65 Life of M K Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Oct 02, 1869(R1) to Kaba Gandhi and Putli Bai at Porbandar in Kathiawad region of today’s Gajurat state, got the reverence of Mahatma by none other than the bard of the nation Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore (R2). After completion of his matriculation in 1887 ( R3), he sailed for London on Sept 1888 (R4) to study Law. In June 1891 he was called to the Bar and in the next two days he sailed for India (R5). He first started his practice at Bombay (now Mumbai) and then shifted to Rajkot (R6). As he was settling his practice at Rajkot, he was offered to work in South Africa by the Memon Firm from Porbandar. The work involves a lawsuit concerning a claim of £40,000. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi accepted the offer and sailed for South Africa in April 1893. ( R7) M.K Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa. At South Africa, then a colony of Great Britain, some of his encounters with the local government and government officials there made him what he would become and stood for, upon his return to India. The first incident that made a lasting impression on him was the way he was thrown out of a railway compartment by the railway officials for him being a coloured person (R8). This incident happened as he was moving from Durban to Pritoria to take up his case in year 1893. This incident made him understand the position of Indians (termed as coloured) in the British South Africa. This incident with him, and several other incidents involving local government decision on Indian people and their business interest, their living condition etc., made the truth loving lawyer who had Create PDF with PDF4U. If you wish to remove this line, please click here to purchase the full version
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65
Life of M K Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Oct 02,
1869(R1) to Kaba Gandhi and Putli Bai at Porbandar in Kathiawad region
of today’s Gajurat state, got the reverence of Mahatma by none other than
the bard of the nation Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore (R2).
After completion of his matriculation in 1887 (R3), he sailed for London
on Sept 1888 (R4) to study Law. In June 1891 he was called to the Bar and
in the next two days he sailed for India (R5). He first started his practice at
Bombay (now Mumbai) and then shifted to Rajkot (R6).
As he was settling his practice at Rajkot, he was offered to work in
South Africa by the Memon Firm from Porbandar. The work involves a
lawsuit concerning a claim of £40,000. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
accepted the offer and sailed for South Africa in April 1893. (R7)
M.K Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa. At South Africa, then a
colony of Great Britain, some of his encounters with the local government
and government officials there made him what he would become and
stood for, upon his return to India.
The first incident that made a lasting impression on him was the way he
was thrown out of a railway compartment by the railway officials for him
being a coloured person (R8). This incident happened as he was moving
from Durban to Pritoria to take up his case in year 1893. This incident
made him understand the position of Indians (termed as coloured) in the
British South Africa. This incident with him, and several other incidents
involving local government decision on Indian people and their business
interest, their living condition etc., made the truth loving lawyer who had
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R16: My Experiment with Truth, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol44, P -303, Publication Division, Ministry of I & B, New Delhi
R17: Desai, M., & Zackariah, L. (2012). My Early Life: An Illustrated Story(Eds). P-154, Oxford University Press, New Delhi AND My experiment withTruth, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol 44, P -225, PublicationDivision, Ministry of I & B, New Delhi
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being dealt at Durban, the place of residence of the recipient. And above
all, the sender made it a point to write the letter in ‘Gujrati’ so that the
sense of intimacy coming out of one’s mother tongue remained intact.
As per the message centred perspective, interpersonal
communication is a complex social process, in which participants establish
a communicative relationship, exchange message in an effort to generate
shared meaning and to achieve social goals.
The letter justifies all the characteristics discussed above i.e. ‘communicative
relationship’ as both the interacants were communicating; ‘exchange
message in an effort to generate shared meaning’ as the both the interacants
discussed issues that has got common frame of reference; and ‘to achieve
social goals’ as in this particular case, the interacants were discussing an
issue and its possible outcome, that is related to the Indians in South Africa
and hence social aspect has also been taken care of.
Now we shall move to a letter Gandhi wrote to A. H. West in November
1906(R12). The letter was written from Hotel Cecil in London- when
Gandhi was a part of a deputation to London to discuss the Transvaal
Indian question with the British government officials- to A H West (fn1), at
Phoenix in Natal.
Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Mr. West’ and wrote that he was
writing a short letter and ‘feared’ that he would be writing short letters
during his short stay in England. He then discussed his itinerary and then
informed that he was writing the copy of the letter that was sent to another
co-worker. Then he hoped that Mrs. West was comfortable and going on
nicely with the hope that Mrs. Gandhi had received her well.Fn1: West was an English Origin South African who become a friend and ardent follower of Gandhi andwas looking after the publication of ‘Indian Opinion’ at the time the letter was written.(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1ca11fd0-1fc6-11e3-aa36-0144feab7de.html)
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Given the fact that Mr. West was a friend of Gandhi, it could not have been
anything but ‘Dear’ at the initial address. From the contents of the letter it
appears that, Gandhi used to communicate through ‘long letters’ to Mr.
West and the latter cherished those letters. This could be reason that,
Gandhi wrote, “I fear I shall have to do so during the short time I remain
here.” This implies that, both the communicants had a good personal
rapport and understanding. Besides, Gandhi by enquiring about the wellness
about Mrs. West with the hope that she was being treated well by Mr.
Gandhi, reinforced the personal touch with family orientation in the letter.
Besides, Gandhi also mentioned that he was sending a copy of the letter
that was sent to Mr. Polak(fn2) and at the end of the letter marked
‘enclosure.’ This implies that the copy of the letter was attached with the
letter. By doing this, he ensure that all the friends are in loop over what is
being transpired between them. This again, could be seen in the light of his
objective to have common frame of reference between the interacants so
that future communications could be easy. At the end, Gandhi wrote the
address with a customary honorary Esquire (Esq.) after the name of Mr.
West. The writing of Esq. After one’s name might be a custom and English
tradition at that time, but Gandhi wrote this deliberately to give the due
‘honour’ to a person he was friendly with. According to Brant R Burleson
(R13), interpersonal communication between parties separated by time andFn2: H S L Polok, a Jew from Britain, befriended with Gandhi at South Africa and latterengaged in the publication of Indian Opinion at Phoenix. He continued to be a close friendand associate of Gandhi. A friend of both Gandhi and West.1.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1ca11fd0-1fc6-11e3-aa36-0144feab7de.html#axzz2z2jgIXt2)
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space is possible because the participants are intimately familiar with the
nature of the communication in shared time and space and thus can make
necessary accommodations to adjust for temporal or-spatial separation.
If we analyse the above letter, it could be well said that both the interacants,
though were at different place, were familiar with the nature of the
communication and have common frame of reference and hence could
make necessary adjustment as per the need. Now we move to a letter
written by M K Gandhi to a friend from a prison in South Africa on
October 08, 1908 (R14). In the letter to J. J. Doke (fn3), Gandhi mentioned
the place of writing of the letter as ‘King Edward’s Hotel’ at Volksrust. As
per the available documents, it is evident that Gandhi had named Volksrust
prison as ‘King Edward’s Hotel.’ This is the prison where Gandhi was
interned on Oct 07 that year as the movement against the Transvaal Indian
act was picking up across the country.
Starting the letter with Dear Mr. Doke, Gandhi acknowledged of
receiving a letter from him when he was at Phoenix and then went on to
discuss the issues he wanted to convey. He then asked his recipient to write
if there was any question on the decisions taken by him (Gandhi). Before
closing, he also excused himself for not writing to the recipient’s daughter
and then wrapped up the letter by wiring ‘yours sincerely’ with his name in
the last line. Gandhi had given Volksrust prison as ‘King Edward’s Hotel
and the mention of ‘King Edward’s Hotel’ as place of writing the letter,
implies that the recipient too was aware of this fact and hence both the
communicants might had a common area of reference. Besides, by
acknowledging that the letter he was writing in reply to the letter he had-Fn3: Joseph J. Doke was a Baptist and preacher of South Africa. He wrote the first biography on Gandhititled ‘An Indian Patriot in South Africa’. 1.http://dacb.org/stories/southafrica/doke_jj.html2.http://www.gandhitopia.org/profiles/blogs/doke-and-mahatma-gandhi
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arrangements for Polak in India. He then went on to discuss on how his
(Polak’s) family are putting up in London and assured him that the
arrangement was good. He asked Polak to meet some people in India
during his visit. In the next paragraph, he then shifted to describe the affairs
at London i.e. to be precise, the banquet for the Ottoman Parliament
delegates which he attended. At the end, Gandhi wrote about the non
publication of some materials sent to Polak and informed him that he was
sending him a copy of the letter he (Gandhi) had written to Prof. Gokhale.
