Great Soul_ Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India Part 18

96Shortly after the Mahatma: Payne, Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 355.

97"Consider the burning": Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 241. The economist Amartya Sen offers a contemporary view of the debate between the Mahatma and the poet over homespun versus manufactured cloth. "Except for the rather small specialized market for high-quality spun cloth," he writes, "it is hard to make economic sense of hand-spinning, even with wheels less primitive than Gandhi's charkha." But Gandhi's central point had as much to do with social justice, Sen recognizes, as economics. Sen's discussion is in The Argumentative Indian The Argumentative Indian, pp. 100101.

98"To a people famis.h.i.+ng": CWMG CWMG, vol. 21, p. 289.

99"I got the votes": Nanda, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 347.

100"Our defeat is in proportion": Quoted in ibid., p. 346.

101"Gandhi is like a paralytic": Quoted in Minault, Khilafat Movement Khilafat Movement, p. 185.

102"I personally can never": CWMG CWMG, vol. 23, pp. 35051, cited in Nanda, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 344.

CHAPTER 7: UNAPPROACHABILITY.

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

2"My heart refuses": CWMG CWMG, vol. 32, pp. 452, 47374.

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

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

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

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

7So, in December 1919: Jordens, Swami Shraddhananda 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 CWMG, vol. 19, p. 289.

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

12"If all untouchables": Ibid., p. 144.

13This led to a public exchange: CWMG CWMG, vol. 23, pp. 56769.

14"No propaganda can be allowed": Ibid., vol. 24, pp. 145, 14849.

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

16"greatest and most sincere champion": Ibid.

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

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

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

20"To endure or bear hards.h.i.+ps": Ibid., pp. 26465.

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

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

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

24an 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 Eight Furlongs of Freedom, p. 108.

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

26The letter didn't reach: Joseph, George Joseph George Joseph, pp. 16669. Gandhi's version of these events can be found in Removal of Untouchability Removal of Untouchability, a collection of his writings on that theme, pp. 10714.

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

28"I personally believe": Ibid., p. 519.

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

30He would also argue: M. K. Gandhi, Selected Political Writings Selected Political Writings, pp. 12425.

31"I spoke to Gandhi repeatedly": Mende, Conversations with Mr. Nehru Conversations with Mr. Nehru, pp. 2728.

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

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

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

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

36only remaining varna: CWMG CWMG, vol. 80, pp. 22224, cited by Martin Green in Gandhi in India: In His Own Words Gandhi in India: In His Own Words (Hanover, N.H., 1987), pp. 32426. (Hanover, N.H., 1987), pp. 32426.

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

38The meeting took place: CWMG CWMG, vol. 24, pp. 9094. Quotations in these paragraphs are all drawn from a doc.u.ment summarizing conversations with two Vaikom emissaries.

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

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

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

42On his release from jail: CWMG CWMG, vol. 24, pp. 26869.

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

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

45But it's Indanturuttil Nambiatiri: Ravindran, Eight Furlongs of Freedom Eight Furlongs of Freedom, pp. 16491.

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

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

48Perhaps Nehru's summing-up: Mende, Conversations with Mr. Nehru Conversations with Mr. Nehru, pp. 2829.

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

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

51To break the impa.s.se: Ravindran, Eight Furlongs of Freedom Eight Furlongs of Freedom, pp. 18790.

52"We will forsake": Raimon, Selected Doc.u.ments on the Vaikom Satyagraha Selected Doc.u.ments on the Vaikom Satyagraha, p. 112.

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

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

55"I claim to be a sanatani": Mahadev Desai, Day-to-Day with Gandhi Day-to-Day with Gandhi, vol. 6, pp. 6870.

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

57Caste, untouchability, and social action: Ibid., pp. 8488.

58In reality, the Gandhi: Interview with Babu Vijayanath, Harippad, Jan. 17, 2009. The visit is also summarized in Mahadev Desai, Day-to-Day with Gandhi Day-to-Day with Gandhi, vol. 6, pp. 12425.

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

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

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

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

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

64K. K. Kochu, a Dalit intellectual: Madhyamam 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 Day-to-Day with Gandhi, vol. 6, pp. 11415.

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.

68In his account: Muggeridge, Chronicles of Wasted Time Chronicles of Wasted Time, pp. 10910.

CHAPTER 8: HAIL, DELIVERER.

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

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

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

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

5He blamed "educated India": Ibid., p. 369.

6Next he blamed the British: Fischer, Life of Mahatma Gandhi Life of Mahatma Gandhi, pp. 24142.

7"The government of India": CWMG 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 Gandhi, p. 213.

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

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

13At a mammoth All Parties Convention: Wells, Amba.s.sador of Hindu-Muslim Unity Amba.s.sador 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 Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists, p. 189.

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