Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India (68 page)

95
   “
listened quietly
”: Talbot,
American Witness to India’s Partition
, p. 202.

96
   
There Gandhi stayed
: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 1, p. 559.

97
   
In Haimchar, which turned out
:
CWMG
, vol. 87, p. 17.

98
   
Though little was said in public
: Tidrick,
Gandhi
, p. 315.

99
   
Thakkar is finally persuaded
:
CWMG
, vol. 87, p. 63.

100
   
According to a less
: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 1, p. 587.

101
   
He’d said he was prepared
: Ibid., p. 356.

102
   
Nehru had been so appalled
: Fischer,
Life of Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 445.

103
   “
But if I leave
”: Manubehn Gandhi,
Lonely Pilgrim
, p. 157, cited by Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, p. 287. Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu, and the hero of the
Ramayana
, the Hindu epic. Gandhi takes his name as a synonym for “God.”

104
   
By June 1948
: Chatterji,
Spoils of Partition
, pp. 112–19.

105
   
The gathering ended:
The song they sang was a variation on an old devotional hymn,
“Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,” often described as Gandhi’s favorite hymn. Routinely, he would attach a line that proclaimed: “God or Allah is your name / Lord, bless everyone with this wisdom.” The words continue to recite many names for God, ending in a call for unity. On this occasion the improvised lyric included references to Buddhists and Christians.

1
   “
The rest of my life
”:
CWMG
, vol. 89, pp. 10–11.

2
   
The only way he could cling
: Ibid., p. 21.

3
   “
Today he himself
”: Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, p. 393.

4
   
By then, hundreds of thousands
: The influx of refugees is well described by Guha in
India After Gandhi
, pp. 97–108.

5
   “
The country was partitioned
”: Lohia,
Guilty Men of India’s Partition
, p. 44.

6
   
An impatient Nehru said
: Tunzelmann,
Indian Summer
, p. 388.

7
   
A pressing invitation
: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 7, p. 162. He had also proposed giving the Viceregal Lodge to the Harijans.

8
   
Since Hindus and Muslims
: Campbell-Johnson,
Mission with Mountbatten
, p. 110.

9
   
It was part of Gandhi’s proposal
: Collins and Lapierre,
Mountbatten and the Partition of India
, pp. 34–35.

10
   
Mountbatten, understandably, declined
: Campbell-Johnson,
Mission with Mountbatten
, p. 55.

11
   “
Thus I have to ask you
”: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 85.

12
   
When the viceroy first heard
: Campbell-Johnson,
Mission with Mountbatten
, p. 52.

13
   “
Jinnah won’t be able
”: Collins and Lapierre,
Mountbatten and the Partition of India
, p. 33.

14
   
Often the killings
:
CWMG
, vol. 87, p. 52.

15
   “
I hate to hear
”: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 52.

16
   “
spent bullet
”: Ibid., p. 309; Nirmal Kumar Bose,
My Days with Gandhi
, p. 208; see also M. K. Gandhi,
Delhi Diary
, p. 147.

17
   “
It is just possible
”: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 85.

18
   “
He realized that if his vision
”:
CWMG
, vol. 89, p. 62.

19
   “
I do not like much
”: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 329.

20
   “
We have as much claim
”: Ibid., p. 363.

21
   “
I am quite willing
”: Ibid., p. 183.

22
   “
We don’t need your sermons
”: Ibid., p. 367.

23
   “
Can’t you understand
”: Ibid., p. 365.

24
   
When the BBC asked
: Nirmal Kumar Bose,
My Days with Gandhi
, p. 224.

25
   “
I’ve run dry
”: Tendulkar, vol. 8,
Mahatma
, p. 80.

26
   “
What if this is just
”:
CWMG
, vol. 89, p. 55.

27
   “
One might almost say
”: Ibid., p. 49.

28
   “
All this is due
”: Gopalkrishna Gandhi,
A Frank Friendship
, p. 501.

29
   “
In the Punjab
”: Ibid., p. 517.

30
   “
What is all this?
”: Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, pp. 422–23.

31
   “
The Calcutta bubble
”:
CWMG
, vol. 89, p. 131.

32
   “
fiery weapon
”: Ibid., p. 134.

33
   
The day after the attack
: Dalton,
Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 154.

34
   “
When the heart is hard
”: Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, p. 434.

35
   
His old comrade
: Dalton,
Mahatma Gandhi
, p. 158.

36
   “
This sudden upheaval
”:
CWMG
, vol. 89, p. 49.

37
   
wonderfully dry description
: Bourke-White,
Halfway to Freedom
, pp. 81–82.

38
   
When he had to leave
: Ibid., p. 90.

39
   
But rowdy Hindu hecklers
:
CWMG
, vol. 89, p. 195.

40
   “
Anger is short madness
”: Ibid., p. 167.

41
   “
Why do [the authorities] tolerate
”: Ibid., p. 184.

42
   “
They are all mine
”: Ibid., p. 480.

43
   “
These days, who listens to me?
”: Ibid., p. 237.

44
   “
Ever since I came to India
”: Ibid., p. 275. See also p. 524.

