Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India (65 page)

1
   
When he intoned
: Jaswant Singh,
Jinnah
, p. 111.

2
   “
My heart refuses
”:
CWMG
, vol. 32, pp. 452, 473–74.

3
   The Times of India
spread
: Jaswant Singh,
Jinnah
, p. 113.

4
   
His covering letter
: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 9, p. 304.

5
   
In his view, Gandhi
: Jordens,
Swami Shraddhananda
, p. 110.

6
   
The start of the noncooperation
: Tinker,
Ordeal of Love
, p. 151.

7
   
So, in December 1919
: Jordens,
Swami Shraddhananda
, p. 117.

8
   “
Is it not true
”: Ibid.

9
   “
That was a grave mistake
”: Ibid., p. 119.

10
   “
it is a bigger problem
”:
CWMG
, vol. 19, p. 289.

11
   “
While Mahatmaji stood
”: Jordens,
Swami Shraddhananda
, p. 119.

12
   “
If all untouchables
”: Ibid., p. 144.

13
   
This led to a public exchange
:
CWMG
, vol. 23, pp. 567–69.

14
   “
No propaganda can be allowed
”: Ibid., vol. 24, pp. 145, 148–49.

15
   
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
: B. R. Ambedkar,
What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables
, p. 23.

16
   “
greatest and most sincere champion
”: Ibid.

17
   
Although Gandhi had called
:
CWMG
, vol. 19, p. 289.

18
   “
I am trying to make
”: Ibid., vol. 25, p. 228.

19
   
Due to his many years
: Ibid., vol. 26, p. 408.

20
   “
To endure or bear hardships
”: Ibid., pp. 264–65.

21
   “
One caste, one religion
”: Mendelsohn and Vicziany,
Untouchables
, p. 97.

22
   
at first ambivalent
: Interview with M. K. Sanoo, Ernakulam, Jan. 18, 2009.

23
   
rename the boy
: Interview with Dr. Babu Vijayanath, Harippad, Jan. 17, 2009.
Malayala Manorama
article of Oct. 15, 1927, describes naming ceremony.

24
   
an untouchable leader
: Interview with K. K. Kochu, near Kottayam, Jan. 19, 2009. T. K. Ravindran suggests that this blinding may have been temporary in his book
Eight Furlongs of Freedom
, p. 108.

25
   “
I think you should let
”:
CWMG
, vol. 23, p. 391.

26
   
The letter didn’t reach
: Joseph,
George Joseph
, pp. 166–69. Gandhi’s version of these events can be found in
Removal of Untouchability
, a collection of his writings on that theme, pp. 107–14.

27
   
Despite the Congress support
:
CWMG
, vol. 23, p. 471.

28
   “
I personally believe
”: Ibid., p. 519.

29
   
The villages were divided
: Rudrangshu Mukherjee, ed.,
Penguin Gandhi Reader
, p. 221.

30
   
He would also argue
: M. K. Gandhi,
Selected Political Writings
, pp. 124–25.

31
   “
I spoke to Gandhi repeatedly
”: Mende,
Conversations with Mr. Nehru
, pp. 27–28.

32
   “
The caste system, as it exists
”:
CWMG
, vol. 59, p. 45.

33
   “
If untouchability goes
”: Chandrashanker Shukla,
Conversations of Ganhiji
(Bombay, 1949), p. 59.

34
   
harmful both to spiritual and national growth
:
Harijan
, July 18, 1936, also in Gandhi,
Removal of Untouchability
, p. 36.

35
   “
no interest left in life
”: Quoted in Coward,
Indian Critiques of Gandhi
, p. 61.

36
   
only remaining varna
:
CWMG
, vol. 80, pp. 222–24, cited by Martin Green in
Gandhi in India: In His Own Words
(Hanover, N.H., 1987), pp. 324–26.

37
   “
the deep black ignorance
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, p. 86.

38
   
The meeting took place
:
CWMG
, vol. 24, pp. 90–94. Quotations in these paragraphs are all drawn from a document summarizing conversations with two Vaikom emissaries.

39
   
On their return
: Ravindran,
Eight Furlongs of Freedom
, p. 86.

40
   
The meeting sent
: Ibid., p. 95.

41
   
The freed leaders threw
: Ibid., p. 99.

42
   
On his release from jail
:
CWMG
, vol. 24, pp. 268–69.

43
   
By the end of the year
: Ibid., vol. 25, p. 349.

44
   
Standing on their sense
: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, p. 58.

45
   
But it’s Indanturuttil Nambiatiri
: Ravindran,
Eight Furlongs of Freedom
, pp. 164–91.

46
   “
I am not ashamed
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, p. 84.

47
   
The likelier explanation
:
CWMG
, vol. 19, p. 571.

