided on the Padma,
vast like a sea but lucid like a lake, as noiselessly as passes a
silken thread through the holes of pearls. And the entrancing and
ever-changing beauty of the scenery around, with the rising sun
tinting it with a charm all its own ! Can one ever dream of these
delights in a train journey ?

    But it is not my purpose here to describe the joys of this
travel. I write this letter to give a gist of a charming tete-a-tete






on board the steamer Gurkha. We were returning at about 7 p. m. in
the evening from Narayanganj. Two unknown gentlemen disturbed
Gandhiji's quietude, but the disturbance was both polite and
pleasing. Both the gentlemen were barristers and one of them was an
Englishmen. It was evident from their talks that both were
commanding a roaring practice. They were perfectly courteous in
their talk and it was only their desire to know things at first hand
that had drawn them to Gandhiji. They discussed non-cooperation.

Indian : So the immediate object of non-cooperation is resistance
to injustice ?

Gandhiji : Not resistance, purification. Purification of the
opponent through our      own.

Englishman : And dissociation with sin ?

Gandhiji : Exactly.

Englishman : Do you think you have succeeded in bringing about any
such      purification ?

Gandhiji : I have been touring all over the country and I am amazed
at the      progress people are making in imbibing self-control and
self-reliance. The      peasant class also is assimilating these
qualities and I don't feel that even      British official remain
untouched by the wind. Their minds also are getting      purer.

Englishman : What do you want the Englishman to do through this
purification ?      What change do you want in the Englishman's
behaviour ?

Gandhiji : I want to create a climate in which every English-man
regards every      Indian as his equal. The Englishman speaks at
present from the Olympian      height of egotism. I want to bring
him down and make him think himself as on      the same level with
the most common labourer in India. I want to bring about a
     condition under which he would no longer look down upon the
Indian in any of      his dealings with him but regard him as his
equal partner. There is no place      for the Englishman in India on
any other terms. The






     moment both the Englishman and the Indian feel a sense of
equality with      each other and behave accordingly, it may be
taken for granted that my      country has achieved its freedom. And
to bring about this result, it is enough if      the present false
idolatry of British prestige and honour is destroyed. What is
     our common experience everywhere ? Indians afraid of the
Englishman;      Indians hiding their thoughts from others. What can
be more degrading than      this ?

Englishman : Don't you think it is stretching the point a little too
far, when you      say that every Englishman must regard the Indian
labourer as his equal ?      Does an Indian gentleman look on an
Indian labourer that way ? I can      understand your demand if you
say that an Englishman should behave with an      Indian as he does
with another Englishman. An Englishman may treat an      Indian
labourer as may an English squire his tenants.

Gandhiji : Excellent ! You put it in a language better than mine. I
mean exactly      what you say.

                     Treatment Towards Culprits

Indian : So you say that the immediate object of non-cooperation
with the      oppressive Government is nothing but purification ?
And it doesn't matter      whether by that purification other
material benefits accrue or not ?

Gandhiji : If our tapasya ( penance ) is pure and perfect, material
benefits are      certain to accrue automatically. For instance,
there will remain nothing to do      about the Punjab outrages. No
culprit of the Punjab affair will have any asylum      in India. Not
even his pay or pension will be paid from our treasury.

Englishman : So you have reserved all punishment for Englishmen only
?      Indians --- Indian masses also --- did commit crimes. What about them
?

Gandhiji : This is an astounding question. We have already received
punishment      a thousand times more severe than our crimes
deserved. I assure you, not      only have the actual offenders been
punished, but hundreds of innocent men      have been






     killed. Unoffending men have been sent to jail. Even children
have not been      spared. Harmless women have been insulted. The
massacre at Jallianwala      was all of innocent persons. What
punishment can be heavier than this ? But I      have never even
talked of punishing English officers. All I have demanded is
     that they should no longer draw any money from the Indian
exchequer, should      not hold any titles or offices any more. As
for their punishment, some of them      deserve nothing less than
the capital sentence. But that has no place in my      religion. I
don't know what India would like.

          [ This reminds me ( Mahadevbhai ), when Mr. Andrews
compared the      Jallianwala Bagh event with the notorious Massacre
of Glencoe.1 I      immediately published in Young India Mr.
Andrews' comment as well as a      short account of that gruesome
episode. Though I published it simply to      show how deeply
disgusted Mr. Andrews was with the Jallianwala affair, I felt
     on re-reading it that Mr. Andrews' comparison was a little
overdrawn and      unjust and I felt very unhappy at having given
currency to it. I saw Principal      Rudra and he, too, agreed with
me. But now I see the perfect

    1.Through the persuasion of some of his Scotch supporters living
in the plains who were enemies of some Scottish Highland chiefs (
suspected to be in sysmpathy with the ousted king James II) William
III issued an order, on pain of death penalty, requiring every
Scottish chief to take an oath of loyalty to him before January
1692. Owing to snow-storms on the way Mac Ian, the chief of the
brave and proud Macdonald clan, took the oath a little later.
Suppressing the fact of his having taken the oath, his enemies
procured the Kingly order to kill him and his 'robber' clan. In
order to destroy the clan root and branch, they took the help of the
Campbells who were hereditary enemies of the Macdonalds. A Captain
Campbell, with some of his men, became the guest of the Macdonalds,
since he was personally on friendly terms with them. His men, in the
meanwhile, closed all the outlets of the Glencoe Vally. When all
arrangements were complete, the Campbells fell upon their hosts, the
sleeping Macdonalds, early at 5 a. m. on the 13 th February, 1692
and mercilessly massacred them. The miscreants did not spare even
women and children. Those who could flee into the adjoining
mountains died of cold and hunger. Green, the well-known historian,
writes that, on hearing of this slaughter, one of the leaders of the
conspiracy said that his only regret was that perhaps someone might
have escaped safely.






     propriety of Andrews' comparison. If anything, the Jallianwala
Massacre was      even more heinous and more worthy of condemnation
than the Massacre of      Glencoe, since there is a world of
difference between the stages of civilization      then and now.]

Indian : How do you say that the Government has attacked religion ?
The British      Government is only one partner among the big group
of the victorious Allies.

Gandhiji : I am surprised at such question coming from a man like
you at this late      hour. England is the arch-culprit in
conspiring the destruction of Turkey. The      Prime Minister is now
reaping what he has sown. He has had to go back upon      his word
and has wounded the Muslim heart.

Indian : Well, let's turn to another matter. You are getting the
schools emptied,      but are you offering them any alternative
arrangement ?
     (Gandhiji in reply gave a detailed account of the national
education activities      going on in Gujarat).

Indian : Is the present system of education bad then ?

Gandhiji : The question doesn't arise. I have no objection, however,
to answering      it. I say, 'Yes, it is bad'. Owing to the fact
that the medium of instruction is      English, a too heavy burden
is laid on the brain of the students. But why give      my personal
views ? Even a man like Prof. Jadunath Sarkar ( a leading
     historian and educationist ) says that this foreign medium, has
made the      brains of the educated classes dull and listless and
they have lost completely      their creative and imaginative
powers. All our time is spent up in trying to      remember
pronunciations and idioms of a foreign tongue. That work itself is
     tiresome and the result is that we have become mere
blotting-sheets of      European civilization. Instead of
assimilating what is good in it, we have      become its worth-less
copies. It has, moreover, created a yawning gulf      between the
educated classes and the masses. Let alone political      knowledge,
we cannot teach them even hygiene and sanitation






     in the language they understand. In this modern age, we have
grown as bad      as the Brahmins of old; perhaps worse than they,
for, at heart they were not      impure. They were like trustees of
the national culture. But we have ceased to      be even that. We
are only taking an undue advantage of our education and,
     towards the masses, we simply behave like superior beings. I
wish you cross-      examined me on this point, but let me tell you
that I have not adopted these      views recently; they are the
quintessence of my long-standing experience.

Englishman : we have thought nothing about this matter. All we can
say is that      we will think over it.

Gandhiji : That's right. And I forgot one thing. I didn't say that
this system ( of      education ) has smothered our soul. You have
been adoring only secular      education and hence, Hindus have
never been given any religious education.      England has partly
escaped from this evil result, since the clergy make some
     provision for religious education there.

Indian : But the real thing is that you do not wish to provide
education to our      children from looted money. Isn't it so ?

Gandhiji : Yes. No merely from looted money; not even under the
robber's flag. I      have declared that we must have nothing to do
with schools conducted under      the patronage of that Government
which has lost all our faith and love. Let me      tell you
something. A time was when not only was I lustily singing 'God Save
     The King" myself, but had even made my sons, who did not know
English,      recite that song. After I came back from Africa to
Rajkot, I taught that song to      students of the Training College
there, because I thought that every truly loyal      subject must
know by heart at least that song. But what is my feeling today ?
     I can never, with my hand on my conscience, sing it myself or
ask anybody to      do so. I may, of course, say that I wish king
George to live long as an      individual, but I cannot sing the
prayer that the Empire which has so debased      itself before God
and man may live on for a moment longer.






Indian : You have said that you don't care what the system of
teaching is ?

Gandhiji : Yes, I have.

Indian : It is Indians who conduct our universities. Its
policy-makers are also      Indians.

Gandhiji : Quite true. If the university authorities listen to me, I
would tell them      only one thing : "Tear your charters to pieces
and then I will call the      universities my own." If they say that
the Government grant would be stopped,      I am prepared to give a
guarantee of providing for the amount. All I tell them is,
     'Make your universities national'. What did I say to Panditji (
Malaviyaji ) also      ? "Return the charter to the Viceroy and, if
the Princes want their money      back, let them have it. We will
get the deficit amount, if any, by begging. As      you possess the
inimitable power of begging from the Princes, so I have some
     power of begging from the masses"

Indian : But what harm has the 'charter' done ?

Gandhiji : O, with the charter pass all the strings into the
Government's hands. It      is because of the 'charter' that the
Hindu University is going to give an address      of welcome to the
Duke of Cannaught. How can I put up with that ? Never. Let      me
frankly tell you that Mrs. Besant was right when she once remarked
to      me, 'You are out for a revolution, a rebellion'. I am. Only,
it must be      evolutionary revolution, but a revolution I do want
and I think it absolutely      necessary. There is no other go. See
this one thing. The Government has      changed its colour
altogether. Look at the shameless latest public statement      it
has issued. In a maze of verbiage it declares that for the present
it has given      the Press the freedom of expression and that it is
not going to seal anybody's      lips. But what are they doing in
fact ? Why did they gag that silent worker in      the Punjab, Aga
Safdar ? There is not a trace of religious fanaticism in him.      I
have not seen a more peaceful worker than he in the Punjab. Only the
other      day, moreover, Babu Shyamsundar






     Chakravarti (Editor of The Servant) told me that he had been
given a 'warning'.      And why ? Because he reprinted from Young
India, Sri Rajagopalchariar's      article on 'Suggestion to the
Voters' ! This thing is simply intolerable.

Indian : Let us now turn to the law courts. What do you propose to
do by      boycotting them and making the lawyers renounce their
practice ?

Gandhiji : I want to undermine the prestige of the Government. These
courts and      schools are the fundamental bases on which
Government prestige stands. It      is through them that the
Government has succeeded in ensnaring the people.

Indian : How will disputes be settled then ?

Gandhiji : May I give you a bit of my experience ? During my career
as a lawyer, I      had settled 75% of cases outside the court by
mutual agreement, and I was      considered an expert in bringing
about a compromise. I had made a name for      impartiality. So,
when anybody got a notice from me, he would come      immediately to
me and ask for a private settlement. Many clients, therefore,
     had to engage two solicitors. If they did not succeed with me,
they would at      once run to other solicitors. I used to accept
only clean cases.

Englishman : Do you think there will be many litigants prepared to
trust      arbitrators ?

Gandhiji : 50% of litigants will leave the courts and hence, cases
will be reduced      by 50%. I am told that as many as 50% of cases
are engineered by touts. Mr.      Das did say that that was not the
case in Calcutta, but others told me that he      had little
experience in the matter.
     A lawyer from Calcutta who was listening to the talk here
intervened to say,      "The mofussil is all full of touts. I
testify that 50% of cases there are got up by      touts."

Indian : May be, but I am talking of cities. The Bengal Chamber of
Commerce has      instituted an 'Arbitration Tribunal.' The Chamber
is a reputed body and      business cases have not decreased in law
courts.






Gandhiji : Possibly, because the lawyers have not decreased.

Indian : What is going to be the effect of a stray lawyer giving up
his practice ?

Gandhiji : It is certain to have a proportionate effect. I will
definitely claim that one      more push has been given to the
already crumbling edifice of Government      prestige by Pandit
Motilal Nehru's giving up his practice. Ask Sir Hurcourt      Butler
(Governor of U. P).

Englishman : You are also dissuading litigants from resorting to
courts ?

Gandhiji : Yes.

Englishman : How is that feasible here ? The parties had faith in
you. You      accepted the cases of only those who came to you with
clean hands and a      clear conscience. You would not cast a glance
at the clients who came with      unclean hands. What will you do
here with dubious clients ? Such cases are      certain to be rare,
where both the parties are honest and above board.

Gandhiji : I will not hesitate to give a present of all unclean
clients to the      Government.

Indian : (On behalf of them both) : We have not come here to quarrel
with you, but      only to understand. I hope you know that. We will
put only one more question.      Is it true or not that the
non-cooperation of your followers is based on hate      and
vengeance ?

Gandhiji : Yes, an English gentleman from Madras has also written
the same      thing to me.

Englishman : I quite understand your principle. But your followers
vomit only      virulent abuse.

Gandhiji : Yes, yes. But what I mean to say is that you may do a
noble deed out      of love or hatred, still it will not fail to
bring its own result. Truth may be      spoken out of fear or
wisdom, but, in either case, will it not bear its fruit ?

Indian : Your principle is 'Hate the sin, but not the sinner', but
that of your      followers seems to be quite the reverse : 'Hate
the sinner and you need not      hate the sin'.






Gandhiji : Are you not doing some injustice there ? There are people
who hate      both the sin and the sinner. It is because they hate
sin that they are      renouncing so much, are prepared to offer
great sacrifices. Can a man who      hates only the sinner give such
heavy sacrifices ? Never.

Englishman : Your fundamental principle is not to associate with
sinners. How      can you then align yourself with unholy colleagues
? How can a man like you,      who stands on such a lofty height,
use dirty implements ?

Gandhiji : Will you please compare the unholiness of the Government
and the      imperfection of my colleagues ? You will understand me
on a little deeper      thought. Every reformer-and I am a
reformer-is bound to use the implements      available to him. Not
'dirty', say 'imperfect' implements.

Indian (rising) : We have put you to a great trouble today. You will
please excuse      us. I have been fighting with 'non-cooperation'
till now. But the 'non-co-      operation' I was fighting with, is
not the same as the 'non-cooperation' I have      learnt from you.
We are both thankful to you.

                                                           17-12-'20

     Left Calcutta. A lot of pending mail was disposed of on the
way. Revised my report of his Calcutta speech. Sarladevi had written
: Non-cooperation was based on hatred and she loved Bapu the less
therefore. She would love Bapu more if he was free of hatred; an
activity, moreover, like non-cooperation could be taken up by
others also. Reply :

    *"I love you more ( for ) loving me less for any hatred you may
see in me. And you would be right in your regret over my being in
non-cooperation, if it was a matter of politics with me. As it is
with me, it is my religion. I am gathering together all the forces
of hatred and directing them in a proper channel. Hatred is a sign
of weakness, as contempt of insloent power. If I could but show our
countrymen that we need not fear the English, we will cease to hate
them. A brave man or woman never hates. Hatred is essentially the
vice of cowards. Non-co






operation is self-purification. Even as dirt comes to the surface
when you are purifying sugar, so does our weakness come to the
surface, whilst we are purifying ourselves. But what I like about
your letter is your clear position. Your love for me is based on
your belief in my purity and gentleness. I am worth nothing, if I
have not these and I should hold myself unfit for all the
renunciation of yours described in your previous letter."

                                                           18-12-'20
                                                             to
                                                            4-1-'21

    Reached Nagpur at 12 noon. Excellent arrangements by
Jamnalalji1. Very great love. Public meeting on the 18th evening.
Bapu's speech :

    "We two brothers are moving about in India for the several
months past. Our president has not introduced Maulana Saheb to you,
because the Maulana was your guest at Chhindwara for a long time and
you know why he was the Government's guest at Chhindwara ( was
interned ) as well as the work we two are doing these days. I
congratulate those lawyers who have renounced their practice but say
that that is not enough. How will the invitation to the Congress to
hold its annual session here become Nagpur, if it rests content with
so much ? Excellent work is being done in the Central Provinces and
I have heard that the Nagpur Congress is going to be a grand
success. It is very good that the boycott of liquor movement is
making a great headway here. I say even that boycott contributes to
the success of our non-cooperation movement. We are out for
non-cooperation and if, with our brains heated with intoxicants, we
do things we must not, it would mean anything but non-violence or
peace. If we don't remain non-violent, we are not going to end this
Empire within foreseeable future. If we want to end or mend the
Empire, there is one and only one way to it and

_______________
    1. Sri. Jamnalal Bajaj, who later on became one of the chief
financial supporters of Gandhiji's activities and, of course,
courted jail with his family. He was a member of the Congress
Working Committee also. Gandhiji loved him to the extent of calling
him his 'fifth son'.






that is non-violent non-cooperation. I have been repeatedly
declaring that this Empire is saturated with Satanism If we want to
subdue Satan or to drive him out, we cannot do so by opposing it
with counter-Satanism. We have to take only God's help. Ours is the
fight of dharma against adharma ( a=not ). Despite the wrongs of the
Punjab and the Khilafat, the Empire is in no mood to repent. It ask
us to forget the Khilafat, forget the Punjab and only then to do
anything that we may. As long as there is not sincere unity between
Hindus and Muslims --- I speak here to both of them --- it is impossible to
uproot this Empire. That achievement is possible only when we are
united. Non-violent non-cooperation is our supreme dharma. There
can be no amity and cooperation between adharma and dharma. It is a
question of courage to give up the help one gets from Satan. It is
for that reason that Jamnalal has taken the chair today. We never
waste our time in debating whether to leave our house or not, when
it is on fire. Acceptance of the Councils cannot repair either the
Punjab or the Khilafat wrong. Justice can be rendered to the Punjab
only when we are able to win Swaraj.

