Agreement with readers:
I will be typing eight volumes of this series on this blog. All punctuation and spelling will be kept as it is in the volume which I have in front of me. I will only change it if someone sends me evidence of different spelling or punctuation in a volume published later than what I have by the same author. This is to maintain the integrity of the work. I ask readers to respect that the information contained in these volumes is very much a part of Indian history, and I am trying my best to make all information in the books available to the general public for free. Therefore, it is my hope that no one will try to make money off of what will be available for free.
On Front Flap (first volume):
I will be typing eight volumes of this series on this blog. All punctuation and spelling will be kept as it is in the volume which I have in front of me. I will only change it if someone sends me evidence of different spelling or punctuation in a volume published later than what I have by the same author. This is to maintain the integrity of the work. I ask readers to respect that the information contained in these volumes is very much a part of Indian history, and I am trying my best to make all information in the books available to the general public for free. Therefore, it is my hope that no one will try to make money off of what will be available for free.
On Front Flap (first volume):
He stopped at the thresholds of the huts and thousands of dispossessed, dressed like one of their own. He spoke to them in their own language. Here was living truth at last, and not only quotations from books. For the reason the Mahatma, the name given to him by the people of India, is his real name. Who else has felt like him that all Indians are his own flesh and blood? When love came to the door of India, that door was opened wide. At Gandhi's call India blossomed forth to new greatness, just as once before, in earlier times, when Buddha proclaimed the truth of fellow-feeling and compassion among all living creatures.
(signed)
Rabindranath Tagore
On Back Flap:
Mahatma: In Eight Volumes
With over 1000 illustrations
By D.G. Tendulkar
Illustrations collected and arranged by
Vithalbhai K. Jhaveri
Foreword by
Jawaharlal Nehru
VOLUME ONE: 1869-1920
VOLUME TWO: 1920-1929
VOLUME THREE: 1930-1934
VOLUME FOUR: 1934-1938
VOLUME FIVE: 1938-1940
VOLUME SIX: 1940-1945
VOLUME SEVEN: 1945-1947
VOLUME EIGHT: 1947-1948
DISTRIBUTORS:
PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT
THE TIMES OF INDIA PRESS
BOMBAY I
PER VOLUME
Rs. 25/-
SET
Rs. 180/-
Title Page:
[ Handwritten Text in Hindi ]
Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
He is the One Luminous, Creator of All, Mahatma,
Always in the hearts of the people enshrined,
Revealed through Love, Intuition, and Thought,
Whoever knows Him, Immortal becomes.
By
D.G. TENDULKAR
Illustrations collected and arranged by
VITHALBHAI K. JHAVERI
Foreword by
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
VOLUME ONE 1869-1920
[Letter in English to Tendulkar -- I will copy whatever is legible. Blank lines mean I am having trouble reading the handwriting.]
2 - 1 - 48 [Note: This would be January 2, 1948]
My dear Tendulkar,
Here are the ______ which I was able to correct between yesterday and this morning under severe stress. I have ____ are inverted commas commenting with each paragraph. I hope ____ will under ____ all the correcting and that I have _____ too late.
Yours,
Bapu
(Hindi Text)
21- 10 - 1947
N. Delhi
my dear Tendulkar,
I am sorry that I have not been able to attend to yours of _____ day earlier. I cannot recall why the Gujarati article was _____
[ Due to the illegibility of the handwriting, I will type the letters later. I will now proceed to the text of the book.]
[Hindi Text]
Foreword
Nearly three and a half years have gone by since Gandhiji passed away. The manner of his death was the culmination and perfect climax to an astonishing career. Even during his life innumerable stories and legends had grown around him, and now he seems almost a legendary figure, one in the great line of India's sages and heroes and wise men. A new generation grows up to whom he is almost a name, a great name to be revered, but nevertheless a name. Within a few more years there will not be many left who have come in personal contact with him and had experience of that vivid, virile and magnificent personality. The legend will grow and take many shapes, sometimes with little truth in it. Succeeding generations will remember him and pay honour to him. As is India's way, we shall add him to our pantheon and celebrate the day of his birth and passing away. We shall shout jai when his name is mentioned and perhaps feel a little elated in the process and that we have done our duty to him.