48
   
Perhaps Nehru’s summing-up
: Mende,
Conversations with Mr. Nehru
, pp. 28–29.

49
   “
I am trying myself
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, p. 83.

50
   “
I have come here to create peace
”:
Malayala Manorama
, March 14, 1925.

51
   
To break the impasse
: Ravindran,
Eight Furlongs of Freedom
, pp. 187–90.

52
   “
We will forsake
”: Raimon,
Selected Documents on the Vaikom Satyagraha
, p. 112.

53
   
accommodate to change
: Interview with Krishnan Nambuthiri, Vaikom, Jan. 14, 2009.

54
   
a crowd of twenty thousand
:
Malayala Manorama
, March 14, 1925.

55
   “
I claim to be a sanatani
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, pp. 68–70.

56
   “
A few days or forever
”: Ibid., pp. 77, 81.

57
   
Caste, untouchability, and social action
: Ibid., pp. 84–88.

58
   
In reality, the Gandhi
: Interview with Babu Vijayanath, Harippad, Jan. 17, 2009. The visit is also summarized in Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, pp. 124–25.

59
   “
He thinks I shall have to appear
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, p. 88.

60
   
According to a police report
: Ravindran,
Eight Furlongs of Freedom
, p. 340.

61
   
In one such clash
: Interview with Dr. Babu Vijayanath, Hariippad, Jan. 17, 2009.

62
   
Hearing of the Mahatma’s
: This verse was pointed out to me by M. K. Sanoo and subsequently located by journalists at
Malayala Manorama
who translated it.

63
   
Definitely it was Gandhi
: Raimon,
Selected Documents on the Vaikom Satyagraha
, p. 203.

64
   
K. K. Kochu, a Dalit intellectual
:
Madhyamam
, April 2, 1999.

65
   “
I only wish
”: Interview with K. K. Kochu, Kaduthuruthi, Kottayam district, Jan. 18, 2009.

66
   “
How many among you
”: Mahadev Desai,
Day-to-Day with Gandhi
, vol. 6, pp. 114–15.

67
   “
Gandhi was sitting cross-legged
”: An excellent description, but Mahadev Desai’s contemporaneous diary note makes it clear they reached Alwaye by boat and car. Ibid., p. 118.

68
   
In his account
: Muggeridge,
Chronicles of Wasted Time
, pp. 109–10.

1
   
Discovering they were prepared
: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 2, p. 140.

2
   
In the pointlessness
: Ibid., p. 142. Emphasis mine.

3
   
His reaction to this onset
: Ibid., p. 327.

4
   “
What is one to do
”:
CWMG
, vol. 31, p. 504.

5
   
He blamed “educated India
”: Ibid., p. 369.

6
   
Next he blamed the British
: Fischer,
Life of Mahatma Gandhi
, pp. 241–42.

7
   “
The government of India
”:
CWMG
, vol. 32, p. 571.

8
   “
I am an optimist
”: Ibid., vol. 31, p. 504.

9
   “
appears to be my inaction
”: Ibid., p. 368.

10
   “
I am biding my time
”: Brown,
Gandhi
, p. 213.

11
   “
Give me blood
”: Fischer,
Life of Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 261.

12
   “
given up reading newspapers
”:
CWMG
, vol. 31, p. 554.

13
   
At a mammoth All Parties Convention
: Wells,
Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity
, p. 177.

14
   “
We are sons of this land
”: Leonard A. Gordon,
Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists
, p. 189.

15
   
Within weeks of this rupture
: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 2, p. 334. Within two years Muhammad Ali would die in London.

16
   “
This is the parting
”: Philips and Wainwright,
Partition of India
, p. 279.

17
   
a younger wife:
Ruttie Jinnah was originally a Parsi, a member of a minority composed of Indians of Persian descent who retain their Zoroastrian religion, but converted to Islam before their marriage. On her death, she was buried in a Muslim cemetery with her former husband sobbing at her graveside.

18
   
Swaraj within a year
: Brown,
Gandhi
, p. 222, draws the parallel to the 1921 campaign. January 26 is still celebrated in India as
Republic Day; August 15, the date on which India actually became independent in 1947, is celebrated as Independence Day.

19
   “
For me there is only
”:
CWMG
, vol. 31, pp. 368–69.

20
   “
In the present state
”: Ibid., vol. 42, p. 382.

21
   
Civil disobedience, he told Nehru
: Brown,
Gandhi
, p. 235.

22
   “
next to water and air
”: Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 303.

23
   
The viceroy also stuck
: Fischer,
Life of Mahatma Gandhi
, pp. 271–72.

24
   “
The fire of a great resolve
”: As quoted in Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 309.