    It is impossible for seven crores of Muslims and twenty three
crores of Hindus to live together except on terms of amity.

    Till now we simply passed resolutions. It is now the time for
action. If you want to show some solid achievement before the
Congress meets here, all the schools and colleges of Nagpur must be
emptied.

    There are differences of views between Khaparde1 and myself, but
I can never approve of his harassment. I want as much freedom for
him as for myself. If we can show good results, we will find that
Khaparde and all others will come over to our camp.

    We must have the strength to organise everything in such a way
as to enable us to secure Swaraj in a year. We must have indubitable
faith that the Punjab wrong is going to be rectified.

_______________
    1. G. K. Khaparde, s staunch follower of Tilak Maharaj and a
believer in 'responsive cooperation'.






It is only because we are cowards that a handful of Englishmen carry
on their rule here. We want Swaraj in order to make any repetition
of such treachery towards us impossible. We can achieve nothing, so
long as we do not brace ourselves up for practical work. It passes
my understanding what sacrifice is involved in adopting swadeshi.
The present is a golden chance for us, which neither Egypt nor Korea
ever had. We are three hundred millions in India. In Egypt there are
only a handful. We two brothers are an object-lesson for the whole
country. We are living together like loving sons of the same mother.
And the hearts of both of us ring true."

    Shaukatali : Let us speak out in no uncertain terms that if we
don't get justice, there will remain on the Indian soil only
Englishmen or only Indians. When will another Shivaji rise up from
these mountains ? Will not the Maratha women now produce sons whose
seats would be on saddles and homes thousands of miles away ? I wish
your feet never turned back but always marched on.

    Speech at the meeting of the Subjects Committee on the creed1 of
the Congress :

    *"There are only two kinds of objections, so far as I
under-stand, that will be advanced from this platform. One is that
we may not today think of dissolving the British connection. What I
say is that it is derogatory to national dignity to think of
permanence of British connection at any cost. We are labouring under
a grievous wrong, which is the personal duty of every Indian to get
redressed. This British Government not only refuses to redress the
wrong, but it refuses to acknowledge its mistakes and so long as it
retains its attitude, it is not possible for us to say all that we
want to be or all that we want to get is only by retaining British
connection. No matter what difficulties lie in our path, we must
make the clearest possible declaration to the world and to the whole
of India, that we may not possibly
_______________

    1. The resolution Gandhiji moved at the meeting was : "The
object of the Indian National Congress is the attainment of Swaraj
by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means".






have British connection, if the British people will not do this
elementary justice. I do not, for one moment, suggest that we want
to end the British connection at all costs, unconditionally. If the
British connection is for the advancement of India, we do not want
to destroy it. But if it is inconsistent with our national
self-respect, then it is our bounden duty to destroy it ( Hear, hear
). There is room in this resolution for both --- those who believe that,
by retaining British connection, we can purify ourselves and purify
British people and those who have no such belief. As for instance,
take the extreme case of Mr. Andrews. He says all hope for India is
gone for keeping the British connection. He says there must be
complete severence --- complete independence ( Hear, hear ). There is
room enough in this new creed for a man like Mr. Andrews also. Take
another illustration, a man like myself or my brother Shaukat Ali.
There is certainly no room for us, if we have eternally to subscribe
to the doctrine that, whether these wrongs are redressed or not, we
shall have to evolve ourselves within the British Empire. There is
no room for me in that creed. Therefore, this revised creed is
elastic enough to take in both shades of opinion, and the British
people will have to beware that, if they do not want to do justice,
it will be the bounden duty of every Indian to destroy the Empire.

                      Squabble in Bengali Camp

     Now remains the plea against the means. I do not want to enter
into that question since I have the right of final reply. I want
just now to wind up my remarks with a personal appeal, drawing your
attention to an object-lesson that was presented in the Bengal Camp
yesterday. If you want Swaraj, you have got a demonstration of how
to get Swaraj. There was a little bit of skirmish, a little bit of
squabble, and a little bit of difference in the Bengal Camp, as
there will always be differences so long as the world lasts. I have
known differences between husband and wife, because I am still a
husband; I have noticed differences between parents and children,
because I am still a father of four






mastered the science of language, it is an easy thing for him to
learn a new language ? Thus did Max Muller learn sixteen languages.
When you have mastered the science, you have only to memorize a few
hundred root words and yiou know your language. Do, therefore,
please give me your willing consent. Deepak is a great and noble
boy. I would not force him in the matter of learning or anything
else, so long as he remains busy and trains himself to think. Please
tax yourself and give me your true decision. Remember it is ever
safe to trust one's children's teacher. Take all the precautions you
like about your choice; but having made it leave the training to the
teacher.

    "I had a nice time in Benares. What the outcome will be I do not
know. The atmosphere is certainly clear and Malaviyaji is calmer if
not entirely calm."

Letter to Deepak :

    "I will write to you henceforth in Gujarati only. I had your
letter. I have asked for Mother's opinion whether you should give up
studying English at present. There will be no harm in leaving the
study of English now, if you become a real student. Take care of all
the three-your body, your mind and your soul, For the body, physical
exercise, healthy jokes, good food and cheerful temperament. For the
mind, reading and reflection. For the soul, a pure heart; and for
this, early rising, deliberate effort to get absorbed in prayers and
the study of the Gita. Everyday you must say to yourself : "Only the
truth I will speak, meditate on and act. I will love all. I will
gain control over all my senses. I will not cast a covetous glance
at anything belonging to another. I will regard nothing as my own,
but will dedicate my all to God." Such contemplation will purify the
heart."

    An extract from the letter to Devadas :

    "Spent two full days at Kashi. Had fairly good experiences. I
had no fear of a bitterness arising with Panditji (Malaviyaji).
Others might have some doubt, but even that must have been
dissolved. Had long talks with students. Now we have to






for those who had their heads broken or who were said to be even in
danger of losing their lives. What does it matter ? It is much
better to die at the hands, at least, of our own countrymen. What is
there to revenge ourselves about or upon ?

    So I ask everyone of you that if at any time there is blood
boiling within you against some fellow countrymen of yours, even
though he may be in the employ of Government, even though he may be
in the Secret Service, you will take care not to be offended and not
to return blow for blow. Understand that the very moment you return
the blow from the detective, your cause is lost. This is your
non-violent campaign. And so I ask everyone of you not to retaliate,
but to bottle up your rage, dismiss your rage from you and you will
rise greater men. I am here to congratulate those who have
restrained themselves from going to the President and bringing the
dispute before him.

                           Object-Lesson

     That is the object-lesson to which I want to draw your
attention, if you want to carry this resolution. Do not carry this
resolution only by acclamation for it, but I want you to accompany
the carrying out of it with a faith and resolve nothing on earth can
move. That you are intent upon getting Swaraj at the earliest
possible moment by means that are legitimate, that are honourable,
and by means that are non-violent, that are peaceful, you have
resolved upon, so far you can say today. We cannot give battle to
the Government by means of steel, but we can give battle by
exercising, what I have so often called, "soul-force" and soul-force
is not the prerogative of one man, of a sannyasi or even a so-called
saint. Soul-force is the prerogative of every human being, female or
male, and therefore, I ask my countrymen, if they want to accept
this resolution to accept it with firm determination and to
understand that it is inaugurated under such good and favourable
auspices as I have described to you. May God grant that you will
pass this resolution unanimously, may God grant that you will also
have the courage and the ability to carry out the resolution and
that within one year." ( Loud and continued cheers ).






                  SPEECH AT CONCLUSION OF SUBJECTS
                         COMMITTEE DEBATE1

                                                    December 28,1920

     I have before me the original resolution along with the various
amendments, including one about our remaining in the Empire and
another suggesting omission of the term, "responsible government". I
still maintain that, if our grievances remain unredressed, we should
sever the British connection. This is why we are amending the
constitution. If our grievances are redressed, the possibility of
arriving at a compromise on Swaraj through discussions is not ruled
out. There is no trickery in this. In the form proposed, the
Congress creed leaves the door open to both parties. If this is
trickery, we should welcome it. "Legitimate and peaceful means' are
the very foundation of the Congress programme. We should proclaim to
the Europeans that their lives were safe in our country, but that
their guns and other things were no weapons of destruction but mere
toys. At the moment at least, there is no possibility of violence.
So far, we handled only the educated classes but now we must take in
hand the masses. If we can have Swaraj only through disgraceful
means, that Swaraj itself will turn out to be a disgrace. If we wish
to undo the humiliation offered to Islam we should remain peaceful;
otherwise this movement would collapse. If we take to violence, the
Congress will be declared an illegal body and crushed out of
existence. We should achieve our goal by honourable means.
"Responsible Government" is a misleading phrase. No dictator will
rise to power in India, since Swaraj will be literally the rule
accepted by the people themselves. But if the people in the country
themselves want dictatorship, nobody can prevent its rise.

    Speech delivered on 28-12-'20 at the plenary session of the
Congress, to propose the following resolution :

_______________
    1. On the draft resolution on the creed of the Congress which
amended the creed from attaining 'responsible government within the
Empire by constitutional means' into 'attainment of Swaraj' ( within
or without the Empire ) by legitimate and peaceful means.






    "The object of the Indian National Congress is the attainment of
Swaraj by the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means."

    The resolution says that the object of the Congress is to win
Swaraj and that there is only one method to achieve the goal, viz.,
the use of only those means which are 'legitimate and peaceful'. The
Congress believes that the country should get Swaraj at the earliest
moment. If it is possible to get it today, we must take it right
today, it feels.

    Through this resolution the Congress also shows us what we must
do to attain Swaraj. The resolution declares that we do not want to
gain Swaraj by means of the sword. We do not want to win
independence by dishonest means i. e., at the cost of truth. We say,
just as our object is pure, our means also should be equally pure.
So the resolution wants us to make a firm resolve to attain Swarj
and to take the road of truth, justice and peace to reach our goal.

    I consider it a privilege conferred on me that I have to move
such an important resolution before the Congress. Let me tell you
that the aim of the Congress till now was the attainment of what is
called 'Responsible Colonial Government' --- i. e., that form of
government within the Empire which the Colonies are at present
having --- and to gain it by 'constitutional agitation', i. e., means
that did not infringe the law. 'The law' here means the laws of the
British Empire. In pursuance of the old creed, in order to remain in
the Congress, we must respect every law of the British Empire,
though the Empire may not provide a satisfactory solution of the
Khilafat question and though, far from giving us justice, it may not
even admit its error in the matter of the Punjab outrages. The old
constitution meant that we could never end the Imperial rule over
us. It is not now possible either for Hindus or Muslims to put up
with the Empire, even though it may perpetrate such grave injustices
and refuse to repair them. Hence, through this resolution, we affirm
that we want Swaraj. It is only by getting Swaraj that we shall be
able to retrieve the wrongs of the Khilafat and Punjab horrors.






    But I do not want to take to the methods of the West in order to
get Swaraj. I know, neither Hindus nor Muslims say that they would
never take up the sword to win independence. But everyone accepts at
least this point : at present we cannot gain our object by the
sword. It is on that account that we have adopted turke mavalat or
the non-cooperation method. The sword will not save either
ourselves or our religion or our country. If you all agree with me
on this point, you will refrain from opposing the resolution I have
put before you.

    I know that there are two parties among our thoughtful leaders.
In one of them is my respected elder brother, the Hon. Pandit Madan
Mohan Malaviyaji. He has not been able to present himself here today
to give you his views on this question, as he is down with fever and
cold. I will, therefore, reproduce them in brief. We all know that
there are not many who render as splendid services to their country
as does Malaviyaji. Even if what such a distinguished servant of the
country says is not acceptable to us, we must give him a quiet and
respectful hearing. He says, we may talk big, but it is beyond our
capacity to end the British Empire. How is this disarmed and
disabled India, he asks, going to be able to end such a mighty
Empire ? He, therefore, believes that we should not delude the
people with promises we cannot fulfil. He is a fool, he saye, who
tries to whip the people to actions beyond their capacity. I would
immediately accept his advice, if this thing ( Swaraj ) were really
beyond the people's capacity. But in this matter I differ from him.
I believe that every man, and every woman, possesses the innate
capacity to get Swaraj. I believe that, so long as we have the faith
that the Soul dwells within the body, we are fit for Swaraj. The
thirty crores of Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, are men of
religion, men who remember God, men who would love to die for His
cause. Over the slaughter of a single cow a thousand Hindus are
ready to lay down their lives and take those of others. Over the
insult of a single Muslim numerous Muslims are ready to give their
lives and kill the opponents. So long as such Hindus and such Muslim
live in India, I will never call it






impossible for us to win Swaraj and I would never allow our goal of
Swaraj to be pushed beyond our sight.

    This Empire is guilty of so many outrages that to remain under
its flag is to be faithless to God. That is why it is my humble
prayer to you all to pass the resolution unanimously.

    Even those among us who feel we are weak and unable to win
Swaraj with our own power ought to agree with this new creed, since
we want to get Swaraj by means that are peaceful and free from
untruth. By this resolution we simply cherish the highest ideal.

    This resolution, moreover, affords a place in the Congress even
for those who think that the Empire is not so wooden as not to see
reason, that it is certain to see the light at last and deal us
justice and that we can persuade it to do the right thing by going
into its Councils.

    We do not wish to punish the Empire. The resolution does not say
that in order to win Swaraj we are necessarily going to end the
Empire. We are quite willing to remain in the Empire, if the Empire
on its part is prepared to render us justice and give us our rights.
This is what I call the path of justice and nothing can retard or
obstruct our progress along this path of righteousness.

    I tell you, therefore, if you agree with the resolution and want
to gain Swaraj, and by the method indicated in this resolution, you
must make a grim resolve in your heart to strive for Swaraj. Our
work does not end by merely passing this resolution. If you are bent
on it, you are certain to gain Swaraj and reapair the Punjab outrage
as well as the Khilafat injustice.

    There will be succeeding speakers who will assert that we can
use any suitable means ( violent or non-violent ) to achieve our
objective. I will answer the plea at the right time. For the
present, I will only say that in fixing the aim of the Congress, we
must bear in mind the situation as it stands at present. For me,
personally, I can say, my dharma tells me I must not get Swaraj or
even moksha ( salvation ), if either of them could be






attained by violent means. I do not want even that bhakti
(devotion), which enjoins killing of any creature. Only the means of
truth and peace as shown in this resolution are the right means for
you. Only through those means, you will be able to repair your
wrongs.

    I don't want to say anything more. I recognise and appreciate
the all-round awakening that has taken place in India and I believe
it unnecessary to speak anything further.

    I want just now to wind up my remarks by drawing your attention
to an objection-lesson. There was a little bit of scuffle in the
Bengal camp yesterday. I was grieved to hear of it. I went there
with a view to show those friends how Swaraj could be obtained. I
told them respectfully whatever I wanted to. I said, "I cannot say
which of the two parties has justice on its side. But if you are
intent upon on making up your quarrel, intent upon getting Swaraj,
intent upon making your hearts pure and undefiled, you must forget
all these things. You must bury the hatchet right here; and both the
parties were reconciled. If we want Swaraj, we are not going to
approach the Government for relief even if any of our brothers has
injured us, even broken our head. Why should we go even to the
President ? If a man beats me with a stick, I must bow down to him
in return. That is the only (right) way of overcoming him. We shall
achieve nothing, if we do not behave that way. If you are strong, if
you are brave, if you are determined to win Swaraj, and if you
really wish to revise the Congress creed, you will have to control
your rage, dismiss all the feelings of injustice rankling in your
hearts and forget it all, right here. I have nothing to say to those
who approve of violence, but I can certainly plead earnestly with
those who call themselves non-cooperators into accepting my views."
The friends from Bengal have resolved to control their anger and I
congratulate them. If you follow their example I have not the
slightest doubt that you will win Swaraj. You may forgive your
assailant, but not out of cowardice. I will not submit to an assault
on me out of unmanliness. But it is bravery if I really pity the man
who beats me, if I heartily






forgive the man who assaults me even savagely. In putting this
resolution before you, I present this object lesson to you.

    At the same time I expect from you a faith and a grim resolve
which nothing in the world can shake. I request those who are in
favour of this resolution to accept it with a firm determination.
May God inspire you to approve of the resolution unanimously and
endow you with the strength and courage sufficient to enable you to
crown your resolve with success within one year.

