Mahatma Gandhi At Work

His Own Story Continued

C. F. Andrews

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429648007
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Originally published in 1931, this book forms the third volume of the series, following on from Mahatma Gandhi: His Own Story, and relates in his own words Mahatma Gandhi's epic stuggle in the Transvaal to set right the wrongs which had been done to the Indian Community. There he first proved to the world the practical success of his own original method, called Satyagraha, or Truth Force, whereby the evils of the world may be righted without recourse to the false arbitrament of war.

MAHATMA GANDHI AT WORK

CHAPTER I

THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE

MY INTENTION IN this book is to tell the story of the Indian struggle in the Transvaal which we ourselves called Satyagraha, or Truth Force—from two Sanskrit words meaning insistence upon Truth. In order to understand what happened, it is necessary to know something about the conditions of life in South Africa and the reasons which led to the settlement of Europeans and Indians in that country. Only a few of the most striking features will be given.

The climate of South Africa is for the most part so healthy and temperate that Europeans can settle there in comfort, while it is nearly impossible for them to reside permanently in India. Even in the warmer parts of South Africa there are lands of great elevation, with important centres of population, where the weather is dry and cold. One of these is Johannesburg, the great mining centre of the Transvaal. Only fifty years ago its site was desolate and covered over with dry grass. But when gold-mines were discovered, houses began to spring up, as if by magic, and to-day there are large substantial buildings everywhere and a great population. The wealthy people of the place have planted many trees which they have obtained from the more fertile tracts of South Africa and from Europe, paying as much as a guinea for a single sapling. This has added to the pleasant character of the surroundings.

The capital of the Transvaal is Pretoria, at a distance of about thirty-six miles from Johannesburg. Pretoria is a comparatively quiet place, while Johannesburg is full of noise and bustle.

Natal is the province on the south-east coast with its fine seaport of Durban and its capital at Maritzburg. The land rises from the Indian Ocean to the high Drakensburg mountain range, which stretches over into the Transvaal.

Travelling farther inland towards the south, we come to the Orange Free State. Its capital is Bloemfontein, a very quiet and small town. There are no mines in this State like those in the Transvaal.

A few hours’ journey from Bloemfontein takes us to the boundary of the Cape Province, which covers the whole of the south. Kimberley is its diamond city. Its capital is Cape Town, situated on the beautiful Cape Peninsula. This is the largest seaport in South Africa.

Besides these four provinces, there are several territories under British “protection,” inhabited by races which had migrated there before the appearance of Europeans in those areas.

In Natal, oranges and apricots grow in such abundance that thousands of poor people get them in the country for the mere labour of picking them. The Cape Province is the land of grapes and peaches. Hardly any other country in the world grows such fine grapes. During the season they can be had so cheap that even the poorest child can get plenty of them. The Indian settlers planted mango trees in South Africa and consequently mangoes are available. Some varieties of these can certainly compete with the best mangoes of Bombay. Vegetables also are extensively grown in Natal. It may be said that almost all the different vegetables of India are now cultivated by Indians in the Natal Province.

South Africa cannot boast of such mighty rivers as the Ganges or the Indus. The few that are there are neither large nor deep. Furthermore, the water of these rivers cannot reach many places. No canals can be taken up to the highlands; and where large rivers are absent canal irrigation becomes impossible. Wherever there is a deficiency of surface water in South Africa artesian wells are sunk, and the water needed for irrigation of fields is pumped up by windmills and steam-engines. Agriculture receives much encouragement from the Government. As South Africa lies to the south of the Equator, and India to the north, the annual climatic conditions are reversed. For example, while we have summer in India, South Africa is passing through winter.

Among the Bantu races of South Africa, the most handsome are the Zulus. I have deliberately used the word “handsome.” A fair complexion and a pointed nose represent our Indian idea of beauty. But if we discard this superstition for the moment, we feel that the Creator did not spare Himself in fashioning the Zulu to perfection. Men and women among them are tall and broad-chested in proportion to their height. Their muscles are strong and well set. Their legs and arms are always well shaped. You will scarcely find a man or woman walking with a stoop. The lips are certainly large and thick, but they are in perfect symmetry with the entire physique, and I for one would not say that they are unsightly. Their eyes are round and bright. The nose is flat and large, such as would become a broad face, and the curled hair on the head sets off to advantage the Zulu’s skin, which is black and shining like ebony.

