1. LETTER TO SECRETARY, A.I.S.A. NANDI HILLS, June 4, 1927 DEAR SIR, With reference to your letter of the 31st ultimo, I have already said that the Karnatak Agency may be supplied with funds in anticipation of the Council’s approval provided of course that Jamnalalji has approved Regarding Maharashtra what Jamnalalji says should be done. But I suggest that Sjt. Dastane should be fully satisfied about the wisdom of the decision. He would see the wisdom of consolidating what has already been undertaken. Let Satis Babu’s letter be circulated. His insistence shows the necessity of holding the Council meeting as early as possible. Yours faithfully, BAPU From a microfilm: S.N. 19779 2. LETTER TO V. S. SRINIVASA SASTRI NANDI HILLS, June 4, 1927 MY DEAR BROTHER, I remain unaffected by the effusion which the Chronicle has passed on to you and you to me. Of course you do not expect absolute smooth sailing. Such imbecile opposition you will have. But I know that you will stand unmoved. You will have the solid backing of the vast majority of the Indian population. I sent you a little note1 two three days ago, which I hope was duly delivered to you. May God guide your footsteps. Yours sincerely, BAPU From a photostat: S.N. 12358 1 Vide “Letter to V. S. Srinivasa Sastri”, 1-6-1927 VOL. 39 : 4 JUNE, 1927 - 1 SEPTEMBER, 1927 1 3. LETTER TO S. D. NADKARNI1 NANDI HILLS, June 4, 1927 DEAR FRIEND, I am glad that you are moving our friends on your side to open a local public temple2 to the so-called untouchables. I hope that the forthcoming meeting will pass the contemplated resolution unani- mously, and if they do, they will be doing justice more to themselves than to whom we have so long held under suppression. My opinion is our temples have been forsaken by God. Because of our ungodly treatment of a portion of our countrymen, God has made Himself untouchable, unapproachable and unseeable. God will re-enter our temples only when we have opened not merely our temples but our hearts to these fellow-countrymen and fellow-religionists. Though your letter for Young India does not seem to me to rise to the height of some of the former communications you have been good enough to send me, I propose to publish it3 as soon as I can, if only for the well-meaning and well-meant hits at me which I know are intended to travel far beyond me, in the hope that they will produce some impression. I hope my message will be in time for the meeting. I got your letter only last evening and I am sending you the message by the return post. Yours sincerely, BAPU S. D. NADKARNI, ESQ. KARWAR (N. KANARA) From a photostat: S.N. 14617 1 In reply to a letter written on behalf of the workers of Karwar, seeking Gandhiji’s opinion on the question of “untouchables and temple entry”. 2 To Vithoba 3 Published under the caption “On Behalf of Untouchables”, in Young India, 30-6-1927; vide also “Our Shame”, 30-6-1927. 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI 4. LETTER TO RAMDAS GANDHI June 4, 1927 You will have to struggle. Manliness consists in struggling. It is such struggling that moulds us. Hence be fearless and fight on. Never lose heart, and, if the enemy succeeds in throwing you down though you may have fought with all your strength, do not get dejected in the least. Be on your feet again and resume the fight. When we do not share responsibility for our defeat, we have no cause at all for shame, for then our defeat is no defeat. You should be very vigilant so that you may not have involuntary emission during sleep, and, if you feel the desire aroused at any hour during the night, you should without a moment’s delay, get out of bed immediately and drink some cold water, then sit in cold water and pour a jugful of cold water over the genitals. Often we become calmed down by walking about for a while and repeating Ramanama. Moreover, whenever we are unoccupied we should recall to mind perfect brahmacharis like Bhishma1 and others, that is to say, we should think of their strength of mind. If these seem too distant in time, we should reflect on the lives of Andrews, Pearson, Kitchin and others. If even these seem too remote, at any rate we have with us the five—Vinoba, Balkrishna, Surendra, Chhotelal and Krishnadas. We can cite other examples from India; you should tell yourself that you can certainly do what they can. You should also reflect from time to time on daily readings from the Gita; that too can give us great peace of mind. [From Gujarati] From the manuscript of Mahadev Desai’s Diary. Courtesy: Narayan Desai 5. LETTER TO SHARADABEHN KOTAK June 4, 1927 What you write about the problem of thieves is quite right. My putting the question to you did not mean that I expected you to be able to find the solution immediately. It was intended to make all the women think. Men must do their duty of protecting women. But after 1 A character in the Mahabharata who early in life took a vow of celibacy and observed it throughout his long life. VOL. 39 : 4 JUNE, 1927 - 1 SEPTEMBER, 1927 3 all men’s bodies are, like those of women, as brittle as glass bangles, though perhaps the male bangles are harder and can bear stronger blows. What women should do when those bangles are broken, is a question which they themselves should consider. There is the same atman in woman as in man. It is not affected by differences of caste, sex or country. The wide-awake atman in a heroic woman can be a thousand times more powerful than the slumbering atman in a wicked man. Hence, in the competition for displaying spiritual consciousness and strength of soul, all people—the maimed and the crippled, the strong and the weak, men and women, the old and the young and children—can participate on equal terms if they wish. Even a dense dark night obstructs only our natural eyes, but if we have developed divine eyes, what can a dense dark night or a long-handled sickle or a large baton do to us? And if, on such a dark night a giant of a man carrying a terrible weapon comes and stands before one of us—the others having either gone to sleep or been killed or run away—if at that time we do not remember the name of Rama, then our having chanted it morning and evening will have been in vain. It is in the hope that it may come to us at such a dreadful time and help us that we unfailingly repeat Ramanama morning and evening even though we may feel lazy, or be tired or sleepy. It is possible that after long practice, that name will come to our lips spontaneously every time we need it, will even be engraved in our hearts. The women of the Raniparaj community are certainly more fearless than we. They will go anywhere during night time. They do not depend on being protected by men. It is, however, true that they have other fears, but my statement is only about fear of thieves and the like. It is not true to say that the Kaniparaj women do not care about their chastity. It is not proper either, to believe that only those who care for their chastity are afraid. The fear which afflicts us in the Ashram has nothing to do with outrage of modesty. If we take count of cases of rape in the world, we shall discover that such incidents are very rare. A woman’s virtue is violated through both the man and the woman acting voluntarily, and if a woman is self-controlled and pure in mind, violation of her virtue is impossible. This is true in two senses. One is that the Shastras proclaim, and it must be believed, that the body of one whose mind is pure in every way is protected by the mind itself, just as Sita’s mind protected her body. As you know, Ravana could not outrage Sita’s modesty, and the reason was not that he did not possess brute strength, but that he knew that if he tried to 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI assault her his body would be burnt to ashes that very moment; and so he tried to win her consent through all manner of means, deceptions and threats, but they were of no avail in the face of Sita’s strength of mind. And the second meaning is that, if a woman’s mind is pure, her virtue is not violated and she is not stained by sin, even though she may have been raped. Neither will the world reproach her, nor will there be anything against her from the point of view of dharma. A pure woman, therefore, should never be afraid of her modesty being violated. On the contrary, she may remain confident that, if her mind is steadfast, her body will always remain inviolate. Forest-dwellers everywhere are less often overcome by evil desires than city-dwellers. They have not even the time to fall a prey to such thoughts. I do not mean to say that they all remain pure through their own voluntary effort.