Edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi

Gandhi then launched a new Satyagraha against the British salt tax in March He sent an ultimatum in the form of a letter personally addressed to Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, on 2 March. Gandhi condemned British rule in the letter, describing it as "a curse" that "has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration It has reduced us politically to serfdom.

This was highlighted by the Salt March to Dandi from 12 March to 6 April, where, together with 78 volunteers, Gandhi marched kilometres mi from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself, with the declared intention of breaking the salt laws. The march took 25 days to cover miles with Gandhi speaking to often huge crowds along the way.

Thousands of Indians joined him in Dandi. According to Sarma, Gandhi recruited women to participate in the salt tax campaigns and the boycott of foreign products, which gave many women a new self-confidence and dignity in the mainstream of Indian public life. On 5 May, Gandhi was interned under a regulation dating from in anticipation of a protest that he had planned.

The protest at Dharasana salt works on 21 May went ahead without Gandhi. A horrified American journalist, Webb Millerdescribed the British response thus:. In complete silence the Gandhi men drew up and halted a hundred yards from the stockade. A picked column advanced from the crowd, waded the ditches and approached the barbed wire stockade Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off blows.

They went down like ninepins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whack of the clubs on unprotected skulls Those struck down fell sprawling, unconscious or writhing with fractured skulls or broken shoulders. This went on for hours until some or more protesters had been beaten, many seriously injured and two killed. At no time did they offer any resistance.

After Gandhi's arrest, the women marched and picketed shops on their own, accepting violence and verbal abuse from British authorities for the cause in the manner Gandhi inspired. This campaign was one of Gandhi's most successful at upsetting British hold on India; Britain responded by imprisoning over 60, people. Among them was one of Gandhi's lieutenants, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Indian Congress in the s appealed to Andhra Pradesh peasants by creating Telugu language plays that combined Indian mythology and legends, linked them to Gandhi's ideas, and portrayed Gandhi as a messiaha reincarnation of ancient and medieval Indian nationalist leaders and saints. The plays built support among peasants steeped in traditional Hindu culture, according to Murali, and this effort made Gandhi a folk hero in Telugu speaking villages, a sacred messiah-like figure.

According to Dennis Dalton, it was Gandhi's ideas that were responsible for his wide following. Gandhi criticised Western civilisation as one driven by "brute force and immorality", contrasting it with his categorisation of Indian civilisation as one driven by "soul force and morality. After he returned to India, people flocked to Gandhi because he reflected their values.

Gandhi also campaigned hard going from one rural corner of the Indian subcontinent to another. He used terminology and phrases such as Rama -rajya from RamayanaPrahlada as a paradigmatic icon, and such cultural symbols as another facet of swaraj and satyagraha. The government, represented by Lord Irwindecided to negotiate with Gandhi. The Gandhi—Irwin Pact was signed in March The British Government agreed to free all political prisonersin return for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement.

According to the pact, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table Conference in London for discussions and as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists. Gandhi expected to discuss India's independence, while the British side focused on the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than on a transfer of power.

Lord Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdontook a hard line against India as an independent nation, began a new campaign of controlling and subduing the nationalist movement. Gandhi was again arrested, and the government tried and failed to negate his influence by completely isolating him from his followers. In Britain, Winston Churchilla prominent Conservative politician who was then out of office but later became its prime minister, became a vigorous and articulate critic of Gandhi and opponent of his long-term plans.

Churchill often ridiculed Gandhi, saying in a widely reported speech:. It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-regal palace Churchill's bitterness against Gandhi grew in the s. He called Gandhi as the one who was "seditious in aim" whose evil genius and multiform menace was attacking the British empire.

Churchill called him a dictator, a "Hindu Mussolini ", fomenting a race war, trying to replace the Raj with Brahmin cronies, playing on the ignorance of Indian masses, all for selfish gain. It gained Churchill sympathetic support, but it also increased support for Gandhi among Europeans. The developments heightened Churchill's anxiety that the "British themselves would give up out of pacifism and misplaced conscience.

