STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

BY

M. K. GANDHI

Compiled and Edited

by
V. B. KHER

NAVAJIVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE

AHMEDABAD-14
 BOOKS BY GANDHIJI
Rs. nP.
An Autobiography
(De luxe Edition ) 7.00
(Standard „ ) 4.00
(Popular „ ) 2.00
(Abridged „ ) 2.00
(School „ ) 1.50
All Men Are Brothers 3.00
Co-operation 0.75
Co-operative Farming 0.20
Democracy : Real & Deceptive 0.80
Economic & Industrial Life
& Relations [3 Vols.] 10.50
In Search of the Supreme
[3 Vols.] 15.00
Khadi 3.00
My Non-violence 5.00
Nature Cure 0.75
Satyagraha 4.00
Selections from Gandhi 2.00
Self-restraint v. Self-indulgence 2.00
The Law and the Lawyers 3.00
The Problem of Education 3.50
The Way to Communal
Harmony 8.00
To the Students 3.00
True Education 3.50
Village Swaraj 3.00
Women and Social Injustice 2.00

Postage etc. extra

Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad-14

/

/
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Public.Resource.Org

https://archive.org/details/stonewallsdonotpOOmkga
(
STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON HAKE

BY
M. K. GANDHI

Compiled and Edited

by
V. B. KHER

NAVAJIVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE

AHMED AB AD-14
 First Edition, 3,000 Copies, January 1964

Rs. 2.50

© The Navajivan Trust, 1964

Printed and Published by Jivanji Dahyabhai Desai

Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad-14
 INTRODUCTION

4‘As I stood considering the walls of solid stone,

two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a
foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the
light, I could not help being struck with the foolish¬
ness of that institution which treated me as if I were
mere flesh and blood and bones to be locked up. . . .
I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me
and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one
to climb or break through, before they could get to be
as free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and
the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar.”

— Thoreau

Henry D. Thoreau, the author of Walden and the

last of the Stoics was once jailed for a night for his
refusal to pay the poll tax. The imprisonment failed
to subdue the defiant spirit. When Gandhiji was
practising law in South Africa he came across
Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience in 1907 which
profoundly influenced him. The impression made
on him by Thoreau’s writings was so deep that he
translated portions of Thoreau’s writings in Indian
Opinion. They were both seekers after truth and had
an intense, overpowering desire to live according to
their own faith and convictions. However, there was
one fundamental difference between the two. Thoreau
chose to live according to his own principles; Gandhiji
emerged as a mass leader seeking to apply his princi¬
ples to social, economic and political problems.
•••
in
IV STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

2. In his fight against social injustices and poli¬

tical wrongs Gandhiji was imprisoned several times.
He spent no less than about six years as a guest of
His Majesty. During his second term of imprison¬
ment in South Africa he found himself once herded
with dangerous criminals. The food served to the
Indian prisoners was not of the kind to which they
were accustomed. And generally speaking, conditions
in prisons were unsatisfactory. Gandhiji was to dis¬
cover later during his incarceration like and even
worse evils rampant in Indian prisons.

3. What is crime? Acts and omissions which %

involve violence and fraud are universally recognized

as crimes. So also acts which violate the rights of per¬
son and property. The Indian Penal Code deals with
these two classes of crimes and is the axis round which
our criminal law still revolves. Apart from capital
punishment for murder, generally speaking, the
Indian Penal Code only authorizes imprisonment or
fine. If the convict has no money to pay the fine,
he must necessarily be sent to gaol, notwithstanding
the waste involved. Whether imprisonment has any
deterrent effect on crime is a moot question. However,
there is a strong opinion that it is necessary to im¬
press upon people that it does not pay to commit
crime. So severe sentences are recommended espe¬
cially for crimes like dacoity, where an unfortunate
man is deprived of his life’s savings in a single night
and for abominable crimes against children. Flogging
Is said to have a more deterrent effect than im¬
prisonment in certain cases.

