Lawyer to Mahatma : Life, Work and Transformation of M.K. Gandhi
Contents: Preface. I. Ambition and destiny: 1. Inheritance. 2. Childhood. 3. Ambition. 4. Destiny. 5. On the road to Mahatmahood. 6. Search for a strategy to fight racial discrimination. 7. Attributes of the new weapon. 8. Hind Swaraj. 9. Power of Satyagraha. II. The great transformation: 10. Political apprenticeship in India. 11. Preparation for Swaraj. 12. The great transformation. 13. Declaration of war without violence. 14. Mahatma bound. 15. Fighting the divisive forces. 16. Spinner of destiny. 17. Manufacturing revolution with salt. 18. Gandhi’s Hinduism. 19. Withdrawal from the Congress. 20. Experiment with community living. 21. An indefatigable experimenter. 22. Aesthetics of an ascetic. 23. From World War to Gandhi-Jinnah talks. 24. Loneliness amidst great changes. 25. Opponents, friends and followers. 26. Ploughing a lonely furrow. 27. Father and sons. 28. Mahatma and the partition. 29. The great sacrifice. 30. Epilogue. Index.
"How does this biography of Mahatma Gandhi justify another addition to a host of biographies of Gandhi by a number of foreign and Indian writers? It is a fair question requiring a fair answer. To Gandhi truth is multi-faceted. So was his life. No wonder different biographers have portrayed different pictures of his life and experiences by looking at him from different angles. Consequently there are different Gandhis in different biographies of Gandhi. But this study makes a fresh study of Gandhi as a whole—in totality of his life and traces the development of an ambitious barrister to a Mahatma. Thus various aspects of Gandhi’s life and experiences which have not received adequate attention of several biographers of Gandhi have been examined in this volume, such as his attitude towards science, art, his dietetic experiments, his relationship with his sons, his contemporaries—friends, followers and opponents, analyzes his mind at the time of transfer of power and his plans and programmes to bridge the gaps resulting from the partition of the country.
"Secondly, every country demands reassessment of its past or fresh appraisal of its heroes in the light of new conditions and circumstances which determine the minds and values of the people. Thirdly, the availability of new sources of material shedding fresh light on the life and character of its heroes adds to the urgency of the need. The publication of the hundred volumes of Gandhi’s collected works throw fresh light on Gandhi’s multifarious activities and the publication of the works of his contemporaries who came in contact with him or worked with him or differed with him for the reconstruction of society enables a biographer to have a better view of Gandhi’s life. I hope this volume will be of help to the readers to have greater insight into Gandhi’s life and thought." (jacket)
[S.L. Malhotra was Professor and Head, Department of Gandhian Studies of the Punjab University, Chandigarh.]