During the discussions between Gandhi and the British government over —32 at the Round Table ConferencesGandhi, now aged about 62, sought constitutional reforms as a preparation to the end of colonial British rule, and begin the self-rule by Indians. The British negotiators proposed constitutional reforms on a British Dominion model that established separate electorates based on religious and social divisions.

The British questioned the Congress party and Gandhi's authority to speak for all of India. Ambedkar as the representative leader of the untouchables. The Second Round Table conference was the only time Gandhi left India between and his death in Gandhi declined the government's offer of accommodation in an expensive West End hotel, preferring to stay in the East Endto live among working-class people, as he did in India.

After Gandhi returned from the Second Round Table conference, he started a new satyagraha. Gandhi was arrested and imprisoned at the Yerwada JailPune. While he was in prison, the British government enacted a new law that granted untouchables a separate electorate. It came to be known as the Communal Award. InGandhi resigned from Congress party membership.

He did not disagree with the party's position, but felt that if he resigned, Gandhi's popularity with Indians would cease to stifle the party's membership, which actually varied, including communists, socialists, trade unionists, students, religious conservatives, and those with pro-business convictions, and that these various voices would get a chance to make themselves heard.

Gandhi also wanted to avoid being a target for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily accepted political accommodation with the Raj. InGandhi returned to active politics again with the Nehru presidency and the Lucknow session of the Congress. Although Gandhi wanted a total focus on the task of winning independence and not speculation about India's future, he did not restrain the Congress from adopting socialism as its goal.

Gandhi had a clash with Subhas Chandra Bose, who had been elected president inand who had previously expressed a lack of faith in nonviolence as a means of protest. Gandhi declared that Sitaramayya's defeat was his defeat. Gandhi opposed providing any help to the British war effort and he campaigned against any Indian participation in World War II.

Gandhi's opposition to the Indian participation in World War II was motivated by his belief that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom while that freedom was denied to India itself. As the war progressed, Gandhi intensified his demand for independence, calling for the British to Quit India in a speech in Mumbai.

InGandhi now nearing age 73, urged his people to completely stop co-operating with the imperial government. In this effort, Gandhi urged that they neither kill nor injure British people but be willing to suffer and die if violence is initiated by the British officials. Gandhi's arrest lasted two years, as he was held in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.

During this period, Gandhi's longtime secretary Mahadev Desai died of a heart attack, his wife Kasturba died after 18 months' imprisonment on 22 Februaryand Gandhi suffered a severe malaria attack. Gelder then composed and released an interview summary, cabled it to the mainstream press, that announced sudden concessions Gandhi was willing to make, comments that shocked his countrymen, the Congress workers and even Gandhi.

The latter two claimed that it distorted what Gandhi actually said on a range of topics and falsely repudiated the Quit India movement. Gandhi was released before the end of the war on 6 May because of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi. Gandhi came out of detention to an altered political scene — the Muslim League for example, which a few years earlier had appeared marginal, "now occupied the centre of the political stage" [ ] and the topic of Jinnah's campaign for Pakistan was a major talking point.

Gandhi and Jinnah had extensive correspondence and the two men met several times over a period of two weeks in September at Jinnah's house in Bombay, where Gandhi insisted on a united religiously plural and independent India which included Muslims and non-Muslims of the Indian subcontinent coexisting. Jinnah rejected this proposal and insisted instead for partitioning the subcontinent on religious lines to create a separate Muslim homeland later Pakistan.

While the leaders of Congress languished in jail, the other parties supported the war and gained organisational strength. Underground publications flailed at the ruthless suppression of Congress, but it had little control over events. At this point, Gandhi called off the struggle, and aroundpolitical prisoners were released, including the Congress's leadership.

Gandhi opposed the partition of the Indian subcontinent along religious lines. Jinnah rejected Gandhi's proposal and called for Direct Action Dayon 16 Augustto press Muslims to publicly gather in cities and support his proposal for the partition of the Indian subcontinent into a Muslim state and non-Muslim state. Thousands of Hindus and Muslims were murdered, and tens of thousands were injured in the cycle of violence in the days that followed.