45
   “
What sin must I
”: Ibid., p. 525.

46
   “
On the surface things
”: Ibid., p. 483.

47
   “
Misdeeds of the Hindus
”: Ibid., vol. 90, p. 228.

48
   
No single catastrophe
: Some say it was his fifteenth or sixteenth fast. Narayan Desai makes it thirty. Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, pp. 472–73.

49
   
Mountbatten, now the governor-general
: Rajmohan Gandhi,
Gandhi
, p. 612; Suhrawardy,
Memoirs
, p. 34; Ziegler,
Mountbatten
, p. 462;
CWMG
, vol. 96, p. 568.

50
   “
For some time my helplessness
”: Manubehn Gandhi,
Last Glimpses of Bapu
, p. 108.

51
   “
Gandhiji is not prepared
”: Azad,
India Wins Freedom
, p. 236.

52
   “
All his life he had stood
”: M. K. Gandhi,
Delhi Diary
, p. 336.

53
   
By his assassin’s own testimony
: Malgonkar,
Men Who Killed Gandhi
, p. 344; Tushar A. Gandhi, “
Let’s Kill Gandhi!
” p. 58.

54
   
Patel’s absence from Delhi
: The home minister left Delhi to travel to Gandhi’s native Kathiawad region to bring the holdout princely states there into the Indian Union, a mission in which Gandhi had a personal interest. But he was also stung by the decision of the cabinet, under the pressure of Gandhi’s fast, to release the reserves he had only just frozen. Before leaving Delhi, he wrote to Gandhi asking that he be allowed to resign. Rajmohan Gandhi,
Patel
, pp. 462–63.

55
   
Of the unfreezing of the assets
: Malgonkar,
Men Who Killed Gandhi
, p. 341, reproduction of paragraph 126 of Godse’s statement.

56
   
A few days earlier
: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 711.

57
   “
Listen! Listen!
”: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 8, p. 273.

58
   “
God will keep me alive
”: Manubehn Gandhi,
Last Glimpses of Bapu
, p. 224.

59
   “
The rulers of the country
”: Ibid., p. 225.

60
   “
If somebody fired
”: Ibid., pp. 222, 228, 234, 298.

61
   “
I have seen it
”: Ibid., p. 279.

62
   “
Our salvation
”: Ibid., p. 293.

63
   
Immediately after that meeting
: Ibid., pp. 293–97.

64
   
Later Pyarelal would publish
: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 819.

65
   
Never did it make its way
: Narayan Desai,
My Life Is My Message
, vol. 4,
Svarpan
, p. 479.

66
   
On the way, walking
: Manubehn Gandhi,
Last Glimpses of Bapu
, p. 308.

67
   “
There is no way
”: Tushar A. Gandhi, “
Let’s Kill Gandhi!
” p. 780.

68
   “
The sound of bullets
”: Manubehn Gandhi,
Last Glimpses of Bapu
, p. 309.

69
   
The killer Godse
: Malgonkar,
Men Who Killed Gandhi
, pp. 250–51.

70
   
He said the last words
: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 861.

71
   
The belief that he fulfilled
: See Nandy, “Final Encounter,” pp. 470–93.

72
   “
a certain kind of bodily sacrifice
”: Gyanendra Pandey quoted in Hardiman,
Gandhi in His Time and Ours
, pp. 190–91.

73
   “
Today we must forget that we are Hindus
”:
CWMG
, vol. 90, pp. 403–4.

74
   
When it comes to the Father of the Nation
: Payne,
Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi
, pp. 598–99.

75
   “
Congress has now to govern
”: Gopalkrishna Gandhi,
Gandhi Is Gone
, p. 61.

76
   “
What we need to consider
”: Ibid., p. 60.

77
   “
Let no one say
”: Tendulkar,
Mahatma
, vol. 5, p. 245.

78
   “
Whenever you are in doubt
”: Pyarelal,
Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase
, vol. 2, p. 65. The note seems never to have been published in Gandhi’s lifetime. It is reproduced in an inset following p. 288 in the final volume of Tendulkar’s eight-volume biography, first published in 1954 by the Government of India.

Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
. Translated by Mahadev Desai. New York, 1983.

The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi
. 97 vols. Ahmedabad, 1958–94.

Delhi Diary: Prayer Speeches from 10–9-47 to 3–1-48
. Ahmedabad, 1948.

Gandhi on Nehru
. Edited by Anand T. Hingorani. New Delhi, 1993.

Hind Swaraj and Other Writings
. Edited by Anthony J. Parel. Cambridge, U.K., 1997.

The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi
. Vol. 3. Edited by Raghavan Iyer. Oxford, 1985–87.

The Penguin Gandhi Reader
. Edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee. New Delhi, 1996.

The Removal of Untouchability
. Ahmedabad, 1954.

Satyagraha in South Africa
. Ahmedabad, 1950.

Selected Political Writings
. Edited by Dennis Dalton. Indianapolis, 1996.

The South African Gandhi: Speeches and Writings of M. K. Gandhi, 1893–1914
. Edited by Fatima Meer. Durban, 1994.

Village Swaraj
. Ahmedabad, 1962.