               Speech on non-cooperation resolution

                                                   December 30, 1920

     *Maulana Hasrat Mohani has come forward with an amendment as a
matter of conscience. His amendment is that he wants to reject the
conscience clause and he wants to reject the clause which says that
you may not make personal appeals to boys under sixteen. The
Congress resolution does not bind a man's conscience, and I have
never made a fetish of the mandate of the Congress. Even now,
although I feel that the majority are of the same opinion which I
hold, I make bold to say that I shall never be a party to making the
Congress itself a fetish or its mandate a fetish. I shall always
reserve the right of conscience, wherever my conscience pricks me
and tells me that I should resist the mandate of the Congress. With
reference to boys of 12 years or under 16,this Congress certainly
says, you may not address boys under sixteen because they are of
tender age and I am not to quicken that boy's conscience who has his
father, for the father has that special prerogative.

    I think it is right that we should know that we are not
tempering with the obligations of service imposed upon employees of
Government, whether civil, military or police. But we are asking
them not to kill their conscience and I want to make that point a
little clear. I would have held it a sin if I had been one of those
soldiers to receive the command of General Dyer to shoot those
innocent men in Jallianwala Bagh. I would have considered it my duty
to disregard that command and






preferred being shot on the spot. I know the discipline of a
soldier. I say that if a soldier receives a command from his officer
which he considers to be in conflict with his religion or in
conflict with his duties to his country, he may certainly disregard
it at the peril of his life.

    I hope, after passing the resolution, you will go away
forgetting all the differences and acrimony that have guided our
public life during the last three months, and you will show no
violence in thought, deed or word and I repeat the promise that I
made, that, if we can only do that, we do not require one year, we
do not even require nine months to attain our goal.

                         Antyaja Parishad1

     Two social reformers suggested that Gandhiji should take the
chair of this Conference. They said, "We do not agree with Gandhiji
in his political views. No matter how great the achievement of
Mahatmaji, he does not deserve that honorific, so long as he has not
been able to uproot untouchability. Mahatmaji has done absolutely
nothing for us till now. Only, he has sympathy for our efforts. We
have no need to hang on to him for the sake of our uplift. That we
can achieve by getting the Government pass good laws; but we cannot
eradicate untouchability with the aid of law."

    Gandhiji had first intended to finish the business with a short
speech, as he was exhausted with the strain of the whole day's work.
But, as the meeting began with expressions given above, it became
incumbent on him to give out his views on untouchability and uplift
of the depressed classes in the plainest terms.

    Before beginning the speech, Gandhiji put two questions to the
audience : "Can you understand my language ( Hindi ) ?" Answer :
"Yes." He then asked those among them who were antyajas to raise
their hands. Many hands sprang up. Nearly three quarters of the
audience were antyajas. Gandhiji began :

_______________
    1. Antyaja=Lowest born= 'untouchable'.
       Parishad=Conference.






    "I am very glad to find that such a large number of antyajas are
present at the meeting.

    "For quite a number of years I have been studying the conditions
of the antyajas. On this question I do not fully agree with our
great and well-known social reformers. My method of work differs
from theirs. Ever since I came to India, I have repeatedly thought
over the social reformers' ways of doing this work, but it has not
appeared to me that there is something wrong about the work I am
doing or that it is inferior in any way to what they are doing. It
is possible that my method may be faulty, but, personally, I have no
doubt that it is not.

    "This is the basis on which I work. Untouchability is a sin and
it has to be thrown out. I think it my duty to remove
untouchability, but that can be done not by working among the
antyajas and uplifting them, but by working among other Hindus and
purifying them. Untouchability is the excrescence of Hinduism. I had
declared at a meeting in Madras that, just as I saw Satanism of a
very diabolical type in our Empire and if I could not mend I wanted
to end it, so I believe that untouchability is heinous Satanism in
Hinduism.

    "The late Mr. Gokhle, after he came to know of the whole
situation in South Africa, remarked to me, "But why should not our
plight here be so wretched ? Just as we regard antyajas as
untouchables, the European race considers us all, Hindus and
Muslims, as untouchables ! We are not allowed to live in their
quarters and possess the same rights as they enjoy. The Whites of
South Africa have made Indians as miserable as the Hindu society has
made the antyajas here. Even in all the other Colonies of the
Empire, the behaviour of the Whites towards us is just the same as
is the behaviour of Hindu society towards antyajas." That is why
Gokhaleji told me, "We are only reaping in South Africa the fruit of
the Satanism which Hinduism has sown in India. Our society has
committed a great sin, betrayed the most devilish spirit and it is
only by God's decree that our condition in South Africa has grown so
miserable." I






immediately accepted the castigation. His observation was perfectly
true. My own experience since then confirms it.

    "I am myself a Hindu. I claim to be a strict Hindu. It is my
further claim that I am a sanatani (old, i. e., orthodox) Hindu. A
serious dispute is going on today in Gujarat between the Hindu
society and myself. Hindu society --- specially the Vaishnava community?
denies my claim to be a sanatani Hindu and yet I insist that I am.

    "This ( untouchability ) is a very grave defect in Hindu
society. There are many other defects also; but it does not matter
much if you remove them today or after a thousand years. You will be
excused for that delay. This untouchability, however, towards the
antyajas is for me impossible to put up with. I cannot stand its
existence. It is the duty of the Hindu society to undergo austere
penance through strenuous efforts to drive out untouchability. I
have warned the Hindu society, and I repeat the warning today, that
the establishment of Swaraj is an impossibility, so long as the
Hindu society does not free itself from the sin of untouchability.
If you believe in my veracity, let me tell you, the pain I feel at
the continuance of untouchability in Hindu society is even greater
than that which an antyaja feels for his disabilities. So long as
untouchability persists among the Hindus, I feel ashamed and feel a
constraint in claiming to be a Hindu myself. Those who spoke in
Marathi before me have charged me. I can only then be fit for the
title 'mahatma' which India has conferred on me --- but which I have not
accepted --- when untouchability is ousted from Hindu dharma (During
this speech Gandhiji was cheered twice already. Here again there
were loud cheers. Gandhiji had, therefore, to say, "When I am
pouring out the searchings of heart, please do not distract me by
your noises"). I tell you, "Show me, if you can, how a single
individual can end an age-old custom between sunrise and sunset. If
anybody can point out the way by following which untouchability can
be uprooted in one day, I would eradicate it this very day. But it
is no easy thing to make the Hindus society see the wrong in
untouchability and get it removed






    "I always do what I say. From my experience of the great trouble
I had to undergo, of the penance I had to impose upon myself in
order to win my wifen's support to this cause, I want to tell the
antyajas and the Hindu society that this work (removal of
untouchability ) is attended with stupendous difficulties. I do not
thereby mean to say that the work must be stopped. But that shows
why one must clearly think out the right way of tackling this
difficult problem. That is why I do not approve of your resolutions.

    "You propose a resolution saying that antyajas must have the
right of entry into all Hindu temples. How is that feasible ? To say
that every Hindu must be allowed to go into every temple is
unpracticable today, i. e., so long as varnashrama dharma plays such
a prominent part in Hinduism. Hindu society is not ready for that
change. My experience tells me that there are many temples from
which even some non-antyaja Hindu communities are debarred. Even I
cannot go into some temples in Madras. But I am not unhappy over it.
I am not prepared even to say that in imposing the ban Hindu society
definitely shows itself up as illiberal and faulty. It may be at
fault, but we must bear in mind the attitude behind the ban. If that
exclusion is made with a view to maintain sanyam ( restraint ), I
will not say that each and every Hindu must have the right to go
into the temples. There are varying religious sects in India and I
do not wish to destroy them. India does not owe its downfall to
these religious sects or to varnashram. The degradation is due to
our discarding the excellent traits that used to lie in varnashram
and the life of self-restraint we lived. You must discern the
difference. Varnashram is one thing, untouchability is another. To
condemn varnashram as making the society corrupt and sinful is to
adopt the standards of the West. I do not use them. Our acceptance
of Western modes have led to India's downfall. I don't want to buy
the blessings of antyajas cheaply. Hence, I want to say here quite
plainly that it is after a great inner struggle that I have joined
in this work, because, while I am with you ( antyajas) and with






social reformers in the matter of the removal of untouchability, I
cannot see eye to eye with you and them in the other changes you
want to bring about. I can never say to a Hindu-because I don't
believe in it myself-that inter-dining and inter-marriage are a
'must' for Hindu society. I see no necessity for them.1 say, the man
who renounces both these social intercourses can be a man of
self-restraint and can also become a man of self-willed licence. I
think this renunciation by Hindu society has come from the urge for
self-restraint.

    "I myself freely dine at the same table with antyajas. I have
adopted an antyaja girl as my daughter. She is dearer to me than
life itself. All the same I am not going to ask Hindu society to
dispense with its attitude of abstemiousness in this matter. I
believe there is room in Hindu society for men even of my type. With
all my free intercourse, there is room in Hindu society for me also,
even though I am not a sannyasi.2 Just as I may accept any
unforbidden food offered to me by Muslims, I accept it from antyajas
also. But I do not wish to compel every Hindu to do likewise,
because that means relaxation in sanyam and it is in sanyam that the
protection of Hindu society lies. Ending varnashrama or the ban on
inter-dining is not the same thing as ending untouchability. While
the former is sanyam, the latter is Satanism. I am a student, always
trying to learn. When, therefore, I realise that I was clinging to a
false doctrine, I will at once freely admit my error. But at
present, I can say this much. I see nothing but sham and Satanism in
those who are defending untouchability. What they are defending is
the evil that has crept into Hinduism.

    "I have already given out my limitations and my sphere and
method of work. I do not believe that reformers can remove the

_______________
    1. That Gandhiji later on moved away considerably from this
position need not be reiterated here. But perhaps it is not so
well-known that Gandhiji staked his life by fasting for the cause of
allowing the 'untouchables' free entry into the temples and did his
best to encourage marriages between the 'depressed' and the 'higher'
classes of Hinduism.
    2. Hinduism has always exempted the sannyasi from caste-rules.






sin of untouchability by working among the antyajas and edu-cating
them. I know of many persons who deliver sonorous speeches on
platforms, but when it comes to the question of their actually
touching an antyaja, they beat a hasty retreat. That is not my way
of work and I want to say that that is not the way to bring about
the reform. On the other hand, I have an aversion for those who say
they will follow in the wake of Hindu society when it sees its
error. On my part, I have been always telling antyajas that I, for
one, would offer non-cooperation and nothing else against that sin.
Let me declare before those non-antyaja Hindus who are present here,
that if this sordid custom cannot be removed by any other means, an
occasion may arise when single-handed, I will offer non-cooperation
against the whole Hindu society for its deliverance from the sin. I
do not find it so very difficult to put down the Satanism of the
Empire. It is, after all, a secular matter. But the Satanism of
untouchability has taken the garb of religion. Hindus even believe
it as nothing but a sin to touch an antyaja. To persuade them to
give up the belief is a difficult matter. We are sunk so deep in
misery, we are so overcome by sloth and inertia, that we have lost
the capacity to think. Even our religious heads are so embedded in
ignorance that it is impossible to make them see the light. Removal
of the sin of untouchability is nothing else but making the Hindu
society see the sin of it. It is impossible for antyajas to wipe off
untouchability by killing the Hindu crores. If the Vedas or
Manu-smriti ( the code of law instituted by Manu, the first
law-giver ) sanctions untouchability, we have but to change the
Vedas or that smriti. But who can be the giver of a new code ? I am
a worldly man. I never lay claim to be a religious head. How can I,
a man so full of faults, lay down a new religious code for the Hindu
society ? I would make myself the object of their ( the present
religious preceptors' ) pity and do whatever I can by beseeching
them.

    "The work is attended with serious difficulties. But if our
social reformers realise that it is impossible to end this evil by
uprooting Hindu society, they will be convinced that the evil






can be ended by nothing else than forbearance and sympathy. To you,
the antyaja brothers, I say 'You are as full Hindus as I am. You
also possess all the rights that accrue to me as a Hindu. If you
understand the essence of Hinduism rightly, you have the weapon for
overcoming your disabilities in your hands, just as the weapon to
end this Empire is in our hands. Begging at the door of the
foreigner is not the way to end our ills. Similarly, the remedy to
end untouchability lies in the hands of the antyajas themselves.

    "Antyajas may tell me, 'Teach us non-cooperation.' I want to
teach them non-cooperation this very night. Non-cooperation is a
process of self-purification. India is a country different from
others. That is why we are not trying what we want to get by the
method of harassing the Englishman. What then should we ( antyajas )
do to purify ourselves ? Hindu society grumbles, "See these antyajas
! They are drunkards; they eat any dirty food; they never observe
the rules of cleanliness and sanitation; they even slaughter the
cow." I don't believe this last charge. He who claims to be a Hindu
can never think of taking beef. If antyajas want to offer
non-cooperation, they must give up drinking, must give up eating
putrid flesh and, must of all, cow-slaughter. I do not ask tanners
to give up their occupation. Englishmen do that work and yet we lick
their shoes. Even some Brahmins do the work these days. I don't
think cleaning latrines is a dirty work. I have often done the work
myself and I like it. My mother has taught me that it is a sacred
work. Though it has to deal with dirt, the work itself is holy. He
who does the work, with the consciousness that it is a holy work,
attains to heaven. You can certainly remain within the fold of
Hinduism without having to give up that work. If anybody gives you
the leavings of their table or even cooked food, you should refuse
either of them and ask for raw cereals. Your living habits must be
clean. After cleaning latrines, you must change your dress. Even
though you may continue to clean latrines, you should keep
yourselves as clean as my mother did. You will ask me, "How can we
afford a change of clothing ?" You must then say






to Hindu society, "We are not going to do the work, so long as we do
not get a salary of Rs. 15, 20, 30 or whatever we are fit for. Just
as the carpenter or the blacksmith serves society, we also render an
essential service to it." You must become fearless. I know quite
well the antyajas of Gujarat. I am conversant with their temperament
and nature. Them also I teach this same thing, viz., 'You can remove
the stain of untouchability by your own strength. I ask you to be
thorough Hindus, so that Hindu society, instead of looking down upon
you, worships you"

    "I want this work ( removal of untouchabilty ) done by your own
efforts or by those of the Hindu society itself ( i. e. without
Governmental interference ). I tell you, "Be fit for the rights you
are demanding." I do not thereby suggest that you are not fit. When
I exhort India to be fit for Swaraj, I do not believe it unfit
today. I only ask India to be fitter than now. In the same way I
tell the antyajas, "It is you birth-right to be free and gain a
status of equality with every Hindu. But I ask you to be fitter than
you are today, by undergoing tapasya (austere self-purification).

    "In connection with this tapasya, I wish to narrate two
incidents of my life. After opening the Satyagrahashram at Ahmedabad
I accepted, as inmates, an antyaja brother, Dudhabhai, and his wife.
And what was the Hindu Society's reaction ? Mrs. Dudhabhai was not
allowed to draw water from the well which we were using for the
Ashram needs. I said, "If Dudhabhai is not allowed, I will myself
abstain from drawing water from that well." It was a common well and
I was a part-user; but I gave up my share. And how did Dudhabhai
behave ? A pure soul, he quietly bore with all the abuses that were
heaped upon him. The trouble ended in three days by this tapasya.
The neighbours saw the light and realised that Dudhabhai must be
allowed to draw water from that well. And that same Dudhabhai's
daughter, Laxmi, lives in my house which she cheers and enlivens
like Goddess Laxmi Herself. If you all imbibe Dudhabhai's tapasya
your hardships, too, would end this very day.






    "And now a word to the non-antyajas Hindus. You also should
gather courage and drive out your sins. I believe I am a religious
man. You may even dub me a superstitious fellow, but I believe that
so long as you do not free yourselves from this sin and beg the
antyajas' pardon, Nemesis will inflict on you still greater ills
than you groan under now. Please understand as a dead-certain fact
that untouchability is a sin. If you can see wisdom and throw off
your dirt, you can secure freedom right today.

    "And now this second incident to show you how sensible Hinduism
is. When I came from South Africa, I had with me a panchama (
antyaja ) boy named Naidu. Mr Natesan ( Editor, The Indian Review )
is an enthusiastic worker for the cause of the antyajas. It happened
that, on my way to Ahmedabad, I had to put up with him at Madras.
Many friends warned me, "What madness ! Natesan's mother is such a
strictly orthodox lady, that when she comes to know that you have
brought an antyaja boy into her home, she will simply die of the
shock." "I would rather give up Natesan's house than the boy," I
replied. But Mr. Natesan is a man of straight dealings. He went home
and told the truth about the boy's community to his mother. Mother
said : "Let him come." She saw that an antyaja accompanying me can
never be unclean; and I, too, had washed out all uncleanliness from
the boy. We became their guests and drew water from the same well
from which mother was drawing. What does this incident show ?
Non-antyajas can convert their mothers and sisters by their own
purity and straightforwardness. The moral of the story is that this
question can be solved by the openness of heart of non-antyajas
coupled with the tapasya of antyajas.

    "It is my prayer to God that He may grant wisdom and patience to
antyajas so that they may not give up their religion. For rest of
the Hindus I pray, "O, God ! release Hindu society from this
sin-this Satanism."






