ESSAYS
Introducing Gandhi
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`Gandhi needs to be interpreted periodically in the light of newly emerging concerns and the attending questions they raise.'
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THIS book is an ingenious way of introducing Gandhian ideology to a generation unfamiliar with it. Editor V. Geetha succeeds admirably well in this ambitious attempt. . She has compiled carefully chosen extracts from the Mahatma's speeches and writings, on peace and Non-violence, spanning over five decades (1893-1948) and has come up with this cornucopia. In addition to these major concerns, his ideas on the Boer war, on Tolstoy and Ruskin, on Swadeshi, on Bhagat Singh, on the Atom bomb, on untouchability, on Jesus Christ and also the two famous letters he wrote to Hitler are featured in this book. The excerpts are so well chosen that the editor is able to present the essence of Gandhi.
Lucid introductions
The pieces are grouped under eight chapters, each with an editorial introduction that lucidly contextualises the passages. Her annotations are illuminative and sincere. In fact, she says that in the process of working on this book she discovered Gandhi and adds, "I have framed Gandhi's life through a favoured literary and spiritual trope: as a burdened moral journey in historical time. Gandhi himself provides the sanction for such a reading. Amongst his favourite texts were John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Thomas A. Kempis' Imitation of Christ." Beginning from the birth of the idea of Satyagraha, the editor moves on to the early years, leading up to the Civil Disobedience movement, the demand for Pakistan and finally his martyrdom.
Geetha's editorial notes, given conveniently in italics, are peppered with interesting insights into Gandhi's life. And the passages she has selected are illustrative of these insights. At times she clarifies the circumstance in short, pithy, single sentence interventions. For instance she points out that his manner of public address was unique. When he first spoke against injustice in South Africa, as a 24-year-old lawyer, he was "confident without being belligerent and respectful without being obsequious". Her concluding remarks, in which she explains how the Congress left him behind as it raced towards freedom, is particularly moving. Here it is: "On the eve of his death, Gandhi demonstrated to the world how the `measure of law' could be tempered with the `measure of mercy', how truth and justice could be modulated with compassion on the one hand and reconciliation on the other."
Gandhi's prose, described by the author as "reminiscent of some of the loveliest passages in the New Testament and just as haunting", is an important dimension of this book. Gandhi seems to be able to pare an idea to its essentials and couch it in words with a Zen-like minimalism. Here is an example. Writing to Lord Irwin on the eve of the Salt march, he says, "And why do I regard the British rule as a curse? It has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration, which the country can never afford. It has reduced us politically to serfdom. It has sapped the foundations of our culture".
The editor devotes considerable attention to Gandhi's view on caste and untouchability and to its criticism of anti-caste radicals. She points this out as an important criticism on Gandhi since those who advanced it offered their own visions. This was expressed through the voice of Ambedkar from Western and E.V. Ramasamy Naicker from Southern India, both of whom held Gandhi as a dangerous ideologue. Geetha suggests that their arguments had an impact on Gandhi, particularly those of Ambedkar, and he slowly modified his stand on caste. By presenting a series of excerpts on this subject, the editor draws the attention of the reader to the shifts in his position. In his speech at Rajapalayam in 1927, for instance, Gandhi makes a distinction between varnashrama dharma and caste. However, he defended varnashrama dharma to the last.
Gandhi needs to be interpreted periodically in the light of newly emerging concerns and the attending questions they raise. He needs to be introduced in a language the young scholars will understand. Geetha does this effectively. Soul Force will generate a new interest in the ideas of Gandhi. Amidst the massive quantity of Gandhiana available, she succeeds in making an impact. The book is impressively produced. The cover design, the colours chosen and the font are evocative of the content of the book.
Soul Force: Gandhi's Writings on Peace, edited by V.Geetha, Tara Publishing, 2004, paperback, p.464, US$ 11.95.
S. THEODORE BASKARAN
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