The Epic Fast The Epic Fast By : Pyarelal First Published: 1932 Printed & Published by: Navajivan Publishing House Ahmedabad 380 014 (INDIA) Phone: 079 – 27540635 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.navajivantrust.org www.mkgandhi.org Page 1 The Epic Fast To The Down-Trodden of the World www.mkgandhi.org Page 2 The Epic Fast PUBLISHER'S NOTE This book was first published in 1932 i.e. immediately after Yeravda Pact. Reader may get glimpses of that period from the Preface of the first edition by Pyarelal Nayar and from the Foreward by C. Rajagopalachari. Due to the debate regarding constitutional provisions about reservation after six decades of independence students of Gandhian Thought have been searching the book which has been out of print since long. A publisher in Tamilnadu has asked for permission to translate the book in Tamil and for its publication. We welcomed the proposal and agreed to publish the Tamil version. Obviously the original book in English too will be in demand on publication of the Tamil version. Hence this reprint. We are sure, this publication will help our readers as a beacon light to reach out to the inner reaches of their conscience to find the right path in this world of conflicting claims. In this context, Gandhiji's The Epic Fast has no parallel. 16-07-07 www.mkgandhi.org Page 3 The Epic Fast PREFACE OF THE FIRST EDITION IT was my good fortune during Gandhiji's recent fast to be in constant attendance on him with Sjt. Brijkishen of Delhi, a fellow worker in the cause. It was felt by all who had the privilege of entering into the deep experience of that week of grace that it would be a tragedy if that experience could not be shared with others. It was also felt that a publication like this at the present juncture might be of help in implementing the Yeravda Pact and Gandhiji's pledge given to the Harijans. In writing the chapters under the heading' A Fortnight of Agony' I have had the fullest assistance from Sjt. Devadas Gandhi, who from the beginning to the end was in close touch with the negotiations between Depressed Class representatives and Caste Hindus, while the general work of compiling the material was rendered possible in the midst of various other engagements only by the able assistance of Sjt. Chandrashanker Shukla of the Gujarat Vidyapith. Our thanks are also due to all those friends who went through the proofs of these pages and helped us in various other ways, as also the staff of the Karnatak Press who have taken a personal interest in expediting the printing of the book. The book is being so priced as barely to cover the cost of publication. Savings, if any, will be devoted entirely to the cause of the Harijans. As this is being sent to the press the shadow of another penance on the part of Gandhiji is lengthening over the land. These pages shall have amply fulfilled their purpose if they help to soften men's hearts and incline them to turn the searchlight inward. Manibhavan, Bombay 12th November 1932. PYARELAL www.mkgandhi.org Page 4 The Epic Fast FOREWORD To find a parallel for the anguish of September 1932, we have to go far back to Athens twenty three centuries ago when the friends of Socrates surrounded him in prison and importuned him to escape from death. Plato has recorded the questions and answers. Socrates smiled at the suggestion of escape and preached the immortality of the soul. So also Gandhiji smiled and wrote to those that tried to dissuade him: "I have no doubt about the truth of the inner voice, nor have I any doubt that you will soon see the light out of the darkness of this sorrow." Then, about two thousand years ago there was another scene of similar anguish and a similar answer was given at Jerusalem- to the friends that wept for love of their Master. India heaved a sigh of relief on the night of the 24th September when the eleven days of anguish were over like a terrible dream. But unlike other bad dreams, this one has left behind not only a memory, but a real load of obligations, the discharge of which needs all the imagination and courage we are capable of. This book is prepared by those that were nearest to the central figure of that great story in the hope that it may serve as a source of inspiration for the discharge of the obligations undertaken. Let us remember that the sacrifice is still impending, that Gandhiji's life is verily held in pledge for the debt. I was one of those that held that this offer of final sacrifice by Gandhiji was a case of the killing of the goose that laid the golden eggs. As for Socrates' friends it was difficult, so it is difficult for me, too, to remember that the goose can never be killed. I thought the body was the goose and pleaded that it was not right to threaten to die if ignorant and superstitious men did not decide within a fortnight to be wise and courageous. The Government, however, refused to let me obstruct the sacrifice except feebly in two very brief communications through post. I resigned myself to the inevitable. www.mkgandhi.org Page 5 The Epic Fast I cannot say that I have yet seen the light. But let me note a few things that appear to me noteworthy. We have tided over the immediate danger. The Premier's decision is not, however, the disease. It was only a symptom that revealed the nature and the terrible character of the evil. It threatened to split Hinduism and establish six crores of Hindus as different altogether from and as strangers to Hinduism. Gandhiji felt that this was a symptom that called for the knife. But with the withdrawal of the Premier' decision the disease is not cured. The altar is still there and Gandhiji's offer of sacrifice is also there unwithdrawn and emphatically renewed. Secondly, the inhumanity is so great and the superstition so obstinate that the death of the most loved and the most esteemed among us cannot be too great a price or too drastic a remedy. Thirdly, we did not deserve Mahatmaji, but God gave him to us. And He who gave may also take away. If the inner voice of Gandhiji tells him to sacrifice himself and not heed our importunities, it is God that takes away what He in his goodness gave us for a time. We may not complain. If we did not use the gift well and wisely and in time, and allowed it' to be taken away, it is our fault. Lastly America secured her Abolition after sacrificing many precious lives. May be our Abolition also demands its commensurate price. We have, however, found a way to offer | life without killing. This is a gain not loss. C. RAJAGOPALACHARI www.mkgandhi.org Page 6 The Epic Fast PART I: A FORTNIGHT OF AGONY www.mkgandhi.org Page 7 The Epic Fast 01. PRELUDE ON THE MORNING of 13th September, the whole of India, from one end to the other, was startled by the news of Gandhiji's resolve to "fast unto death". Its reverberations were felt in England and were echoed back from far-off America. The first feelings evoked by it were those of wonder and incredulity. The world was too stunned to catch the meaning or purpose of this challenge, at once so new and so unique. Here and there some loose tongues did not hesitate even to indulge in cheap gibes at "the self- imposed doom", "sentence of death", "deliberate suicide" and so on. But before the week was out, special prayers were being offered in many churches in England for Gandhiji's life, and the entire Indian nation with its three hundred millions of people, from the Himalayas to the Cape Comorin and from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, was thrown into one long, unbroken convulsion of anguish, terror, grief and despair. When it emerged from the spasm, the Premier's decision had become unsettled. The ages-old citadel of Untouchability had been levelled to the ground, and strong, eager hands were busily at work clearing away the debris of the crumbled edifice, "Sometimes there comes a crack in Time itself, Sometimes the Earth is torn by something blind, Sometimes an image that has stood so long, It seems implanted as the Polar star, Is moved against an unfathomed force, That suddenly will not have it any more. * * * * "That force exists, and moves. "And when it moves It will employ a hard and virtual stone www.mkgandhi.org Page 8 The Epic Fast To batter into bits an actual wall And change the actual scheme of things.'' Nothing like it had been witnessed or heard of before, and now that the crisis is over it has left a world taken unawares still wondering at the miracle, debating in its innermost self whether to accept or reject its authenticity. But the curious and the sceptically minded must wait till the full story of the mental process that led to the epic resolve, which alone can finally set their doubts and questionings at rest, is released. Today it lies immured behind the stone walls of the Yeravda Central Prison. www.mkgandhi.org Page 9 The Epic Fast 02. THE AETIOLOGY To trace the aetiology of Gandhiji's fast, we shall have to go back to the history of the Second Round Table, Conference—with all its sordid drama of “high diplomacy”, wire-pulling and intrigue — that was held in London last year.