Archibald Wavellthe Viceroy and Governor-General of British India for three years through Februaryhad worked with Gandhi and Jinnah to find a common ground, before and after accepting Indian independence in principle. Wavell condemned Gandhi's character and motives as well as his ideas. Wavell accused Gandhi of harbouring the single-minded idea to "overthrow British rule and influence and to establish a Hindu raj", and called Gandhi a "malignant, malevolent, exceedingly shrewd" politician.

The British reluctantly agreed to grant independence to the people of the Indian subcontinent, but accepted Jinnah's proposal of partitioning the land into Pakistan and India. Gandhi was involved in the final negotiations, but Stanley Wolpert states the "plan to carve up British India was never approved of or accepted by Gandhi". The edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi was controversial and violently disputed.

More than half a million were killed in religious riots as 10 million to 12 million non-Muslims Hindus and Sikhs mostly migrated from Pakistan into India, and Muslims migrated from India into Pakistan, across the newly created borders of India, West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Gandhi spent the day of independence not celebrating the end of the British rule, but appealing for peace among his countrymen by fasting and spinning in Calcutta on 15 August The partition had gripped the Indian subcontinent with religious violence and the streets were filled with corpses.

At p. There, he died about 30 minutes later as one of Gandhi's family members read verses from Hindu scriptures. Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more.

Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these edina musa biographies of mahatma gandhi years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country. Godse, a Hindu nationalist, [ ] [ ] [ ] with links to the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] made no attempt to escape; several other conspirators were soon arrested as well.

The trial began on 27 May and ran for eight months before Justice Atma Charan passed his final order on 10 February The prosecution called witnesses, the defence none. Eight men were convicted for the murder conspiracy, and others were convicted for violation of the Explosive Substances Act. Savarkar was acquitted and set free. Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death by hanging [ ] while the remaining six including Godse's brother, Gopal were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gandhi's death was mourned nationwide. The engine of the vehicle was not used; instead, four drag-ropes held by 50 people each pulled the vehicle. Gandhi was cremated in accordance with Hindu tradition. His ashes were poured into urns which were sent across India for memorial services. InTushar Gandhi immersed the contents of one urn, found in a bank vault and reclaimed through the courts, at the Sangam at Allahabad.

On 30 Januarythe contents of another urn were immersed at Girgaum Chowpatty. Another urn is at the palace of the Aga Khan in Pune where Gandhi was held as a political prisoner from to [ ] [ ] and another in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles. These are said to be Gandhi's last words after he was shot. Gandhi's spirituality was greatly based on his embracement of the five great vows of Jainism and Hindu Yoga philosophy, viz.

Satya truthahimsa nonviolencebrahmacharya celibacyasteya non-stealingand aparigraha non-attachment. Some writers present Gandhi as a paragon of ethical living and pacifism, while others present him as a more complex, contradictory and evolving character influenced by his culture and circumstances. Gandhi dedicated his life to discovering and pursuing truth, or Satyaand called his movement satyagrahawhich means "appeal to, insistence on, or reliance on the Truth.

It was the satyagraha formulation and step, states Dennis Dalton, that deeply resonated with beliefs and culture of his people, embedded him into the popular consciousness, transforming him quickly into Mahatma. Gandhi based Satyagraha on the Vedantic ideal of self-realisation, ahimsa nonviolencevegetarianism, and universal love. William Borman states that the key to his satyagraha is rooted in the Hindu Upanishadic texts.

Bruce Watson states that some of these ideas are found not only in traditions within Hinduism, but also in Jainism or Buddhism, particularly those about non-violence, vegetarianism and universal love, but Gandhi's synthesis was to politicise these ideas. Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities.

Gandhi summarised his beliefs first when he said, "God is Truth. The essence of Satyagraha is "soul force" as a political means, refusing to use brute force against the oppressor, seeking to eliminate antagonisms between the oppressor and the oppressed, aiming to transform or "purify" the oppressor. It is not inaction but determined passive resistance and non-co-operation where, states Arthur Herman, "love conquers hate".

It arms the individual with moral power rather than physical power. Satyagraha is also termed a "universal force", as it essentially "makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe. Gandhi wrote: "There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant.