Upon analysing the numerous letters written by Gandhi to his friends and
co-workers, it came to light that it was Polak whom Gandhi used to address
with ‘My Dear’ and his initial name ‘Henry’ i.e. ‘My Dear Henry,’ where as
to others he used to write ‘Dear (name).’ This gave enough indication as to
how Gandhi valued and treated Polak. Then analysing the quite lengthy
letter, it appeared that both the interacants knew most of the characters
engaged in the Transvaal Indian issue. Besides, the length at which the
sender describes the events at London gives ample evidence of their
common keenness on the issue. By enquiring itinerary of the recipient and
informing that he (Gandhi) was cabling to one Daphtari to make necessary
arrangement in India, Gandhi showed his concern and affection towards the
latter. On the other hand, he by writing the wellness of Millie (fn4) and her
children tried to assured the recipient that he (Gandhi) was in constant
touch with them at London. This proves that both the interacants knew
each other’s family quite well. At one point Gandhi asked Polak to meet the
son of Mr. Nazar (fn5) during his visit to India.Fn4: Millie Graham Polak, wife of Henry Soloman Leon Polak1.https://sites.google.com/site/whoisthisjesus/gandhiandchristianity2.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1ca11fd0-1fc6-11e3-aa36-00144feab7de.html#axzz2z2jgIXt2Fn5: Mansukhlal Hiralal Nazar. He was the first editor of Indian Opinion and was a goodfriend of Gandhi who died in 1906.( Gandhi, M., K. (1927), My Experiment with Truth, P-302,Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Publication Division, Min. of I & B, New Delhi.
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By asking Polak to meet Nazar’s son in India during his visit, Gandhi tried
to achieve several objectives (i) To reassure his concern and affection for
Nazar’s son (ii) and by sending Polak, who was actively engaged in the
publication of Indian Opinion, Gandhi wanted to to show him (Nazar’s son)
that Indian Opinion is still remembering him (Nazar).
On the basis of the length of the letter, the subject matters discussed,
peoples named and referred, and the natural flow at which the writing
proceeded, it could well be inferred that, both the interactants had a good
personal rapport and hence the letter is a well written document of
interpersonal communication. Now we move to a letter Gandhi wrote to
Millie Graham Polak in December 1909 (R16). From the context in the
letter it was clear that Gandhi wrote this letter in reply to the letter written
by Millie.
In the letter Gandhi addressed her as ‘My Dear Millie’ and then
informed her that he was writing the letter from Mr. Kallenbach’s (fn6) tent.
Gandhi also described her about the activities of his son (Manilal). Then he
pointed out that the recipient in her letter addressed him as ‘Brother’ and
questioned her whether she could give him the confidence of a sister?
Taking inference out of it by himelf, he went on to write that, if she has the
answer in affirmative, then he certainly ‘shall try to be brother to her.’
Gandhi then wrote about the fund he was transferring to her and then
discuss the work her husband (H S L Polak) was doing in India. As a
gesture of humbleness, he informed Millie that Henry was doing much
better work independently than with him (Gandhi). Having accepting her asFn6: Hermann Kallenbach was a German born Jewish South African architect who
was one of the foremost friends and associates of M K Gandhi. He had donated to Gandhi athousand acre (4 km²) farm belonging to him near Johannesburg. The farm was used to runGandhi's famous "Tolstoy Farm" that housed the families of satyagrahis.1.http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/hermann-kallenbach2.http://www.mkgandhi.org/associates/kallenbach.htm
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skills of the recipient as well as her personal traits, and his appreciation of
the work of her husband has added flavour to the letter which was bound
to impress upon the recipient who had a shared understanding as that of
the sender. And hence, the letter fulfils the criteria of interpersonal
communication from the message centred perspective i.e. communicating
relationships, shared meaning of exchanged messages and also achieved
social goals. Here is another letter where Gandhi addressed his recipient
with the prefix ‘My Dear’. This letter was written to Hermann Kallenbach
in 1913(R17) where Gandhi address the recipient as ‘My Dear Lower
House’ and signed off his letter by writing ‘With Love’ followed by ‘Upper
House’(fn8).
Sent from Phoenix, in this letter Gandhi discussed about the daily chorus
in the firm with the explanation that he was writing all those things only to
tell the recipient as to how close he was to the sender and how he (sender)
remembers him in all that work he does. Having had written this, Gandhi
then became philosophical and wrote as to how people looked at things
from different perspective. In response to a quarry from Kallenbach,
Gandhi in this letter informed him that he did not want to do the work
(Satyagraha in South Africa) continuously but was planning for his
withdrawal. Then Gandhi expressed his fear that the recipient was
collecting things for the household, which were earlier removed by him
(sender) and wrote “I shall feel deeply hurt.’ Gandhi signed off his letter
by tendering his affection with ‘My Love’ and then signed as ‘Upper
House’ in place of his name.
Fn8: In Gandhi's words, he and Kallenbach became "soulmates” and Gandhi termedhimself as the ‘upper house’ and Kallenbach as the ‘lower house,’ the Lower Housebeing a metaphore for preparing the budget, and the Upper House vetoing for it.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kallenbach
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communicated the message to its intended person and hence completed
the interpersonal communication.
Now we move to the letters written by M K Gandhi to his family
members.
This was a letter written to Chhaganlal Gandhi (fn9) in September 25,
1905 from Johannesburg (R20) in response to his letter. The letter was
written in Gujrati, the mother tongue of both the sender and the receiver.
As the recipient was like a son to the sender, he addressed Chhaganlal as
‘my dear Chhaganlal’ and went straight to discuss the issues Chhaganlal
had raised in his letter. The contents of the letter, it seems, looks like an
advisory where the sender had guided the recipient as to how to deal with
the people he was not comfortable with; how to handle the affairs of the
establishment he was in-charge of; and on how to handle the financial
matters of the establishment. Simultaneously, to instil a sense of
confidence on the recipient, the sender affirmed his faith on him and
wrote “The press is not going to close down so long as you two are
there.” Writing on monetary matters, the sender shared his information
with the receiver and also gave certain instructions as to how money
should be spent as far as the functioning of the press is concerned. On the
other hand, in an instance where a relative was involved in the fund
related matter, M K Gandhi- sensing that Chhaganlal might not be
comfortable in seeking the details of that fund - sought permission from
him, before writing directly to him (another relative of M K Gandhi).
Given the fact that the sender had already reposed faith on the capacity of
Fn9: Chhaganlal Gandhi, son of M K Gandhi’s cousin Khusalchand Gandhi. He was in-charge of the Gujrati Section of Indian Opinion and printing press at Phoenix.Source: 1.http://www.gandhiserve.org/pg.html/
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Source: http://www.gandhiserve.org/pg.html/sacrificing one’s body if need arises. Having written that, Mohandas felt
that what Khushalchand had advised was earthly and irreligious and made
it clear that he was against that way of living. Mohandas then signed out
by tendering his ‘respects.’ As Mohandas was writing a short letter, he
reasoned it out in the beginning by writing that he was writing the letter in
the middle of the night and hence he had no time to write a long letter. In
fact, by writing that the letter was being written in the ‘middle of a night,’
Mohandas had also touched upon the issue what he wrote in the
subsequent paragraphs. In the letter, the sender gave due honour to his
elder cousin in his opening address as well as tendering his respect at the
end. However with an objective to address the concerns of a father as well
as an elder cousin, Mohandas took the help of religious teachings so that
the recipient could be convinced. This short letter hovering around the
issue of ‘self’ had every ingredients of an interpersonal communication. It
was written in reply to the recipient, which implied that both
communicants were conversing with each other. The sender did not
explicitly made reference about the religious scripture but only mentioned
about characters and aspects. This implies that both the communicants
had a common frame of reference and hence there was no need for an
explicit reference. As we have already know that the interacants were
related to each other, and the communication had several things in
common reference, it could be well termed as ‘interpersonal
communication.’
We shall now move to a letter written to Maganlal Gandhi (fn11) in-
Fn11: Maganlal Gandhi, nephew of M K Gandhi and brother of Chhaganlal Gandhi. He wasalso engaged in publication of Indian Opinion and printing press at Phoenix.