If we asked a Zulu to which of the various races he would award the palm for beauty, he would unhesitatingly decide in favour of his own people; and in this I for one would not see any want of judgment on his part. For the physique of the Zulu, as I have shown, is magnificent. It is a natural law that the skins of those races which have lived in the past near the Equator should be dark. And if we believe that there must be beauty in everything fashioned by God, we not only avoid all narrow and one-sided conceptions of beauty, but we in India would become free from any improper sense of shame and dislike which we might feel for our own complexions if they are anything but fair.

The Bantus live in round huts built of wattle and daub. These huts have a single round wall and are thatched with hay. A pillar inside supports the roof. A low entrance is the only opening for the passage of air. The Bantus plaster the wall and the floor with animal dung. It is said that they cannot make anything square in shape. They have trained their eyes to see and make round things only. We never find Nature drawing straight lines, and these innocent children of Nature derive all their knowledge from their own experience. The furniture of the hut is in keeping with the simplicity of the people. There is no room for tables, chairs, boxes, and these things are rarely found in a Bantu hut.

Before the advent of European civilization, the Bantus used to wear animal skins, which also served them for other purposes. Nowadays they use blankets. Before the British rule, men as well as women moved about almost in a state of nudity. Even now many do the same in the country. But let not anyone infer from this that these people cannot control their senses. Where a large society follows a particular custom, it is quite possible that the custom is quite harmless even if it seems highly improper to the members of another society. These primitive people have no time to be staring at one another.

The law requires Zulu women to cover themselves from the chest to the knees when they go into town. They are thus obliged to wrap a piece of cloth round their body. Consequently cotton pieces of that size command a large sale in South Africa, and thousands of blankets and sheets are imported from Europe every year. The men are similarly required to cover themselves from the waist to the knees. Many, therefore, have taken to the practice of wearing second-hand clothing from Europe. Others wear a sort of knickers with a fastening of tape. All these clothes are imported from Europe.

The staple food of the Zulus is maize, but they take meat also when available. Fortunately they know nothing about spices or condiments. If they find hot spices in their food they dislike them. Those among them who are looked upon as quite uncivilized will not so much as touch food with spices. It is no uncommon thing for a Zulu to take, at a time, one pound of boiled maize with a little salt. He is quite content to live upon porridge made from crushed mealies, boiled in water. Whenever he can get meat, he eats it, raw or cooked, boiled or roasted, with salt only. He will not mind taking the flesh of any animal.

The Bantu languages are named after the various tribes. The art of writing was recently introduced by Europeans. There is nothing like a special Bantu alphabet, but the Bible and other books have now been printed in Roman characters. The Zulu language is very sweet. Most of the words end with the sound of a broad “a”; therefore it sounds soft and pleasing to the ear. I have read in books that there is poetry in the words themselves. Judging from the few words which I have happened to pick up, I think this statement is true. To most of the places in Zululand they have given poetical names.

According to the missionaries, the Bantus had no religion when the white man came among them. But taking the word “religion” in a wide sense, they do believe in and worship a supreme Being beyond human comprehension. They also fear this Power. They are dimly conscious of the fact that the dissolution of the body does not mean utter annihilation. If we acknowledge morality as the basis of religion, the Bantus being moral may be held to be religious. They have an admirable grasp of the distinction between falsehood and truth. It is doubtful whether Europeans or Indians practise truthfulness to the same extent as they do in their primitive state. They have no temples or anything else of that kind. There are many superstitions among them as among other races.

This Zulu race, which is second to none in the world in physical strength, is so timid in mind to-day that even the sight of a European child brings fear. If someone aims a revolver, they will either flee or else will be too stupefied to have the power even of flight. There is certainly a reason for this. They had never seen a rifle before and had never fired a gun. This was magic to them. Nothing more had to be done beyond moving a finger, and yet a small tube all at once emits a sound, a flash is seen, and a bullet causes death in an instant. This was something the Bantu could not understand. So he stands in mortal terror of those who wield such a weapon. He and his forefathers before him have seen how such bullets have taken the lives of many helpless and innocent people. Many even to-day do not know how this happens.

