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UNIT 1: PROSE, 1. The Birth of Khadi, , MK Gandhi, , About the Author, , Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was the primary leader of India’s, independence movement and also the architect of a form of nonviolent, civil disobedience that would influence the world. His life and teachings, inspired activists, including Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela,, in their own struggles for justice and equality. A number of writings by, Gandhi are available. They are mostly essays on the themes of truth,, nonviolence and independence., , About the Essay, , The essay is about Gandhi’s intent on promoting khadi to the population, of India who are suffering from poverty. He explains that by taking to, the spinning wheel and making khadi fabric, we can equalise the social, standing of the poorer classes and begin a revolution. He makes the, case for khadi at a gathering where he is asked to give an address to a, , large crowd. Instead of making a religious discourse, he instead talks, about khadi., , The Chairman has asked me to give you a religious discourse., | do not know that I have ever given a religious discourse, or to, put it the other way. I do not know a single speech of mine or a, talk of mine, within my own recollection, which has not been a, religious discourse., , i think, if | am not deceived, that at the back of every word that, ! have uttered since I have known Public life, is, and of every act, that I have done, there has been a religious consciousness and, a downright religious motive. My acts may have appeared to, my audiences, or to the readers of the words that I have written,, political, economic and many other things. But I ask you to, accept my words that the motive behind every one of them has, , been essentially and predominantly religious. And so is it to be, this morning., , Scanned with CamScanner

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Literary Voyage The Birth of Khadi, , 5, to speak about, I was told, yas &, — wat Wel the message came to me, ae ies on my way to this meeting and I pro,, this morning 25 sae y pose, om aie ms moments with a missionary friend in —, I had very heart-to-heart talk with the students of that place,, ee told something like this: “Your speech, , morning I was is: !, ae a : things of the spirit. But how is, nice. You talked of the things 0” ! :, , vein be middle of the speech like King Charles’ head with, , ° di came up? Can you explain what —, ie ea have with spiritually?” Then he, went on, ‘You spoke about temperance; that delighted us and it, was spiritual. You spoke about untouchability, avery fine subject, for an audience spiritually inclined or for a spiritually inclined, man to speak about. But both these came in your speech after, your message of khadi. It seemed to jar on some of us’. I have, , iven you the substance of the conversation in my own words, but faithfully. I gave the answer that came to me at the time and, this morning | want to amplify that answer., , It is quite true that I place khaddar first and then only, untouchability and temperance. All these came at the end of —, the speech I gave to the students of Vellore, in which | made, a fervent appeal for purity of life and told them that without, purity of life all their learning would be as dust and probably a, hindrance to the true progress of the world. Then I took up these, _ three things and a few more by way of illustration. Through 35, years’ unbroken experience of public service in several parts, the world, I have not yet understood that there is anything lil, _ Spiritual or moral value apart from work and action. I have offte, , Tepeated to audiences like this that great verse which has alwa, , with me ever since | read it: ‘Not ;, Lord, Lord, shall enter the vot enven tat Deo, , i Kingdom of Heaven 1, e y Father who is in Heaven? | have not ena 1, true. I Sima, ma ou know what that verse is and it is, public life who, \y mind two brilliant instances of men in Eng, Sener and y > ee own times, were regarded as very ,, Seabour pm ae e lars of Spirituality, | am now talking to y, , 890 when many of you were not born. I, , to attend temperance meetings in those days. I was interested in, that reform. Those two pillars of spirituality were supposed to, be great temperance workers, but they were workers with their, speeches. They were always in demand when a was, required on temperance. I am sorry to have to inform you that, I was a witness to their fall. Both of them were found out. They, were no workers. The words God, Lord, Jehovah were on their, lips always, but they simply adorned their lips, they were not in, their hearts. They used the temperance platform for their own, base ends. One of them was a speculator and the other was a moral, leper. Perhaps you now understand what I want to say. In India, also, | am not able to say that the temperance platform is always, a spiritual platform or that the platform of untouchability must, necessarily be a spiritual platform. I have known, I know now as, 1 am talking to you, that both these platforms are being abused, today in this very land by several people. Others are using them, aright. The moral I want to submit to you is that every act may, be done, conceived and presented from a spiritual standpoint or, it may have none of it at all. I want to claim before you today, that the message of the spinning-wheel and khadi is supremely a, spiritual message; and it is supremely a spiritual message for this, land that it has got tremendous economic consequences as also, political consequences., , Only the other day, an American friend, Prof. Sam, Higginbottom, writing to me upon a subject in which both he, and | are deeply interested, said,—I give you the substance of, the letter—“I don’t believe in a religion bereft of economics., Religion to be worth anything must be capable of being reduced, when necessary to terms of economics.” | entirely endorse that, remark with a big mental reservation. Not that Mr. Higginbottom, also had not that reservation. But I must not claim to speak for, him. The mental reservation is this, that whereas religion to, be worth anything must be capable of being reduced to terms, of economics, economics, to be worth anything, must also be, capable of being reduced to terms of religion or spirituality., Therefore in this scheme of religion cum economics there is no, room for exploitation and for Americanization as the technical, term is known, As a distinguished son of India put it—he is no, , , , Scanned with CamScanner

