Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-01-30
Conducted Last Fast
For Reconciliation
OF Hindus, MosIems
by ths kssoeiutsd Press

1ootoVosooO PoSPAS W Aho SAtCA ASAACA
goal of freedom from British crown
rule, but the reward he received was
bitter sorrow and disappointment.
For the cause he had endured pris-
ons and fasts. His favorite weapons
for rousing the masses were civil
disobedience. campaigns and hunger
strikes.
In his own eyes, the little Hindu
ascetic was a failure at the hour of
his greatest victory because freedom
divided his country into two hostile
dominions Che had sought unified
Independent India and plunged his
people into frightful communal
fighting and Hindu against
Mohammedan-which had noparallel
in the last several centuries of the
subcontinent's long and blood
stained history.
On his 18th birthday in 1947,
the year of attainment of Indian
dominion statussGandhi said he had
almost lost all desire to live longer
because what is the use Of living
when hatred and killing have marred
the atmosphere"
Yet the world saw the unpreten-
tious figure, clad in white loin cloth,
shawl and sandals, as that of one
of the great men Of his time. In
prison or out he was the country's
most potent figure for more than
q quarter century.
Denounced a. "Arch SabOteur."
His fellow Hirdus regarded him
as q saint on earth. He once had
to act swiftly and strongly to stop
a section of them from adding his
image to their long list of gods and
idols.
But he was not without detractors.
In 1912 Gandhi was denounced as
an arch saboteM" by L. 8. Amery,
British Secretary of State for India,
because of his civil disobedience
campaign launched while Japanese
invasion forces stood at the thresh-
old In Burma during World War II.
Winston Churchill strongly opposed
independence for India, forecasting
"blood and misery"
Even In India Gandhi had his
foes. More than once stones were
cast at him by Indians who were
rebellious against his teachings that
only through love and nonviolence
could any lasting victory. be won.
But friends and foe agreed that
Gandhi above all others was re-
sponsible for plucking India, known
as "the jewel of the Empire" from
the British crown.
India was divided into an indie
pendent Moslem dominion Pakis-
tam and q Hindu dominion I'm
dia). Earl Mountbatten, governor
general of the latter, referred to
Gandhi as the architect" of Indian
freedom. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,
a Gandhi disciple who became prime
minister of the Dominion of India,
praised him as the great soul who
launched the freedom movement
and guided us through the dark
period of our struggle"
Reared in Anti British Atmosphere.
Gandhi was born October 2, 1859,
at Porbanger and was reared in an
British upper caste Hindu at
mosphere. His father, who had been
premier of several small native
states, once went to jail rather than
apologize to a British commissioner
he had taken to task in public.
Gandhi, as a boy, was shy and
backward pupil. At schools in India
he found Sanskrit difficult and
stumbled over mathematics, but he
got along better with his London
law studies and was called to the
bar when only 20 years old.
He was not happy in the British
capital, however. For most OF his
sojourn there he found diversion
only in practicing on violin. For
a time he lived on 80 cents a day.
eating only vegetables, nuts and
rice.
There was one three-month in
terlude of reaction. He bought him
self a full dress outfit and tested
English social life. But he quickly
tired Of it.
He was a success as an attorney,
particularly in South Africa, and
was said to have worked up a
practice there of around 5000
q year. But he gave this up def
nitely in 1908.
In the Boer War he espoused the
British cause and formed and COM
manded a Red Cross unit. He or
sanized a plague hospital when an
epidemic broke out in Johannes
burg and he led q stretcher COM
pany with troops suppressing a
native revolt in Natal in 1908.
Though the Indian nationalist
movement counseled its followers to
be pacifists in World War I, Gandhi
personally was active in support Of
the Allies. He organized an am
bulance corps for the British Army,
conducted q recruiting campaign in
the Kaira district, was mentioned
in dispatches and won two war
medals.
Much of Gandhis social philoso-
ply, he once said, was founded on
Christ's Sermon on the Mount.
1T went straight to my heart on
the first reading" he explained. Il
felt 1t contained the truth that re-
nunciation is the highest type of re-
ligion. Although I chose path my
Christian friends had not intended,
I remain forever indebted for the
religious quest they awakened in
me-"
Gandhi's followers called him
'Mahatma," which means Great
Soul" He tried unsuccessfully to
renounce that title, saying he was
unworthy of it and that it had been
"misused until it stinks in my nos
trils."
The Hindu leader believed in re-
incarnation. II think we all come
back here again if we are not pure
enough to enter heaven" he said.
Urged Peaceful Resistance
In his campaign for Indian in
dependence, he evolved his system
~F aaee cefuI resiSfa orev uhicr, rISiI-