4. Sjt. K. M. Munshi in his Presidential address

at the first Indian Penal Reform Conference held in
 INTRODUCTION V

Bombay in February, 1940 classified criminals into four

broad categories:
1. Born or instinctive;
2. Occasional;
3. Anti-social; and
4. The incorrigible whether habitual or profes¬
sional.
And he pleaded for a differential treatment to each of
these from the moment of arrest till he is reabsorbed
in society after the expiry of the sentence. The rea¬
son was that “a crime is not due to the deliberate
decision of a free, prudent and wise man. It is often
the result of pathological condition of uncontrollable
temper; of social environments; perverted though
honest motives.1 The danger of non-differen¬
tial treatment is obvious. If all of them are classed
together, is it surprising that a casual offender should
acquire the mentality and habits of a confirmed crimi¬
nal? If the law had at the beginning given him the
opportunity to resume his place in society, per¬
haps he never would have gone back to jail.
5. Today we no longer look upon the criminal
as a wild beast to be hunted down. It has come to
be recognized that he is a man like his fellow-citizens
who have to bear a part of the responsibility for having
made him what he is. The law of crimes, therefore,
aims at individualization of criminal justice. With this
end in view, separate legislation has been passed in
many of the States for juvenile delinquents, tribes
formerly classified as “criminal tribes”, etc.
6. Political prisoners are a class apart. Men may
find themselves behind the bars for their cherished

1Penology in India, Indian Publications Ltd., p. 47

VI STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

beliefs and acts which conflict with law or authority.

Many eminent figures in our public life were im¬
prisoned during the non-co-operation movement
and civil disobedience campaigns. Gandhiji as the
supreme leader of the “war” operations was often
called upon to deal with questions of the rights of poli¬
tical prisoners, religious freedom of prisoners, jail
discipline, punishment of political prisoners, forcible
feeding of hunger-strikers etc. He had an intimate and
expert knowledge of the science of “political priso-
nership” and wrote authoritatively in Young
India and Harijan on topics relating to this science.
All these articles are contained in Part I of the
book.
7. Gandhiji was too conscious that the body
could be imprisoned but not the spirit. Therefore,
he wanted Satyagrahis to turn prisons into heavens for
liberty-loving men, and abodes for attaining nirvana.
He looked upon imprisonment more as a religious
than a political advantage. He was also aware that the
religious value of jail life is enhanced by cheerful
acceptance of jail discipline and renunciation of privi¬
leges. Yet there are certain human rights of a prisoner
over which there could be no compromise.
8. A Satyagrahi will readily conform to jail
regulations where they are intended to keep discipline
but he must resist all degrading practices. He:

1. will not shout national slogans;

2. will not commit stealthy breaches of disci¬
pline ;
3. will cheerfully bear the lash and all the tor¬
ture of the flesh.
But he:
 INTRODUCTION Vll

4. will resolutely resist insanitation or humi¬

liation ;
5. will resist filthy dens;
6. will prefer to go bare-bodied and shiver to
death rather than accept germ-laden filthy
blankets or shirts;
7. will go without food but must refuse to take
unclean or indigestible food or food laden
with pebbles;
8. will go without bath rather than bathe in
foul water;
9. will not stand naked before jailor;
10. will not crawl;
11. will not sit in a crouching position or open
out his palms in the name of respect. This
may be necessary for dangerous criminals
but not for Satyagrahis;
12. will not shout Sarkar Salaam or Sarkar-ek-hai;
the latter is even profane.

9. In short, when submission is unmanly, resis¬

tance becomes a duty. Then a prisoner may openly
defy jail regulations or hunger-strike. A hunger-strike
would be justified “when one’s moral fibre or honour
is sought to be deliberately injured or insulted”.2
Gandhiji however cautioned against launching hunger-
strikes frivolously or light-heartedly as such action
would break all discipline to pieces and make orderly
government impossible. He stated categorically that
he was not seeking to destroy jails as such, for jails
would be necessary even under Swaraj. “Even in re¬
formatories by which I would like to replace every
jail under Swaraj, discipline will be exacted. Therefore,

2Harijan, 12-2-’38, p. 4
Vlll STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

we really retard the advent of Swaraj if we en¬

courage indiscipline.”3
10. Many of the reforms which Gandhiji advocat¬
ed are now the order of the day. Soon after the popular
ministries assumed power in 1937 this question engag¬
ed their attention. The Congress ministry in Bombay,
for example, took up the question but it had to abandon
this work as a result of its resignation in 1939. How¬
ever, the following jail reforms had been introduced
as a result of its effort before it came into power again
in 1946:
“i In the year 1937, suitable accommodation was pro¬
vided in all jails, so that interviews with prisoners could
be conducted without causing any discomfort to the
prisoners or interviewers.
ii In the year 1938, members of the State legislature
were brought on the committees of visitors of the
prisons. This gave a wide scope to prisoners to bring
to the notice of jail visitors any grievances they may
have.
iii In the year 1938, the system of providing newspapers to
prisoners at Government cost from the approved list of
newspapers was introduced.
iv The installation of radios at the Central Prisons was
completed in 1939.
v Power-driven flour mills were installed in the jails.
vi In the year 1939, rules were framed under which
prisoners in transit were to be sent in their private
clothes instead of jail clothes.
vii In the year 1940, the system of providing looking glasses
to female prisoners in their barracks was introduced.
In the same year arrangements to provide cradles for the
babies of female prisoners were made.

