The Charkha Spun Its Own History

Mohandas was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar. His father and uncles served as dewans of Kathiawar princes, including Rajkot, his ancestral home. They were orthodox banias and sticklers for caste traditions. He went to local schools and besides his mother tongue picked up a smattering of English. When 13 he was married to Kasturba, a couple of months older than he. A schoolmate he befriended was a Muslim, Sheikh Mehtab, an athletic lad who persuaded him that eating meat made people strong and indulging in sex was a manly thing to do. Mohandas sampled meat but could not stomach it. He accompanied Mehtab to a brothel but failed to perform. Instead, he turned to his wife with greater zeal. The first major moral crisis came when he was barely 16. He was tending to his sick father. When his uncle took over the nursing he went straight to his room, roused Kasturba and got into the act. While he was still at it, there was a knock on the door and he was informed that his father had died. Thereafter in his mind sex came to be associated with sin.

Mohandas was an above average student. Instead of going to a college in India, he raised money from his family and friends to study law in England. Before he left he gave three promises: he would not womanise nor touch liquor or eat meat. He spent three years in England without breaking any of his promises. He tried to anglicise himself: learnt to speak English with the right accent, wear suits with neckties, learnt how to dance the foxtrot and waltz and study classics of English literature. More important was studying the Bible under the tutelage of people who hoped to convert him to Christianity. He was deeply impressed by the New Testament but was equally, if not more, by the teachings of the Gita and the Ramayana. He also studied the Quran. He spent a lot of his energy propagating vegetarianism. He became an avid reader of newspapers and formed his opinions about English and Indian politicians. He began to look upon Gopal Krishna Gokhale as his role model. He returned home in his turban, frock-coat, cravat and striped trousers as Barrister M.K. Gandhi.

He tried to set up practice in Rajkot and Bombay but failed to make a living. He accepted the brief of a Gujarati Muslim merchant who had extensive business in South Africa to sort out his litigation with a relative. The assignment was meant to last six months. He succeeded in persuading both parties to settle their dispute out of court. Other cases started coming his way and he set up chamber practice. His 18 years in South Africa were the most formative of his life and made him what he became later, the voice of the conscience of all humanity.

In South Africa Gandhi clarified his views on Apargraha (non-possession), Satyagraha (truth force), Sarvodaya (public service). While in prison he adopted theprisoners' cap which later came to be known after him as the Gandhi cap. He put his ideas in practice at his ashram named after Tolstoy with whom he had been corresponding. The day started with prayers where passages from the Gita, the Bible and the Quran were read and the hauntingly beautiful hymn Vaishnav jana to tainey kaheeyey jo peer paraaee jaaney rey (know him as a man of God who knowsanother's pain). Everyone in India heard about Gandhi and his peaceful crusade. Gokhale acclaimed him in the following words: "I can tell you that a nobler, braver and more sainted spirit has never moved on this earth.... He is a man among men, a hero among heroes, a patriot among patriots." Vinoba Bhave summed him up as one who could combine kranti (revolution) with shanti (peace). By the time his long sojourn in South Africa was over, Barrister M.K. Gandhi had replaced his western attire and donned kurta and dhoti and become MahatmaGandhi-- a title given to him by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Indian multitudes acclaimed him as their number one leader.

Gandhi was imprisoned many times. He spent his time reading, writing, spinning the charkha and in silent meditation. He understood the power ofsilence--at times he did not utter a word for a week-- and made one day a week a day of silence.

Much has been made of Gandhi's relations with his women disciples since he had taken a vow of celibacy. They were drawn to him like proverbial moths to the flame. Two who came closest to him were a Bengali, Saraladevi Choudhurani, in Lahore in the 1920s and the Englishwoman Miraben in his ashram in Sabarmati. Gandhi admitted his infatuation with Saraladevi and she was willing to become his second wife. The affair upset many of his closest friends, his wife Kasturba and sons. Gandhi broke his relationship without ever consummating it. Later he even proposed an alliance betweenSaraladevi's son Deepak with Nehru's daughter Indira. With Miraben his association was even closer. For years she massaged his legs and head everyday, upsetting Kasturba and the circle around him. It went no further than a ding-dong battle to control his libido. Neither affair detracts the slightest bit from Gandhi�s unique personality as the paradigm of a prophet of our times.

In Africa, his main concern was the plight of Indian settlers, he was barely aware of the existence of its nativepeople-- the Zulus-- who he, like the whites, referred to as Kaffirs. He actually sided with the whites when the Zulus rose up in rebellion and with the British against the original white settlers of Dutch origin. Back in India his two top priorities were giving untouchables equal rights and dignity and bridging the gulf between Hindus and Muslims. He was partly successful in one but a dismal failure on the other. His joining IndianMuslims' protest against the dissolution of the Turkish empire was blatantly opportunistic, aimed at bringing Hindus closer to the Muslims. Ataturk Kemal Pasha took the wind out of the sails of the Khilafat movement by abolishing the Caliphate. Then Gandhi tried to win over Muslim confidence by agreeing to separate electorates and reservation of seats in legislatures and services. He gave them more than their due but was unable to persuade them to accept minority status in a Hindu-dominated India. On the contrary, the demand for a separate state of Pakistan gathered strength. So did Hindu fundamentalism under theRSS and the Hindu Mahasabha. Call for direct action by the Muslim League in 1946 led to bloody riots in Calcutta. They spread to Bihar,Noakhali, NWFP and Punjab. By the time independence came in August 1947, northern India was going through a blood bath. There was only one voice of sanity and that wasGandhi's. What the army and police failed to stop, he did single-handed by undertaking fasts. The people responded to his call and peace returned. It was a miracle the like of which had never been seen in the history of the world. He paid for it with his life when he was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu fanatic. Nehru voiced thenation's anguish when he broke the news over All India Radio: "The light has gone out of our lives. There is darkness everywhere!" A more heroic tale has yet to be told. His grandson has told it.