                                 6

     ( Presidential speech at the Weavers' Conference held during
the Nagpur         session of the Congress dated 25-12-'20)

    Though deeply immersed in work, I had not the heart to say,
'no', to the request to preside over this meeting. I was not born a
weaver, but now I regard myself as a farmer-and-weaver. In the
law-court also I have declared that as my pro-fession. I think that
till our weavers do not prosper in India, the uplift of the whole
country is difficult, if not impossible. That is why some reference
was made to this question during the last Special Session of the
Congress. Before India became a 'dependency', she surpassed the
world in the production of cloth both in quantity and quality. When
there was all this abundant production of cloth in India, she did
not possess a single spinning or weaving mill. At that time India
produced varieties ranging from coarse Khaddar to the finest muslin
of Dacca. India not only supplied her own clothing needs, but
exported the excess to foreign countries. People from foreign parts
were drawn to India to see the excellent specimens of her cloth. The
inventor of the sacred hand-spinning wheel was a greater genius than
Hargreaves who invented the power-driven spinning machine. No one in
India has shown greater inventive intelligence than that genius.
When India was happy, there was a spinning mill in every home.
Brahma ( the creator in the Hindu Trinity ) conceived the plan that
if India wanted to remain free, her women should spin some yarn.
Women should realise that spinning is their ordained sacred
occupation. It was for that reason that, instead of creating a
spinner community, Brahma made spinning essential for all women. Our
downfall began since the day the East India Company entered the
land. The weaver and the spinner gave up their employments since
then. Just as indigo was exacted from the peasants of Champaran, so
was a levy of yarn extorted from the people. The pressure was so
great, that people cut off their own fingers in sheer disgust. It
was then that Lancashire cloth began to flood the Indian markets. If
you want to re-establish






dharma, you must do penance by reviving the ancient occupa-tions of
spinning and weaving. It is because we have lapsed from true
religious conduct, that, in the name of swadeshi, we are committing
an irreligious act. Hence, I tell you, in order to protect dharma,
produce yarn yourselves and cloth from it. If that is not done,
importation of foreign cloth becomes indis-pensable. Fazalbhai and
Wadia Saheb ( industrial magnates ) think it impossible for us to be
self-sufficient as regards our clothing needs for fifty years more.
Gokhaleji had shown that even for a hundred years still that was not
possible. But they are wrong. They had no idea that it is possible
to see that every Indian home possesses a spinning wheel and a
handloom.

    To open Swadeshi Stores is not service of the country but a sin,
as long as there is no hand-spinning and hand-weaving drive in
India. The handkerchief I have been presented with contains foreign
yarn.

    I see a very small number of members of the vankar com-mmunity (
an 'untouchable' caste of weavers ). Of the three classes of
Koshties (weavers), I do not see the third class, i. e., vankars. A
gentleman wrote to me that vankars would not be allowed entry into
the Conference. I replied that in that case, I would walk out of the
Conference. When you hold your second session, make it a point to
bring those weavers in greater numbers.

    The way you are conducting your profession is not the right way.
It you want to carry it on so as to help the uplift of the country,
you must weave only that yarn which you spin yourselves or get spun
by others. It will make your weaving work difficult indeed, but that
trouble you should cheerfully bear. If every little boy and girl in
India spins for one hour daily, all the cotton India produces can be
spun into yarn. It is not at present my dharma to advise the
production of fine hand-spun cloth. A conflagration of agony is
raging in my heart today. I want to see, if that is possible, that
all the men and women of India are consumed with the same fire. To
the koshties I say it is a sad thing that the cloth they wear is not
made by them.






                        Foundation of Swaraj1

                              Dissolved are isms and discussions;
                              Gone all schisms and dissensions;
                              Those apart have joined together
                              Love's triumph to acclaim.

(Manilal)
                              Glad we were to bow to Love; and so
                              How could the clergy stop us or the law
?

(an old Gujarati folksong)
                              "Give me the strength never to disown
the poor,
                              Or bend my knee before insolent might."

(Rabindranath Tagore in Gitangali)

    The Congress is over, but it has left memories that time cannot
efface. There may not be today a single part of India, a single city,
small town or village, where the pilgrims to the Congress may not be
relating their experiences to those who did not attend it. There may
not be any peasant, any woman or child, living in the smallest village
in India, who may still be entirely innocent of any knowledge about
the Congress. The voice of the Congress, which used to spread only
upto the limits of cities and then be lost, will now resound to the
ends of the earth. And its echoes and their re-echoes will not only go
down deep into the life of the Indian people for all times to come,
but will be loud enough to cross the country's limits, traverse
thousands of miles and open the ears of the deaf there.

    I hope nobody will ask me why all this exuberance, which is
apparently an exaggeration. Everyone will agree that this was no
ordinary session. It was not merely 'unprecedented' like the last
Congress. It was a succession of wonders. To judge it from only a
superficial view, it is enough to know the number and calibre
_______________

    1. The omnibus non-cooperation resolution was passed with all its
details by the Nagpur Congress without a single dissentient vote,
though it had met with formidable opposition in the beginning. Hence,
these outbursts by Mahadevbhai. Manilal Nabhubhai Dwivedi was a
leading philosopher, poet and dramatist of Gujarat in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century.






of the delegates who attended the Congress. Including the members of
the Reception Committee there were eighteen thousand delegates. They
enhanced the dignity of the Congress and included : sannyasis, minus
only their ochre robes, who had come to the Congress as if only to
support Gandhiji's ideal of political sannyas ; Marwari women, who
never before had stirred out of their homes, under the leadership of
Mrs. Janakibai ( wife of Sri Jamnalal Bajaj ), herself a lady as
heroic as the Rajput woman of old; representatives from far-off
Burma who had heard the call of the hurricane campaign going on in
the country; and, above all, guests from England, who were eager to
see with their own eyes the strength of the awakened country that is
out to blaze abroad its inherent power of virtue, and who wanted to
bring about peace with Britain if that offended country could be
appeased. The large number of delegates kept hardly any space vacant
for visitors; so they crowded into the pandal ( a big tant ) as best
they could and there was still a big overflow. Those who had
accepted non-cooperation as a principle but differed from Gandhiji
formerly about the items for its implementation did not stage a
walk-out in a huff, but presented themselves in large numbers to
give the Congress the benefit of their changed views after their
experience of the movement for the last three months. "The
succession of wonders" which I spoke of above was thus brought about
by the convergence of all those forces.

    In this series of marvels I do not hesitate to give first place
to the doings of our worthy President ( C. V. Vijayaraghava-chariar
). It could never be claimed that his election to the chair was
enthusiastically hailed by the country. From his presiden-tial
address, moreover, it was difficult to gauge his attitude as the
chairman. But his behaviour, his efficiency and his frankness
astounded everybody and proved the wisdom of his choice as the
President. While his Presidential speech reflected his deep and
enlightened scholarship, some of his expressions born out of his
experience, were such as did not fail to jar in the ears of some
hearers. His printed speech, besides, included clear statements






which indicated not only his want of faith in the principal items of
non-cooperation, but also the fear that if they were implemented,
the country would revert to its former stage of barbarism-though he
alone can say when the country was barbarous ! And yet while reading
the speech, he himself shortened the portion containing those
criticisms and also mellowed them down. About students he said that
the earlier they left the institutions, with the full understanding
of the implications of their step, the better for them. He even
declared that it would be a good thing if our lawyers came forth to
sacrifice their practice. On the very first day he thus found it
necessary to make changes in his views. But, on the last day, as he
saw a wonderful unity about the non-cooperation resolution, he not
only expressed his delight at the outcome, but declared in
substance, "The soul of the country is astir. That will make haughty
England rub its eyes and come to its senses." Only those know well,
who were actual eye-witnesses, how adroitly he conducted the
proceedings of the Subjects Committee as its President. A single
day's experience of his erudition, his astonishing punctiliousness
about order and method, his witty remarks, genial and sometimes
strained and his sarcasms, was enough to convince every member that
he had to deal with no ordinary President. Even those who had had
the experience of discussions under the chairmanship of men like Sir
Pherozshah Mehta and Gokhaleji were heard to remark that this
President beat them all in strictness. At the same time it must be
said that it was that selfsame strictness that made it possible to
bring the great task which faced this Congress to a glorious
success.

    The task of replacing the old constitution by framing an
entirely new one which contained overhauling transformations was by
no means an easy one. The difficulty was enhanced by the provision
in the old constitution that any constitutional change could be made
only with the unanimous support of all the provinces. There was,
besides, that important question of fixing such a programme of
non-cooperation as would






enable the country to win Swaraj in one year. The members of the
Subjects Committee never cared to look either at the clock or at
their health, till they succeeded in finishing all their business.
Eight to ten hours' sittings for four continuous days brought about
this happy result. Everyone present at the sessions of the Committee
will testify that hardly ever before most members of any Subjects
Committee of the Congress have taken such interest and exhibited
such enthusiasm as well as intelligence in thrashing out its
resolutions.

    And the glorious outcome was the fact that epoch-making
resolutions were passed unanimously.

    The motive-springs that brought about this unanimity were as
much the consciousness of the great peril the country was facing as
a spirit of compromise arising out of that conscious-ness. But the
biggest reason was the feeling that ruled upper-most among the
members, viz., that of love which dissolves all discussions,
acerbities and dissensions. Those great warriors who, at the
Calcutta session, were in the opposition camp with regard to
Gandhiji's non-cooperation resolution aligned with him this time.
It was Sri Chittaranjan (C. R.) Das himself who proposed the
non-cooperation resolution ! And its supporters were Gandhiji, Sri
Bipin Chandra Pal1 and Kasturiranga Iyen-ger ( Editor, The Hindu of
Madras ). It was a sublime pheno-menon that amazed everybody. The
most wonder-struck was an Englishman, Mr. Ben Spoor ( a Labour M. P.
), who described this unity in memorable words. He exclaimed in
effect : "Never since my birth have I witnessed the spectacle of
such a huge mass of humanity impelled to offer an unflinching
sacrifice with one resolve and for one ideal. On my return to
England, I will tell my countrymen that all Indians of the
Nationalist party are now of one mind. I have the feeling today that
this country will bring the world to the path of sanity after
achieving its sacred aim by sacred means. This effort to carry on
politically activity

_______________
    1. He was one of the three foremost Extremist leaders ("Lal"?
Lala Lajpatrai, "Bal"?Balgangadhar Tilak and "Pal"?B. C. Pal) at the
Surat Congress in 1907 which ended in a rupture between Moderates
and Extremists.






by means of renunciation and self-purification --- the only path that
leads to spiritual elevation --- will not stop at the attainment of
freedom for this country, but will contribute to the grant of real
freedom to us and other countries."

    This spontaneous admiration sprang from the sincerity and
candour underlying the unity of the Congress. Mr. Spoor had already
seen the charming spirit in which the discussions in the Subjects
Committee took place. He had also seen with what nicety every
resolution was discussed. But the plenary session revealed before
him even more captivating scenes. Maulana Hazarat Mohani differed
partly from the resolution with regard to the clause about
non-cooperation in education. He even implemented his opposition by
proposing an amendment before the open session. Gandhiji explained
how there was no difference in principle between the resolution and
the amendment and immediately the Maulana withdrew it. Owing to some
misunderstandings about the resolution to keep the Congress aloof
from the internal affairs of the Indian States, some persons got
excited and demanded clarification of some points in the plenary
session. Gandhiji in reply succeeded in quelling their doubts and so
even that opposition group melted away. All these incidents were
impressive enough to re-create faith in those who had lost it.

    No other resolution created such an animated discussion, both
privately and publicly, at Nagpur, as the non-cooperation
resolution.1 Before proposing his resolution, Gandhiji had
distributed the copies of his draft among friends. Two or three
private meetings were held to discuss it; there were some
confidential talks also; and then, as we have seen, the very
resolution that threatened a split, was passed unanimously at the
general sitting ! The speech of Sri. C. R. Das in proposing it was
as exalted as the text of the resolution itself. The language of
that resolution is so very clear, that it does not require any
explanation worth the name. Let me add here that even the most
radical

_______________
    1. For the text of this nistoric resolution see App. II.






non-cooperator will not fail to appreciate the propriety of the following
sentence in Gandhiji's speech : "Where no princi-ple is involved, I am prepared
even to retrace a step, if need be, to win over Lalaji ( Lala Lajpatrai ),
Kasturiranga Iyenger or Das." And may I take the freedom to publish here the
outburst of a dear friend on the passage of this resolution ? In his letter to
Gandhiji that saintly-hearted man, Mr. Andrews, says that the spirit of the
prayer in both these lines of Gitanjali :

                              "Give me the strength never to
                                                            disown the poor,
                              Or bend my knee before insolent
                                                                           might."

prevails in this resolution. The resolution shows what, without resigning from
their jobs, our brothers, the Government servants in both the Police and
Military Departments can do. Not only that, but there is in the resolution a
firm resolve to bring up and fraternize with those ( untouchables ) who have
been reduced to a miserable plight by our ungenerous treat-ment. In that unity
and that firm resolve lies our determination not to bend our knee before the
Government's insolent might.

    It is difficult to assess properly the greatness of the new constitution
which the Congress has framed. That could be done only after the experience of
a year's work. I, for one, have no doubt that the future historian will see in
this new constitution the foundation of the edifice of Swaraj. While the
present rulers have made the divisions of the country at haphazard, simply for
the sake of administrative convenience --- and sometimes not even for that --- the
Congress, by dividing the country on linguistic basis, has adopted one of the
best means to achieve national solidarity. Two resolutions of the Congress
raised the hottest discussion : the first, to introduce the system of election
that secured real representation; and the second, to formulate the new creed of
the Congress. Those who opposed the creed resolution might have hardly seen how
closely interlinked both these two resolutions were. The new creed cannot
logically be opposed without ignoring the fact that the new method of
representation






is an effective measure to bring into the Congress fold all the
political parties of the country. The eagerness of the Congress to
carry with it one and all of the parties as well as its
foresightedness are evident in its decision to declare the aim of
the Congress as the establishment of Swaraj within or without the
British Empire. Without this option it was impossible to keep the
Congress door open for the party which wanted the country to remain
tied to the apron-strings of the Empire. That party can now, by its
won strength, make the country demand the form of Swaraj which it
likes.

    After thus laying the foundation of Swaraj, the Congress has
appointed a Working Committee to build up that Swaraj. That
Committee has already began to function. In order to have the money
to do the work, the resolution of non-cooperation itself contains
the resolve to open Swaraj fund called after the name of the late
Lokamanya Tilak of revered memory. Perhaps no one else feels as
happy and satisfied at the acceptance of this item as Gandhiji. At a
meeting of the All-India Congress Com-mittee held about three months
back, Gandhiji had suggested that a Swaraj fund ( to be used only
for national regeneration ) was the only proper way to immortalise
the memory of Tilak Maharaj. But Mr. Satyamurti ( Editor of Swaraj,
Madras ) and other friends who were interested in foreign propaganda
did not approve. Even Mr. Kelkar ( Editor, Tilak Maharaj's paper
Mahratta ) did not like the idea. All these friends have exhibited
an extraordinary accommodative spirit and delighted the heart of the
nation by agreeing to let this selfsame suggestion be in-corporated
in the resolution. The auspicious start of the collec-tion of the
Fund has been made by the Chairman of the Recep-tion Committee
himself, Sri Jamnalalji Bajaj. He was the first to pay his tribute
of one hundred thousand rupees to the memory of the Lokamanya; and
the very next day that well-known philan-thropist of Bombay, Sheth
Shavaksha Bomanji, announced the promise of the donation of rupees
ten thousand every month, till Swaraj was established ! Among the
series of the miracles that the Congress performed, these are by no
means negligible.






But the most astounding feat has been preformed by Sri Chittaranjan
Das ( of Bengal ) through the renunciation of his legal practice,
which used to bring him fifty thousand rupees per month. The benefit
that will accrue to the country through that self-sacrifice cannot
be fully estimated today. But within a very short time we will see
how his collaboration in national service with Pandit Motilal Nehru
has put heart into innumerable timid lovers of the country.

    But these are all talks; though talks that can swell anybody's
heart with justifiable pride. But that same heart trembles, when the
thought strikes us of our ( people's ) responsibility in the wake of
the achievements of the Congress. Let alone the question of national
education; let alone even that of 'real political boycott', viz.,
educating all voters, so as to make the boycott of councils'
programme a resounding success; but, in implementing the fourth part
of the new constitution, I feel even from now that every nook and
corner of the country will have to be stirred up through a
whirl-wind campaign. A minimum number of --- from sixty to hundred?
workers per every newly formed province will be needed --- and such
workers as must be self-less, purehearted and willing to dedicate
all their time to national service --- so that they can cover all the
sizable villages of their taluka ( a division of a district ), hold
meetings, impress upon the minds of the people the importance of the
new constitution and create sensible and truly representative bodies
out of the villagers. Heaps and heaps of money will be required. Is
the country equal to this task ? If not, the time will come for us
to hang down our heads in shame. And there are always those powerful
enemies opposite, eager to throw every possible obstacle they can in
our path ! This time our victory is even greater than the one when
that immortal expression, "The hour of the greater triumph is the
hour of the greatest humility" had escaped Gandhiji's lips. Our
humility also must be, at this time, greater likewise. None but the
most Gracious Lord can endow us with that humility and that power
for the required stupendous sacrifice.