What gods there are, I know not and am not concerned about them. But there are certain rare qualities which raise a man above the common herd and appear to make him as made of different clay. The long story of humanity can be considered from many points of view; it is a story of the advance and growth of man and the spirit of man, it is also a story full of agony and tragedy. It is a story of masses of men and women in ferment and in movement, and it is also the story of great and outstanding personalities who have given content and shape to that movement of masses.
In that story Gandhi occupies and will occupy a pre-eminent place. We are too near him to judge him correctly. Some of us came into intimate contact with him and were influenced by his dominating and very lovable personality. We miss him terribly now for he had become part of our own lives. With us the personal factor is so strong that it comes in the way of a correct appraisal. Others, who did not know him so intimately, cannot perhaps have full realization of the living fire that was in this man of peace and humility. So both these groups lack proper perspective or knowledge. Whether that perspective will come in later years when the problems and conflicts of today are matters for the historian, I do not know. But I have no doubt that in the distant, as in the near, future this towering personality will stand out and compel homage. It may be that the message which he embodied will be understood and acted upon more in later years than it is today. That message was not confined to a particular country of community. Whatever truth there was in it was a truth applicable to all countries and to humanity as a whole. He may have stressed certain aspects of it in relation to the India of his day, and those particular aspects may cease to have much significance as times and conditions change. The kernel of that message was, however, not confined to time or space. And if this is so, then it will endure and grown in the understanding of man.
He brought freedom to India and in the process he taught us many things which were important for us at the moment. He told us to shed fear and hatred, and of unity and equality and brotherhood, and of raising those who had been suppressed, and of the dignity of labour and of the supremacy of things of the spirit. Above all, he spoke and wrote unceasingly of truth in relation to all our activities. He repeated that Truth was to him God and God was Truth. Scholars may raise their eyebrows, and philosophers and cynics repeat the old question: what is Truth? Few of us dare to answer that question with any assurance and it may be that the answer itself is many-sided and our limited intelligence cannot grasp the whole. But, however limited the functioning of our minds may be or our capacity for intuition, each one of us must, I suppose, have some limited idea of truth, as he sees it. Will he act upto it, regardless of consequences, and not compromise with what he himself considers an aberration from it? Will he even in search of a right goal compromise with the means to attain it? Will he subordinate means to ends?
It is easy to frame this question, rather rhetorically, as if there was only one answer. But life is terribly complicated and the choices it offers are never simple. Perhaps, to some extent, an individual, leading his individual and rather isolated life, may endeavour with some success to answer that question for himself. But where he is concerned not only with his own actions but with those of many others, when fate or circumstance has put him in a position of moulding and directing others, what then is he to do? How is a leader of men to function? If he is a leader, he must lead not not merely follow the dictates of the crowd, though some modern conceptions of functioning democracy would lead one to think that he must bow down to the largest number. If he does so, then he is no leader and he cannot take others far along te right path of human progress. If he acts singly, according to his own lights, he cuts himself off from the very persons whom he is trying to lead. If he brings himself down to the same level of understanding as others, then he has lowered himself, been untrue to his own ideal, and compromised that truth. And once such compromises begin, there is no end to them and the path is slippery. What then is he to do? It is not enough for him to perceive truth or some aspect of it. He must succeed in making others perceive it also.
The average leader of men, especially in a democratic society, has continually to adapt himself to his environment and to choose what he considers the lesser evil. Some adaptation is inevitable. But as this process goes on, occasions arise when that adaptation imperils the basic ideal and objective. I suppose there is no clear answer to this question and each individual and each generation will have to find its own answer.