3Young India, 29-12-’21, p. 434

 INTRODUCTION IX

viii In the year 1941, carpentry and mochi instructors for the
Yeravda Central Prison and teachers at some of the
jails were appointed.
ix The post of a superintendent of jail industries was
created in the year 1942 and the post of a weaving
assistant was created in 1939.
x In the year 1944, liberal issue of soap at Government
cost to prisoners who may require it on medical grounds,
was started.”4

11. The question of jail reforms was taken up

once again by the Congress Ministry in Bombay in
1946, when the Bombay Jail Reforms Committee was
appointed. The terms of reference of the Committee
were as under:

“i To examine the existing provisions of law and rules

relating to the jail administration in the State and
suggest changes with a view to improving the methods
of dealing with prisoners in jails, with special reference,
among other things, to their training in useful and
productive crafts and imparting to them literacy and
adult education which will enable them to be useful
and economically self-relying members of society.
ii To make recommendations which may be germane
to the above.”5

The report of this Committee was published in 1948.

The Committee made several recommendations most
of which were accepted by the Government. The jail
reforms have, for their broad object, the prevention
of further crime and restoration of the criminal to
his normal place in society. To enable this, many

4Jail Reforms in Bombay State, 1954, p. 3

5Ibid, 1954, p. 4
X STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

improvements in the jail administration in the former

State of Bombay had been made. The prisoners had
been classified, educational facilities provided for them
and after-care work had been organized in respect of
released prisoners. The jail reforms in the Bombay
State have been given in detail as Gandhiji spent
most of his jail life in prisons in the former Bombay
State. That is not to say other States have been in¬
active. The State of Uttar Pradesh particularly has
been bold and progressive in its policies about jail
reforms.
12. Parts II and III of the book deal with
Gandhiji’s experiences in South African and Indian
jails respectively. After serving three sentences in
South African prisons Gandhiji emerged as a sea¬
soned Satyagrahi. He did a lot of reading in his
enforced confinements as will* be seen from the for¬
midable lists of books mentioned by him. Part III
moreover, contains his correspondence with jail
authorities about prison affairs and his shrewd ob¬
servations and comments about men and matters in
jails. His account, for example, of the convict-
warders who, instead of acting as supervisors, minis¬
tered to his personal wants, is interesting and very
human. Warders have immense power over the
prisoners and can do immense mischief. It is very
essential to see that prisoners do not become bruta¬
lized as a result of the conditions in prison. They must
be enabled to retain their self-respect, so that when they
go out of gaol they will not consider themselves as lost
souls.
13. “What is the point of reforming a crimi¬
nal and restoring him to a society which inevitably
produced him? As long as brother denies to brother
 INTRODUCTION XI

justice and equal opportunities, so long must the

hand of each be against the other. The stronger will
make the law and the weaker will break it. The for¬
mer will be the jailor and the latter the criminal.
Without establishing a more equitable social and
economic order, can we honestly expect the criminal
to be reconciled to his jailor?”6
14. In order to produce lasting results, the re¬
form of penal law and administration are not enough.
The remedy lies in creating a society based on truth
and non-violence, otherwise called love. Until we
succeed in this endeavour criminals and prisons will
very much continue to be with us.

Bombay,
3rd November, 1963 V. B. Kher

6From the Foreword of Sjt. Bhuiabhai J. Desai to

Prison Reforms in India by Lt. Col. P. K. Tarapore
Stone walls do not a prison make
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage.

