A BRIEF SUMMARY OF GANDHIJI’S ‘THE STORY OF MY

EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH’

INTRODUCTION

Mahatma Gandhi , The Father of India, always has been a source of

inspiration .It is true to say, without Gandhi there is no Independent India .
Bappuji, in reality, must be regarded as the greatest epitome of truth, ahimsa
and satyagraha. The present world respects Mahatma by celebrating his
birthday as the ‘ International Day of Non violence’. Though ‘ The Story of My
Experiments With Truth’ published in pre-independence era; it had its
motivational impact on the present era. Original work published in 1925 has
later been translated to English by Mahadev Desai.

SUMMARY OF PART 1

This part focused on few instances in life of Gandhiji since birth, about his marriage, education in
England, self-traits,about religion and a few other stories about childhood , experiments, tragedies etc.

M.K.Gandhi was born to Putlibhai and Karamchand Gandhi at Porbandhar on October 2 nd 1869. He was
the youngest among his siblings. He started school at the age of 7 and then got shifted to suburban school.
He was a shy boy in school who used to go there at the stroke of the hour.

Gandhiji here mentioned a story about the arrival of school inspector Mr.Giles in his school for
inspection. Giles took a word spelling test in which gandhiji couldnot spell the word ‘kettle’ inspite of the
school teacher prompting him to copy from others. He never learnt the art of copying or cheating instead
he was greatly interested in plays of Harishchandra and Shravana kumara.

Gandhiji got married at the age of 13 to Kasturba. For him, marriage was nothing more than the prospect
of celebration. Kasturba was illiterate unlike her husband but was an independent girl. He continued
studies after marriage. He worked very hard to learn newer languages but was not interested in sports. In
latter part of life Gandhiji himself stated the significance of physical education and language learning in
school curriculum.

M.K.Gandhi has also penned down some tragedies that he come across in friendship, communication and
loss of dear ones . He has further stated about the death of his father and his condition after that.

Gandhi got versed with different religions and had faith in the Ram Raksha. After passing matriculate
exams, Gandhiji went to England for further learning. But he was nervous about adjusting to the British
ways of living as he was not a meat eater or alcoholic. The noise of untruth troubled him. He was helpless
at times as he was torn with doubts and anxieties.

PART 2
 This part mentions about the returning back of Gandhi to India . There he met Dr. Mehta who
introduced him to Shri. Revashankar Jagjivan. The news of the death of mother shattered Gandhi much.
Jagjivan ,later, introduced him to poet Raychand. Gandhiji here talks about the 3 moderns that have left a
deep impression in his life. The 3 models include Raychand by his living contact , Leo Tolstoy by his
book , ‘The Kingdom of God Is Within You’; and Ruskin by his ‘ Unto The Last’.

Because of his foreign voyage, Gandhi’s caste got splitted into 2 camps : one readmitted Gandhi and
the other group kept him out. With great effort his elder brother solved the issue. Later , Gandhiji decided
to go to Bombay to study law. But , the incompetency made him difficult to survive and Gandhiji
returned back to Rajkot .

Gandhiji, with elder brother’s compulsion, tried to solve the issue between elder brother and political
agent. But the attempt turned out futile. Later, the elder brother introduced him to Sheth Abdul Karim and
thereby led Gandhi to serve the position of barrister at South Africa.

On the journey, gandhiji was disgusted at his own weakness of not saying ‘no’ to Captain. But
Gandhi remained firm on his ideals. Here the reader come across the term ‘ coolic barrister’ instead of
‘Indian barrister’. The disastrous train journey to Standerton set the example of the condition and attitude
of colonies to the colonizers and in between the colonies. Gandhiji got Islamic experience of brotherhood
from Abdulla Sheth ,and, later got introduced to religion of Christianity by Mr. Baker.

Gandhiji made an intimate study of the hard condition of the Indian settlers in South Africa who
were deprived of all their rights. Gandhiji later got settled in Natal and formed Natal Indian Congress.
The comparative study of religions made by Ganhiji on this time require special mentioning. After 3 years
, Gandhiji returned back to Bombay. He prepared ‘ green pamphlet’ , a pamphlet on the situation of
South Africa and its 10,000 copies were distributed at every part of India. THE PIONEER ,the news
daily, prepared an editorial about green pamphlet. Gandhiji paid great esteem to British tradition and
equal respect was given to their national anthem, an emblem of constitution. Gandhiji arranged meetings
on Poona and Madras inorder to discuss the issues. With Dada Abdulla’s help , Gandhiji returned back to
south Africa along with his family.