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause. This end usually implies a moral upliftment or progress of an individual or society. Therefore, non-co-operation in Satyagraha is in fact a means to secure the co-operation of the opponent consistently with truth and justice. While Gandhi's idea of satyagraha as a political means attracted a widespread following among Indians, the support was not universal.

For example, Muslim leaders such as Jinnah opposed the satyagraha idea, accused Gandhi to be reviving Hinduism through political activism, and began effort to counter Gandhi with Muslim nationalism and a demand for Muslim homeland. Although Gandhi was not the originator of the principle of nonviolence, he was the first to apply it in the political field on a large scale.

Although Gandhi considered non-violence to be "infinitely superior to violence", he preferred violence to cowardice. Gandhi was a prolific writer. His signature style was simple, precise, clear and as devoid of artificialities. The book was translated into English the next year, with a copyright legend that read "No Rights Reserved". Later, Navajivan was also published in Hindi.

Gandhi also wrote letters almost every day to individuals and newspapers. Gandhi also wrote extensively on vegetarianism, diet and health, religion, social reforms, etc. Gandhi usually wrote in Gujarati, though he also revised the Hindi and English translations of his books. Gandhi's complete works were published by the Indian government under the name The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi in the s.

The writings comprise about 50, pages published in about volumes. Ina revised edition of the complete works sparked a controversy, as it contained a large number of errors and omissions. Gandhi is noted as the greatest figure of the successful Indian independence movement against the British rule. He is also hailed as the greatest figure of modern India.

The word Mahatmawhile often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma meaning Soul. Innumerable streets, roads, and localities in India are named after Gandhi. These include M. As ofover countries have released stamps on Gandhi. Florian asteroid Gandhi was named in his honour in September Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements.

In his early years, the former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was a follower of the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. This legacy connects him to Nelson Mandela Gandhi's life and teachings inspired many who specifically referred to Gandhi as their mentor or who dedicated their lives to spreading his ideas. Inphysicist Albert Einstein exchanged letters with Gandhi and called him "a role model for the generations to come" in a letter writing about him.

Edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi: Commencement is an opportunity to reflect

Mahatma Gandhi's life achievement stands unique in political history. He has invented a completely new and humane means for the liberation war of an oppressed country, and practised it with greatest energy and devotion. The moral influence he had on the consciously thinking human being of the entire civilised world will probably be much more lasting than it seems in our time with its overestimation of brutal violent forces.

Because lasting will only be the work of such statesmen who wake up and strengthen the moral power of their people through their example and educational works. We may all be happy and grateful that destiny gifted us with such an enlightened contemporary, a role model for the generations to come. Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.

Farah Omara political activist from Somalilandvisited India inwhere he met Gandhi and was influenced by Gandhi's non-violent philosophy, which he adopted in his edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi in British Somaliland. Lanza del Vasto went to India in intending to live with Gandhi; he later returned to Europe to spread Gandhi's philosophy and founded the Community of the Ark in modelled after Gandhi's ashrams.

Madeleine Slade known as "Mirabehn" was the daughter of a British admiral who spent much of her adult life in India as a devotee of Gandhi. In addition, the British musician John Lennon referred to Gandhi when discussing his views on nonviolence. His reply was in response to the question: "Who was the one person, dead or live, that you would choose to dine with?

He inspired Dr. King with his message of nonviolence. He ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics. Gandhi's ideas had a significant influence on 20th-century philosophy. It began with his engagement with Romain Rolland and Martin Buber. Jean-Luc Nancy said that the French philosopher Maurice Blanchot engaged critically with Gandhi from the point of view of "European spirituality.

American political scientist Gene Sharp wrote an analytical text, Gandhi as a political strategiston the significance of Gandhi's ideas, for creating nonviolent social change. Recently, in the light of climate change, Gandhi's views on technology are gaining importance in the fields of environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology. Time magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in Nelson Mandelathe leader of South Africa's struggle to eradicate racial discrimination and segregation, was a prominent non-Indian recipient.