Richard Lovelace
%
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
INTRODUCTION iii

Fart One : Prison Code

1 THE BODY AND NOT THE SPIRIT CAN BE
IMPRISONED 3
2 FEAR OF IMPRISONMENT 4
3 THE RICHEST TREASURES IN MEMORY 5
4 THE RATIONALE OF SUFFERING 6
5 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 9
6 MY IDEAL OF JAIL LIFE 1 1
7 A MODEL PRISONER 12
3 JAILS OR HOSPITALS? 14
9 TREAT PRISONERS AS HUMAN BEINGS 17
10 JAIL TREATMENT 23
11 A CONTRADICTION 29
12 IMPOSITION OF DEGRADING PRACTICES IN THE
NAME OF JAIL DISCIPLINE 31
13 IN ITS NAKEDNESS 32
14 FROM HIS SOLITARY CELL 35
15 A BRAZEN DEFENCE 37
16 EFFECTS OF EXAGGERATION 39
17 IN THE NAME OF DISCIPLINE 40
18 A SATYAGRAHl’s CONDUCT IN JAIL 48
19 WORK IN GAOLS 48
20 ISOLATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS 51
21 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 53
22 A HARD-LABOUR PRISONER 65
23 LACK OF REGARD FOR RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS 66
24 THE KORAN TAKEN AWAY 69
25 A ONE-SIDED INQUIRY 69
26 HUNGER-STRIKE 72
27 AN INGENIOUS SUGGESTION 76
• • •

Xlll
xiv STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Fart Two : My Experiences in South African Jails

1 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 78
2 SECOND JAIL EXPERIENCE 90
3 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 93

Fart Three : My Experiences in Indian Jails

1 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 106
2 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 109
I 14-4-522 'The Permitted Letter5
to Hakimji 109
II 12-5-322 Prisoner’s Protest to the
Government of Bombay 121
III 12-5-’22 cMy First and Last5 to
Hakimji 123
IV 12-8-522 'Three Matters Pending5
to the Superintendent, Yeravda
Central Jail 124
V 14-10-522 to the Superintendent,
Y.G J. 125
VI 20-12-’22 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.J. 126
VII 20-12-’22 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.J. 127
VIII 4-2-523 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.P. 128
IX 10-2-523 to Major Jones 130
X 12-2-523 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.J. 132
XI 12-2-523 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.J. 133
XII 23-2-523 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.P. 134
XIII 23-2-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.G.P. 136
 CONTENTS XV

XIV 25-3-’23 to the Superintendent,

Y.C.P. 137
XV 16-4-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 139
XVI l-5-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 140
XVII 28-6-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 141
XVIII 29-6-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 142
XIX 15-7-’23 to H. E. the Governor of
Bombay 145
XX 6-9-’23 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 147
XXI 12-11 -523 to the Superintendent,
Y.C.P. 149
MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 152
1 Introduction 152
2 Some Officials 157
3 Some Terrible Results 161
4 ‘Political5 Prisoners 166
5 Possibilities of Reform 171
6 Ethics of Fasting 178
7 Satyagrahi Prisoner’s Conduct 184
8 Jail Economics 188
9 Some Convict Warders (1) 191
10 Some Convict Warders (2) 197
11 What I Read (1) 204
12 What I Read (2) 212
13 What I Read (3) 217
Appeaidlx
GANDHIJX IN JAILS
I In South Africa 221
II In India 222
NDEX 225
1

»
STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

>

% .
 TO THE READER

I would like to say to the diligent reader of

my writings and to others who are interested in them
that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be
consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded
many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am
in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to grow
inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolu¬
tion of the flesh. What I am concerned with is my
readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from
moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody
finds any inconsistency between any two writings of
mine, if he has still faith in my sanity, he would do
well to choose the later of tlfe two on the same subject.
M. K. Gandhi

Harijan, 29-4-’33, p. 2
 PART ONE: PRISON CODE

1
THE BODY AND NOT THE SPIRIT CAN
BE IMPRISONED
(Originally appeared under the title “Deshabhakta’s Arrest”)

Just at the time of going to the press, I received

the telegraphic news that Deshabhakta Konda
Venkatappayya has been arrested. He is the greatest
and the best among the Andhras. His fault was that
he loved India better than his ease. I congratulate
the Deshabhakta and the Andhra friends. This great
servant of the nation will have well-earned rest and the
cause will prosper in spite of his withdrawal from our
midst. For though his body can be imprisoned by
the Government, they cannot take away his spirit
from our midst.
Toung India, 9-3-,22, p. 149

3
 2
FEAR OF IMPRISONMENT
(From “Notes”)