                                                             5-1-'21

    Sarkar Patwardhan's death on the night of the 11th of the dark
half of Margashirsh.

                                                             6-1-'21

    At Chhindwada. Good work done there. Four lawyers gave up their
practice. Bapu gave the following lecture :

    "For the last three years I was making an attempt to visit your
town. Among Muslims, the Ali Brothers were the first to come in
contact with me after my return to India. Ever since their
internment, I had been trying to secure permission to see them, but
I could never succeed.

    The Ali Brothers are very fond of this place, Chhindwada. It was
agreed between us at first that I should go to Bombay and then to
Ahmedabad for some rest, but they have brought me here to
Chhindwada, which they love so much, which they have served so well,
which in turn, has served them well and for which they entertain
high hopes.

    The prestige of the Central Provinces has definitely risen
through the holding of the Congress here, but the resolution the
Congress passed has enhanced it all the more. To the good luck of
India and the Central Provinces, we have definitely taken at Nagpur
a step definitely forward, not backward, from our achievement at
Calcutta. It is the Nagpur Congress which has shown us what we ought
to do if we want to wipe out the insult of the Khilafat, to set
right the injustice of the Punjab and to establish Swaraj. We had
already said to the holders of Government titles all that could be
said. The Congress has thrown on the holders themselves the
responsibility of sitting tight on their titles or renouncing them.
That is why they are not even mentioned in the resolution passed
this time. There may not be a single child now, who may have any
fear of, or respect for, these titleholders.

    The Congress has earnestly appealed to our lawyers to make more
strenuous efforts to give up their practice and spend their whole
time in the service of the nation. The Congress may






definitely provide for those lawyers who have not enough savings
even to maintain their families. The energy and the time which
lawyers are spending at present after the courts are badly needed
for national work.

    The congress has also shown the students and their parents what
their respective duties are. Instead of giving reasons for it, I
wish to place before you ( parents ) the Congress directive it-self.
It is your duty not only to withdraw your children from schools, but
also to provide engagements for them. If it is possible to give them
national education, you must make arrange-ments for it. If that is
not possible at present, you should employ them in some other
national work. I don't think there may be any school-boy who, after
knowing what has happened about the Khilafat and in the Punjab, will
not say, "I wish to destroy this rule root and branch." If there be
any such rare hero, I will tell him, "Well, you can freely cling to
your school." The Congress has advised every student above sixteen
to give up his school or college having any connection with the
Government.

    Similarly, the Congress has asked the soldiers also to play
their role. Loyalty to Government service is subordinate to loyalty
to the motherland. Hence, when the two loyalties con-flict, it
becomes your ( soldiers' ) duty to forsake the former and stick to
the latter. If some tyrannical officer like Dyer gives you a nasty
order, better be brave and accept death by being shot down than
carry out that command. It is definitely better to brace yourselves
up to be shot than to blow up innocent people like those assembled
at Jallianwala Bagh. Have some sympathy for your own countrymen.
Instead of taking a bad advantage of your power and oppressing them,
you must remember that they are your own kith and kin and protect
them. Nobody can ever stop you from contributing, for a national
cause, something from the savings of your own salary. And give that
amount publicly. You may also fearlessly attend public meetings. It
is true you cannot make any speeches, but the Government can never
dismiss you for attending public meetings in order to keep yourself
abreast of the thought currents flowing in the






country. In addition to all this, the Congress has laid special
stress on swadeshi. Let it be taken for certain that the foundation
of Swaraj would be laid only when Lancashire cloth ceases to be
imported. And never entertain the delusion that you can gain your
objective by replacing Japan for Lancashire. The spinning-wheel is
our emancipator. It must penetrate every Indian home. If every
Indian-man, woman or child-takes a vow to spend some time after
spinning, we shall be able, within a very short time, to free
ourselves from dependence on others for our clothing needs and save
sixty crores of rupees for the country.

    Of equal importance is Hindu-Muslim Unity. As we do not propose
to cut the throats of Englishmen, so also we don't want to cut each
other's throats. We want to live amicably like brothers. Satan
always creeps into us through the holes of our own weaknesses. It is
our business to fill up these holes.

    Just as it is necessary for Hindus and Muslims to live in
harmony, it is equally necessary for Hindus to remove the stain of
untouchability from HInduism and wipe out its dishonour. The
Congress has earnestly entreated all Hindus to give up this sordid
custom. Take it from me that, just as the Government does not fail
to take advantage of any ill-feeling between Hindus and Muslims, so
it is never likely to fail to take the fullest advantage of the
discontent brewing among ourselves owing to this custom among the
Hindus. I should not wonder if our effort to win Swaraj continues to
fail, so long as such defects persist in us.

    This is, in short, the resolution which the Congress has
accepted unanimously at Nagpur. In its implementation lies our test.
We have picked up the gauntlet to win Swaraj in one year. If the
Government is prepared to give up its Satanism, satisfy us and stay
here in the way we want it to, we, in turn, want to retain it. But
if it wants to continue in its Satanic ways and suppress us, then,
let me tell you, our one and only duty is to destroy it. If that can
be done today, I don't want to wait till tomorrow. I pray to God,
'Give us the strength to offer all the sacrifices necessary to win
this tremendous struggle."






                                                             8-1-'21

     Left Nagpur. Discussed my long letter on the way. Dictated
letters to Kasturiranga Iyengar and Lalaji.

To Sri. Kasturiranga Iyengar :

    *"I was glad when you assured me that you were entirely
satisfied with the non-cooperation resolution and that you would no
longer oppose the detailed programme after it had been twice
affirmed by the Congress. I hope that you will give it your
wholehearted support in your paper ( The Hindu ). If we are to
achieve Swaraj inside of one year, we need all the strength that can
be given to the movement."

Letter to Lalaji :

    * "I hope you are looking into Pandit Gangaram's matter (
Charges of conducting bogus national schools and misappropriation of
public money ). The letters received by me are most damaging to him.
But I am going to defer publishing anything about them till I have
heard from you.

    May we look to you for organising the Punjab in respect of
non-cooperation ? I know that your difficulty is the greatest, with
Lala Harkishan Lala ranged against the movement. But so long as the
masses continue to respond, there is a clear duty before those who
are convinced of the necessity and virtue of non-cooperation. I
cannot help feeling that both Malaviyaji and Lal Harkishanlal, being
live and brave, will come round when they perceive the inherent
weakness and the untruth of their position. I trust you will be in
Bombay on the 20th instant for the meeting of the Working Committee.

    I am anxious to convince you that we are wrong in spending
anything in foreign propaganda outside India. Curiously, I have a
letter from a friend in America which strengthens my position. I
plead for saving every penny during this year of trial. We need all
the men and all the money we can get for organising ourselves here.
But of this more when we meet".






                                                            13-1-'21

    At the Sabarmati Ashram. The following inspiring speech was
delivered to the students of the Gujarat Mahavidyalaya (National
College, Ahmedabad) to impress upon them the need for setting aside
their books, taking up the spinning wheel and going to the villages
to propagate it in order to win Swaraj in nine months :

    I had hopped that on return from my tour, I would meet you,
confer with you, compare notes and share with you a few of my
numerous experiences. But I did not then know that I would give you
today the same message which I have been giving to all and sundry
for the last two days. The thing I am going to put before you is by
no means new. It had been lying rather latently in my mind for a
long time past. In season and out, I have continued to ponder over
it and have even followed it up in action. But my life is so moulded
that I can see particular important things, clear as daylight, only
when the right moment comes up. For instance during the Rowlatt Act
agitation, it suddenly dawned in my mind at Nadiad : 'The masses are
not yet ready for civil disobedience'. I had myself stayed in Nadiad
and had, in my view, made there the greatest achievement of my life.
But the men of that same place committed a ghastly blunder. I saw
that only that person should offer civil disobedience who had
respected the law all his life through, willingly and deliberately,
not out of fear.

    So I had to withdraw the charge of my missile. In this way
definite things had awaken in my mind only at definite moments. When
I was a student, Geometry was at first simply over my head. Till I
came to the thirteenth theorem, everything was bland. But the moment
the teacher explained that theorem on the blackboard, there was a
sudden flash of light in my mind and since then I felt interested in
Geometry. In the same way three or four days ago there was a
brain-wave and the idea has possessed me since then. It is the
answer to the question what we should do if we want to make
non-cooperation successful, want our students to give their due
share in the struggle and






gain Swaraj in one year. I am putting before you just now the same
thing which I have always believed. My own conviction about the
truth of it has always been deep and unshakable. But never before
did I see so clearly as now, one of the facets of my conviction.

    I have not come to speak to you as your august Chancellor. I
have come here to advise you and confer with you as your elder
brother or guardian. But that advice I will press upon you
insistently. I have never till now spoken to you on this matter with
as much conviction and force as those with which I will speak to you
today. If you believe that to give up schools and be deprived of
education is something like committing suicide, I say, "Save
yourselves from the sin of continuing to study in schools and do
commit suicide". God is certain to forgive you for that sin. Till
now I used to speak to you on topics of varied interest. But today I
have come to tell you one single thing, viz., 'if you want to see
that non-cooperation ends in success, you must devote every hour
you can to spinning.' This is a novel talk, a bombshell that may
shock you. To those who wish to be B. As., who have been assured
that the Vidyapith (National University) will confer that degree on
them, I say spinning the wheel today for the cause of India is the
highest degree you can aspire after. I go to the length of making
this assertion because I wish to see you consumed with the same
driving urge with which I am burning.

    It was only because our people forsook swadeshi, that India
passed out of our hands. Spinning was never a distinct prof-ession
in India. Every woman of whatever class, high and low, used to spin.
Some men also did the same. It was menfolk who spun yarn fine enough
for the well-known Dacca Muslin. But there I referred to only a few
professional spinners. As a general rule, spinning was considered
not an occupation but a duty common with all. It was a part of one's
dharma. So long as spinning was flourishing in India, the country
was happy and prosperous. Our production of cloth not only supplied
the internal needs of the country but was large enough for exporting






the surplus to foreign lands. That is what history testifies. By
means fair or foul, the East India Company destroyed our weaving
industry, waged aggressive wars to possess our crores of rupees,
captured our ports, secured trade monopoly and finally established
their rule. How can we win Swaraj, as long we do not repent and do
penance for the atrocities inflicted on as our forefathers ? We will
never be able to gain Swaraj by physically punishing the oppressors.
We must forget that method. Not by thrashing them, but by gaining
soul-force through self-purification, we must stop the Englishmen
from ruling over us. If you believe that it is owing to our own
moral weakness that they acquired their rule over us and are
sustaining it, if you want to bring Swaraj home with only pure
means, what should you do ? You must perform a penance, and resume
our good old work of spinning. You may say, "Spinning is woman's
business, we will gladly ask them to spin". I must then tell you,
"That is not enough. We have come to a pass when we had to see with
our own eyes the honour of the Punjab women looted. At least to
retrieve that dishonour, we, men, have to take to spinning not as
our whole-time job, but as our spare-time hobby and thus uplift our
country. Our atonement will be complete only when men, women and
children, are all engaged in spinning. Advocates of the boycott of
British goods talk of it in order to beat Lancashire black and blue.
But I, for one, prefer rather the talk of refusing to be throttled
than of throttling others. If we want to stop the inroads of Japan,
Britain and America ( U. S. A. ), we must produce all the cloth we
need in our own homeland. As long as we do not produce sufficient
yarn, we shall not be able to weave from swadeshi yarn as much cloth
as we need. Experienced businessmen say that if we want our mills to
produce all the cloth we need, it will take us fifty years to
establish a sufficient number of mills. How then to gain the same
object in nine months ? You can never uplift your millions through
the establishment of mills. You cannot cover the naked bodies of
innumerable men and women through your mills. No country can ever
subsist on agriculture alone.






A widespread supplementary industry along with that of agri-culture
is an unavoidable necessity. That industry is spinning and-weaving
and no other. So long as we do not resuscitate that industry, do not
learn it up, all our other learning is of no avail.

    If all that I have said is true --- and the country's National
Congress has publicly accepted its truth by passing a conforming
resolution --- what must we do now ? If we want to win Swaraj in nine
months, the real study for our students is to attempt to relieve
India from this cloth famine. That there is this cloth-famine cannot
be doubted. Food-famine in India is not as serious as this famine.
Every year sixty crores of rupees are drained out of India for her
clothing needs. India imports today four hundred million pounds
weight of yarn. We must spin all that yarn at home. There is no
dearth of weavers in our country. The crying want is that of
spinners. I have not yet been able to know the exact number of our
weavers, but they are about five millions or even more. If we want
to save all that money, we must set ourselves to spinning in right
earnest. Just think what a mammoth number of men will earn their
bread, if we bring back to our own country a yearly business of 60
crores of rupees ! We must use cloth as sparingly as ghee ( melted
butter ). We are not in a position to use as much cloth as we would
like to. If you can do with only a shirt, you must not use a coat.
If you can carry on with a short dhoti, you must not wear a long
one. In order to save the outflow of 60 crores of rupees, we shall
have to offer sacrifices proportionately as great.

    If students concentrate on this single work during this year,
they can win Swaraj in one year. But for this, Herculean efforts are
necessary. You can gain your object only if you fulfil certain
conditions. The student must give up his studies and become a
labourer for the sake of India. You will be conferring an obligation
if you do not take any payment for your labour, but those who want
to take it can unreservedly do so.

    If I am fit enough to advise you, I say, "Give up your colleges.
If you intend to contribute your full share to the struggle






for Swaraj, spin as much as you can for your country's cause. Spend
six hours a day, or, if that is not possible, at least four hours in
spinning. I do not insist that you should give up your studies
entirely. Even if you do, I do not believe that your capacity to
think will decline. His power of thinking never fades whose heart is
not soiled with sin. I may submit my own experience. When I was in
jail and had no access to books, I could think more deeply and
clearly. In face, too much reading has made our brains dull and
listless. That is why I have asked you to spin for six hours and
read for the remaining period. To you at least I may even say that
if you become experts in spinning, you may go away to villages. If
you have not sufficient self-confidence for it, you may stay on in
the college. But, personally, I am convinced that we cannot gain
Swaraj unless all of us give four to six hours daily to spinning.
Within a month, or at the most three months, you can master the art
and be fit for going away to rural areas and propagating spinning
there. We can advance India's interests in no other way than by
saving the country from this chronic cloth-famine. We are, besides,
going to form voters' constituencies according to the changed
constitution of the Congress. Which other way is there to do that ?
What message can I send today to the villages of Gujarat ? Shall I
ask them to abuse the Englishman ? Or arm them with swords and
rifles ? What then should I tell them ? My one message today is this
:

    "Let every one sit down to spin". When a villager comes to
Ahmedabad to buy cloth and take it home, the sight fills me with
deep sadness. According to my swadeshi-dharma, every village must
produce the things it needs. If we can revive this ancient usage,
there is no power on earth which can dare to cast a greedy eye on
India. I earnestly request the worthy Principal and the professors
to accept this line of action for one year at least and train
students in a way that makes them fit for being sent away to
villages.

    It is enough if this is your curriculum for the year ; improve
your Gujarati, drop English, learn Hindustani, the Urdu script,






and the art of spinning. If you do that much, you will become fresh
for the next year's work. I, for one, wish you to continue this
course of study till we get Swaraj. If that can't be done, don't
fail to do that much for this year at least. That is my message for
today. You need not hesitate to put before me whatever doubts you
may feel. I do not want a single student to accept my new programme,
if he has no faith in it. You may accept my advice only if it
appeals to your heart and head.

Student : Our parents will tell us, "You were sent to the National
College for      study, not for spinning."

Gandhiji : You may say to them, "Plying them spinning-wheel is also
education".

Student : They will refuse us permission to go to villages and ask
us in that case      to quietly keep to our home.

Gandhiji : The best way for you then is to spin at home. If they
forbid you even to      spin, you may respectfully reason with them.
For one day, two days, or at the      most a few more, parents may
scold a boy for spinning the whole day. But      the boy is certain
to win them round in the end. I have seen parents who even      ask
their children to tell lies. If the son does not, they get furious;
but after      some days of fret and fume, they let the boy have his
way. You ought to      possess that much firmness. From college
students at least I definitely      expect that degree of firmness.

Student : How is non-cooperation with the Government going to gain
by our      plying the spinning-wheel ?

Gandhiji : The wheel will bring us economic freedom. We shall not
have the power      to keep our hold on Swaraj so long as we are not
economically free. We can      do without soap, needles and pins,
but not without cloth. Our imports exceed      our exports at
present. Every year, therefore, our deficit goes on mounting.
     We have, besides, to bear the burden of the heavy military
expenditure. We      throw away sixty crores in cloth import over
and above what is swept out of      the country for buying less
necessary things or luxuries. If this is






     true, we have but to achieve economic freedom. Since it is
practicable to save      sixty crores, we must save them. When we
are able to do so, we shall gain      the power to save still more
or we shall then be able to afford to buy the extra      things.
India is not going to be widowed, if there is no factory in India to
     produce pins or watches, but since she is unable to produce
cloth, India is, at      present, really in the helpless state of a
widow.

Student : This innovation of the spinning-wheel will create a fresh
commotion      among students.

