My Experiments with Truth

An Autobiography

Mahatma Gandhi

• Publisher: Samaira Book Publishers
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9788193540121
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Story of My Experiments with Truth, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, is a very popular and influential book. It covers the period from his birth (1869) to the year 1921, describing his childhood, his school days, his early marriage, his journeys abroad, his legal studies and practise.
The book is more about the experiments of Gandhi with truth and his Satyagraha movement, which literally means demanding the truth and nothing else. This is the very idea that helped him to fight against racism, violence and colonialism. All of this eventually helped him to achieve his dream of an independent India.
Gandhi mentions his numerous experiments, starting from his elocution training to putting an end to his fear and shyness towards public speaking. His instances of attending singing classes and shaking a leg on the dance floor are well-described. He was a staunch vegetarian, fasted regularly and walked 10 miles daily. He studied comparative religion greatly and was a devote Hindu, but showed great respect for all religions. Gandhi didn't shy away from accepting his own mistakes and displayed commendable patience and fortitude in his personal life.

About the Author:
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was the prominent figure in the freedom struggle in India from the British rule. He is also known as the 'The Father of the Nation', in India.
The author has written a number of books and some of them include Character & Nation Building, India of My Dreams, and All Men are Brothers.
The author was born on the 2nd of October, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat. In the year 1942, he played a key role in launching the Quit India movement, which was intended at forcing the British to leave the nation. As a result of launching this movement, he was thrown in prison and remained there for several years, due to other political offenses allegedly committed by him. At all times, he practised satyagraha, which is the teaching of non-violence. As the British rule ended, he was saddened by India's partition, and tried his best to bring peace among the Sikhs and Muslims. On the 30th of January, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu nationalist, for allegedly being highly concerned about the nation's Muslim population.

Table of contents

• Translator’s Preface
• Introduction
• PART I
• Birth and Parentage
• Childhood
• Child Marriage
• Playing the Husband
• At the High School
• A Tragedy
• A Tragedy (Continued)
• Stealing and Atonement
• My Father’s Death and My Double Shame
• Glimpses of Religion
• Preparation for England
• Outcaste
• In London at Last
• My Choice
• Playing the English Gentleman
• Changes
• Experiments in Dietetics
• Shyness My Shield
• The Canker of Untruth
• Acquaintance with Religions
• (Nirbal ke Bala Rama)
• Narayan Hemchandra
• The Great Exhibition
• ‘Called’—But Then?
• My Helplessness
• PART II
• Raychandbhai
• How I Began Life
• The First Case
• The First Shock
• Preparing for South Africa
• Arrival in Natal
• Some Experiences
• On the Way to Pretoria
• More Hardships
• First Day in Pretoria
• Christian Contacts
• Seeking Touch with Indians
• What it is to be a ‘Coolie’
• Preparation for the Case
• Religious Ferment
• Man Proposes, God Disposes
• Settled in Natal
• Colour Bar
• Natal Indian Congress
• Balasundaram
• The £3 Tax
• Comparative Study of Religions
• As a Householder
• Homeward
• In India
• Two Passions
• The Bombay Meeting
• Poona and Madras
• ‘Return Soon’
• PART III
• Rumblings of the Storm
• The Storm
• The Test
• The Calm after the Storm
• Education of Children
• Spirit of Service
• Brahmacharya–I
• Brahmacharya–II
• Simple Life
• The Boer War
• Sanitary Reform and Famine Relief
• Return to India
• In India Again
• Clerk and Bearer
• In the Congress
• Lord Curzon’s Darbar
• A Month with Gokhale–I
• A Month with Gokhale–II
• A Month with Gokhale–III
• In Benares
• Settled in Bombay?
• Faith on its Trial
• To South Africa Again
• PART IV
• ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’?
• Autocrats from Asia
• Pocketed the Insult
• Quickened Spirit of Sacrifice
• Result of Introspection
• A Sacrifice to Vegetarianism
• Experiments in Earth and Water Treatment
• A Warning
• A Tussle with Power
• A Sacred Recollection and Penance
• Intimate European Contacts
• European Contacts (Continued)
• Indian Opinion
• Coolie Locations or Ghettoes?
• The Black Plague–I
• The Black Plague–II
• Location in Flames
• The Magic Spell of a Book
• The Phœnix Settlement
• The First Night
• Polak Takes the Plunge
• Whom God Protects
• A Peep into the Household
• The Zulu ‘Rebellion’
• Heart Searchings
• The Birth of Satyagraha
• More Experiments in Dietetics
• Kasturbai’s Courage
• Domestic Satyagraha
• Towards Self-restraint
• Fasting
• As Schoolmaster
• Literary Training
• Training of the Spirit
• Tares among the Wheat
• Fasting As Penance
• To Meet Gokhale
• My Part in the War
• A Spiritual Dilemma
• Miniature Satyagraha
• Gokhale’s Charity
• Treatment of Pleurisy
• Homeward
• Some Reminiscences of the Bar
• Sharp Practice?
• Clients Turned Co-workers
• How A Client Was Saved
• PART V
• The First Experience
• With Gokhale in Poona
• Was it a Threat?
• Shantiniketan
• Woes of Third-class Passengers
• Wooing
• Kumbha Mela
• Lakshman Jhula
• Founding of the Ashram
• On the Anvil
• Abolition of Indentured Emigration
• The Stain of Indigo
• The Gentle Bihari
• Face to Face with Ahimsa
• Case Withdrawn
• Methods of Work
• Companions
• Penetrating the Villages
• When a Governor is Good
• In Touch with Labour
• A Peep into the Ashram
• The Fast
• The Kheda Satyagraha
• ‘The Onion Thief’
• End of Kheda Satyagraha
• Passion for Unity
• Recruiting Campaign
• Near Death’s Door
• The Rowlatt Bills and My Dilemma
• That Wonderful Spectacle!
• That Memorable Week!—I
• That Memorable Week!—II
• ‘A Himalayan Miscalculation’
• Navajivan and Young India
• In the Punjab
• The Khilafat against Cow protection?
• The Amritsar Congress
• Congress Initiation
• The Birth of Khadi
• Found at Last!
• An Instructive Dialogue
• Its Rising Tide
• At Nagpur
• Farewell