PART 3

The first voyage of family along with Gandhi to south Africa and the problems followed by it gain the
significance here. At the time of arrival , the family were taken to Mr.Rustomji’s place while Gandhi
remained on the shore. Mrs.Alexander , the wife of police superintendent , partially succeeded in her
effort to protect Gandhi from the enraged crowd. After the initial escape, Gandhiji cleared the
misunderstanding of mob successfully . the bills introduced in Natal Legislative Assembly increased his
public work for the Indian Community. Gandhiji , even started an improvised school for the children of
Satyagrahi parents in South Africa. Gandhiji made a thorough learning about brahmacharya and the
concept of moksha.

The white barbers were not ready to touch ready to touch the hair of Indian and black men. Gandhiji
developed the passion for self-help and simplicity. The Boer war got started . Gandhiji had personal
sympathy for Boers , but he participated in the defence of British Empire. The service of Indians in south
Africa revealed the new implication of truth to Gandhi. After the war, Gandhiji returned back to India by
providing all his expensive gifts received during the farewell to the organized trust. Gandhiji was of the
opinion that “ a public worker should accept no costly gifts”.

In India, Gandhiji passed his resolution unanimously in the congress .Gandhiji stayed with Gokhale
and established many relations with foremost Bengali families. During this time, Gandhiji met Sister
Nivedita and later went to Benares. Gokhale wanted him to start practice at Bombay but Gandhiji
preferred Rajkot. But Gandhiji was destined to return to south Africa to solve the major issues.

PART 4

South Africa was under the epidemic of colour prejudice. The governmental laws and the
consequences made Indians to find themselves’ between the devil and the deep sea’. Gandhiji narrated
about the struggle for the Indian settler’s rights in Transvaal and their dealings with Asiatic department.
Asiatic officers were not ready to protect Indians, Chinese and others. Here Gandhiji regards “ahimsa” as
the basis for the search of truth. Even at the time of serious illness , Gandhiji and his family were not
ready to give up vegetarianism.

In European Contacts, Gandhiji mentioned about Miss Dick , Miss Schlesin etc. Gokhale considered
Miss Schlesin as combination of” sacrifice, purity ,and the fearfulness”.The news journal ‘ INDIAN
OPINION’ in those days, like YOUNG INDIA and NAVAJIVAN , was a part of his life.

The Black Plague got started in Johannesburg Gold Mine. Gandhiji along with Sjt. Madanjit and Dr.
William Godfrey took care of the patients. After evacuation , the loction was put to flames to avoid
further spread of disease.

‘Unto the Last ‘ was later translated to gujarati by Gandhiji by providing the title ‘Sarvodaya’ . His
family was brought back to south Africa. The new friend Polak was like a blood brother to Gandhiji with
whom he shared his perspectives regarding various topics. Zulu rebellion was the other notable event.The
concept of brahmacharya was still there and it even affected the diet of Gandhiji.

Tolstoy Farm where Gandhi stayed along with Mr.Kallenbach and a few satyagrahi families. They
followed every religious practices. An atmosphere of self-restraint naturally sprang upon the farm.
Literary training and character building were given more importance.

Inorder to meet Gokhale , Gandhi went to England and have to remain there as Gokhale went to have
treatment in Paris. Gandhiji often thought about miniature satyagraha. It marked the beginning of great
satyagraha struggle of 8 years. Later in 1914, Gandhiji met Gokhale on England and took the decision to
return back to India.

PART 5

Gandhiji, after reaching back to India, constructed Sabarmati Ashram : the worldly abode
of simplicity and sacrifice. It also focused on Gandhiji’s own experience to stand on face to face
with god, ahimsa and truth. The labour strike at Ahmedabad by sticking on to the satyagraha
principles held by providing newer dimensions. Kheda Campaign launched but the deadly war
was still on Europe. Satyagraha now turned out to be the act of self purification. With the
continuous satyagraha, the health condition of Bappuji got worsened but somehow survived.
Whole India got united on march 30th 1919 at the hartal organized against Rowlatt act and thus
making it a success.

Through the journals ‘NAVAJIVAN’ and ‘YOUNG INDIA’ Gandhiji put his effort on the
work of educating the reading public in satyagraha. The congress proceedings at Amritsar
marked the real entrance of Gandhiji to Congress politics. This time period witnessed the birth of
‘ khadhi’, the true Indian symbol.

In the ‘Farewell’ Gandhiji conveyed the message that “there is no god other than truth”.
By bidding farewell Gandhiji state,

“ …I ask him to join with me in prayer to the god of truth that He may grant the
boon of Ahimsa in mind, word and deed.”

REFERENCES/ WORKS CITED

1. Gandhi, Mohandas. Autobiography: The story of My Experiments With Truth, New York. Dover
publications, 1983.
2. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.k.Gandhi/