Gandhiji : Commotion only develops students. To create commotion is
the      dharma both of myself and the professors. Students are, at
present, like      somnambulists. When a tussle on such matters
arises between them on one      side and their parents or the world
or their colleagues on the other, it is      possible for some of
them to be shaken out of their sleep. Such frictions never
     debase the student.

Student : Why don't you ask other people to spin ? Why do you want
the      student specially to give up his vocation ?

Gandhiji : To think that spinning is not education is our mistake No
1. No. 2. lies      in thinking that selfsacrifice is not education.
If, tomorrow, all students see      the light and resolve upon
serving the country at the sacrifice of their studies, I      would
regard their step itself as the achievement of my aim of getting
Swaraj      in one year.

Student : How can anybody maintain himself on spinning ?

Gandhiji : With sufficient intelligence a man can even maintain
himself. But at      present I put spinning before you as your
emergency dharma. If all the boys of      India resolve upon
spinning for fours daily, the price of yarn would fall down in
     a month.

Student : Will not the non-cooperation movement be harmed by such a
change      in schools ?

Gandhiji : No. Students of Government schools are expected to leave
them under      the conviction that studying in them is a sin. If
they leave their institution      under the temptation of






     studying in this college, they better hug their Government
colleges or let      anyone else, who wants to give literary
education to them, open a separate      college. But if weare clear
at heart that this spinning is the one right duty for      us, that
the country will stand to gain if we devote a year after it, that we
shall      become implements in winning Swaraj, then spinning is a
'must' for us.

Student : Do you think the climate of the country is ready for this
your new idea ?      You are thrusting the people all at once into
the last room-the room for 'the      turkish bath !' ( i. e. asking
them to undergo a too heavy sacrifice ).

Gandhiji : It is because I know that the climate is ready that I am
talking of it. The      country has taken tremendous strides within
the last three months. The      national tempo is rising not with
railway speed but in the geometrical      progression, of a
snowfall. It was but eight years ago that I had written that
     India had no other go but to take to this path. I did not then
dream that on the      18th January 1921, I would be able to put
this thing before the people.

Student : Should we not first serve the family and then the country
?

Gandhiji : Definitely. But service of the family must never be
harmful to public      service. I accept the grades of service of
the self first, then of the family, then      of the village or town
and then of the country. But no form of service must ever
     impair the welfare of the world. In the name of serving the
family, you cannot      spend twenty thousand rupees after your
sister's marriage in these times of      dire distress.

Student : The police force will be needed for the protection of the
country. Instead      of teaching us spinning, why not train us in
police drill and make us fit for      defence ?

Gandhiji : How can I drill you into policemen ? What is really
necessary is the      power to rush to places of danger. Do you mean
to say that we may work for      Swaraj at leisure, only after you
have nonchalantly completed your higher      education ?






Student : What does Swaraj mean ?

Gandhiji : That is Swaraj in which the military, finance and revenue
departments      as well as the courts are all in our hands. When we
gain that Swaraj, we can      stop the perpetration of all kinds of
oppression. Among all these freedoms we      can gain economic
freedom right today. That can be won through the spinning
     wheel. Perhaps the country may not accept this point today.

Student : You have often harped on the cry : 'This is nothing but
war'. Is it      possible to fight the war without raising a
'Volunteer Army; ? Students ought,      therefore, to be given
military training. Is it not necessary to emphasise it at
     present more than the spinning wheel ?

Gandhiji : Our military training can be given in a very short time.
And what, after      all, is 'military training' ? Bravery (Gandhiji
knew that the questioner attended      Sri Purani's physical culture
institution). And do you think one catches      courage through
intricate fencing drills ? That man is really brave who, if riots
     break out in the city and people begin to burn buildings, flies
to the scene,      intervenes and says, 'You can step only over my
dead body and burn the      house'. Can 'orders' be given at such
times ? Should one have to wait for      orders like 'March', and
'Quick March' ? At such times we must forget even      our drill. In
that situation I would say, "Run as fast as your legs can carry,
     brother, and reach the spot". For myself, I may say that in
that case I would      not wait to take anything with me, would give
up wearing my shoes, if I was      about to wear them, and race to
the place to be reduced to ashes in the act of      quenching the
fire. If I don't do so, do tell everybody, "Gandhi was talking big,
     but it was all bunkum".

Student : Should we continue the fight even if the Government grants
all our      demands except the single one of the Khilafat ?

Gandhiji : Certainly. I have often said that, in fighting to save
Islam, I am training      myself for the defence of Hinduism.






     The protection of the cow is secured by that very defence of
Islam and as long      as single cow is slaughtered in India, the
agony will continue to char my      muscles, my bones and my blood.
It is to save the cow that I am taking this      training, doing
this tapasya, and gaining many spiritual powers; and I will die
     chanting the mantra ( religious formula ) of Goraksha
(protection of the cow).

Student : Don't you think we shall forget what we have learnt so
far, if we      concentrate all our thoughts on the spinning wheel ?

Gandhiji : Though the spinning wheel we shall gain freedom and, with
it, real      fitness for taking academic education. Spinning will,
therefore, only animate      our education.

                                                Pilgrimage to Vadtal
                                                            19-1-'21

    After a few days Gandhiji went on a pilgrimage to Vadtal a holy
centre of the Swaminarayan sect. He went to Nadiad by a railway
train and thence to Vadtal in a car. Speaking to the students of the
national school at Nadiad he said : "I wish you did not catch the
delusion that Swaraj is only a political matter. Every child must
know what Swaraj means, must believe it as swadharma ( swa=his own )
and have the power to protect that swadharma. He must have
sufficient moral power in him to make it impossible for anybody to
compel him to do something against his will by bullying or beating
him. He must also have the courage to call what he believes to be
right as right and wrong as wrong. Parents must train their children
to discriminate between good and evil. That is the meaning of
Swaraj. Swaraj means the right and the power to speak out the truth
as one sees it and to refuse to do anything sinful".

    At the meeting of the sannyasis of Vadtal, Gandhiji explained
why he was not wearing the ochre robe.

    "Some friends have suggested that I should become a sannyasi.
But I have not become one. My conscience does not support the step.
I am sure you won't think that the cause for






my refusal to be a sannyasi is my craving for sensual pleasures. I
have been trying to the best of my capacity to renounce them. But
from those very efforts, I see that I am not fit for the ochre robe.
I cannot claim to be observing truth, non-violence and brahmacharya
in mind and speech and body. When urges of attachment or aversion or
of some passion arise in my mind, I try to stop them by reasoning
and effort and only physically I put them down. Were I able to
practise those virtues in all their three aspects, I would be today
the master of all supernatural powers. The world would be at my feet
while I would remain humble and nobody would ever wish to despise or
scoff at me."

    Here is the substance of his public speech at Vadtal :

    I am glad that I have come to this holy place. Ever since the
year 1915, I had been cherishing the desire to make a pilgrimage to
this holy town. I consider it God's grace that He has provided me
the chance and I must thank you also.

    I am very glad that such a large number of sannyasis are present
at the meeting, because my message is not for lay-men and women only
but for all and specially for recluses. When our ascetics understand
what non-cooperation is and why the Indian Nation has launched upon
it, they will realise that wit-out practicing it, it is not possible
to become true sannyasi and lead his life. Non-cooperation is by no
means a new or un-known element in our religion. But owing to some
super-impositions we have forgotten it or at least what it really
means. That is why, doubts arise, there is some slackness in its
implementation and the advent of Swaraj is delayed. But it is
because I know that that element has always been there in us, that I
say that if the people respond properly, we can have Swaraj in one
year. Though four months have already passed since I began to talk
in these terms, I continue to repeat my statement, as my faith in my
nation is infallible.

    When those who believe in political activity pure and simple,
raise doubts and complain "This ( non-cooperation ) is not a
political activity, the Lord knows what it is, may be it is
religious." I admit it at once and say, "Yes, it is, undoubtedly,






religious and I have never made a secret of it." Difficulties arise
if we do not apply our religious principles in the solution of
political question. So long, therefore, as the sannyasi does not
give his due share in non-cooperation, he cannot gain the purity of
a recluse.

    If a Kshatriya ( warrior caste ) is endowed with faith, death
for a noble cause invests him with the glory of a crown on his head.
Why should one be afraid of death ? He is brave who rushes to that
very spot where there is the greatest danger of death. Nobody calls
him a brave man, who can kill others. We never call a potter a
Kshatriya for beating an ass repeatedly. In the same way we give
that Kshatriya the right epithet of a cruel tyrant who goes on
killing others. We never call an unmanly male, who beats and beats
his wife, a hero. We dub him a 'coward' and rightly so. As long as
we have not been able to imbibe the virtue of a Kshatriya, Swaraj is
difficult to gain. The Kshatriya virtue is steadfastness. The
twelve-year-old Prahlad , Sudhanva1 and Sitaji were imbued with that
virtue. Ravana sent tempting things to Sita, threatened her with
dire consequences, but Sitaji remained firm and it is for that
reason that we regard her as a spotless Kshatriya heroine, even as
Mother Divine. We are unfit to offer non-cooperation, to win
Swaraj, so long as our women do not assimilate Sitaji's virtues.
Sitaji would not touch the sweets sent by Ravana. They were by no
means bitter in taste. But the gifts came from unclean hands and,
hence, she would not cast a glance at them. The ornaments which
Ravana sent to Sita must have been so valuable that you may have
never even seen the like of them. Their pearls and diamonds must
have been more brilliant than those of modern times. But, knowing
that they were coming from a man of evil designs, Sitaji turned her
back upon them. Only then was she able to preserve her purity and
chastity.

    The Government has stolen our honour. It was used to stealing
our money. But so long as its thefts were confined to money-

_______________
    1. He upheld truth even though he was thrown into a pan of
boiling oil. God made him feel it cool.






matters, I tolerated it. I treated it as I do the cases of theft in
my Ashram. Just as I never punish a thief of any Ashram property, I
put up with this Government for its thefts of money. But when the
Government laid hands on my country's honour, I sat up and said to
myself 'Good God ! This Government is nothing but the reincarnation
of Ravana ! It has but to be destroyed.' I never claim thereby that
I am a reincarnation of Rama. Ramachandra we regard as our God. I am
not a god; nor are you; but we are all the spiritual heirs of Rama.
It is our duty to undergo penances and sufferings like those He had
undergone. We also must non-cooperate with our Ravana, even as the
He did with His. As we are not Rama Himself, we can gain nothing by
killing our Ravana's body. We even believe that he will take
ever-new bodies owing to his wicked passions. But we must obey the
commandments of Valmiki and Tulsidasji ( authors of Sanskrit and
Hindi Ramayana ), shun his contact and destroy his wickedness. The
Avesta, the Quran, the Bible and the Swaminarayan sect, all teach us
one and the same thing : 'Don't keep the company of the wicked.
Don't take any help from them or give them any.' The Government has
betrayed its nature of Ravana by playing false with Mussalmans and
pouncing upon Islam. If today it is Islam, tomorrow it may be
Hinduism. If fact, it has long since been attacking the Hindu
dharma; but out of ignorance we discarded our own culture and did
very little to resist the oppression. If we have not abandoned our
dharma, how can we bend our knees before those who openly slaughter
cows ? This is not a question of one individual's crime. If a common
man slaughters a cow and we bear with the deed, it is a different
matter. But here is one, whom we look up to as our guide, our ruler
and protector, our stay and support, who slaughters cows. How can we
remain loyal to him ?

    You may ask, "Was it only a year ago that I came to know this
story ? No. But I was till then sunk in delusion. I had imagined I
would be able to reform this Government. I had thought, I would
succeed, be it at the cost of my life, in






exerting my influence upon it. But the Government's deliberate
betrayal of Islam destroyed all my faith in it. I was disillusioned,
alerted and I said to myself, "O, man ! Beware ! If you are a Hindu,
keep yourself miles apart from this Government now; if you don't,
you will betray your own religion." Since then I have been teaching
non-cooperation to Hindu parents for the protection of their
religion. At this holy place, I declare, "If you want to protect
your Hindu dharma, non-cooperation is first as well as the last
lesson you must learn up."
*                     *                     *                     *
    The Government played a traitor to Islam and raped the honour of
the Punjab. The Punjab is the crown of India, the land in which our
sages and seers had settled. In that land men were lashed with whips
and made to crawl like snakes; women's veils were pulled off; the
ochre robes of sannyasis were painted white; a thousand persons were
shot from behind and murdered. And now the Government which did all
this says, "Forget it all" ! And yet what has cut me to the quick is
not ( so much ) the fact of the massacre of a thousand persons. It
is the sting in the tail, the succeeding statement that it was all
due to India's fault which was the last limit. Though wicked itself,
it stained India's good name. It says, it has done nothing wrong,
except for a slight error on General Dyer's part. Even for these
grave crimes it is in no mood either to repent or apologize. So long
as justice is not done to the Punjab for this dishonour, it is the
duty of all of us --- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, all --- to non-cooperate
with the Government. There is the same injunction in Islam also.
They have used the word turke mavalat for non-cooperation.

    This non-cooperation is peaceful. It abjures the use of sticks
or dharias (sickles attached to a long wooden pole). It is not
others' head that are to be lopped off in it, but our own to be
given away. It is the dharma wherein non-violence is to be observed
towards the Englishmen as also among ourselves.

    You are not dharalas (a popular term for a low caste) by caste
but thakardas better still, thakores ('da' also shows some






contempt). If you want to be thakores ( Kshatriyas) you must not be
so petty minded as to be thieves. Patidars ( a 'higher' caste) also
call themselves Kshatriyas, but they are not Kshatriyas; they too
take a share in the crime of theft as they accept stolen property.
They have forgotten their Kshatriya spirit. But you ( thakores )
look very like Kshatriyas and try to appear as such by carrying
dharias. I tell you, as Kshatriyas, you are expected not to harass
but to protect the people. It is not your dharma to get drunk, to
terrorise and rob the public or cast an evil eye on women. If you do
so, you are profligates and a Kshatriya is not a profligate.
Regarding you dharalas, as my own brothers, I have come here to meet
you. I tell you, if any patidar becomes a man of lust, forsake him
at once. I am verily one of your kith and kin. So am I one of the
patidars. Believing them to be Kshatriyas, I came to stay among
them. But when I heard that these same patidars accept stolen goods,
the doubt arose in my mind, 'May they not be cowards ?' You must
forget that thing altogether, if you want to give your share in the
winning of Swaraj through your patidar community

    Dharalas will become thakores only when they will be protecting
the country. That is a real Sadhu (sannyasi) who goes in their
(dharalas') midst to wean them from evil ways and remains all the
while as detached and unaffected by contact with them as a
lotus-leaf ( which floats on water and remains dry ). I do not claim
to be a sadhu, but I say, though a layman, I would have gone to stay
among bhils and other aborigines, if I was not engaged in this work.
Exhorting them to be pure, merciful, brave, honest, good and
truthful, I would have turned them into protectors of the public.

    Quite a number of sadhus stay here. This is my heartfelt appeal
to them : "Just as I ask students to become volunteers, you too must
make use of your respected position and take up at once this
national work, so long as people are terrorized by dacoits. It is
your dharma to purify villains, thieves, and ad-ulterers of their
sins. You have no right to be called sadhus, till you do not do
that. If you want Swaraj --- i. e., Ramarajya






or Satyayuga, ( the golden age of truth ), if you want to make
Bharatkhanda (Khanda=continent) the land of dharma, the land divine,
it becomes your duty to protect your neighbour when he is oppressed.
You have with you the divine weapons of yama and niyama (the bases
of Yoga i. e. virtues like truth etc.). With a little tapasya
(austere penance), you can make them real and effective weapons."

    To dharalas I say, "Do not harass sadhus." To patidars, I say
'Never encourage theft and robbery. If you can't follow the way of
the Brahmin, you may thrash dacoits and drive them out."

    If both of them lapse from their dharma, I say to sadhus "You
must protect them, reform them, cleanse them of their sins. When you
do that, there will be a real religious revival and only then shall
we be able to call India 'Karmabhumi' (the land which can emancipate
man through action, as contrasted with bhoga-bhumi=the land of
sensual enjoyment only).

    I shall be going away. But do take up this work, I pray. I would
even say, 'Right today form a committee of a few sadhus, patidars
and dharalas and start working. Make people take oaths. If we do
this work, Swaraj is certain to be ours in one year. May God inspire
you with love, courage, pity, truth and capacity for self-sacrifice
! That is my prayer to Him.