InGandhi was posthumously awarded with the World Peace Prize. Gandhi did not receive the Nobel Peace Prizealthough he was nominated five times between andincluding the first-ever nomination by the American Friends Service Committee[ ] though Gandhi made the short list only twice, in and That year, the committee chose not to award the peace prize stating that "there was no suitable living candidate", and later research shows that the possibility of awarding the prize posthumously to Gandhi was discussed and that the reference to no suitable living candidate was to Gandhi.

Gandhi could do without the Nobel Peace prize, whether Nobel committee can do without Gandhi is the question. Indians widely describe Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. India, with its rapid economic modernisation and urbanisation, has rejected Gandhi's economics [ ] but accepted much of his politics and continues to revere his memory. Reporter Jim Yardley notes that "modern India is hardly a Gandhian nation, if it ever was one.

His vision of a village-dominated economy was shunted aside during his lifetime as rural romanticism, and his call for a national ethos of personal austerity and nonviolence has proved antithetical to the goals of an aspiring economic and military power. Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is a national holiday in IndiaGandhi Jayanti. His image also appears on paper currency of all denominations issued by Reserve Bank of Indiaexcept for the one rupee note.

There are three temples in India dedicated to Gandhi. Gandhi's children and grandchildren live in India and other countries. Grandson Rajmohan Gandhi is a professor in Illinois and an author of Gandhi's biography titled Mohandas[ ] while another, Tarun Gandhi, has authored several authoritative books on his grandfather. Another grandson, Kanu Ramdas Gandhi the son of Gandhi's third son Ramdaswas found living at an old age home in Delhi despite having taught earlier in the United States.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Indian independence activist — For other uses, see Gandhi disambiguation. New DelhiDominion of India. British Raj until Dominion of India from Leadership of the campaign for India's independence from British rule Nonviolent resistance.

Kasturba Gandhi. Harilal Manilal Ramdas Devdas. Karamchand Gandhi Putlibai Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi's voice. Early life and background. Vegetarianism and committee work. Civil rights activist in South Africa — Europeans, Indians and Africans. Struggle for Indian independence — See also: Indian independence movement.

Edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi: If we tell the story of

Main article: Champaran Satyagraha. Main article: Kheda Satyagraha. Main article: Khilafat Movement. Main article: Non-co-operation movement. Main article: Salt Satyagraha. Main article: Quit India Movement. Partition and independence. See also: Indian independence movement and Partition of India. Main article: Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Principles, practices, and beliefs.

Main article: Practices and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi. See also: Gandhism. Followers and international influence. Global days that celebrate Gandhi. Film, theatre, and literature. Current impact within India. Not to be confused with the Indian political family Nehru—Gandhi family. Retrieved 24 January P Mahatma Gandhi A Chronology.

Publications Division. ISBN The Floating Press. Archived from the original on 29 March Retrieved 29 March Archived from the original on 21 July Retrieved 21 July Identity and Religion: Foundations of anti-Islamism in India. Sage Publications. Mohandas Gandhi. Infobase Publishing. The name Gandhi means "grocer", although Mohandas's father and grandfather were politicians not grocers.

The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 7 October Retrieved 15 July The Ways and Power of Love: types, factors, and techniques of moral transformation. Templeton Foundation Press. Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 19 March In JanuaryGandhi carried out yet another fast, this time to bring about peace in the city of Delhi.

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Edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi: Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal

Your Profile. Email Updates. Mohandas Gandhi. Read more. History Rewind: Gandhi's Funeral Sign Up. Mohandas K. Gandhi was born inin Porbandar, India. Mohandas was from the social cast of tradesmen. As a youngster, Mohandas was a good student, but the shy young boy displayed no signs of leadership. On the death of his father, Mohandas travelled to England to gain a degree in law.

He became involved with the Vegetarian Society and was once asked to translate the Hindu Bhagavad Gita. This classic of Hindu literature awakened in Gandhi a sense of pride in the Indian scriptures, of which the Gita was the pearl. Around this time, he also studied the Bible and was struck by the teachings of Jesus Christ — especially the emphasis on humility and forgiveness.