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Letters selected in phase-2 includes letters written by Gandhi between
1914 A.D. and 1930 A.D. i.e. when he returned from South Africa to
India till the Salt Satyagraha. Amongst the 100 letters selected, Gandhi
wrote 15 letters to family members, 60 letters to political co-workers and
freedom fighters, 05 letters to friends, 01 letter to the press, 05 letters to
Government officials and 14 letters to others, that include letters to
people who have corresponded with him, to ashram children etc.. First we
shall discuss about the letters M K Gandhi wrote to family members.
A letter written to Narandas Gandhi(fn1) in June 1905 (R1), Mohandas K
Gandhi gave certain instructions to the recipient and then asked him to
join the ashram, if he has faith in it. The letter was written in Gujarati. The
instructive way of writing was evident from the fact that Narandas was the
nephew of the sender and his two brothers were already working with him
(M K Gandhi) in South Africa. The familiarity of the communicants with
each other and their family link was also reflected from the references the
sender had made to the recipient. It appears from the letter that, the
intended recipient was coming to the sender’s place and hence the sender
had asked him to bring certain items along. The sender while referring
about the letter- where he had made certain remarks about Narandas- to
Kushalchand Gandhi, had also asked the recipient to think over it. And
then, as if he was instructing the recipient to join him in the Ashram,
wrote, “If you have unshaken faith in the Ashram, take the plunge.”
Fn1: Narandas was the son of M K Gandhi’s cousin Kushalchand Gandhi. He was thebrother of Chhaganlal and Maganlal Gandhi. Source:http://www.gandhiserve.org/pg.html
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While the sender had addressed the recipient as ‘chi’ (for chiranjibi) at the
beginning of the letter, he ended the letter by tendering his blessings with
his initial name ‘Mohandas’ at the end. This was the signing off pattern
that the sender had adopted in his letters to family members (especially
juniors) as was seen from his numerous letters in previous years (from
CWMG Vol 1-14).
Now we shall move to a letter written to Ramdas Gandhi (fn2) in
September 1924 (R2). The letter was written in Gujarati from New Delhi
where the sender had started 21 days fast for Hindu-Muslim unity. This is
a letter from a father to his son, where the son is studying at a distance
place, and the father was undertaking an extreme step of 21days fast for
Hindu-Muslim unity, which he termed as ‘atonement.’ According to
Oxford Dictionary, atonement means ‘a repair done for the sake of a
damaged relationship.’ On the other hand, as per the Christian theology,
atonement was the ‘reconciliation of god and mankind through the death
of Jesus.’
In the letter there was no explicit reference of Hindu-Muslim tension.
However, the sender in the first sentence wrote about his ‘atonement’ and
informed that the ‘fast’ shall last at least for 21 days. This in turn implied
that the fast is to achieve the atonement the sender spoke about. From the
references we know that the fast was for Hindu-Muslim Unity. Hence it
can safely be said that both the communicants had the same frame of
reference on the issue.
Fn2: Ramdas Gandhi, M K Gandhi’s third son. (1897 – April 14, 1969). He was bornin South Africa. He outlived his parents and all of his brothers. He and his wifeNirmala had three children; Sumitra Gandhi, Kanu Gandhi and Usha Gandhi. He wasactive in his father's Indian independence movement. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdas_Gandhi
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daughter were a part of ‘family.’ As per the Indian traditional, marriage is
celebrated with full fanfare and it is expected that the bridegroom and his
family & friends were served sumptuous meals by bride’s family during
the marriage ceremony. Besides, the bride was expected to bring ‘dowry.’
In this letter, M K Gandhi, the father of the ‘to be bride groom,’ wrote
about his disapproval of those social customs and asked the recipient not
to incur any expense on fanfare and food and not to gather a crowd. He
also advised his recipient not to give away any gold (dowry) to his
daughter. He in fact asked Nanabhai to confine the marriage ceremony
strictly to the religious rites and asked him for searching a ‘Panditji(fn4)’ to
complete the rites. At the backdrop his advocating for simplicity, the
sender knew that his son would be in foreign dress for which he (his son)
had taken permission, the sender compared his ‘to be daughter in-law’
with ‘Sita (fn5)’ when she wears Khaddar Sari and said he was going to gift
her with a takli (fn6), the Gita (fn7), and a copy of Bhajanawali.
Fn4: Pandit: a Hindu learned in Sanskrit and Hindu culture, philosophy and law. (TheChambers Dictionary)Fn5: Sita is the central female character of the Hindu epic Ramayana. She is theconsort of the Hindu god SriRama (avatar of Vishnu) and is an avatar of Lakshmi,goddess of wealth and wife of Vishnu. She is esteemed as a standard-setter for wifelyand womanly virtues for all Hindu women. Sita is known for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SitaFn6: Takli: the Takli is a very old spindle from India. It is small and has a brass whorl.It is excellent for spinning cotton and other fine, short fibers. The takli is very fast andefficient as well as inexpensive and portable. While this video details the use of a takli,these instructions apply to any kind of supported hand spindle.Source: Ghosh.,G.K.& Ghosh., S. (1995). Indian Textiles: Past and Present. APH Publishing Corporation. NewDelhi.Fn7: Gita: The Bhagavad Gita is technically part of Book 6 of the Mahabharata. It is adialog between the God Krishna and the hero Arjuna, taking place in a timelessmoment on the battlefield before the climactic struggle between good and evil. TheGita is a classic summary of the core beliefs of Hinduism.Sources: 1. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/gita/2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita
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fact that the letter was written in their mother tongue, it sure had a
multiplying effect in communicating the message to the intended
recipients. The sender, being the father, did not take any formality in
signing off the letter but abruptly put his signature ‘Bapu’(meaning father)
as he completed writing.
Here is a letter M K Gandhi wrote to Prabhudas Gandhi (fn9) in February
1930(R6). This letter was in Gujarati and was written after receiving a
letter from the recipient. In the letter, the sender has given numerous
advice to the recipient. It appears from the letter that the recipient was
unwell and was undergoing treatment and hence M K Gandhi advised him
to abide by the treatment schedule. Given the fact that Prabhudas was the
grandchild of the sender was directly under M K Gandhi’s care since his
birth in South Africa, the concerns reflected in the letter over the
recipient’s health and the suggestions thereupon could be understood.
This is also the reason that at the beginning he addressed him with ‘Chi’
and signed off the letter by tendering his blessings with his signature as
‘Bapu’ at the end. The same signing in and signing off patter was followed
in another letter to Jamnadas Gandhi (fn10) at Rajkot in Kathiawar on
April 20,1930 (R7) in the beginning and at the end. However in the body,
the approach was little different. In the Gujarati letter, the sender
informed the recipient that he was expecting his letter and asked him to
write letters in regular interval detailing all the works he was doing.
Fn9: Prabhudas Gandhi: Son of Chhaganlal Gandhi. Prabhudas Gandhi: Son ofChhaganlal Gandhi. Source: Hofmeyr., I. (2013). Gandhi’s Printing Press: Experimentsin slow Reading. Harvard College, USA.
Fn10: Jamnadas Gandhi: Son of Kushalchand Gandhi and nephew of M K Gandhi.He was the brother of Chhaganlal Gandhi. Source: Tidrick., K. (2006). Gandhi: APolitical and Spiritual Life. I.B.Tauris & Company Limited. New York.
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In between, he enquired- about his health and hoped that the recipient
was doing good work. From this it appears that Jamnadas was engaged in
the movement in Rajkot and given the fact that the sender was leading the
movement across the country, he was eager to hear from the recipient
about the movement on regular basis. Besides, the sender expressed his
desire that the recipient’s father should join the ‘movement’ and wrote ‘it
is pure ‘Dharma’ to join it. From this it appears that the recipient’s father
was hesitant to join the movement and hence the sender had cited his
understanding of ‘Dharma’ (virtue or righteousness arising from observance of social
or moral law-the chambers dictionary) to influence him to join. Besides,
expressing his desire through the recipient could also be seen as an effort
to convince his cousin through his son. Even though this was a letter to a
member of his family, it more or less revolved around the movement. But
the writer had taken care in maintaining the courtesy.