                                                           231-1-'21
                                                             to
                                                             4-2-'21

    We reached Calcutta yesterday. We were carrying from our very
start from Bombay the happy news that Mr. Jayakar2 had decided to
discontinue his practice till Swaraj was won. When we retailed the
news to Mr. Das, he was highly pleased. This reminds me of a remark
Gandhiji made to Mr. Jayakar when
_______________

    1. This date is reproduced, from "The Collected Works of Mahatma
Gandhiji' and is, hence, authentic.
    2. M. R. Jayakar, Bar-at-Law, one of the most prominent lawers
in Bombay, made his name later on as one who, in collaboration with
Dr. Tej Bahadur Sapru, another legal luminary, made several attempts
to bring about a compromise between the Government and Gandhiji.






the latter visited him in Bombay in the early morning of the 21st
inst. and declared his decision to give up his practice. Gandhiji
said, "So, then, our Benaras Pact has been kept well enough. Now
remain only Malaviyaji and Lala Harkishanlal". It is necessary to go
into some details about this pact, so that the real reason which
impelled Mr. Das to plunge into this fight, may be known. We were
then at Dacca on about the 16th December. At the beginning of a
weighty speech which Gandhiji had made there, he had said, "I have
received invaluable help from Mr. Das in the preparation of the
Punjab Committee Report. ( The Congress had appointed a special
Inquiry Committee, which included Mr. Das, to inquire into the
Punjab outrages ). When, in framing that Report, we came to the
final stage of the Committee's recommendations, I had requested the
members to submit only the minimum demands to the Government, but,
at the same time, to be prepared to sacrifice our very lives, if
necessary, in order to secure these minimum demands. I remind Mr.
Das of that oral pact we had made at that time."

    Since that day Mr. Das used to ponder deeply over the matter. He
gave his thought the shape of a resolve at the Nagpur Congress and
has now implemented it.

    Mr. Das is, these days, the talk of the whole of Bengal, young
and old. He himself once said : "I was simply amazed. I had never
cherished such high hopes ( re. the splendid response of Bengali
students to the non-cooperation call ) and now I can't budge from
here, leaving all these students". "This is all due to his (Das')
giving up a (legal) practice of fifty thousand rupees per month",
says everybody; and Mr. Das also is now agreeing with the view. A
cartoon which appeared in a paper, Nayak, is a typical expression of
the high esteem in which the Bengalis hold Mr. Das. He is
represented as Bhagiratha1 bringing the holy Gandhi-Ganges into
Bengal.
_______________

    1. A legendary king who, by his extremely austere penances,
pleased the Heavenly Ganges and the Lord Shiva and then a sage Janhu
to let the Ganges flow down on the earth.






    The number of students who have left their institutions has
already been given in the Navajivan. All the colleges except the
Presidency College, the Sibpur Engineering College and the Medical
College have been almost deserted. The Students of Bengal seem to
have done what, it was rumoured, Gandhiji was going to do, viz., to
lie full length along the steps of the Gujarat ( Government )
College at Ahmedabad. The least to blame among these students may be
said to be those of the Bangwasi College. The circumstances that
impelled them to offer this so-called satyagraha are worth knowing.
The Principal of that College had told Mr. Das that he would
nationalise the College, i. e., cut off all connection with the
University, if he got a requisition signed by seven hundred
students. When Mr. Das approached him with one thousand signatures
in hand, he said. 'O, these signatures ! They are worthless !' It is
natural that the students cannot bear with this disregard meekly.
Some of them sat en bloc on the steps of the College. Some others
lay flat near the entrance-door of the Principal's house right from
8 a. m. in the morning. At 10 p. m. at night they had to listen to
the following tragic appeal of the Principal's wife :

    "Dear sons, get up and have your meals. You want to serve the
country. You must not give up your life by fasting. That's wrong.
Give five days' notice to your respected Principal. Let him have
that time for consideration". Mr. Das is trying to cope with this
step of doubtful Satyagraha. He understands that the step is a form
of subtle violence.

    With this single exception, the students are exhibiting
exemplary self-restraint. Let me give an instance. The Principal,
Dr. Wott of the Scottish Church College, touched a student with the
toe of his shoe and crossed over him. It does not seem that he
really wanted to kick the student, but he did wish to tease him,
since there was another unobstructed passage for him. Other students
followed suit and crossed over the lying students. But the latter
did not so much as utter a syllable. By practicing self-control
themselves, they are teaching a lesson to others.






    Men like Sir Prafulla Chandra Roy1 are still sitting on the
fence and watching the arena. It is not yet futile to hope from a
man of his innocent and open-earted nature, that he will turn his
college into a national institution and thus show the way to others.
None of the University Professors, except one or two, have
non-cooperated.

                 Mirjapur Square's Monster Meeting

     It is impossible to describe adequately the meeting of the
students held last night at the Mirjapur Square. The Square mist be
as big as the Jallianwala Bagh. Not an inch of space was left
vacant, and outside the square there were crowds and crowds of men.
It appeared as if the three or four-storied buildings, that enclosed
the square, would bend down with the weight of the rows of men and
women who had filled them. It took a fairly long time at first to
create silence. And who could be the President except Mr. Das ?
Gandhiji sat on a table and he on a chair. Gandhiji began as follows
:

    *Let me congratulate the students of Bengal on the very
magnificent response they have returned to the call of the country.
I know that the students of Calcutta were waiting for my friend, Mr.
C. R. Das, to give them the lead. I congratulate him upon his having
given you the lead and I congratulate you, the students of Bengal,
upon having followed that lead. But you know as well as I do that
the task for him and for you has only just commenced. We are in the
throes of a new birth and we are experiencing all the difficulties
and all the pains that attend a new birth. It is not enough for him,
it is not enough for India, that you have emptied the colleges. It
is absolutely necessary that you must not return to the colleges and
schools that you have abandoned, and it is necessary for him to find
out for you the work that you should do during this period of
probation, during this period of purification.

    [ After so much strain of speaking Gandhiji's voice grew dry

_______________
    1. A leading scientist of India and a man of ascetic simplicity.
He gave away, later on, his life's savings to the institution he had
founded.






and low. Some disquiet continued for a while, but after Mr. Bipin
Chandra Pal's appeal, made in his loud voice, silence was restored
and then Gandhiji's voice gradually grew so powerful that all the
thirty thousands present there must have been able to hear him. ]

    It has now become necessary for Mr. C. R. Das and for you to put
your heads together and devise means whereby you may complete the
work you have begun. In order that that work may be sustained, that
that work may be continued, and in order that your services may be
harnessed for the attainment of Swaraj, it is necessary to find out
the ways and means.

                To The Professors And Educationists

     And I cannot describe to you how much it grieves me to find
that whilst the student world has responded so nobly, the professors
and educationists and the trustees of the great educational
institutions of Bengal are not giving the lead they should have.

    In drawing your attention and their attention to this fact, I do
not wish to be understood as casting any reflection upon them, or
their love for the country. I know, I am convinced, they believe
that you have erred. I know that they believe that Mr. Das has erred
in asking you not to seek shelter behind your conscience but to
respond to the call of the nation. They believe that I am grievously
in error in having presented non-cooperation to the country and
they sincerely believe that I am still more grievously in error in
having advised the students to boycott Government educational
institutions.

    But in spite of all the experience that I have gone through, in
spite of all that I have heard and read, and in spite of all the
reverence that I tender to our elders and our leaders, I am here to
confess before you that I am more than ever convinced of the
correctness of the step that I have suggested to the country. I am
more than ever convinced that if we desire to establish the Swaraj
of our choice, if we want to retrieve the lost honour of India, if
we want to retrieve the honour of Islam which is






trembling in the balance, it is absolutely necessary for us to tell
this government that it shall not receive any help from us, nor will
we receive any help from a government which has forfeited all
confidence. I know, those of you who are sceptics will tell me or
tell yourselves that you have heard this kind of talk many a time
from such platforms. It is true. But Max Muller has told us-he has
paraphrased a Sanskrit proverb --- that a truth always bears repetition
until it has gone home; and I propose to reiterate this truth in the
ears of my countrymen, to reiterate this truth before our elders,
till it goes home, till they respond to it. I am here to repeat what
I have said from so many platforms that India will not regain her
lost honour --- her lost freedom --- until India has responded to the call
of non-cooperation. It is not possible for Indians, constituted as
we are, to give battle to this great government on any other terms.

                Non-cooperation Bred In Our Marrow

     Non-cooperation is bred in the very marrow of every Indian.
And if you want to know why the crores and millions of the masses
responded to the call of non-cooperation, as they have never
responded to any other call, it is not because I gave voice to that
call. Non-cooperation is born, is bred in them, it is part of every
religion --- it is part of Hinduism, it is part of Islam --- and it is for
that reason that, fallen though we are, helpless though we feel
ourselves to be, non-cooperation has awakened us from this long
sleep. Non-cooperation has given us faith, has given us courage,
has given us hope and strength.

                      Shun Modern Civilization

     And if our educated leaders have not yet responded to the call
of non-cooperation, let me say with all the humility that I can
command that they are sceptics, they have not the religious fire of
the people and the masses. They are saturated in modern
civilization, or, as we call it, "Western Civilization," I have used
the term "Western Civilization." But I want you and myself this
evening to distinguish between the two. I want to make it clear that
I am no hater of the West. I am thankful to the West






for many a thing I have learnt from Western literature. But I am
here to confess to you that I am thankful to modern civilization for
teaching me that, if I want India to rise to its fullest height, I
must tell my countrymen frankly that after years and years of
experience of modern civilization, I have learnt one lesson from it,
and that is, that we must shun it at all costs. What is that modern
Civilization ? It is the worship of the material, it is the worship
of the brute in us, it is unadulterated materialism. And modern
civilization is nothing if it does not think at every step of the
triumph of material civilization

    And, if I did not know my country, if I did not know the mass
mind, I would also have erred, and I would also have been misled,
even as I contend that educated India has been misled. You, my
countrymen, know that I have lived for 20 years in the midst of
modern activity. I have lived in a country that has copied
everything that is modern. I have lived in a country which is
pulsating with new life. South Africa contains some of the bravest
of men on the face of the earth and I have seen modern civilization
worked by that nation at its best; and I am here to tell you, the
young men of Bengal, and I am here to tell my educated leaders, that
my experience of modern civilization, worked at its best, told me in
emphatic terms in the year 1908, 'God save India from that modern
curse !' This is a lesson that I have learnt in South Africa. It is
the lesson that I have followed up since 1908 and which, slowly but
surely, I have been preaching in season and out of season during my
five years' stay in India. And it was my faith in our ancient
civilization, it was my faith in our simplicity, it was my faith in
the inborn religious instincts of every Indian --- be he a Hindu or be
he a Mohammedan, Christian, Parsi or a Jew-it is that faith in me
which has sustained me throughout all the dark days of scoffing, of
scepticism and of opposition.

                          Religious Battle

     I know that opposition stares you and stares me in the face
even today. We have just broken the ground, but it is true that






if we are going to win this great battle that you, the people of
Calcutta, commenced in September of last year ( at the Special
Congress in Calcutta ), we shall have to continue as we have begun
in full faith. I am not ashamed to repeat before you who seem to be
nurtured in modern traditions that this is a religious battle. I am
not ashamed to repeat before you that this is an attempt to
revolutionise the political outlook, that this is an attempt to
spiritualise our politics. And the more we have of it, I assure you,
the greater progress we shall make towards our goal.

    It is because I believe that the mass mind of India is tired of
this British rule in its present form that I have made bold to say
that Swaraj is easily attainable within one year. Four months of
this one year have already gone by and my faith has never burnt as
brightly as it burns tonight, as I am talking to the young-men of
Bengal. You have given me greater hope, you have given me greater
courage, you have given me greater strength. May God grant that
Shaukat Ali and Mohammad Ali and I will live to erect this flag of
Swaraj inside this year ! But if it is the will of God that my ashes
should be placed in the Ganges water before the eight months of the
year are out, I shall die with the conviction that you will see to
it the Swaraj is secured before this year is out.

                           Need For Faith

     This is not as difficult as you may imagine. The difficulty
lies with our conviction. The difficulty lies in our believing that
we want to have lessons in Swaraj in the Council hall. The
difficulty lies in believing that we cannot get Swaraj until we have
passed through a sixteen years' course of education; and if we
believe in all these things, I should be free to confess that we
should require a century to get Swaraj. But it is because I believe
that we need, not these things, but we need faith, courage and
strength, and it is because I believe that the masses have got all
these things today, that I believe Swaraj is attainable within this
year.






                     Meaning Of Congress Appeal

     And what does the appeal of the Congress mean ? The Congress
appeal means that you and I, that the whole of educated India, the
whole of the mercantile community of India --- a mere drop in the ocean
of the millions of the people of India, the artisans and the
agriculturists --- have a test placed before them. And believe me that
the Congress will isolate India and wrest Swaraj from insolent hands
and establish the flag of freedom., if possible with your
assistance, even without your assistance if need be. The whole of
India is not concentrated in the educated India of today. India can
sustain its hope even if the whole of educated India were to remain
sceptic, were to remain without hope and faith and courage and
strength. It is that faith which sustains me. But I am hoping that,
if the student world and if the students of Bengal remain true to
their vow, I am hoping that the professors and the trustees and the
educationists of Bengal and India will respond to the call and their
winter of discontent will be turned by you into the summer to hope

                        Forget Old Standards

     I ask you, the young-men of Bengal, to abide by the decision
that you have come to --- no matter what happens. I know that Mr. C. R.
Das is going to remain true to his promise. He has already received
a promise of Rs. 10,000/- to be given to him now and another ten
thousand as annual contribution from a great Bengali ( Sri.
Gopalchandra Sinha ). He has received certain promises from the
Marwaris --- the domiciled Marwaris of Calcutta --- an he is going to
receive many more promises, so far as the finance is concerned, but
finance is the least part of the difficulty. He has to find out a
habitation for having the college located. He has to find out better
professors. And I ask students who have non-cooperated not to set
before your-selves the old standard, even as this Swaraj of our
dream is not to be a base copy of what we have today. So will you
please see that what you get in the shape of a new college is not to
be a base copy of what you have today ? You will not look to






brick and mortar. You will not look to benches and chairs for
inspiration. You will look to character. You will look to sterling
character in your professors and in your teachers for inspiration.
You will look to your own determination to give you the necessary
impetus and necessary inspiration. And I promise you that you will
then not be disappointed; but if you believe that Mr. Das is going
to present you with noble buildings, if you believe that he is going
to give every ease and luxury to which you have been hitherto used,
you will certainly be disappointed.

                            Newer Gospel

     I have come this evening to present before you a newer gospel,
a better gospel. If you are determined to attain Swaraj inside of
twelve months, if you are determined to help to attain Swaraj within
one year, then I ask you to make the way of those who have dedicated
their lives to the attainment of Swaraj easier and clearer by
accepting the advice that I am about to tender to you. If you
believe that Swaraj can be attained by continuing your colleges and
schools precisely in the same manner as the institutions that you
have left are being conducted, you are sadly mistaken. No country in
the world has gained its liberty --- has seen a new birth --- without
difficulties, without pain, without sacrifice. And what is sacrifice
? The right meaning of sacrifice I learnt in my youth was that it
meant making sacred, making holy. Non-cooperation is a process of
purification, and if a suspension of our ordinary routine is
necessary for the purpose of that purification, that has to be done.
I know if I know Bengal at all --- that you will not shirk it and you
will respond.

                      Play The Spinning-Wheel

     Our education has been the most deficient in two things. Those
who formed our education code neglected the training of the body and
the soul. You are receiving the education of the soul by the very
fact of non-cooperation; for non-cooperation is nothing less and
nothing more than withdrawing from partici-






pation in the evil that this Government is doing and continuing to
do. And if we are withdrawing from evil conscientiously,
deliberately, it means that we are walking with our face towards
God. That completes or begins the Soul training. But seeing that our
bodily education has been neglected, and seeing that India has
become enslaved because India forgot the spinning-wheel, and because
India sold herself for a mess of pottage, I am not afraid to place
before you, the young-men of Bengal, the spinning-wheel for
adoption. And let a training in spinning and production of as much
yarn as you can ever do constitute your main purpose and your main
training during this year of probation. Let your ordinary education
commence after Swaraj is established, but let very young man, and
every girl, of Bengal consider it to be their sacred duty to devote
all their time and energy to spinning. I have drawn attention to the
parallel that presents itself before us from the War ( the first
World War ).

                                 2

    Those of you know anything about what was going on in England
will recall those days of the War, when every boy and every girl had
suspended their education --- ordinary education --- and were put upon such
national work as was necessary for the purpose of the War. They were
put upon simple tailoring, upon making badges, and that was done
even here. I recall many a home where even little children were put
to work and the Government looked upon my activity with sympathy,
with attention and approval, when I presented to the youths of Kaira
( during his recruiting campaign in 1918 ) the opportunity of
fighting on the battle-field even though their parents might be
against it. Times have changed and I am now twitted for asking these
young men and girls and for having the audacity to tell them that
they should rather obey the voice of their conscience than the voice
or commands of even their parents. But I say to the young-men and
young girls of Bengal that if your voice, the voice of your
conscience, tells you that during this year of pro-bation you should
devote your energy and attention to the






attainment of Swaraj, then you will believe me when I tell you that
it is impossible to arrive at a complete boycott of foreign cloth or
foreign goods, until and unless we employ every man, woman and child
on spinning yarn. We have spun may a yarn during all these long 35
years on the Congress platform. Let us now spin the truest yarn that
India wants. And let me tell you that if you want to feed the
hungry, to clothe the naked, there is no other way out of the
difficulty but spinning for the whole of India. And so I ask you,
young men of Bengal, to accept the privilege that I place at your
feet. And if we can bring about a complete boycott of foreign cloth,
we sterilize the activity of the fifty-five members of the House of
Commons that Lancashire contributes to it, we sterilize the
activities of ambitious Japan who has her eyes fixed and set upon
India. You will not gain your economic freedom, as the Congress has
told you, until India becomes self-contained so far as her food and
clothing are concerned. We can do without all things but we cannot
do without food and clothing. A vast country like India, 1900 miles
long and 1500 miles broad, cannot possibly become self-contained by
any other means than the means of old. If you want to do penance for
what Bengal did, and what the whole of India did, during the East
India Company's regime, even then you have no other remedy, no other
penance open to you, but to revive those noble arts and industries
and to present India with sufficient yarn, so that the prices of
cloth and clothing may both go down and so that India may not have
to depend upon foreigners for her special needs.