He remained committed to the Bible and Bhagavad Gita throughout his life, though he was critical of aspects of both religions. On completing his degree in Law, Gandhi returned to India, where he was soon sent to South Africa to practise law. In South Africa, Gandhi was struck by the level of racial discrimination and edina musa biography of mahatma gandhi often experienced by Indians.

Inhe was thrown off a train at the railway station in Pietermaritzburg after a white man complained about Gandhi travelling in first class. This experience was a pivotal moment for Gandhi and he began to represent other Indias who experienced discrimination. As a lawyer he was in high demand and soon he became the unofficial leader for Indians in South Africa.

It was in South Africa that Gandhi first experimented with campaigns of civil disobedience and protest; he called his non-violent protests satyagraha. Despite being imprisoned for short periods of time, he also supported the British under certain conditions. During the Boer war, he served as a medic and stretcher-bearer. He felt that by doing his patriotic duty it would make the government more amenable to demands for fair treatment.

Gandhi was at the Battle of Spion serving as a medic. An interesting historical anecdote, is that at this battle was also Winston Churchill and Louis Botha future head of South Africa He was decorated by the British for his efforts during the Boer War and Zulu rebellion. After 21 years in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in He became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement campaigning for home rule or Swaraj.

Gandhi successfully instigated a series of non-violent protest. I think it is the height of ignorance to believe that the sexual act is an independent function necessary like sleeping or eating. Seeing, therefore, that I did not desire more children I began to strive after self-control. There was endless difficulty in the task. We began to sleep in separate beds.

I decided to retire to bed only after a day's work had left me completely exhausted. Gandhi: I took the vow of celibacy in I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of making the vow. She had no objection. Judith Brown: It's very much embedded in Hindu tradition this, that your physical state interacts with your spiritual state, so experimentation with celibacy and sexual control is one aspect of that; but also experimentation with different kinds of food, and different foods generate desire or spirituality, so Gandhi is within a long spiritual tradition that sets great store by issues to do with food and daily living.

Getting rid of desire, getting rid of extraneous links with things that would hold you back from the path of truth: so by cutting natural links with his family he's broadening his vision of what the family and the community are. By simplifying life he's getting rid of the things that people would want to keep hold of rather than experimenting with truth.

Millie: Our dietary experiments were many and various. For some time, upon Mr Gandhi's advice, his wife and I cooked without refined sugar. Cooked fruits, puddings or cakes were sweetened with raw cane syrup. When this phase ended we had a salt-less table. Salt, Mr Gandhi contended, was bad not only for health but also for the character.

Then he came to the conclusion that onions were bad for the passions, so onions were cut out. Milk too, Mr Gandhi said, affected the 'passion' side of human life and thereafter milk was abjured likewise. I did not mind the raw onions going, but I questioned the denial of milk Millie: Why is it, if milk stimulates the passions, that it is the best food for babies and young children?

Gandhi: The mother's milk is the correct food for babies, but it's not meant for adults. Millie: I don't mind that, but I cannot see that the same argument can be used against it as a stimulant of the passions. If that were correct, a milk-fed child would be the most unnatural little brute. Think of a little child obsessed with sex because it had had a diet of milk.

It's not reasonable. We talk about food probably quite as much as gourmands do. I'm sure we talk about food more than most people: we seem to be always thinking of the things we either may or may not eat. Sometimes I think it would be better if we just ate anything and didn't think about it at all. Gandhi: Even flesh? Millie: A man shall be judged by what comes out of his mouth, not by what he puts into it.

Millie: I had a nice healthy dog given to me, and, in accordance with the household tradition, tried to bring him up a vegetarian. He had a very great liking for grapes. We talked to all our friends of the splendid behaviour of our vegetarian dog, and Mr Gandhi was proud of him. But one evening a member of the household, falling over something at the back door, called out for assistance.

Investigation ensued, and we discovered a huge joint of uncooked venison. I then found out that for months our dog had been stealing chickens and anything else he could find and eating them raw. Some of our theories were thus found to have, if nothing worse, at least weak spots. Rodney Harber: I came here a few days after that and went to Sarvadoya, I was shocked to see it like that, and found a smouldering book at the back.