Much though we have advanced in shedding

fear of imprisonment, there is still a disinclination to
seek it and anxiety to avoid it. We must remain
scrupulously honest and non-violent, and at the same
time be anxious almost to find ourselves in the gaols of
the Government. It must be positively irksome, if not
painful for us, to enjoy so-called freedom under a
Government we seek to end or mend. We must feel
that we are paying some unlawful or heavy price for
retaining our liberty. If therefore when being inno¬
cent we are imprisoned, we must rejoice because
we must feel that freedom is near. Is not freedom near¬
er for the imprisonment of hundreds who are now
cheerfully undergoing it for the sake of the country?
What can be better for non-co-operators of Bombay
than that though innocent, they should be imprison¬
ed for the sake of the guilty?
Toung India, 1-12-’21, p. 387 at p. 388

4
 3
THE RICHEST TREASURES IN MEMORY
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the title “Admitted
as a Boarder”)

If anyone has any doubt about the true inward¬

ness of the struggle, I hope the following from Babu
Prasanna Kumar Sen will help to dispel it. At the time
of being sentenced, he was Secretary of the District
Congress Committee of Chittagong.
“I have been admitted as a boarder in His Majesty’s
Hotel for two years and a half. During the last four or
five years I was always thinking of bidding adieu to my
profession as a lawyer (that was leading me slowly and
imperceptibly down to the path of perdition) and retiring to
Hrishikesh in the Himalayas for spending the rest of my
days there in religious pursuits as a recluse. So long I could
not put into execution this dream of my life on account of
sundry intricacies in my worldly affairs, although habitually
I sat very loose upon them.
Now the All-merciful Father has showered His immense
blessings on me by suddenly taking me off from the midst
of worldly bustles and vouchsafing unto me complete rest
within the prison walls, where I hope to be possessed of
all facilities for the fulfilment of the long cherished objects
of my life.
The unspeakable peace and contentment, which He has
now allotted to me, was a thing hitherto unknown to me.
I am now fully convinced, my dear Mahatmaji, that
this temporary rest will through the Mercy of the Almighty
Father and your benedictions, qualify me for the attainment
of the highest object of human life—the eternal Nirvana.”

5
6 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

I assure the reader that Prasanna Babu’s wish to

attain supreme happiness in jail is not an idle dream.
I know Hrishikesh. It certainly holds blackguards
on earth as it holds saints. I know the prison life.
Only a pitch black wall separated one of the greatest
murderers of South Africa and me. We were both in
isolation cells by design, for we were both considered
dangerous to society. I had to suffer most in that cell
for nearly two months. But I learnt most when I
suffered most. It was the time of the fattest harvest.
Whilst the suffering lasted, it was difficult to bear.
But it is now one of the richest treasures in life’s me¬
mory. We have today converted the jails into havens
of refuge for liberty-loving men. They can be easily
turned into abodes for attaining nirvana. The prison
cell where Socrates drank the poison cup was un¬
doubtedly the way to bliss. He lives today through
the memory of that ineffaceable scene.
Young India, 26-1 -’22, p. 49 at p. 50

4
THE RATIONALE OF SUFFERING
[Mr. Gandhi has explained the philosophy of Passive
Resistance and the need for suffering in the following terms:]

The one view is why one should go to jail and

there submit himself to all personal restraints, a place
where he would have to dress himself in the coarse
and ugly prison garb of a felon and to live upon
non-nutritious and semi-starvation diet, where he is
sometimes kicked about by jail officials, and made to
do every kind of work whether he liked it or not,
where he has to carry out the behests of a warder who
 THE RATIONALE OF SUFFERING 7
is not better than his household servant, where he
is not allowed to receive the visits of his friends and
relatives and is prohibited from writing to them,
where he is denied almost the bare necessitites of life
and is sometimes obliged to sleep in the same cell
that is occupied by actual thieves and robbers. The
question is why one should undergo such trials and
sufferings. Better is death than life under such condi¬
tions. Far better to pay up the fine than to be thus
incarcerated. May God spare his creatures from such
sufferings in jail. Such thoughts make one really a
coward, and being in constant dread of a jail life,
deter him from undertaking to perform services in
the interests of his country which might otherwise
prove very valuable.
The other view is that it would be the height of
one’s good fortune to be in jail in the interests and
good name of one’s country and religion. There,
there is very little of that misery which he has usually
to undergo in daily life. There, he has to carry out the
orders of one warder only, whereas in daily life he is
obliged to carry out the behests of a great many more.
In the jail, he has no anxiety to earn his daily bread
and to prepare his meals. The Government sees to
all that. It also looks after his health for which he has
to pay nothing. He gets enough works to exercise
his body. He is freed from all his vicious habits. His
soul is thus free. He has plenty of time at his disposal
to pray to God. His body is restrained, but not his
soul. He learns to be more regular in his habits. Those
who keep his body in restraint, look after it. Taking
this view of jail life, he feels himself quite a free being.
If any misfortune comes to him or any wicked warder
happens to use any violence towards him, he learns
8 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

