E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesWhy was the short fast almost fatal and the other, three times as long, easy toendure? During the former, he negotiated incessantly and was consumed by adesire to remove the taint of untouchability; his body burned simultaneously. Inthe twenty-one-day fast, spirit and mind were relaxed. His little body was thecreature of a powerful will.As a gesture of friendship to the Government for his release, Gandhi suspendedfor six weeks the civil disobedience campaign which had commenced in January1933. On July 15 he asked Willingdon for an interview. The Viceroy declined.On August 1, Gandhi proposed to march from Yeravda, where he had beenresiding, to the village of Ras. That night, he was arrested with thirty-fourashramites, but released three days later and ordered to remain in the city ofPoona. Half an hour later, he disobeyed the order, and was arrested again andsentenced to a year's imprisonment. He commenced to fast on August 16, wasremoved to hospital in a precarious condition on August 20, and unconditionallyreleased on the 23rd. He nevertheless regarded himself as serving the year'ssentence and announced he would not resume civil disobedience beforeAugust 3, 1934.Until 1939 except for a month's silence to catch up with his work and severallong periods of physical breakdown Gandhi was completely at the disposal ofthe organizations he had founded for mass welfare and education. He gaveSabarmati Ashram to a Harijan group and established headquarters in Wardha,a small town in the Central Provinces. From there, on November 7, 1933, hecommenced a ten-month tour for Harijan welfare; he visited every province inIndia without once going home to relax or rest.On January 15, 1934, a large section of Bihar province suffered a severeearthquake. Gandhi interrupted his tour and visited the stricken area in March;he walked barefoot from village to village, comforting, teaching and preaching.The earthquake, he told the public, 'is a chastisement for your sins', chiefly 'thesin of untouchability such superstition angered Tagore and other enlightenedIndians, the poet denounced the Mahatma. '... physical catastrophes', Tagoredeclared in a statement to the press which he first sent to Gandhi, "has theirwww.mkgandhi.org Page 365