The amazing thing about Gandhi was that he adhered, in all its fullness, to his ideals, his conception of truth, and yet he did succeed in moulding and moving enormous masses of human beings. He was not inflexible. He was very much alive to the necessities of the moment, and he adapted himself to changing circumstances. But all these adaptations were about secondary matters. In regard to the basic things he was inflexible and firm as a rock. There was no compromise in him with him with what he considered evil. He moulded a whole generation and more raised them above themselves, for the time being at least. That was a tremendous achievement.
Does that achievement endure? It brought results which undoubtedly endure. And yet it brings some reaction in its train also. For people, compelled by some circumstance, to raise themselves above their normal level, are apt to sink back even to a lower level than previously. We see today something like that happening. We saw that reaction in the tragedy of Gandhi's own assassination. What is worse is the general lowering of standards, when Gandhi's whole life was devoted to the raising of these very standards. Perhaps this a temporary phase and people will recover from it and find themselves again. I have no doubt that, deep in the consciousness of India, the basic teachings of Gandhi will endure and will affect our national life.
No man can ever write a real life of Gandhi, unless he is as big as Gandhi. So we can expect to have have no real and fully adequate life of this man. Difficult as it is to write a life of Gandhi, this task becomes far more difficult because his life has become an intimate part of India's life for half a century or more. Yet it may be that if many attempt to write his life, they may succeed in throwing light on some aspects of this unique career and also give others some understanding of this memorable period of India's history.
Tendulkar has laboured for many years over this book. He told me about it during Gandhiji's lifetime and I remember his consulting Gandhiji a few months before his death. Anyone can see that this work has involved great and devoted labour for many long years. It brings together more facts and data about Gandhi than any book that I know. It is immaterial whether we agree with any interpretation or opinion of the author. We are given here a mass of evidence and we can form our own opinions. Therefore, I consider this book to be of great value as a record not only of the life of a man supreme in his generation, but also of a period of India's history which has intrinsic importance of its own. We live today in a world torn with hatred and violence and fear and passion, and the shadow of war hangs heavily over us all. Gandhi told us to cast away our fear and passion and to keep away from hatred and violence. His voice may not be heard by many in the tumult and shouting of today, but it will have to be heard and understood some time or other, if this world is to survive in any civilized form.
People will write the life of Gandhi and they will discuss and criticize him and his theories and activities. But to some of us he will remain something apart from theory ------ a radiant and beloved figure who ennobled and gave some significance to our petty lives, and whose passing away has left us with a feeling of emptiness and loneliness. Many pictures rise in my mind of this man, whose eyes were often full of laughter and yet were pools of infinite sadness. But the picture that is dominant and most significant is as I saw him marching, staff in hand, to Dandi on the Salt March in 1930. Here was the pilgrim on his quest of Truth, quiet, peaceful, determined and fearless, who would continue that quest and pilgrimage, regardless of consequences.
[signed]
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pahalgam, Kashmir
June 30, 1951
On Back Flap:
Mahatma: In Eight Volumes
With over 1000 illustrations
By D.G. Tendulkar
Illustrations collected and arranged by
Vithalbhai K. Jhaveri
Foreword by
Jawaharlal Nehru
VOLUME ONE: 1869-1920
VOLUME TWO: 1920-1929
VOLUME THREE: 1930-1934
VOLUME FOUR: 1934-1938
VOLUME FIVE: 1938-1940
VOLUME SIX: 1940-1945
VOLUME SEVEN: 1945-1947
VOLUME EIGHT: 1947-1948
DISTRIBUTORS:
PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT
THE TIMES OF INDIA PRESS
BOMBAY I
PER VOLUME
Rs. 25/-
SET
Rs. 180/-
Title Page:
[ Handwritten Text in Hindi ]
Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
He is the One Luminous, Creator of All, Mahatma,
Always in the hearts of the people enshrined,
Revealed through Love, Intuition, and Thought,
Whoever knows Him, Immortal becomes.
By
D.G. TENDULKAR
Illustrations collected and arranged by
VITHALBHAI K. JHAVERI
Foreword by
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
VOLUME ONE 1869-1920
[Letter in English to Tendulkar -- I will copy whatever is legible. Blank lines mean I am having trouble reading the handwriting.]