                            Spin To Win

     So, young-men of Bengal, if you will work to gain Swaraj within
one year, you will accept the advice of a man who has conducted a
series of experiments, to whom this gospel came in the year 1908,
and who has not been ousted from it by hair's breadth. The more I
have studied the economics of India, the more I have listened to the
mill-owners of India, the more con-vinced I have become that until
we introduce the spinning-wheel






in every home of India, the economic salvation and freedom of India
is an impossibility. Go to any mill-owner you like, he will tell you
that it will require fifty years if India is to become
self-contained, so far as cloth supplies are concerned, if she has
to depend upon her mills alone. And let me supplement the
information by telling you that today hundreds and thousands of
weavers are weaving and are able to weave home spun yarn, but they
have to fall back upon foreign yarn because mills cannot supply
them. So I ask the young friends of Bengal who have left their
colleges to go forward in hope and courage and take up this
neglected training of the hand for at least the time that we have
not attained Swaraj and then think of anything else.

                          Learn Hindustani

     I have suggested another thing. You and I, and every one of us,
have neglected the true education that we should have received in
our national schools. It is impossible for the young men of Bengal,
for the young men of Gujarat, for the young of the Deccan, to go to
the Central Provinces, to go to the United Provinces, to go to the
Punjab and all those vast tracts of India which speak nothing but
Hindustani, and therefore, I ask you to learn Hindustani also in
your leisure hours-the hours that you may be able to save after
spinning. And if you will learn those things, you can learn both
spinning and Hindustani in two months. An intelligent gentle lad, a
patriotic and hard-working lad, I promise you, can learn both these
things in two months' time. And then you are free to go out to your
villages, you are free to go to every part of India but Madras, and
be able to speak your mind to the masses. Do not consider for one
moment that you can make English a common medium of ex-pression
between the mases. 22 crores of Indians know Hindus-tani-they do not
know any other language. And if you want to steal into the hearts of
22 crores of Indians, Hindustani is the only language open to you.
If you will do but these two things during this year, during these
nine months, believe me, you will have, by the time you have
finished, acquired courage and






acquired strength, which you do not possess today. I know thousands
of students. Black despair stares them in the face if they are told
that they cannot get Government employ. If you are bent upon mending
or ending this Government how do you propose to get Government
employ ? If you do not want to fall back upon Government, what is
your English knowledge worth ? I do not wish to underrate the
literary value of the English language. I do not wish to underrate
the vast treasures that are buried in the English books. I do not
want to suggest to you that we have overrated the importance of the
English language. But I do venture to suggest to you that the
English language finds very little place in the economy of Swaraj.

                       Serve India's Villages

     You do not need to increase the stock of English words in order
to gain Swaraj and so I have suggested to the young men of Gujarat
that they should suspend their literary training in English for
these nine or twelve months and devote their time and their leisure
to learning spinning and to learning Hindustani and then place
themselves at the disposal of India and join the National Service
that is going to be formed. You are not going to respond to the
great constitution that the Congress has given, unless we have got
an army of workers penetrating the seven and a half lakhs of
villages with which India is studded. If we are going to set up a
rival organisation in every village of India, if we are going to
have a representative in every village of India, we cannot do so
until and unless the young men of India respond to the Motherland.
The privilege to play that role is yours. The call today has come to
the young men of Bengal and the rest of India. I hope-I have every
confidence-that all the young men and all the young girls of India
will respond to this sacred call. I promise, before the year is out,
you will not have regretted the day that you set your heart upon
these things. And you will find at the end of the chapter that what
I am saying to you tonight has come true, that you have vindicated
the honour of India, you have vindicated the






honour of Islam, you have vindicated the honour of the whole nation
and established Swaraj.1 May God grant you, the young me and the
young girls of Bengal, the necessary courage, the necessary
confidence to go through the sacred period of purification and
sacrifice. May God help you !

                        To Medical Students

     Requested to address a few words to the medical students,
Gandhiji got up again and said :

    There was one thing which I had purposely neglected to mention.
I had the thing in my mind, but I was obliged to take up so much of
your time as to the necessity of learning spinning and the necessity
of learning Hindustani and as to what you should do after having
given up your colleges, that I purposely omitted reference to the
difficulty of the medical students. If they will but exercise their
splendid faculty and imagination, they will deduce from what I have
said generally to the student world that the remarks that are
applicable to the arts colleges and other colleges are equally
applicable to the medical students, if possible even much more to
the medical students than to others. They want to heal the bloody
wounds of India, they want to heal the diseases from which India is
suffering. And I know no greater wound than the one that has been
inflicted upon the Punjab and I know no greater disease than the
disease of helplessness, dependence and servility from which the
whole of India they is suffering. And if the medical students will
be true to that future calling, they will have no hesitation in
responding to the call. And they will have no hesitation in
undertaking the humanitarian work of clothing the naked and of
ridding India of her shame, degradation and helplessness. They
cannot do any nobler work. For an Indian, no matter how noble, how
learned, how powerful and rich he may be, there can be no nobler
work

_______________
    1. Fantastic though it seemed to many at the time, the cry of
'Swaraj in a year' was not really so. The Viceroy had to confess
that he was 'puzzled and perplexed' and Sri George Lloyd, the then
Governor of Bombay, to admit that the movement was "within an inch
of success"






than the work of attaining Swaraj, than the work of ridding India of
the great disease from which we have been suffering for years and
years. And so I ask all the medical students and all the boys of the
colleges and all the boys over sixteen years of the schools, without
a moment's hesitation, first of all, to leave their schools and
colleges, to finish that one peremptory duty that devolves upon
them. But it will always be open to you either to reject or to
accept my advice. It will be open to you to establish new colleges,
new schools, new medical colleges, or anything you like. But if you
will accept my advice, you will understand that you will not have
finished your work as true and brave fellows unless you dedicate all
the time at your disposal for the attainment of Swaraj and make the
task easy all round.

                       Tired Of Speechifying

     If there is anything that I have left out in connection with
the medical college or any other institution and if you want a
solution about these things from my lips, I shall be prepared to
answer those questions. But I must confess to you that I am tired of
answering questions, I am tired of making speeches, I am tired of
making appeals. I would rather wish that I became speechless and
left you to your own conscience. Only today I have been answering a
correspondent who was written to Navajivan asking, "If you say, if
you call conscience above all, why do you waste so much of your time
in arguing with us ? Why do you not leave us to ourselves ?" In a
way the rebuke was well administered. But I know the fire that is
burning within me. I should be untrue to you and to myself, if I do
not give it to you in the best manner that I can, and so I have been
travelling through the length and breadth of India in order to give
you the gospel of hope and courage that is within me. But believe
me, could I possibly be left alone, you will find me spinning away
for all I am worth and poring over the pages of Hindustani, but I
know my limitations also. And I know what handicap I am labouring
under, for I am not so well-versed in Hindustani literature as I am
in English literature.






    And so, my young friends, I would ask you to cast all your
doubts, all your fear, all your scepticism, into the Bay of Bengal
and rise with a new hope that will not be denied.

    Gandhiji's speech has been given above in full. M. Mohammad
Ali's speech on that occasion was also very important --- specially his
answer to some charges of Col. Wedgewood. In an article on Gandhiji
which Col. Wedgewood has contributed to the paper Nation, he has
stated that Shaukat Ali has only a lip-loyalty for non-violence. In
answer to this accusation, Mohammad Ali declared, "We have accepted
the programme of non-violence, because we feel that our object can
be gained more quickly through it than through violence. It is
impossible to imagine how many long years it may take us to
manufacture bombs and fire arms for a violent warfare, whereas,
through this programme of peaceful non-violent resistance, we hope
to attain Swaraj in a year". Asking students to take up the work of
spinning he said "Just as our age-long slavery has no parallel in
the world's history, the period of our struggle for the achievement
of freedom will be so wonderfully short as to make another record.
In order that we can gain independence without delay, Gandhiji asks
you all to leave aside your books for one year and take up the
spinning-wheel. Through those strings of yarn, you will be able to
snap all the strings of our economic slavery. Ask your heart the
question, "Does anybody ever ask you to read Shakespeare as a means
for gaining freedom?" If you think somebody does, you are free to
follow his advice. But if you feel that, by burying your head in his
books, Manchester's hold on India only increases, then let the study
of Shakespeare go to the dogs."

    Messrs. Das, Pal ( Bipin Chandra Pal ) and Jitendralal Bannerji
spoke after Gandhiji, but I do not wish the reader to go into their
speeches. I simply quote here the last paragraph of the covering
letter of Bapu Gopal Chandra Sinha enclosing his donation of Rs.
10,000/?: "Whether the students have done well or ill, all of us --- the
rich or the poor, the learned or the fool, everyone --- must do all he
possibly can to turn into the






right direction the irrepressible enthusiasm with which the students
have become the vanguards of this movement. I am certain that those
who do not back them up at this critical moment will be branded with
a stigma for ever. It is this conviction that has impelled me to
give what I could". This important point in that letter is
overlooked by Ramanand Chattopadhyaya ( Editor, The Modern Review ),
Sir Prafulla Chandra Roy and other learned educationists who are
opposing the movement.

    After this mammoth gathering Gandhiji delivered speeches at many
meetings, conferred with many men, founded a Teachers' Association,
talked to parents of students and did everything he possibly could.
The enthusiasm exhibited in the women's meetings beggars
description. There were three such meetings in all. One was held in
the front of Mr. Das's residence. Four to five hundred Bengali
sisters must have been present there. The collection made from them
came to more than six hundred rupees in cash and about five thousand
in Jewellery. Then there was a meeting of Marwari ladies. They
simply rained money and ornaments, amounting to not less than ten
thousand rupees in all. The third meeting was held in the house of
Babu Nirmalchandra, where, from hardly more than a hundred women, as
many as eight hundred rupees were collected.

    Profuse help from private individuals in land, building etc.,
comes flowing into Mr. Das' hands. The other day a whole running
school with a building and landed property worth a lakh of rupees
entrusted to Mr. Das. Marwari gentlemen also are showing commendable
enthusiam. Nearly a lakh of rupees have been collected from among
them. A special meeting of Gujarati brothers is to be held on
Wednesday.

    The spinning activity cannot be said as yet to have evoked
sufficient interest, though women come to attend the spinning-class
conducted in Mr. Das' house. Srimati Urmila Devi-Mr. Das's widowed
sister-has opened her house for those women who wish to learn
spinning. One business institution has donated rupees ten thousand
ear-marked for the spinning activity.






It is difficult, at present, to estimate properly the number of
students who have non-cooperated, as all the colleges have been
closed. The National College is to open in two or three days and
then we shall know the number of the new-comers. When a heavy rush
of intending entrants began, Mr. Das insisted on the production of
the Leaving Certificate of the past college before enrolling the
name of the applicant. But even the number of those who possess them
is by no means small. A building with a monthly rent of Rupees 2,000
/- for the college and three others for the students' hostel have
been secured. A morning to-night programme of eight meetings at
different places in the city has been fixed for tomorrow to protest
against the opening of the new Council. Gandhiji and Maulana
Mohammad Ali will be present at all of them.

                                 3

    In my last letter I referred to Gandhiji's activities in
Calcutta. The remarkable event that followed them was the protest
meetings held on the 1st instant. The figure of estimated attendance
at these meetings comes to three or four lakhs of men and women. If
even a moderate report of these meetings has reached the ears of the
Duke of Connaught, he must be feeling very sad at having to behave
like a puppet according to instructions given beforehand. Mr. Das
was the President at one, and a speaker at five, of these protest
meetings. Though not a President in any, Gandhiji spoke at all of
them. One can imagine how great must be the exertion which Mr. Das
and Gandhiji had put in on that day.

                   Co-operation Of The Domiciled

     Then there was a meeting of the Gujaratis at the Manmohan
Theatre. Those Gujaratis, who have grown rich through their business
in Calcutta and settled there, tried to repay their debt to Bengal
at that meeting. They entrusted Gandhiji with a purse of 47 thousand
rupees to be given away to Mr. Das. By their timely help to Bengal,
the Gujaratis have the satisfaction of






having thus discharged their duty of repayment of their debt. On the
next day there was a small gathering of the Sikhs. Gandhiji did not
particularly wish to beg alms there. He had only gone there, at
their earnest invitation, to teach them lessons in non-violence and
forbearance. Hardly two to three hundred persons must have collected
at the meeting. When, after finishing his speech, Gandhiji was eager
to listen to the hymns to be sung by Sikh sisters, an old Sikh
appealed to him to give a short discourse against the bad habit of
drinking which was prevalent among the Sikhs. Gandhiji accepted the
appeal and took that opportunity to beg for the national fund.
Immediately, the men began to loosen their purse-strings and women
to take off their ornaments. In no time the men collected Rs. 500/-
and one rich Sikh gentlemen announced a monthly donation of 100
rupees to the Bengeeya National College.

    And now remain the Marwari brothers. Nobody has now any doubt
left in his mind that, in this fight for India's freedom, the
contribution of the Marwari brothers is going to take a front rank.
In the first place it was a leader of that community, Sri
Jamnalalji, whose name led all the rest in the list of donors. Not
content with this, he came to Calcutta to help Gandhiji. He saw
numerous Marwari brothers and sisters. Their contribution is likely
to exceed the two lakh mark. This includes the splendid share of
Marwari sisters.

    In this way, the domiciled Indians are giving their own
contribution to Bengal, which has made a name through the princely
charities of Messrs. Ras Behari Ghose and Taraknath Palit.

                        New National College

     The 4th instant was a red letter day, inasmuch as Gandhiji
opened a palatial building situated on the Wellington Square as the
premises of the National College. And what shall I say of the
solemnity and sanctity of the function ? I have seen Gandhiji
himself visibly impressed by the scene. Thousands of students were
present, but the silence that prevailed was something






unique. The loud cry of 'Bandemataram'1 was uttered only once and no
more. After that cry, the pin-fall silence that pervaded the
audience persisted till the very end. In that deep quiet the
function began with the recital of verses from the Bhagwadgita.

    That profound silence was reflected in Gandhiji's speech also,
since he spoke in a soulful and serene language befitting the
occasion. There is every hope that his deep concern, coupled with
his invincible faith and his insistence on the indispensability of
purify in thought, speech and action, which he expressed in that
speech, will not fail to bear a good result. Every word of that
speech has been published elsewhere in this same issue of the
Navajivan and I am not going to dilate upon it. Speaking about it
Gandhiji himself had remarked to me, "Only on rare occasions such
utterances spring up from my heart".

    We left Calcutta the very same evening of the 4th. The love and
geniality we met with at Mr. Das' residence are difficult to
translate into language. People are awed at first by the majestic
features of Mr. Das, and they wish to keep away from his presence,
but a few minutes' contact creates a sense of equality and turns
them into his friends. And what a child like simplicity there is in
him ! He has made his palatial residence very like the quarters of a
public office. His wife and his widowed sister Srimati Urmila Devi,
as well as the daughters of his brother Sri Prafulla Chandra Das, a
High Court Judge at Patna, have all cast, by their love, an
irresistible spell on the public. The daughters of Mr. Das, the
Judge, have even begun to insist on wearing Khadi and have already
learnt up spinning.

    ( The following is the speech, referred to above, which Gandhiji
delivered at the opening of the National College at Calcutta ) :
_______________

    1. I bow to Mother ( Bharat ). It is the title of a song
composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee which was for long sung in the
Congress sessions as the one national song. For crying out
'Bandemataram' in public streets, boys were assaulted by the police
during the Bengal-Partition agitation.






Friends,
    You have just now heard the beautiful prayer sung by the
students over there, and I hope that all of you will ponder over the
magnificent language of that prayer. If we will base all our acts in
this institution on prayer, I have very little doubt that we shall
come through with added glory to ourselves and to our country. I
have had the privilege, during these few months, of opening several
institutions in several parts of India. But I must confess to you
that, in opening no other institution have I been so weighed down
with anxiety and fear as I am in performing the opening ceremony in
connection with this institution. As I have elsewhere remarked, all
the eyes, all the attention of the student world are centred upon
Calcutta. You have seen so many telegrams reproduced in the Press, I
have seen many more telegrams not reproduced in the Press,
congratulating the students on the magnificent response to the
country's call. You may have also noticed that, as a result of your
response the students all over India are withdrawing themselves from
Government institutions. Great, therefore, is your responsibility
and the responsibility of the professors and teachers connected with
this institution, of Mr. Das and of myself also. For myself, I can
only assure you that my prayers will attend all your efforts in
making this institution a success. But I know that no prayer that I
can offer, no prayer that our clearer hearts can offer, can be of
the slightest service unless the students approach their task in
humility and in their fear of God, with perseverance, with
single-mindedness and with love and devotion for the country in
whose name and for whose sake they have abandoned Government
institutions. It is not a light task for a student expecting
certificates of high merit, expecting a great career in his
estimat