25
   “
Hail, Deliverer
”: Fischer,
Life of Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 273. Thomas Weber questions whether these words were ever uttered, noting their absence from contemporary accounts and arguing that the quotation first appeared in an article by a British journalist who was actually in Berlin on the day Gandhi reached Dandi. See “Historiography and the Dandi March,” in
Gandhi, Gandhism, and the Gandhians
.

26
   “
The last four months in India
”:
CWMG
, vol. 44, p. 468.

27
   
Gandhi made a sly allusion
: Ibid., vol. 48, p. 18.

28
   “
No living man
”: Harold Laski opinion piece in
Daily Herald
(London), Sept. 11, 1931.

29
   “
Your Majesty won’t expect
”: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 3, p. 127.

30
   
By the time Ambedkar returned
: B. R. Ambedkar,
Letters
, p. 220.

31
   
betrothed to him at the age of nine
: The marriage apparently took place three
years later, when he would have been seventeen and she twelve, although his biographers cannot agree on their ages. Keer,
Dr. Ambedkar
, p. 20, says he was seventeen; Omvedt,
Ambedkar
, p. 6, says he was fourteen.

32
   
For an untouchable youth
: B. R. Ambedkar,
Essential Writings
, p. 52.

33
   
When he sought to study
: Keer,
Dr. Ambedkar
, p. 18.

34
   
So Bhima took
: Omvedt,
Ambedkar
, p. 4.

35
   
One of these campaigns
: Keer,
Dr. Ambedkar
, p. 74.

36
   “
When one is spurned
”: Zelliot,
From Untouchable to Dalit
, p. 163.

37
   “
I am a difficult man
”: Omvedt,
Ambedkar
, p. 119.

38
   “
You called me to hear
”: Keer,
Dr. Ambedkar
, p. 165.

39
   “
Gandhiji, I have no homeland
”: Ibid., p. 166.

40
   “
Till I left for England
”: Mahadev Desai,
Diary of Mahadev Desai
, p. 52.

41
   “
revelatory of the stereotypes
”: Omvedt,
Ambedkar
, p. 43.

42
   
The go-betweens who set up
: Zelliot,
From Untouchable to Dalit
, p. 166.

43
   
Their next meeting, in London
: Omvedt,
Ambedkar
, p. 43.

44
   
Maybe Gandhi had been
: Zelliot,
From Untouchable to Dalit
, p. 166.

45
   “
Who are we to uplift Harijans?
”: Mahadev Desai,
Diary of Mahadev Desai
, p. 53.

46
   
Drawing the parallel himself
:
CWMG
, vol. 48, p. 224.

47
   “
Dr. A. always commands
”: Ibid., p. 208.

48
   “
He has a right even to spit
”: Ibid., pp. 160–61.

49
   “
Above all, the Congress represents
”: Ibid., p. 16.

50
   
Three days later
: Ibid., p. 34.

51
   “
I fully represent the claims
”: B. R. Ambedkar,
Writings and Speeches
, vol. 3, contains transcripts of the Round Table Conference sessions quoted here. The exchanges between Gandhi and Ambedkar can be found on pp. 661–63 of that volume.

52
   “
This has been the most humiliating
”: Shirer,
Gandhi
, p. 194, cited in Herman,
Gandhi and Churchill
, p. 372.

53
   “
a more ignorant
”: Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 3,
Satyapath
, p. 169.

54
   
Gandhi claimed to be
: B. R. Ambedkar,
Letters
, p. 215.

55
   “
Mr. Gandhi made nonsense
”: B. R. Ambedkar,
What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables
, p. 275.

56
   
As the London conference
: B. R. Ambedkar,
Letters
, p. 215.

57
   
Nehru didn’t go into that
: Nehru to S. K. Patil, Nov. 31, 1931, Nehru Memorial Museum archive, AICC Papers, G86/3031.

58
   “
Gandhi’s Good-Bye Today”: Daily Herald
(London), Dec. 5, 1931.

59
   
Years later George Orwell
: George Orwell, “Reflections on Gandhi,” in
A Collection of Essays
(Garden City, N.Y., 1954), p. 180.

60
   
But he was skeptical
: Rolland,
Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 248.

61
   
Pope Pius XI sent his regrets
: Nayar,
Salt Satyagraha
, p. 403; Slade,
Spirit’s Pilgrimage
, p. 151.

62
   “
No indeed
”: Nayar,
Salt Satyagraha
, p. 403.
Sushila Nayar completed the biography begun by her brother, who seldom signed himself by his full name, Pyarelal Nayar.

63
   
Before the letter could be mailed
: Ibid., p. 405.

64
   
On January 4, 1932
: Ibid., p. 414. The Englishman who describes this scene is the ethnologist Verrier Elwin.