2 - 1 - 48 [Note: This would be January 2, 1948]
My dear Tendulkar,
Here are the ______ which I was able to correct between yesterday and this morning under severe stress. I have ____ are inverted commas commenting with each paragraph. I hope ____ will under ____ all the correcting and that I have _____ too late.
Yours,
Bapu
(Hindi Text)
21- 10 - 1947
N. Delhi
my dear Tendulkar,
I am sorry that I have not been able to attend to yours of _____ day earlier. I cannot recall why the Gujarati article was _____
[ Due to the illegibility of the handwriting, I will type the letters later. I will now proceed to the text of the book.]
[Hindi Text]
Foreword
Nearly three and a half years have gone by since Gandhiji passed away. The manner of his death was the culmination and perfect climax to an astonishing career. Even during his life innumerable stories and legends had grown around him, and now he seems almost a legendary figure, one in the great line of India's sages and heroes and wise men. A new generation grows up to whom he is almost a name, a great name to be revered, but nevertheless a name. Within a few more years there will not be many left who have come in personal contact with him and had experience of that vivid, virile and magnificent personality. The legend will grow and take many shapes, sometimes with little truth in it. Succeeding generations will remember him and pay honour to him. As is India's way, we shall add him to our pantheon and celebrate the day of his birth and passing away. We shall shout jai when his name is mentioned and perhaps feel a little elated in the process and that we have done our duty to him.
What gods there are, I know not and am not concerned about them. But there are certain rare qualities which raise a man above the common herd and appear to make him as made of different clay. The long story of humanity can be considered from many points of view; it is a story of the advance and growth of man and the spirit of man, it is also a story full of agony and tragedy. It is a story of masses of men and women in ferment and in movement, and it is also the story of great and outstanding personalities who have given content and shape to that movement of masses.
In that story Gandhi occupies and will occupy a pre-eminent place. We are too near him to judge him correctly. Some of us came into intimate contact with him and were influenced by his dominating and very lovable personality. We miss him terribly now for he had become part of our own lives. With us the personal factor is so strong that it comes in the way of a correct appraisal. Others, who did not know him so intimately, cannot perhaps have full realization of the living fire that was in this man of peace and humility. So both these groups lack proper perspective or knowledge. Whether that perspective will come in later years when the problems and conflicts of today are matters for the historian, I do not know. But I have no doubt that in the distant, as in the near, future this towering personality will stand out and compel homage. It may be that the message which he embodied will be understood and acted upon more in later years than it is today. That message was not confined to a particular country of community. Whatever truth there was in it was a truth applicable to all countries and to humanity as a whole. He may have stressed certain aspects of it in relation to the India of his day, and those particular aspects may cease to have much significance as times and conditions change. The kernel of that message was, however, not confined to time or space. And if this is so, then it will endure and grown in the understanding of man.
He brought freedom to India and in the process he taught us many things which were important for us at the moment. He told us to shed fear and hatred, and of unity and equality and brotherhood, and of raising those who had been suppressed, and of the dignity of labour and of the supremacy of things of the spirit. Above all, he spoke and wrote unceasingly of truth in relation to all our activities. He repeated that Truth was to him God and God was Truth. Scholars may raise their eyebrows, and philosophers and cynics repeat the old question: what is Truth? Few of us dare to answer that question with any assurance and it may be that the answer itself is many-sided and our limited intelligence cannot grasp the whole. But, however limited the functioning of our minds may be or our capacity for intuition, each one of us must, I suppose, have some limited idea of truth, as he sees it. Will he act upto it, regardless of consequences, and not compromise with what he himself considers an aberration from it? Will he even in search of a right goal compromise with the means to attain it? Will he subordinate means to ends?