“Civilization” is gradually making headway among them. Pious missionaries deliver the message of Christ, as they have understood it. They open schools for them, and teach them how to read and write. But many, who in their primitive state were free from vices, have now become corrupt. Hardly any Bantu who has come in contact with “civilization” has escaped the evil of drink. When his powerful physique is under the influence of liquor, he becomes quite insane and commits all manner of crimes. That “civilization” must lead to a multiplication of wants is as certain as that two and two make four. In order to increase the Zulu’s wants, or to teach him the value of labour, a poll-tax and a hut-tax have been imposed upon him. If these were not levied, this race, attached to the soil, would not enter mines, hundreds of feet deep, in order to extract gold or diamonds; and if their labour were not available for the mines, then gold and diamonds would remain in the depths of the earth. Likewise, the Europeans would find it difficult to get any servants. The result has been that thousands of Bantu miners now suffer from “miners’ phthisis” in order that gold may be obtained. This is a fatal disease. Those who fall into its clutches rarely recover.

One can easily imagine how difficult moral restraint becomes when thousands of men are living in mines away from their families. They consequently fall easy victims to venereal disease. Thoughtful Europeans of South Africa are alive to this very serious question. Some of them definitely hold that civilization has failed to exercise a wholesome influence upon them. As for the evil effects, he who runs may read.

About four hundred years ago the Dutch founded a settlement in South Africa which was then inhabited by such a simple and unsophisticated dark race as I have described. The Dutch kept slaves. Some of the Dutchmen from Java, with their Malay slaves, entered that part of the country which we now call the Cape Province. These Malays are Musalmans. They have Dutch blood in their veins and inherit some of the qualities of the Dutch. They are found scattered throughout South Africa, but Cape Town is their stronghold. Some of them to-day are in the service of Europeans, while others follow their own pursuits. Malay women are very industrious and intelligent. They are generally cleanly in their ways of living. In laundry work and sewing they are experts. The men carry on some petty trade. Many drive horses and carriages. Some have received higher English education. One of them is the well-known Doctor Abdurrahman of Cape Town, who was a member of the old Colonial Legislature; but under the new constitution the right of any coloured person becoming a member of the Union Parliament has been denied.

The Dutch have been as skilful cultivators as they have been brave soldiers. They saw that the country around them was admirably suited for agriculture. They also saw that the natives easily maintained themselves by working for only a short time during the year. Why should they not force these people to labour for them? The Dutch had guns and knew the methods of warfare. They also knew how to tame human beings like other animals, and they believed that their Christian religion did not object to this. They therefore commenced agriculture with the slave labour of the Hottentot and Bantu people without having a doubt as to the morality of their action.

As the Dutch were in search of good land for their own expansion, so were the English, who had also gradually arrived on the scene. The English and the Dutch were cousins. Their characters and ambitions were the same. Pots from the same pottery are often likely to clash against one another. So these two nations, while gradually advancing their respective claims, came into collision. There were disputes, and then battles between them.

When the first collision occurred many of the Dutch were unwilling to remain even under the nominal authority of the British, and therefore “trekked” into the unknown interior of South Africa. This was the origin of the settlement of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. At a later date the English suffered a defeat at Majuba Hill. Majuba left a soreness which came to a head in the Boer War. When General Cronje surrendered, Lord Roberts could at last cable to Queen Victoria that Majuba had been avenged.

These Dutch came to be known as Boers in South Africa. They have preserved their language by clinging to it as a child clings to its mother. They have a vivid perception of the close relation between their language and their national freedom. Therefore in spite of many attacks they have preserved their mother tongue intact. But the language has now assumed a new form suited to the genius of the Boers. As they could not keep up a very close relationship with Holland, they began to speak a dialect, derived from Dutch, and they have given this a permanent shape called Afrikaans. Their books are written in Afrikaans, their children are educated through it, and Boer members of the Union Parliament make it a point to deliver their speeches in it. Since the formation of the South African Union, Afrikaans and English have been officially treated on a footing of equality throughout the whole country, so much so that the Government Gazette and records of Parliament must be published in both languages.

The Boers are simple, frank and religious. They settle on extensive farms. We in India can hardly have any idea of the size of these farms; for in India a farm means generally an acre or two, and sometimes even less. In South Africa, a single farmer has hundreds or even thousands of acres of land. He is not anxious to put all this under cultivation at once; and if anyone argues with him he takes no notice. “Let it lie fallow,” he will say. “Lands which now lie fallow will be cultivated by our children.”

Every Boer is a good fighter. However the Boers might quarrel among themselves, their liberty is so dear to them that when it is in danger, all get ready and fight as one man. They do not need elaborate drilling, because fighting with rifles is a characteristic of the whole nation. Generals Botha, Smuts, De Wet and Hertzog have been great lawyers, great farmers and also great soldiers. General Botha had one farm of nine thousand acres. He was a first-rate farmer. When he went to Europe, in connection with negotiations for peace, it was said of him that there was hardly anyone in Europe who was as good a judge of sheep as he was.