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Literary Voyage, , o, , , , , , —whereas an Englishman, otien cies ‘or is it 36,—I speak subject to correction—an, Aanerean WTS 33 slaves. Personally, I think there is no room in, iiue economics which is convertible with religion for the owning,, of slaves whether they are human beings, cattle or machinery,, There is no room for slavery in economics. Then I suggest to, you that you cannot escape khadi and it has the largest limit,, Temperance takes in its orbit a certain number of people,, It blesses the man who converts the drunkard to teetotalism,, and it undoubtedly blesses the drunkard who is so converted by, the word of the reformer. Untouchability takes in its orbit at the, most seven crores of people of this unhappy land, and not every, one of us can do untouchability work. You may certainly give, the untouchable education: you may dig, wells for him and build, , n Sir M. Vishv, , temples. But these would not make him touchable unless the , so-called touchables will come down from their insolent heights, and brother the untouchable. So you will see it is a somewhat, complex problem for the man and the woman in the street to, handle. And as a man whose sole occupation life is, be it ever, so humble, to find out truth, I was searching for something that, everyone can do without exception—everybody in this room—, that something which would also remedy the most deep-seated, disease of India., , And the most deep-seated disease of India is undoubtedly not, drunkenness, undoubtedly not untouchability, great as those, diseases are and greater perhaps for those who are sufferi, from them; but when you examine the numerical content of this, disease, you will find with me, if you take any census returns, OF |, any authentic book on history, such for instance, as Sir William”, Hunter's history or take the evidence of Mr. Higginbottom, given before Commission only two years ago—he said that the, largest number of people In India were poverty-stricken, and Sir, William Hunter says that one-tenth of the population in India is, living barely on one meal a day consisting of a stale roti and a, pinch of dirty salt which perhaps you and I will not touch—, state of things persist in India today. If you were to go into, a outside the railway track, you will find as I found, , ges are being reduced to dung-heaps, the villagers, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , The Birth of Khadi 7, , not there, vultures are to be seen because they could not support, themselves, and were reduced to carcasses., , India is suffering from meningitis, and if you will perform, the necessary operation and make some return to those starving, millions today, I say there is nothing but khadi for you. And if, as, men spiritually inclined, you will think of those less fortunate than, , ou are and who have not even enough to support themselves, or clothe themselves, if you will have an indissoluble bond, between them and yourselves, I say once more there is nothing, for you but khadi. But it jars, and the reason why it jars is that, this is a new thing and is a visionary thing, a day-dream as it, appears to many. The missionary friend of Vellore whom I spoke, about, told me at the end of our conversation, “Yes, but can you, stem the march of modem progress? Can you put back the hands, of the clock, and induce people to take to your khadi and make, them work ona mere pittance?” All I would say is that this friend, did not know his India. From the Vellore meeting, I went to two, places, Arcot and Arni. I did not see much of the people there, I, assure you, but saw the villagers less well clad than I am. I saw, them not in their tens but in their tens of thousands. They were in, their rags and their wages were practically nil for four months in, the year. They gave me of their substance; I was hungrily looking, at the thing they gave me. They gave me not pice; they gave pies., , Come with me to Orissa in November, to Puri, a holy place, and, a sanatorium, where you will find soldiers and the Governor's, residence during summer months. Within ten miles’ radius of, Puri you will see skin and bone., , With this very hand I have collected soiled pies from them, tied tightly in their rags and their hands were more paralysed, than mine were at Kolhapur. Talk to them of modern progress., Insult them by taking the name of God before them in vain. They, will call you and me friends if we talk about God to them. They, know, if they know any God at all, a God of terror, vengeance,, a pitiless tyrant. They do not know what love is. What can you, do for them? You will find it difficult to change these delightful, sisters (pointing to the ladies present) from their silk saris to, coarse khadi woven by those paralytic and crude hands. Khadi, is rough! It is too heavy! Silk is soft to be touched and they can, , Scanned with CamScanner