NOW we shall move to letters M K Gandhi wrote to freedom fighters
and his co-workers. Here is a letter written by Gandhi to Valji G. Desai
(fn11) in May 1918 (R8). The short letter was in Gujarati and was sent
from Motihari (in Bihar). In the letter, the sender had discussed about the
salary the recipient would accept for his service. The sender addressed the
recipient as ‘Bhaishri’ followed by his initial name i.e. ‘Valji’ and then
informed him about the discussion he had with ‘Panditji’ regarding the
salary to be paid to him (Valji). Mentioning an amount he had suggested,
Fn11: Val G. Desai: was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He was an Englishlecturer in Gujrat College Ahmadabad, Gujrat, India. He reigned from service and joinedMahatma Gandhi for constructive work. He was a one of the best translator. So hetranslated Satyagraha in South Africa. Source:http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/profiles/blogs/val-g-desai-and-mahatma-gandhi
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which he thought was not acceptable to ‘Panditji’, Gandhi asked the
recipient to mention the minimum amount he would accept as salary. He
signed off the letter with ‘Bandemataram(fn12) from’ with his initial name
‘Mohandas’ at the end.
From the history of Indian freedom struggle we know that ‘Vande
Mataram’ (meaning worshipping the mother or motherland) was the
slogan used by the freedom fighters to greet each other. The signing off
the letter using the slogan signifies the same spirit.
Given the fact that the recipient was being offered a job and that too,
perhaps related to the activities of freedom struggle, Gandhi deliberately
mentioned a figure with the qualification that it might not be feasible.
With this he, instead of suggesting any amount, put the onus on Valji to
speak the amount he would accept. By doing this, he in one hand,
communicated the message and on the other, took care of the ego of Valji
by putting the onus on him. The language in which the letter was written
and the use of words and fact & figures have made this short letter a good
communication medium having the full potential to deliver the message.
In another letter written to Bhagwanji Anoopchand Mehta in September
1918 (R9), Gandhi discussed about his illness and what he was thinking
about as he was recovering. The letter in Gujarati was written from
Sabarmati Ashram and the date was ‘Bhadrava Vad 7.’ In the beginning
Fn12: Bandemataram: - literally - "I praise thee, Mother" - is a poem from BankimChandra Chattopadhyay's 1882 novel Anandamath It was writtenin Bengali and Sanskrit. It is a hymn to the Mother Land. It played a vital role inthe Indian independence movement, first sung in a political context by RabindranathTagore at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.In 1950 the song's firsttwo verses were given the official status of the "national song" of the Republic ofIndia, distinct from the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana.Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vande_Mataram
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Gandhi addressed his recipient as dear Bhagwaniji and at the end signed
off the letter by writing the slogan ‘Vandemataram from’ with his initial
name Mohandas at the end. This is the same pattern as was discussed in
the letter to Velji.
The crux of the letter was that the sender was ill and recouping in the
Ashram. He however informed the recipient that Kathiawar was
constantly in his mind but he was unsure about his work he would be
doing at Kathiawar at the time of writing the letter. As it is already evident
that the letter was related to freedom struggle, it appears from it that
Bhagwaniji, the recipient had urged Gandhi to visit Kathiawar on work
related to freedom struggle to which Gandhi wrote the letter informing his
state of affairs of his health and mind.
The letter was in Gujarati and carried Hindu calendar date. This had the
inherent message of intimacy that was communicated to the recipient.
Besides by writing that he was constantly thinking about Kathiawar, the
sender again reassured that notion. Needless to say, Gandhi was a
Kathiawari (fn13).
Here is a letter M K Gandhi wrote to Shankarlal Banker (fn14) in
October 1919 (R10). This letter was in Gujarati and written from Lahore
in response to a letter from Shankarlal. At the beginning Gandhi
addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Shankarlal’ where as at the end he signed
off the letter by writing the slogan ‘Vandemataram’ followed by his initial-
Fn13: Gandhi., M, K. (1929). Source: My Experiment with Truth. The CollectedWorks of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol 44. P-92, Publication Division, Ministry of I &B,New Delhi.Fn14: Shankarlal Banker: One of the first and most loyal recruits of M K Gandhi.He played a major role in textile labour struggle in Ahmadabad along with AnasuyaSarabhai. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankarlal_Banker
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tried to give a moral boost to the recipient by writing that he would be
relieved from the anxiety once the latter controls the affairs.
In a letter to Manibehn Patel (fn15) from Deolali in May 15, 1926 (R11),
Gandhi address the recipient by her nickname ‘Mani’ with ‘chi’ as the
prefix. The language of the letter was Gujarati. In the short letter, the
sender used small sentences and each sentence carries single information.
by this way, he made the letters simple and straight. In the first sentence
he informed the recipient that he could persuade Ba(fn16), but in the
subsequent sentence he made it clear that she would not moving
immediately but in a later date. He then asked the recipient to make this
known to certain women. From the initial address to the recipient with her
nickname and the subsequent three sentences, it appears that the recipient
was junior as well as dear to the sender and Gandhi wrote this letter in
response to a letter by Manibehn requesting him to send Kasturaba to the
Ashram. In the fourth sentence Gandhi expressed his hope about her
getting satisfaction from her ward and in the next he advised her to be a
good mixer. From this appears that the recipient was in-charge of some
wards in the Ashram and the sender was advising her to mix with the
inmates. Confident that the recipient had the information about the
change of programme the sender just enquired about it. He then signed
Fn15: Maniben Patel : She was an Indian independence movement activist and aMember of the Indian parliament.She was the daughter of Indian leader and a freedomfighter, Sardar Patel. Manibehn adopted the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in 1918,and started working regularly at his ashram inAhmedabad.Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniben_Patel &http://alphaideas.in/2013/10/29/nehru-treated-sardar-patels-daughter/Fn16: Ba: Kasturaba Gandhi, M K Gandhi’s wife. He affectionately addressed her asBa, the last two letters of her name. Source: The Collected Works of MahatmaGandhi, Publication Division, Ministry of I &B, New Delhi.
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off the letter by extending his blessings with his signature as ‘Bapu’ at the
end.
From the contents in the letter it could be summarised that the recipient
was junior to the sender and was new to the Ashram but was familiar to
the sender and his family. This could be the reason that the sender
discusses several matters with her quite freely as well as tendered advised
on some issues. Given the fact that feelings could be communicated better
in one’s mother tongue, the sender wrote the letter in Gujarati, the mother
tongue of both.
Now we shall move to a letter written to Devchand Parakh (fn17) in
October 1926 (R12). The letter was in Gujarati and in this letter the sender
addressed the recipient as ‘Bhaishri’ as a prefix to his name and also added
‘Bhai’ i.e. Bhaishri Devchand Bhai.
While Bhaishri was a ‘honorary’ term used to convey the feelings of the
sender, the ‘Bhai’ at the suffix was a term used by the Gujarati community
to address all the male members. By putting these two terms, the sender
established touched upon sentimental chord and community feeling of the
recipient. It appears from the contents of the letter that, Gandhi wrote this
letter in response to a letter by Devchand Parakh. Gandhi enquired about
the matter Devchand had raised in his letter. In the subsequent sentence
he asked him to take control of an Ashram, where he (Devchand) was a
trustee. In fact, Gandhi asked him “You should take control of it
‘openly.’” This reflects the authority at which the sender asked the
Fn17: Devchand Parakh: Devchand Uttamchand Parekh of Jetpur, a friend and co-worker of M K Gandhi who gave Bapu the name, Mahatma in 1915. Source:http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=3&contentid=20090425200904250332151482d5cf072
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recipient to act.The sender then signed off the letter by writing the slogan
‘Vandemataram’ with his sign as ‘Bapu’ at the end. As it was evident from
the earlier letters that, Gandhi used to sign off letters with this slogan to
people engaged in ‘freedom struggle’, here the use of it implied that,
Devchand was also engaged in the movement. Taken the context of the
letter, the nuances used by the sender and the references made indicates
that the message was delivered and interpersonal communication was
established through the letter.
Now we shall move to a letter to Shivabhai Patel written in December 16,
1926 from Wardha [(fn18) (R13)]. The letter was written in response to a
letter by the latter and this was duly acknowledged by the sender. The
language of the letter was Gujarati. From the contents of the letter, it
appears that the recipient was thinking of atonement for an involuntary
ejaculation for the reason that he was practicing ‘Brahmacharya (fn19)’
and hence was seeking guidance from the sender. Gandhi in his address to
the recipient used ‘Bhai (meaning brother)’ twice. One as a prefix to his name
and the second was suffixed. While the prefix was used as a honorary
address, where the sender found the receiver in equal footing in terms of
age and seniority, the ‘Bhai’ in suffix was a terminology used in Gujarati
for addressing the male members in the society. The sender had taken care
Fn18: Wardha district is one of the 35 districts in Maharashtra state inwestern India. This district is a part of Nagpur Division. They included Wardha in theCentral Provenance. Wardha is a sister city for Sevagram, and both were used as majorcenters for the Indian Independence Movement, especially as headquarters for anannual meet of the Indian National Congress in 1934, and Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardha_district
Fn 19: Brahmacharya: It is the yogic practice of celibacy. Source: Willis., J. S.(Eds).(2002). The Joy of Yoga. Marlowe & Company, New York.