General Botha succeeded the late President Kruger. His knowledge of English was excellent; nevertheless, when he met the King of England and his Ministers he always preferred to talk in his own mother tongue, Afrikaans. Who would dare to say that this was not the proper thing to do? Why should he run the risk of committing a mistake in order to display his knowledge of English before the King? Why should he allow his train of thought to be disturbed in the search for the right English word? The British ministers might quite unintentionally employ some unfamiliar English idiom, and owing to misunderstanding he might be led into giving the wrong reply and get confused; and thus his cause would suffer. Why should he risk committing such a serious blunder as that?

Boer women are as brave and simple as the men. If the Boers shed their blood in the Boer War, they were able to offer this sacrifice owing to the wonderful courage of their women-folk and the inspiration they received from them. The women were not afraid of widowhood and refused to waste a thought upon the future.

The Boers, both men and women, are religiously-minded Christians. Yet it cannot be said that they believe in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, Europe itself does not believe in it. But in Europe they do claim to respect it, although only a few observe in action Christ’s own religion of peace. But the Boers know the New Testament merely by name. They read the Old Testament with devotion and know by heart the descriptions of battles which it contains. They fully accept the Old Testament doctrine of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and they act accordingly.

Boer women have always understood that their religion required them to suffer in order to preserve their independence, and therefore they patiently and cheerfully endured all hardships. Lord Kitchener left no stone unturned in order to break their spirit. He confined them in separate concentration camps, where they had to undergo indescribable sufferings. They were short of food and suffered from piercing cold as well as scorching heat. Still the brave Boer women did not flinch. At last, King Edward wrote to Lord Kitchener, saying that he could not tolerate such things any longer; if this was the only means of reducing the Boers to submission, he would prefer any sort of peace rather than the continuance of war carried on in that fashion. He asked the General to bring the war to a speedy end.

When this cry of anguish reached the English people they were very deeply pained. They were still full of admiration for the bravery of the Boers. The fact that such a small nationality should sustain a conflict with their world-wide empire was rankling in their minds. So when the cry of agony raised by the women in the concentration camps was heard, not through themselves nor through the Boer men, who then were fighting valiantly on the battlefield, but through a few high-souled Englishmen and women, the English people began at last to relent. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman read the mind of the British nation, and raised his voice against the war. Mr. W. T. Ste...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• PREFACE
• Table of Contents
• A SHORT LIST OF INDIAN WORDS
• CHAPTER I. THE SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE
• CHAPTER II. THE EVILS OF INDENTURE
• CHAPTER III. MY FIRST EXPERIENCES
• CHAPTER IV. AFTER THE BOER WAR
• CHAPTER V. A SIMPLER LIFE
• CHAPTER VI. THE PROFESSION OF LAW
• CHAPTER VII. THE REGISTRATION ORDINANCE
• CHAPTER VIII. THE SATYAGRAHA OATH
• CHAPTER IX. IN ENGLAND
• CHAPTER X. THE FIRST ENCOUNTER
• CHAPTER XI. IMPRISONMENT
• CHAPTER XII. THE ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENT
• CHAPTER XIII. HELPERS IN THE STRUGGLE
• CHAPTER XIV. A BREACH OF FAITH
• CHAPTER XV. THE STRUGGLE RENEWED
• CHAPTER XVI. GENERAL BOTHA’S OFFER
• CHAPTER XVII. ‘HIND SWARAJ’
• CHAPTER XVIII. TOLSTOY FARM
• CHAPTER XIX. MR. GOKHALE’S VISIT
• CHAPTER XX. THE FAMOUS MARCH
• CHAPTER XXI. THE END OF THE STRUGGLE
• APPENDIX I. FIRST DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA
• APPENDIX II. THE ORIGIN OF SATYAGRAHA
• APPENDIX III. PRISON DAYS. MR. DOKE’s DIARY
• APPENDIX IV. THE ASSAULT ON MR. GANDHI
• APPENDIX V. THOUGHTS ON THE GITA
• APPENDIX VI. THE CLOSING EVENTS
• APPENDIX VII. MR. POLAK’S VISIT TO INDIA
• APPENDIX VIII. THE INDIAN WOMEN’S PART
• APPENDIX IX. MR. GANDHI’S FAREWELL
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX