Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India (63 page)

1
   “
No man or woman living
”: Gandhi to Kallenbach, June 16, 1912, quoted by Hunt and Bhana, “Spiritual Rope-Walkers.”

2
   “
a grim fight against
”:
CWMG
, 2nd ed., vol. 58, pp. 118–19.

3
   
For five of those years
: Kasturba moved to Tolstoy Farm with two sons in the latter half of 1910 and stayed till September 1912, when she moved back to Phoenix, according to Dhupelia-Mesthrie,
Gandhi’s Prisoner?
pp. 96, 104.

4
   
Gandhi insists
: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, p. 270.

5
   
Colonial Natal was a place
:
Natal Mercury
, June 15, 1903.

6
   “
no reason why we should
”: Huttenback,
Gandhi in South Africa
, p. 244. Emphasis mine.

7
   
Finally, in 1908
: Ibid., p. 235.

8
   “
I use all the money
”:
CWMG
, vol. 6, p. 433.

9
   “
So I kept pouring out
”: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, pp. 252–53.

10
   “
One day news came
”: Prabhudas Gandhi,
My Childhood with Gandhiji
, pp. 44–45, 58.

11
   “
I could stay there only
”: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, p. 270.

12
   
The two centers
: Anand,
Mahatma Gandhi and the Railways
, p. 13.

13
   
Physically strong and quick-tempered
: Meer,
South African Gandhi
, p. 1202.

14
   
According to Prema Naidoo
: Interview with Prema Naidoo, Johannesburg, Nov. 2007.

15
   “
If Thambi Naidoo
”: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 148.

16
   “
Mine would be considered
”: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, p. 274.

17
   
Gandhi’s house still stands
: Itzkin,
Gandhi’s Johannesburg
, p. 61.

18
   “
His voice was soft
”: Interview with Millie Polak, 1954, from the BBC archive, broadcast on May 7, 2004.

19
   
When Harilal was married
: Dalal,
Harilal Gandhi
, p. 10.

20
   
In a will drafted in 1909
:
CWMG
, vol. 96, p. 9.

21
   “
He feels that I have
”: Dalal,
Harilal Gandhi
, p. 30.

22
   “
almost in the same bed
”:
Harijan
, May 29, 1937. Quoted in an article by Mahadev Desai on Kallenbach’s visit to India.

23
   
Gandhi early on made a point
:
CWMG
, vol. 96, p. 9.

24
   
One respected Gandhi scholar
: “[James D.] Hunt asserts that their relationship was clearly homoerotic while not homosexual.” As related by Weber,
Gandhi as Disciple and Mentor
, p. 74.

25
   
Kallenbach, who was raised
: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 301.

26
   
He’d thus been in South Africa
: Chapman,
Sandow the Magnificent
, pp. 153–54.

27
   “
Your portrait
”:
CWMG
, vol. 96, pp. 28–29.

28
   
The most plausible guesses
: See Joseph S. Alter,
Gandhi’s Body: Sex, Diet, and the Politics of Nationalism
(Philadelphia, 2000), p. 36: “Moreover, Gandhi’s focused attention on the problems associated with constipation, and his regular use of enemas, can be explained, at least in part, by the need he felt to keep his body immaculately clean.”

29
   
In the agreement dated
:
CWMG
, vol. 96, pp. 62–63.

30
   “
For the last two years
”: Sarid and Bartolf,
Hermann Kallenbach
, p. 16.

31
   
Later it is Kallenbach
: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, p. 294.

32
   “
I see death in chocolates
”:
CWMG
, vol. 96, p. 71.

33
   
He sends Kallenbach
: Ibid., p. 129.

34
   
a Dutch word
: Jean Branford,
A Dictionary of South African English
(Cape Town, 1980), p. 147.

35
   “
Life is very short
”:
CWMG
, vol. 9, p. 426, citing the original G. K. Chesterton article which appeared in
The Illustrated London News
, Oct. 2, 1909. See also Payne,
Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 213.

36
   “
The English have not taken India
”: M. K. Gandhi,
Hind Swaraj
, pp. 39, 114.

37
   “
Those in whose name we speak
”: Ibid., p. 70.

38
   “
The primary object
”:
CWMG
, 2nd ed., vol. 11, p. 428.

39
   “
I should like to slip out
”: Ibid., p. 428.

40
   “
They are more useful
”: M. K. Gandhi, “To the Colonial Born Indian,”
Indian Opinion
, July 15, 1911.

41
   “
That is my predominant occupation
”:
CWMG
, 2nd ed., vol. 12, p. 49.

42
   “
makes us eat more
”: Ibid., vol. 11, p. 169.

43
   
Now, when he eases up
: Ibid., vol. 96, p. 96, where Gandhi informs Kallenbach of the dietary switch. For his earlier insistence on a saltless regime, which he said “purifies the blood to a high degree,” see vol. 11, pp. 130, 150, 507–8.

44
   
In Gandhi’s mind
: Ibid., vol. 11, p. 190.