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of the social and cultural norms in addressing the recipient. He however
tendered his blessings at the end of the letter with his signing off signature
as ‘Bapu.’ This could be due to the fact that the recipient was seeking
guidance from the sender and hence the sender placed himself in an upper
position. In his letter, Gandhi observed that no penance was required as
the ejaculation was involuntary and occurred unconsciously. He however,
instructed the recipient as to what he should do following the incident. He
also advised him to limit his desire for food and snacks.
After signing off the letter, Gandhi added [PS (please see)] at the end
where he enquired about the recipient’s brother. In the next sentence he
wrote that he had not revised the letter after writing it. This implies that
the sender had forgotten to enquire about the recipient’s brother in the
main body of his letter but added it as an afterthought. On the other hand,
from the second sentence he took the excuse for the mistakes that might
have occurred in the letter. From the whole of the letter it appeared that
Gandhi dealt the letter in a manner as if it was between a sinner and an
astute person and accordingly the sender selected his words in the letter.
Here is a letter written to Lajpat Rai (Fn 20) on April 30, 1927 (R14). The
letter was in English and was written in response to a letter by Lajpat Rai.
In the letter, Gandhi addressed the recipient with ‘Dear’ as a prefix to his
popular nickname ‘Lala’ and a ‘ji’ is suffixed to it. While the ‘dear’ was an
Fn20: Lajpat Rai: Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the greatest leaders of India'sindependence movement. He sacrificed his life while protesting against the arrival ofSimon Commission to India.Source:http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/lala-lajpat-rai.htmlhttp://rrtd.nic.in/biolalalajpat.html &http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lala_Lajpat_Rai
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indication of the writer’s affection towards the latter, the ‘ji’ was a symbol
of honour. Hence it could be said that Gandhi through his address
expressed his affection and honour explicitly towards the sender.
In the body of the letter, Gandhi informed of receiving his (Rai’s) letter
and trust (fn21) papers and congratulated him for the decision. He then
mentioned about money and wrote ‘This amount, I am afraid, will not be
sufficient; we will require yet more funds.” This is perhaps in reference to
Rai’s wish to build a hospital in memory of his mother with the available
fund at hand with the trust and Gandhi was expressing his assessment
over it and advised him to wait.
It appears from the letter that, Rai had sent the trust papers to Gandhi to
inform him about the decision as well as to get some guidance. This could
be reason that Gandhi while congratulating him, advised him to wait till
more funds are collected.
He then signed off the letter by writing ‘yours’ with his name M
.K.Gandhi at the end. Here Gandhi did not mention about
‘Vandemataram’ or ‘Bapu.’ This, despite the fact that, Lajpat Rai was
actively engaged in freedom struggle. The change in style could be due to
the context the letter was written. Here the context was relating to the
formation of trust and related activities. Besides, Gandhi signed as ‘Bapu’
in all those letters that were sent to people junior to him. However, given
the fact that Rai was senior to him, he signed his full name at the end.
From this it may be said that the sender took full care in using proper -
Fn21: Lajpat Rai's mother, Gulab Devi, died of tuberculosis in Lahore. In 1927, LajpatRai established a trust in her memory to build and run a tuberculosis hospital forwomen, reportedly at the location where she had died. This became known as theGulab Devi Chest Hospital and opened on 17 July 1934. Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lala_Lajpat_Rai
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address at the beginning and at the end. Besides, the context decides the
writing pattern which also enhances the receptability the message. Now
we shall move to a letter to Annie Besant (fn22) written in April 1920
(R15) from Sabarmati Ashram. In this short letter Gandhi addressed her
as ‘Dear Dr. Besant’ and then thanked her for the note she had written.
He then went on to express his inability to join the movement Besant had
written about. But he took sufficient care in selecting words to mellow the
impact of his denial in participating the movement, when he wrote “I may
not join the movement...” instead of ‘I won’t join the movement...”
Gandhi then went on to reason as to why he might not be able to join the
movement and signed off the letter by writing ‘yours sincerely’ with his full
name at the end. This is perhaps in respect to Dr. Besant who had a
multifaceted personality and was instrumental in the formation of
Congress in India.
Now we shall move to a letter written to C. Rajgopalachari (fn23) in
January 1929 (R16). The letter was written from Sabarmati Ashram and
was written in response to a letter by the latter. This is one of the few
letters by M K Gandhi where he did not use any formal address for the
recipient at the beginning nor went by any formality while signing off the
letters. From the beginning it appears that the recipient, in his letter, had –
Fn22: Annie Besant: was a prominent British socialist, political reformer, women'srights activist,theosophist and Indian nationalist. Source:http://www.biographyonline.net/women/annie-besant.htmlFn23: C Rajagopalchari: was an Indian lawyer, independence activist, politician, writerand statesman. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India. He also servedas leader of the Indian National Congress, Premier of the Madras Presidency,Governor of West Bengal, Minister for Home Affairs of the Indian Union and ChiefMinister of Madras state. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Rajagopalacharihttp://www.karnatik.com/co1081.html
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-enquired about the affairs of the Congress and Gandhi in his letter had
responded to it. Gandhi in the last paragraph also discussed about his
health and the food he was taking. This implies that the recipient was
someone who was concerned about Gandhi’s health and hence the sender
had written about his health with detailed diet he was taking. In fact at last
he maintained that he was keeping well. At the end, the sender wrote
about the enclosure and wrapped up the letter with address of the
recipient at Gandhi Ashram, Tiruchengdu. Here, Gandhi put ‘sjt’ (for
Sriyukta in Devnagari for honourable) before the name of C.
Rajgopalachari. Given the fact that ‘shri’ or ‘Sriyukta’ was used as a prefix
to someone’s name in Indian language to express one’s respect or
affection, the use of ‘sjt’ before C. Rajgopalchari’s name by M K Gandhi
implies that the sender had deep affection towards the latter.
Hence it could well be said that communicants shared good personal
relationship and hence were concerned about each other. This is perhaps
the reason that, the sender did not explicitly discuss about the affairs of
the Congress but had touched upon the issues with the hope that the
message would be properly understood and acted upon.
Now we shall move to a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru (fn 24) in June 1929
(R17). In the letter Gandhi address the recipient as ‘My Dear’ as a prefix
to his initial name Jawaharlal.’ This is exactly the way he used to address
Graham Polak and his wife Millie Polak. The Polaks were very close to
Gandhi. At the end, Gandhi signed off the letter by writing ‘Bapu.’ This -
Fn 24: Jawaharlal Nehru was a leader of India’s nationalist movement and becameIndia’s first prime minister after its independence. Source:http://www.biography.com/people/jawaharlal-nehru-9421253
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is the pattern, Gandhi used to write to people junior to him or family
members and friends. The signing in and signing out addresses by the
sender has made it clear that the recipient was very close to him. In the
body part of the letter, Gandhi discussing about the affairs of the
movement they both were engaged in. However, the tone and tenor of his
writing was suggestive where he was asking the recipient to do something.
At the end he also named the family members of the recipient and
enquired about them. This also implies that the sender knew the family
members of the recipient and by enquiring about them in his letter, it
appears that he tried to touch upon the sentimental chord of the recipient.
From all these, it could well be said that the interpersonal communication
has successfully communicated the message.
Here is a letter M K Gandhi wrote to Satish Chandra Dasgupta (fn25) in
November 17, 1929 (R18) from Allahabad. From the address of the
sender it appears that the letter was written when the sender was camping
at Allahabad. In this letter also, Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘My
Dear’ with his initial name ‘Satish.’ This was followed by ‘Babu,’ a
customary honorary term used for Bengali gentleman in India. As it is
already evident from his numerous letters that Gandhi used the term ‘My
Dear’ to only those people very close to him, it is clear that the recipient
falls in that category. Besides, the use of honorary terms with his name
implies that the sender also has regards for the latter. Gandhi signed off -
Fn25: Satish Chandra Dasgupta – A Gandhian and very close associate of MahatmaGandhi. Founder of Khadi Prathistan (1925) at Sodepur and associate with AcharyaPrafulla Chandra Ray and Bengal Chemical. Mahatma Gandhi used to describe thisinstitution as his second home and visited here on number of times. Source:http://www.barrackpore.gov.in/HTM/sdobkp_profile.htm &http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000513/windows/fact.htm
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cloths must stop. He further wrote that “India must not live for England
but for live for herself, so as to enable her to make her contribution to the
world’s progress.”
In the letter Gandhi adopted a top-down approach where he discussed the
more recent problem at the beginning and then went on to discuss the
core issue at the end with sufficient justification and reasons. Given the
fact that the letter was intended for the head of the government, against
whose policies Gandhi and his followers were demonstrating peacefully,
there was no reason as to believe that the inherent message of the letter
was not properly reached to the intended recipient. In fact, Gandhi wrote
his stand point so bluntly that people in the knows, must have got the
message clearly.
Now we shall move to the letters Gandhi had written to others.
Here is a letter M K Gandhi had written to one Ismail Ahmed of Kholvad
in Surat in April 10, 1924 (R22). From the letter it appears that, Ismail
Ahmed was a general public who had expressed his views on Gandhi’s
decision on Bardoli (fn26) movement and Gandhi had reverted to him by
writing a letter with his views. In the letter, Gandhi addressed Ahmad as
‘dear friend’ and thanked him for his letters. He then informed the recipient
that his letters might be accommodated in the columns of ‘Young India.’
Given the fact that the recipient had a feeling that the Bardoli decision was
a blunder, Gandhi in his reply informed that he thinks otherwise-
Fn26: Bardoli, a small tahsil in Surat district in the Bombay Presidency. The All IndiaCongress Committee under the presidency of Vithalbhai Patel had decided to embarkon mass civil disobedience movement against the British government in year 1922.Source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 26, P-60, PublicationDivision, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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Letters selected in phase-3 includes letters written by Gandhi between
1930 A.D. and 1948 A.D. i.e. aftermath of Salt Satyagraha till his death.
Amongst the 100 letters selected, Gandhi wrote 07 letters to family
members, 74 letters to political co-workers and freedom fighters &
friends, no letter to the press, 04 letters to Government officials and 15
letters to others, that include letters to people who have corresponded
with him, to children of freedom fighters and ashram inmates etc.. First
we shall discuss about the letters M K Gandhi wrote to family members.
First we shall discuss about the letters M K Gandhi wrote to family
members. Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Sushilabehn Gandhi (fn1)
in August 22, 1932 (R1). The language of the letter is friendly and it was
also reflected from the teasing language used by the sender on several
occasions.
As per his usual style in writing ‘Chi’ for people junior to him in the initial
address, here also Gandhi addressed Sushila as ‘Chi’ followed by her name
and at the end tendered his blessings with ‘Bapu’ as his signature. This
letter was written in response to a letter by Sushila. In the first line itself,
Gandhi termed her two page letter as too short and taunted here by calling
‘a lazy woman’ for this. Given the fact that the communication had an
Indian socio-cultural-custom setting, where customs dictated the language
of communication between elders and daughter-in-laws, this taunting-
Fn1: Sushilabehn Gandhi, wife of Gandhi’s second son Manilal Gandhi. Source: TheCollected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 38, P-124, 125, Publication Division,Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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Given the fact that the recipient was in jail, the sender ensured that she
was provided with all the information that she might be interested in
knowing i.e. about their children, relatives, their place of residence, and
their movement. The language of the letter was as if both the
communicants were in direct conversation. Moreover, the sender had
enquired about her need of money, her health and availability of proper
food, her religious fast etc.. At the end, he tendered his ‘blessings for all’
to the jail inmates with his signature ‘Bapu.’
Unlike the previous letter where Gandhi wanted the recipient to infer the
meaning from his letter after reading it to her husband, in this case he
wrote everything that he wanted to convey. This could be because the
recipient in jail might not have information about much of the happenings
outside the jail which the sender was privy to. When he wrote that he
would be there when she was released from the jail, it was basically aimed
at giving her the emotional strength in the jail. As the husband, he had the
responsibility to do this and he did.
Here is a letter Gandhi wrote to Kishorelal G Mashruwala (fn2) in May 15,
1945 (R3). The letter was in Gujarati. Though Mashruwala became a
family member of Gandhi following Sushila’s marriage to Gandhi’s son
Manilal, he was a close aide of Gandhi before that, and remained so
afterwards also. This relationship was evident in this letter. Gandhi
addressed the recipient with ‘Chi’ at the beginning and tendered his
blessings with his signature ‘Bapu’ at the end.
Fn2: Freedom fighter and close associate of M K Gandhi. He was also the paternaluncle of Sushila, M K Gandhi’s daughter in law. Source:http://www.sahistory.org.za/sitas-story
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However there was no mention as to what the decision was all about.
Gandhi then try to boost up the morale of the recipient in continuing the
work he and his other co-workers were engaged in, by citing a stanza from
the ‘Bhagwat Gita’ and explaining it.
From the letter it appears that the co-workers of the recipient were little
unsure about the fate of the movement and this was conveyed to
Gandhi. To this, Gandhi went little philosophical by writing that nothing
is certain in this world except ‘death’ but people went on doing their
duty as if they won’t die. is only certain citied the verse of ‘Gita’ where
lord Krishna asked Arjuna to dedicate himself to him(Krishna) without
caring for anything else. He concluded the letter again with that
philosophical note by writing that ‘our work will end only with our
death, or rather we may say that our work will remain even after our
death.’
Here, though the letter was intended to the addressee, the message was
aimed at a wider audience. The last two lines summed up the message i.e.
‘their work would remain and acknowledged even after their death.’ In
fact, to communicate this component, Gandhi wrote several lines and
quoted the verse of the ‘Gita.’
Gandhi ended his letter with tendering his ‘blessings’ with his signature
‘Bapu’ at the end. He then wrote P.S (for please see) and jotted down his
address at Delhi where he would be staying during his visit there. This is
the pattern he had adopted in several occasion. Now we shall move to a
letter Gandhi had written to Taramati Mathuradas Trikumji (fn3) on
June 14, in 1932 (R5).
Fn3: Taramati Mathuradas Trikumji, was the wife of Mathuradas Trikumji. M KGandhi’s grand nephew. Source: Gandhi., R. (2006). Mohandas: True Story of a Man,His People and an Empire. Penguin, UK.
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do good, you can never come to grief. God is ever with you. He will never
forsake you.” This may be termed as a balancing act of the sender who,
while writing out his mind, through which he faulted the addressee on
several count, appreciated her ability and wished that God would always
be with her.
Upon analysing, it could be said that, the sender took the liberty in
criticising Hemprabha in such an open manner for the reason that she was
a die-hard follower of the former and considered him as a mentor.
Precisely this could be the same reason that, he appreciated her for her
good works, at the end. If we look at both the ends of letter, it is found
that, at the beginning the sender address the recipient as ‘Chi’ where as he
signed off the letter by extending his blessings, with ‘Bapu’ as his
signature. These signing in and signing out address to the addressee also
justifies the notion we had discussed above.
Moving forward, here is a letter M K Gandhi had written to Mridula
Sarabhai (fn5) in April 26, 1935 (R7). The letter was in Gujarati and the
contents of the letter revolve around the ‘Khadi’ (hand woven cotton
cloth) work.
From the letter, it seems that, Gandhi had written to Mridula on the letter
she had written to Shankarlal Banker (fn6) but was redirected to Gandhi
for his reply. Hence, Gandhi while directly writing to Mridula made it sure
Fn5: Mridula Sarabhai: Indian independent activist and politician. Member ofSarabhai family and sister of Vikram Sarabhai. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mridula_SarabhaiFn6: Shankarlal Banker: One of the first and most loyal recruits of M K Gandhi. Heplayed a major role in textile labour struggle in Ahmadabad along with AnasuyaSarabhai. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankarlal_Banker
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signifies this desire. It appears that the sender had not seen the addressee
for long and hence wished to see her.