It was Tolstoy's book, it had "To my dear friend Karamchand, from Leo", and I took it to the local history museum. It just shows the sort of stuff that may have been lost in the process of the turmoil. All that remained was the floor slab and the chimney; every piece apart from that was just taken and dragged away to build shacks out of. In fact I understand there's a shabeenwhich is the local word for an illegal pub here, with the original roof of Gandhi's house.

I haven't found it, no-one wants to show me, but the owner boasts that he's got Gandhi's house as his shabeen. I thought a resource like this couldn't just be cast away. Rodney Harber: Certainly this middle part [of the house] is original, the raised floor; there was a veranda on the front in some of the photographs, maybe where that cement floor is now, we don't know.

But in the process of reconstructing it we had to work with what we knew was true for sure. So it was like this inwhich of course was already fourteen years after Gandhi had gone. We reconstructed it to what it was in the edina musa biographies of mahatma gandhi we could find. It was fascinating forensic architecture, that's the only way to describe it, scratching looking for paint colours, finding old photographs, blowing them up digitally, producing working drawings for plasterers, finding where the framework was by looking for the drive screws on the outside of the sheeting, it was great from that point of view.

This was the living room Millie: My first view of Phoenix disappointed and depressed me. Mrs Gandhi, too, did not feel happy at being transplanted from the town, with its domestic and human amenities, to the more primitive conditions which prevailed at the settlement. She and I shared a little room the first night we arrived, and lay awake talking and grumbling for hours.

Millie: One day, suspended from an overhanging bough of a tree at the spot where water was fetched daily, was observed a big green mamba, one of the deadliest snakes found in South Africa. The colonist who first saw it did not know what to do. Non-killing was a fundamental principle at Phoenix; but no one could argue or reason with a snake, and the snake seemed absolutely disinclined to go away.

Eventually an Indian colonist, Mr S. He was an old hand at the gun, which he fetched and then shot the snake. He was the father of two little girls and believed that the safety and life of the children were of greater importance than those of a snake. But all of us thought about it, and some of us secretly believed Mr S. The incident, however, was not allowed to be used as a precedent.

Millie: The printing press had no mechanical means at its disposal, for the oil-engine had broken down, and at first animal power was utilised, two donkeys being used to turn the handle of the machine. But Mr Gandhi, ever a believer in man doing his own work, soon altered this, and four hefty Zulu girls were procured for a few hours on printing day.

These took the work in turns, two at a time, while the other two rested: but every able-bodied settler, Mr Gandhi included, took their turn at the handle, and thus the copies of the paper were ground out. The habit of smoking among boys is undoubtedly harmful. It undermines their constitution and weakens their mental capacity. It is sham Europeanism that Indians have to be warned against, and every son of India who falls into the sin of intemperance is a traitor to the race from which he springs.

Cholera germs are killed in fifteen minutes by lemon-juice or apple-juice, and typhoid fever germs in half an hour by these acids, even when considerably diluted. Instead of telling a man to have his stomach washed out, we can now tell him to drink orange juice. Millie: Here, every Sunday evening, in that little lamp-lit corrugated-iron roomall the members gathered for a kind of religious service.

Mr Gandhi usually opened the proceedings with a reading from the 'Bhagavad Gita' and would also read passages from the New Testament. Then there would be English hymns, and some Gujarati sacred music. Mr Gandhi thoroughly enjoyed the hymn-singing. He had two great favourites of which, through all the years I knew him, he never wearied.

The first was the hymn of consecration, 'Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee'. The other was one that he often quoted when he felt himself surrounded by difficulties, 'Lead Kindly Light'. Gandhi: I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek - I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

Millie: But you did not embrace Christianity did you? Gandhi: No. I studied your scriptures for some time and thought earnestly about them. I was tremendously attracted to Christianity; but eventually I came to the conclusion that there was nothing really in your scriptures that we had not got in ours, and that to be a good Hindu also meant I would be a good Christian.

Millie: Tell me, do you believe in conversion, in changing from one form of faith to another? Gandhi: What do you yourself feel?