45
   
Upper House is wounded
: Ibid., vol. 96, p. 220.

46
   “
Though I love
”: Ibid., p. 166.

47
   “
a man of strong feelings
”: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 171, cited in Weber,
Gandhi as Disciple and Mentor
, p. 71.

48
   “
morbid sensitiveness
”:
CWMG
, vol. 96, pp. 118, 183.

49
   
The timing of Gandhi’s
: Gandhi settled in Johannesburg following his application to the Johannesburg bar on February 16, 1903. Meer,
South African Gandhi
, p. 37.

50
   “
whose eyes were always
”: Gandhi,
Autobiography
, p. 222.

51
   “
In these conversations
”: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 269.

52
   “
I shall be there
”:
CWMG
, vol. 11, p. 161.

53
   
His “inner voice
”: As quoted, for instance, in Nayar,
Mahatma Gandhi’s Last Imprisonment
, p. 187.

54
   
Threatening renewed resistance
:
CWMG
, vol. 11, p. 229.

55
   
Hundreds of other resisters
: Huttenback,
Gandhi in South Africa
, pp. 264–65.

56
   “
a substitute for slavery
”:
Indian Opinion
, March 10, 1908, included in Meer,
South African Gandhi
, p. 964.

57
   “
To a starving man
”:
Indian Opinion
, Sept. 17, 1903, included in Meer,
South African Gandhi
, p. 969.

58
   
Indian Opinion carried
:
Indian Opinion
, Sept. 16, 1911.

59
   “
In spite of your remarks
”:
CWMG
, vol. 10, p. 465. See also Swan,
Gandhi: The South African Experience
, p. 211.

60
   
The most Gandhi had been hoping
:
CWMG
, vol. 11, p. 130.

61
   “
If I felt like being free
”: Ibid., vol. 96, p. 98.

62
   
A week later he wrote
: Ibid., p. 99.

63
   
For nearly a year
:
African Chronicle
, May 19, 1909, and March 25, 1911. Available on microfilm at the British Library.

64
   “
an absolute Hindu
”:
African Chronicle
, June 15 and 8, 1912.

65
   
Just ten months later
:
African Chronicle
, April 16, 1913.

66
   “
Mr. Gandhi may have been
”:
African Chronicle
, June 10 and Jan. 10, 1914.

67
   
Though they’d agreed that
: Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 158.

68
   
Some days earlier
:
African Chronicle
, Nov. 16, 1912.

69
   
Fifteen years after the fact
: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, pp. 270, 242–43.

70
   “
Are we not to blame
”:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 207.

71
   “
You must return
”: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 268.

1
   
The status of Indians
: Quoted in Millin,
General Smuts
, p. 230.

2
   
He wrote a long piece
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, pp. 132–35.

3
   “
Then I am not your wife
”: Ibid., p. 31.

4
   “
We congratulate our plucky
”: Ibid., p. 66.

5
   “
I have sketched out
”: Ibid., vol. 96, p. 121.

6
   “
resolving in my own mind
”: Swan,
Gandhi: The South African Experience
, p. 242.

7
   “
When this tax thus fell
”: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, p. 273.

8
   
The government was too
: Meer,
South African Gandhi
, p. 47.

9
   
On consecutive days
: Kallenbach diary in the archive of the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad. Naidoo is a Telugu, not a Tamil, name, but Thambi Naidoo was chairman of the
Tamil Benefit Society in Johannesburg, where the term “Tamil” seems to have been used loosely to designate all those of South Indian origin who might also in that era have been called Madrasis.

10
   
That evening he and Gandhi
: Kallenbach diary notes, July 3–7, 1913, in the archive of the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.

11
   “
ringleader
”:
Natal Witness
, Oct. 18, 1913.

12
   
Gandhi had used the threat
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, pp. 214–15.

13
   “
But the mere presence
”: Ibid., p. 512.

14
   “
It may be difficult
”: Ibid., p. 214.

15
   
Natal’s attorney general
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 363.

16
   “
A peculiar position
”:
Natal Witness
, Oct. 18, 1913.

17
   
As the message spread
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 364.

18
   “
Any precipitate step
”:
African Chronicle
, Oct. 18, 1913.

19
   “
Indians do not fight
”:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 240.

20
   
Despite all these signals
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 364.

21
   “
We do not believe
”:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 253.

22
   
All the women he’d dispatched
:
Star
, Nov. 1, 1913.

23
   
The procession
: Bhana and Pachai,
Documentary History of Indian South Africans
, p. 143.

24
   “
They struck not
”: Ibid., pp. 142–43.

25
   
Here a reporter
: “The Great March: Mr. Gandhi at Work,”
Indian Opinion
, Nov. 19, 1913.

26
   
Gandhi, in the thick
: “What the British Press Says,”
Indian Opinion
, Nov. 19, 1913.

27
   
Later he wrote
: Gandhi,
Satyagraha in South Africa
, pp. 296, 299.

28
   “
General Smuts will have
”: Ibid., p. 300.

