Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India - Essay Example

‎ Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India is a biographical account of the legendary Gandhi and his times spent in both Africa and India. It was published in 2011 and faced a lot of opposition, criticism and controversy. In his book, the author, Joseph Lelyveld, portrays a different and quite unusual image of Gandhi in an attempt to change the typical thoughts and impressions that were so popular in the world so far. Lelyveld writes a story that presents Gandhi’s struggle and conflict with his nation, India, rather than for it, and how even after all the love and patriotism he had for his country, the Indians still dismayed him over and over again. It talks about Gandhi’s unaccredited loyalty and his fantasy of reforming a nation (India) that rejected his vision and ideologies at every stage. Even after all his efforts, the majority of India rejected his idea of religious unity and self rule (para. xi). The importance of Lelyveld’s book is accentuated by the idea that even sixty years after Gandhi’s death, his book received a response similar to the one that would have been received during his lifetime. At many places in his book, Lelyveld has referred to Gandhi as an individual incompetent for politics and has refrained from giving him any credit for the independence India achieved back in 1947. Moreover, Gandhi has also been referred to as weirdo in terms of his sexual behavior by mentioning of his close, almost too close relationship with a male German architect (62). While the Indians still call Gandhi ‘Mahatma’ or the great soul, Lelyveld has clearly painted his picture as that of a fanatical and cruel practitioner. Furthermore, throughout the biography, Lelyveld has been seen to be suspicious and distrustful of Gandi’s actions and his intentions behind them; in other words, he regards Gandhi as a hypocrite. He makes desperate efforts to convince his readers that Gandhi was simply an aspiring materialist and his soul was not as great as it has been thought of by everyone, especially the Indians (8). Reading such ideas and theories certainly transforms the understanding of Gandhi one has from the other historical and literary sources. Lelyveld has dedicated about one – third of his book to Gandhi’s time spent in South Africa because he believed that it was South Africa and not India that gave him the vision and the leadership qualities for which he is so highly praised today. Gandhi came to India with the belief that as members of the commonwealth, the Indians had a right in the political activities of Africa as well (5). He spent nearly twenty years in Africa, fighting for the rights of blacks with different strategies at different times. Lelyveld believes that South Africa gave Gandhi the challenges that helped him understand the meaning of his ‘brown skin’ and his purpose in life (4). Side by side, it gave him the experience and skills that helped him achieve independence for India later on. When Gandhi attended the African magistrate court in Durban for the first time, he was ordered to remove the headwear or turban that he had been wearing (4). Lelyveld describes Gandhi as a man of guts because instead of removing it, he exited the courtroom immediately and made use of the newspaper as a medium of protest. This event is described as the first step that Gandhi took politically against the issue of racial discrimination. However, Lelyveld also exploits this moment to tell his readers that such actions of Gandhi’s in South Africa clearly portrayed the convoluted and complicated attitude he had carried from India regarding color, caste and race. It also led to the launch of Gandhi’s most favorite method of protest that is, the Satyagraha, or the silent and peaceful protest. Satyagraha had an important role to play in Gandhi’s achievements both in South Africa and later, in India (6). Thus, Lelyveld was so much interested in writing about Gandhi’s time in South Africa. Indeed, the lessons learnt in South Africa served like a path of guidance for Gandhi and his movement of Indian independence. Although it is a little disappointing that his campaigns in Africa lacked purpose and effectiveness and were certainly not long – lasting, they were still of great value to Gandhi (53). In his early years of politics, Gandhi suffered terribly at the hands of his supporters because he compromised too quickly and easily with the government and brought unpleasant results for the locals. However, like every sensible and mature leader ever born in history, Gandhi also learnt from his experiences and learnt the skills of handling masses efficiently. This helped him in the Indian movement where he had no trouble dealing with not only the middle classed Muslim and Hindu natives but also the poor ones as well (139). As Lelyveld writes, African experiences had helped Gandhi find his life’s vocation. South African experiences also enlightened Gandhi with the concept of Satyagraha as mentioned before. This was a form of activism based on a silent protest on a political level. With its help, Gandhi organized a strategic movement with the aim to disobey the ruling British forces in India in an attempt to get more of the Indian rights recognized (140). Unfortunately, Gandhi’s unfortunate encounters with the uncivilized African people made him hesitant in involving all of the Indians in his political movements and he only preferred the educated class. This was rather an unfavorable step by Gandhi which he did not realized for quite some years. The lessons of Africa changed Gandhi on a domestic and personal level as well. He believed that he could only bring change after understanding the ethical and spiritual side of the natural world and thus, undertook the celibacy vow (70). He abandoned his wife and children and instead, toured the whole of India in an attempt to gain spiritual awareness or enlightenment. It was on such journeys that he came across the hardships faced by a common Indian peasant such as high taxation, forceful confiscation of lands, droughts, etc. this made him give up his early plans of working only with the ‘educated class’ and Gandhi changed himself to a large extent in an effort to be like the Indian peasant. The ashram he founded was also against the typical Indian traditions and was based upon humanism and spiritualism rather than religious ideas and concepts. Untouchability had been a part of the Indian communal system for a very long time. The untouchables were the Indians who had no social status, position or rights in the community and were treated quite harshly. Any sort of communication or socializing with the untouchables was strictly forbidden. Lelyveld has made an effort to discuss this issue in his book Gandhi’s opinion regarding the matter and the way he dealt with it. Gandhi had great compassion for the untouchables and was quite willing and eager to share their sufferings. He believed that practicing untouchability was not less than a moral crime and that, in order for the Indian society to progress; such social injustice must be removed. Thus, Eradication of the idea of untouchability was one of the four pillars upon which his campaign was based (25-30). In an attempt to uplift the position of untouchables in the society, Gandhi advocated different kinds of positive means. He addressed groups both small and large in number and proposed ideas relating to the welfare and education of the untouchables such as opening schools for their children, digging up of wells, constructing residential areas etc. Moreover, Gandhi had the audacity to demand separate electorates for the untouchables and to ensure that his demands were fulfilled; he made excessive use of Satyagraha (150). He even led numerous religious processions in which the untouchables participated right alongside the upper class individuals. He was of the opinion that if he gained the untouchables access to the temples, social inequalities would be reduced. His visit to an ancient temple in Travancore with the aim of forcing the authorities administering the temple to grant entry to the untouchables as well was seen as a quite significant attempt at eradicating untouchability (180). However, his opposition, which comprised of a number of very renowned radical Hindu leaders, was much stronger than anticipated and Gandhi was made to turn back in defeat very easily. He also failed to gain the support of the educated untouchables like Dr. Ambedkar, who could have helped him a lot in his campaign (376). As to conclude, it can be said that although the way Lelyveld has expressed his criticism against Gandhi might be found disagreeable, this book is nevertheless, a very significant contribution to the history of India; for it encourages a shift in the world’s opinion regarding Gandhi. The book and its contents seem very realistic in contrast to the typical belief of Gandhi being totally and completely perfect. The way Lelyveld points out the defects of Gandhi’s personality reasons out the idea that perfection is something no man can actually achieve. Works Cited Lelyveld, Joseph. Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India. New York: Vintage Books, 2011. 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