Besides, acknowledging her as a volunteer and wishing long life, he
wanted to impress upon her to work for long with the cause she was
entrusted upon. At the end, the sender extended his blessings with his
signature as ‘Bapu’ at the end. While the initial and singing off address to
the recipient gives enough indication about the personal rapport both the
communicants share, the contents of the letter substantiated this notion.
Here is a letter M K Gandhi wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru (fn8) in August 31,
1938 (R9). In this letter, Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘My Dear’
followed by his initial ‘Jawaharlal’ where as at the end he extended his
‘Love.’ This is the pattern the sender used to follow in his
correspondences to people very close to him like Henry Soloman Leon
Polak, Hermann Kallenbach, L W Ritch, Millie Graham Polak and
Chhaganlal Gandhi. While Chhaganlal Gandhi was his family member,
others were his close aide and formed a family like bonding with him.
Having had analysing the initial and signing off address to the addressee,
we shall now move to the content of the letter.
The bonding between the communicants was also reflected in the first two
lines of the letter. Here the sender reasoned out as to why he did not write
to the addressee despite his desire to do so. He also showed his concern
towards the addressee’s daughter by writing ‘I await your reply to my wire
about Indu (for Indira Nehru).’
Fn8: Jawaharlal Nehru, a close confident and co-worker of M K Gandhi. He was thefirst Prime Minister of independent India. Source: Source: Nehru., J. (2004), Lettersfrom a father to his daughter. Penguin Books, New Delhi.
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the best he could, alone. From this it appears that Dr. Bhargava might
have informed Gandhi that he was all alone taking up the task entrusted
upon him as there was no body to support him. This notion could be
substantiated from the letter Gandhi had written to Dr. Gopichand in
August 30, 1938 (R11). In that letter, Gandhi, referring Dr. Gopichand’s
letter wrote “If the Congress M.L.A.s do not extend any help, it would be
best to get out of the bother. Even as it is, I had not liked your getting
into the Assembly.”
The current letter, it appears, had the edifice which was referred a year
ago. This could be the reason that, Gandhi had asked Dr. Gopichand to
do the best of his capacity, alone.
Here is a letter Gandhi wrote to N R Malkani (fn9) in August 04, 1941
(R12). In this letter Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘my dear’ with his
surname ‘Malkani’ at the beginning. After going through his numerous
letters, it could be said that very few people, who had formed a very close
bonding with Gandhi, were being addressed as ‘my dear’ by the latter in
his correspondents. This implies that, the addressee must have a close
confident of the sender. This notion also gets a strong footing with the
first line of the letter in which Gandhi mentioned that he had to ‘wait’ for
a long duration to get a letter from Malkani. In the body of the letter,
Gandhi discussed about the work the addressee was doing in villages and
in some occasions--tendered his advice. Besides, he also discussed about
the activities of the Congress and wanted to know whether the recipient
had gone to Quetta to this effect.
Fn9: N R Malkani (1890-1974), a noted social worker and freedom fighter fromRajasthan. Academic by profession, Malkani left teaching and became a close confidentof M K Gandhi. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._R._Malkani
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As the addressee had not mentioned about this in his letter, Gandhi
expressed his eagerness to know the happenings there. By writing this,
Gandhi had effectively asked Malkani to write him a letter detailing the
Congress works.
As it is already evident that the addressee happens to be a close confident
of the sender, the task entrusted upon him must have been important.
This could be the reason that, the sender, by expressing his desire to know
the happenings at Quetta, implicitely asked Malkani to write a letter to
him.
Unlike in his other letters, where Gandhi used to tender his blessings or
love to people close to him, here he just concluded the letter by writing
‘Yours Bapu.’ By doing this Gandhi showed his courtesy and respect
towards the recipient. This could be because the recipient was an academic
who left teaching to work with Gandhi and was undertaking work that
was very close to Gandhi’s heart.
As far as interpersonal communication aspect, this letters fulfils all the
theoretical perspectives. While it establishes the communicative
relationship between the communicants, it is also validating the common
area of reference and the social objectives the communication was aimed
to achieve.
Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Margarete Spiegel (fn10) in March
07, 1942 (R13). In the letter Gandhi addressed here as ‘Chi’ with her
Indian name that was given to her by the sender himself ‘Amala.’ The-
Fn10: Margarete Spiegel: A German follower of M K Gandhi, whom Gandhi renamedas ‘Amala’. Source: Wolpert., S (2001). Return to Rural Uplift Work, Gandhi's Passion:The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, p-178. Oxford University Press, New York.
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recipient would act, even if she did not explicitly say so, on the suggestions
made by the sender and thereby completing the communication cycle.
Now we shall move to a letter written to Vinoba Bhave on July 11, 1945
(R14). This letter was in Gujarati implies that both the communicants
share the common mother tongue. As per his usual style, Gandhi address
the recipient as ‘Chi’ followed by the recipient’s initial name ‘Vinoba’ and
at the end of the letter, tendered blessings to him. From the contents of
the letter, it appears that, Gandhi knowing about the release of Vinoba
from a common acquaintance, had written this letter. He first expressed
his wish that Vinoba’s health was doing fine, and then informed him
about a new work that had been readied for him. While naming couple of
other members for the work, Gandhi let Vinoba to take a final call on it.
At the end, he informed him (Vinoba) about his itinerary and ended the
letter by tendering his blessings.
Besides, the initial and final address, other aspects in the letter that could
have a bearing on the psyche of the recipient was the sender’s wishing him
good health and also letting him to decide his future course of action, this
despite the fact that the sender had already readied a task for him. Taking
all these into consideration, it could be said that, though the recipient was
junior to the sender and was treated as such, he also showed his respect
towards the wish of the addressees in the matters of selection of work.
Now we move to a letter written to Sorabji Rustomji (fn11) on or after
March 08, 1946 (R15). The letter was sent to the addressee in South-
Fn11: Sorabji Rustomji, son of Parsee Rustomji, who happened to be the first and fastfriend of Gandhi in South Africa. Rustomjee, a businessmen from India, hadestablished a business in South Africa. Source:Mesthrie., U. D. (2004). Gandhi's Prisoner?: The Life of Gandhi's Son Manilal. OrientLongman Private Limited., Delhi.
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University, Gandhi in fact put a question mark on the education imparted
by it. He then referred about the facts on the issues referred and abruptly
ended the letter.
At one point Gandhi wrote “you too have written me in anger like those
....” Besides his initial address ‘Bhai’ to the recipient indicates that Hashmi
was known to Gandhi and hence he did not expect such letter from him.
But having had received the letter, he taunted the addressee for adopting
double standard in selection of language and also point out the factual
errors. The non use of courteous words at the end could have been a part
of his strategy to express his displeasure.
Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Ratandevi in November 19, 1947
(R17). The letter is in reply to one from the addressee. From the contents
it appears that the addressee had requested Gandhi to visit their institution
i.e. Vanasthali (Vidyapeeth) and give his blessings, to which Gandhi had
responded.
In this letter Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Chi’ in the beginning. He
however did not put any signing out address at the end of the letter.
Besides, in the letter, Gandhi acknowledged of receiving the ‘beautiful’
letter from the addressee and expressed his willingness to visit Vanasthali.
He however reminded her of his view on blessings (fn12) and wrote that
the success of Vanasthali depends entirely on God. From the content it
appears that, Gandhi did not know the addressee. However as her request
Fn12: “When a blessing becomes a curse” that Gandhi wrote on Nov 11, 1947.Through this Gandhi decline to give blessing. Source: The Collected Works ofMahatma Gandhi. Vol.97, P-277. Publication Division, Ministry of Information &Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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for an educational institution, Gandhi did not want to hurt her by abruptly
declining her request and hence appreciated her letter by terming it
‘beautiful.’ Besides his expression of desire to visit Vanasthali was also to
mollify the hurt she might felt. And at the end, he put to end to the entire
matter by concluding that success is only at the hand of the God.
Now we shall move to letters Gandhi had written to government officials
during this period. Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Mr. Emerson
(fn13) on July 20, 1931 (R18). This letter was written to the addressee
seeking clarification from him on the government’s stand on ‘Khudai
Khidmatgars (also known as Red Shirts)’ (fn14).