29
   “
He gave me strokes
”: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 372.

30
   “
Any government worth its salt
”:
Transvaal Leader
, Oct. 29, 1913.

31
   
The Natal Coal Owners Association
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 369.

32
   
Taking their cues
:
The Star
, Nov. 10, 1913.

33
   
spread of the strike’s seeming flood tide
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 393.

34
   
The first walkout
:
Transvaal Leader
, Nov. 5 and 8, 1913.

35
   
At the height of the unrest
: Report on Durban Police dated November 17 by Chief Magistrate Percy Binns, National Archives, Pretoria.

36
   
Rajmohan Gandhi suggests
: Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 167.

37
   “
The leaders of the movement
”: “Progress of the Strike: The Durban Conference,”
Indian Opinion
, Oct. 29, 1913.

38
   
Nevertheless, Vahed and Desai
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 384.

39
   
The plantation to which the food:
In the apartheid era, a black township was laid out on lands that had belonged to the old Campbell estate. It was called KwaMashu. Few of its inhabitants were likely to know that “Mashu” was a Zulu rendering of “Marshall,” a tribute to the white planter who introduced Gandhi to Dube.

40
   
He’d told his supporters
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 298.

41
   “
carnival of violence”:
The full text of
Marshall Campbell’s letter to Gandhi dated Dec. 30, 1913, can be found at the Killie Campbell Library in Durban in a file that also contains a letter from Colin Campbell to his brother William and a subsequent letter from William to his father. None of these letters shed any light
on the question of what the supposed ballistic examination showed about who fired the bullet that killed the indentured laborer Patchappen, if it was not the planter’s son.

42
   “
In all our struggles
”: Ibid., pp. 298–99.

43
   
By his own testimony
:
Transvaal Leader
, Nov. 28 and 29 and Dec. 19 and 23, 1913.

44
   
If he’d not been in jail
: Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 394.

45
   
The Indians had refused
: On November 14, according to Desai and Vahed,
Inside Indenture
, p. 382.

46
   
A detachment of police
: Ibid., p. 383.

47
   
These themes are regularly
:
Transvaal Leader
, Nov. 19, 1913.

48
   “
The Indians were very excited”:
Indian Enquiry Commission Report, presented to Parliament April 1914, p. 8 (available at House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online, accessible through ProQuest).

49
   “
overwhelmed in numbers
”:
Transvaal Leader
, Nov. 28, 1913.

50
   
The commission that looked
: Indian Enquiry Commission Report, p. 10.

51
   
A witness told Reuters
: Clipping on file in the National Archives, Pretoria.

52
   
An indentured laborer
:
Indian Opinion
, Dec. 12, 1913.

53
   
The British governor-general
: Lord Gladstone’s cable is on file at the National Archives, Pretoria. Contending that Botha and Smuts had reacted to the Indian strikes “with great forbearance,” the governor-general declared: “I deprecate official credence being given to outrageous charges telegraphed to India by those who were responsible for the strikes here.”

54
   
Most of his spare time
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 270.

55
   
He said he’d miss the solitude
: Ibid., p. 272.

56
   
Gandhi used it to prepare
: Ibid., p. 276.

57
   “
How glorious
”: Ibid., p. 274.

58
   “
I saw that it was no matter for grief
”: Ibid., p. 320.

59
   
But fresh out of jail
: Ibid., p. 315.

60
   “
I explained that they had come out, not as indentured laborers
”: Bhana and Pachai,
Documentary History of Indian South Africans
, p. 142.

61
   
In assigning to the strikers
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 660.

62
   “
Mr. Gandhi’s performance
”:
African Chronicle
, Dec. 27, 1913, and Jan. 10, 1914. Aiyar was still at his old Durban address in Sept. 1944 when a wartime censorship office intercepted a letter, now on file at the National Archive in Pretoria, that he wrote to the New York office of the Indian National Congress seeking help on the publication of a book on race conflict in South Africa.

63
   “
a charter of our freedom
”:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 483.

64
   “
a final settlement
”: Ibid., p. 442.

65
   
These could be achieved
: Ibid., p. 478.

66
   “
We need not fight for votes
”: Ibid., p. 479.

67
   
Finally, he had to concede
: Ibid., p. 477.

68
   
Between 1914 and 1940
: Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie,
From Cane Fields to Freedom: A Chronicle of Indian South African Life
(Cape Town, 2000), pp. 16–17.

69
   
They had an understanding
: Nanda,
Three Statesmen
, p. 467.

70
   
She’d not been consulted
: Interview with Prema Naidoo, Johannesburg, Nov. 2007.

71
   
Gandhi thanked
:
CWMG
, vol. 12, p. 474.

72
   “
I am, as ever
”: Ibid., p. 486.

73
   “
I am under indenture
”: Ibid., p. 472.

74
   “
The Atlantic
”: Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 173.

75
   “
I have no Kallenbach”: CWMG
, vol. 15, p. 341, cited in Sarid and Bartolf,
Hermann Kallenbach
, p. 64.