It is easy to frame this question, rather rhetorically, as if there was only one answer. But life is terribly complicated and the choices it offers are never simple. Perhaps, to some extent, an individual, leading his individual and rather isolated life, may endeavour with some success to answer that question for himself. But where he is concerned not only with his own actions but with those of many others, when fate or circumstance has put him in a position of moulding and directing others, what then is he to do? How is a leader of men to function? If he is a leader, he must lead not not merely follow the dictates of the crowd, though some modern conceptions of functioning democracy would lead one to think that he must bow down to the largest number. If he does so, then he is no leader and he cannot take others far along te right path of human progress. If he acts singly, according to his own lights, he cuts himself off from the very persons whom he is trying to lead. If he brings himself down to the same level of understanding as others, then he has lowered himself, been untrue to his own ideal, and compromised that truth. And once such compromises begin, there is no end to them and the path is slippery. What then is he to do? It is not enough for him to perceive truth or some aspect of it. He must succeed in making others perceive it also.
The average leader of men, especially in a democratic society, has continually to adapt himself to his environment and to choose what he considers the lesser evil. Some adaptation is inevitable. But as this process goes on, occasions arise when that adaptation imperils the basic ideal and objective. I suppose there is no clear answer to this question and each individual and each generation will have to find its own answer.
The amazing thing about Gandhi was that he adhered, in all its fullness, to his ideals, his conception of truth, and yet he did succeed in moulding and moving enormous masses of human beings. He was not inflexible. He was very much alive to the necessities of the moment, and he adapted himself to changing circumstances. But all these adaptations were about secondary matters. In regard to the basic things he was inflexible and firm as a rock. There was no compromise in him with him with what he considered evil. He moulded a whole generation and more raised them above themselves, for the time being at least. That was a tremendous achievement.
Does that achievement endure? It brought results which undoubtedly endure. And yet it brings some reaction in its train also. For people, compelled by some circumstance, to raise themselves above their normal level, are apt to sink back even to a lower level than previously. We see today something like that happening. We saw that reaction in the tragedy of Gandhi's own assassination. What is worse is the general lowering of standards, when Gandhi's whole life was devoted to the raising of these very standards. Perhaps this a temporary phase and people will recover from it and find themselves again. I have no doubt that, deep in the consciousness of India, the basic teachings of Gandhi will endure and will affect our national life.
No man can ever write a real life of Gandhi, unless he is as big as Gandhi. So we can expect to have have no real and fully adequate life of this man. Difficult as it is to write a life of Gandhi, this task becomes far more difficult because his life has become an intimate part of India's life for half a century or more. Yet it may be that if many attempt to write his life, they may succeed in throwing light on some aspects of this unique career and also give others some understanding of this memorable period of India's history.
Tendulkar has laboured for many years over this book. He told me about it during Gandhiji's lifetime and I remember his consulting Gandhiji a few months before his death. Anyone can see that this work has involved great and devoted labour for many long years. It brings together more facts and data about Gandhi than any book that I know. It is immaterial whether we agree with any interpretation or opinion of the author. We are given here a mass of evidence and we can form our own opinions. Therefore, I consider this book to be of great value as a record not only of the life of a man supreme in his generation, but also of a period of India's history which has intrinsic importance of its own. We live today in a world torn with hatred and violence and fear and passion, and the shadow of war hangs heavily over us all. Gandhi told us to cast away our fear and passion and to keep away from hatred and violence. His voice may not be heard by many in the tumult and shouting of today, but it will have to be heard and understood some time or other, if this world is to survive in any civilized form.
People will write the life of Gandhi and they will discuss and criticize him and his theories and activities. But to some of us he will remain something apart from theory ------ a radiant and beloved figure who ennobled and gave some significance to our petty lives, and whose passing away has left us with a feeling of emptiness and loneliness. Many pictures rise in my mind of this man, whose eyes were often full of laughter and yet were pools of infinite sadness. But the picture that is dominant and most significant is as I saw him marching, staff in hand, to Dandi on the Salt March in 1930. Here was the pilgrim on his quest of Truth, quiet, peaceful, determined and fearless, who would continue that quest and pilgrimage, regardless of consequences.
[signed]
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pahalgam, Kashmir
June 30, 1951
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