Introduction

"Mahatma" is not a name, but a title meaning "Great Soul". Although the man who was given this exalted title was originally named Mohandas Gandhi, it is as Mahatama Gandhi that the world remembers him.

Since his death in 1948, his fame has continued to grow, and recently a prize-winning motion picture showed a new generation how he led the vast country of India to gain its independence. All around the globe, millions of people regard him as a saintly figure who demonstrated that violence does not triumph, in the long run, over love.

But Gandhi was also an intensely warm, unassuming, and sometimes comic human being. It is possible to know this because several of the most talented journalists of his era spent many hours with him and then put their impressions into long articles or books. Even more importantly, he himself was prevailed upon, when he was about fifty, to write his own life story.

Besides its deeply religious and philosophical chapters, Gandhi's autobiography contains many vivid scenes, especially from his early years. No matter that he is always gently teaching lessons, his disarming memories are entertaining, too.

The pages that follow are solidly based on Gandhi's autobiography as well as on the writings of other people who knew him well. More details about source material will be found in the Note on Sources on page 115. One other point ought to be stressed here.

In every instance where the reader of this book is told what any person said on any occasion, the words have been taken directly from somebody's firsthand report. No trace of fiction has been allowed to intruded on the known facts about one of the most extraordinary lives in recorded history.

From the book