In the beginning Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Mr. Emerson’
where as at the end, he signed out by writing ‘yours sincerely.’ From these
addresses and from the contents, it could be termed as a formal official
letter. However there has been stark difference in Gandhi’s approach in
such formal letters if we compare his letter to senior government
functionaries in his earlier years to that of the era we are now
concentrating on. By 1931 Gandhi had become one of the leading
freedom fighter and was directly dealing with the government on various
issues relating to India’s independence. This could have raised his
confidence and was reflected in his letters. Unlike earlier occasion when
Fn13: H W Emerson, home secretary, Govt of India. Source: Interview to the AssociatedPress, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Vol.53, P-63, Publication Division,Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.Fn14: Red Shirts: recruits by Khan Abdul Gafar Khan continuing Civil disobediencemovement in the North West Frontier Provinces (NWFP). Source: Note by H. W.Emerson on interview between himself and Gandhiji. The Collected Works of MahatmaGandhi. Vol.52, P-458, Publication Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,Govt. of India.
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Gandhi used to write very courteously and the tone of his letters was to
request certain information or action, here his letters carry very formal
address and he, if not explicitly but implicitly, seeking the home secretary
to clarify the government’s stand.
Gandhi let Mr. Emerson know the reason for writing this letter and
enclosed a copy of the letter addressed to the provincial police
commissioner by one leader of the ‘Red Shirts.’ He also referred the
summery of the letter written to him by the leader of that movement
detailing police atrocities against the members of ‘Red Shirts.’ Here the
objective of Gandhi could be to make the country’s highest official
responsible for law and order, know the views from the affected people,
which might be in contrary to what the government was claiming. In fact,
Gandhi also referred the home secretary’s information in which he
claimed that Red Shirts are causing endless trouble.From the Collected
Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) it is evident that Gandhi had several
meetings with the addressee on various issues over a period of time.
Hence, there must have been a formal communicative relationship
between the both. This could have also been the reason that Gandhi wrote
such a formal letter seeking his clarifications. Besi des, he also did not put
his signature at the end.
Now we shall Move to a letter Gandhi had written to E. E. Doyle (fn15)
on November 18, 1932 (R19).As per his usual style of formal letter writing
in the beginning Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Col. Doyle’
where as at the end Gandhi signed out by writing ‘yours sincerely’
Fn15: E E Doyle, Inspector-General of Prisons, Bombay Presidency. Source: Letter toE. E. Doyle. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.55, P-268, PublicationDivision, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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wrote about the inconsistency of facts and implicitly asked for
clarification.
Here is a letter Gandhi had written to the secretary of the Viceroy of India
on Nov 15, 1934 (R20). Like any formal letter to government officials here
also Gandhi maintained the formal courtesy in addressing the recipient. In
sync with his style of addressing people as ‘dear friend’ whom he did not
know personally, here also Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘dear friend.’
in the beginning. Similarly he signed out the letter by maintaining the basic
courtesy of a formal letter by ‘yours sincerely.’ However given the fact that
the letter was basically intended to the Viceroy, Gandhi put his full name
to complete the ornamental aspect of the letter. He also maintained the
standard British courtesy by addressing ‘His Excellency’ as and when there
was any reference of the Viceroy of India in his letter.
The letter is aimed at the Viceroy of India but was addressed to his
private secretary. The reason might be to maintain the etiquette in no
directly addressing the head of the state on matters that are not required
his direct intervention.
The crux of the letter was that Gandhi had declared to visit the Frontier
Province and meet the people there. However, Given the fact that British
dispensation was troubled with the activities of the ‘Red Shirts’ there (as
was evident from the note by H. W. Emerson, home secretary on
interview between himself and Gandhi (fn16)) the sender wrote this letter
explaining his stand point to ascertain the government’s intention-Fn16: Note by H. W. Emerson on interview between himself and Gandhiji. The CollectedWorks of Mahatma Gandhi. Vol.52, P-458, Publication Division, Ministry ofInformation & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.-over it.
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First we shall move to a letter Gandhi had written to H Harcourt (fn17)
on Sept. 29, 1931 (R21). Gandhi wrote this letter when he was in London
and the addressee had written a letter to him seeking his appointment.
In line with his standard letter writing style, Gandhi addressed the
recipient as ‘Dear Friend’ implying that the recipient was not known to
Gandhi personally.
In the contents of the letter, Gandhi first thanked the addressee for his
letter and then expressed his inability in giving an early appointment to
him citing his itinerary for the next several days. Nevertheless, Gandhi
fixed an appointment date and time and asked the addressee if he could
meet him on his hotel and added that he shall be delighted to meet him
(Harcourt). He then signed off the letter by writing ‘yours sincerely’ but
did not put any signature.
As the letter was being sent to a person in England, Gandhi maintained
the full British custom by writing the name and address of the recipient
with an ‘esquire’ as a postfix to the recipient’s name.
From the letter it appears that Gandhi despite his busy schedule took
time out to acknowledge Harcourt and also find out a time slot to meet
him. As the time slot was at a later date against the ‘early appointment’
sought by the addressee, Gandhi at the end added ‘I should be delighted
to meet you’ only to express his sincere desire to meet Harcourt. Had he
not written this sentence, the letter would have been just a fact sheet
detailing the schedules of the sender. However, the last line infused ‘life’
to the personalised aspects of the letter and hence made it a piece of
Fn17: H Harcourt, served as a district officer in India and after retirement hadwritten a book on India. Source: Letter to H Harcourt. The Collected Works ofMahatma Gandhi, Vol.53, P-429, Publication Division, Ministry of Information &Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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Now we shall move to a letter Gandhi had written to a Sikh (fn18) on
April 28, 1932 (R22). The crux of the letter was that a Sikh had written a
letter comparing Gandhi to that of the founder of Sikh religion Guru
Nanak Dev and requested Gandhi to keep long beard and hair for a saint
like look. To this, Gandhi had responded to the addressee in this letter.
This is perhaps one of the rare letters of Gandhi which did not bear any
signing in or signing out address to the recipient.
From the content it appears that the addressee had not mentioned his
name in his letter and hence, Gandhi did not.
The tone of this letter was rather hard if not harsh.It appears that Gandhi
did not approve of the kind of comparison the recipient had made, and
hence replied in a very blunt manner about what he thought over the issue
and added “I would far rather that people judge me by my deeds than by
my outward appearance.” Through this letter he also expressed his life’s
philosophy.
Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Amtussalaam (fn19) on January
20, 1933 (R23). This letter is one of the rarest in which Gandhi had
addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Daughter.’ The language of letter was
Urdu. In the beginning Gandhi had mentioned about his earlier letter
Fn18: The addressee a Sikh by religion had written to Gandhi “I see not muchdifference between a true saint like Guru Nanak Dev and your noble self. It will bein the fitness of things if the greatest living Indian and the greatest man of thepresent world keep keshas like all the great men of all times.” Source: Letter to A Sikh. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.55, P-308, Publication Division,Ministry of information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.Fn19: Amtissalaam, Daughter of Abdul Majid Khan. She was denied educationowning to ‘Purdah’ which she shunned in 1925. She became a social worker anddisciple of Gandhi.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi_Amtus_Salam
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Here is a letter Gandhi had written to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (fn20) on
July 18, 1944 (R24). This letter was written in response to one written by
the addressee eight days ago.
In the beginning Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Dr. Shyama
Prasad,’ implying that, he knew the addressee. Had not that been the case,
as it was known from his numerous other letters, he would have addressed
the recipient as ‘Dear Friend.’ Unlike to his writing style, he however
signed out his letter without any courteous word or his signature. This is
the pattern- as evident from his other letters- Gandhi used to adopt, when
he did not approve of the deeds or words of the addressee.
This perception also gets strength from the fact that, in the letter Gandhi
wrote that he had complains on the views expressed by the addressee,
without discussing it. However realising that his (Mukherjee’s) view might
play an important role, he then tried to give an impression that he was
always in the loop when he wrote ‘I suppose it is common cause between
us that the problem should be solved, the earlier, the better.’ At last he
asked Mukherjee to meet him to discuss, if he wished to.
In the beginning, Gandhi maintained the basic courtesy and acknowledged
of receiving the letter from Mukherjee.
Here is another letter Gandhi wrote to one Harshada Diwanji on February
24, 1945 (R25). The gist of the letter was that, the addressee had sent
yarn, cheque of Rs.54 and two letters to Gandhi. Following this, Gandhi
wrote this letter in acknowledgment. The letter was in Gujarati and
Gandhi addressed the recipient as ‘Dear Sister’ at the beginning and-
Fn20: Dr. Shyama Pradad Mukherjee, Working President, Hindu Mahasabha. Source:interview to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.84,P-271, Publication Division, Ministry of nformation & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
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