to appreciate and exercise patience, and is pleased

to have an opportunity of keeping control over him¬
self. Those who think this way are sure to be con¬
vinced that even jail life can be attended with bless¬
ings. It solely rests with individuals and their men¬
tal attitude to make it one of blessing or otherwise.
I trust, however, that the readers of this my second
experience of life in the Transvaal jail will be con¬
vinced that the real road to ultimate happiness lies in
going to jail and undergoing sufferings and priva¬
tions there in the interest of one’s country and religion.
Placed in a similar position for refusing his poll-
tax, the American citizen, Thoreau, expressed simi¬
lar thoughts in 1849. Seeing the walls of the cell in
which he was confined, made of solid stone two or
three feet thick, and the door of wood and iron a foot
thick, he said to himself thus:
“I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and
my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb
or break through before they could get to be as free as I
was. I did not feel for a moment confined, and the walls seem¬
ed a great waste of stone and mortar. I felt as if I alone
of all my townsmen had paid my tax. They plainly did not
know how to treat me, but behaved like persons who are
underbred. In every threat and in every compliment there
was a blunder; for they thought that my chief desire was to
stand the other side of the stone-wall. I could not but smile
to see how industriously they locked the door on my medi¬
tations, which followed them out again without let or
hindrance, and they were nearly all that was dangerous. As
they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my
body; just as boys if they cannot come to some person
against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. I saw
that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone
 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 9

woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its
friends from foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it
and pitied it.”

Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (3rd Edn.), G. A.

Natesan & Go., p. 774

5
GRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Personally I do not believe in imprisoning by

way of punishment even those who commit violence.
My creed of non-violence does not favour the punish¬
ment of thieves and dacoits and even murderers. I
cannot in all conscience agree to any one being sent to
the gallows.
I would be participator in violence if I approv¬
ed of the Penal Code and its sanctions. If I had my
way I would fling open doors of prisons and dis¬
charge even murderers. But I know that in holding
this opinion, I am in the proud position of being in
the minority of one.
All crimes are different kinds of diseases and
they should be treated as such by the reformers.
That does not mean that the police will suspend
their function of regarding such cases as public
crimes, tbut their measures are never intended to
deal with causes of these social disturbances.
To do so is the special prerogative of the refor¬
mer. And unless the moral tone of society is raised
such crimes will flourish, if only for the simple reason
that the moral sense of these perverts has become
blunt. The only effective way I can conceive of, there¬
fore, is for some enthusiastic reformers to gather
10 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

together and take concerted measures to deal with

one evil.
I am quite capable of recommending even
punishment of wrong-doers under conceivable circum¬
stances; for instance, I would not hesitate under the
present state of society to confine thieves and robbers
which is in itself a kind of punishment. I have no
other remedy to suggest in such cases in the present
state of society. I am, therefore, satisfied with advo¬
cating the use of prisons more as reformatories than
as places of punishment.
But I would draw the distinction between kill¬
ing and detention or even corporal punishment. I
think there is a difference not merely in quantity
but also in quality. I can recall the punishment of
detention. 1 can make reparation to the man upon
whom I inflict corporal punishment. But once a man is
killed, the punishment is beyond recall or reparation.
God alone can take life, because He alone gives it.
Gandhiji—His Life & Work, Edited by D. G. Tendulkar &
others, p. 381

i
 6
MY IDEAL OF JAIL LIFE
(Originally appeared under the title “A Letter from Mahatma
Gandhi”)

[Gandhiji sent the following letter from Sabarmati Jail to

Mr. G. F. Andrews in answer to a letter from him expressing his
deep regret that he was not able to see him before the “trial”
(1922) was over as he could not leave his work:]

Sabarmati Jail,
March 17
My dear Charlie,
I have just got your letter. You were quite right
in not leaving your work. You should certainly go to
Gurudev, and be with him as long as he needs you.
I would certainly like your going to the Ashram
(Sabarmati), and staying there awhile when you are
free. But I would not expect you to see me in jail;
I am as happy as a bird i My ideal of a j ail life—espe¬
cially that of a civil resister—is to be cut off entirely
from all connection with the outside world. To be
allowed a visitor is a privilege—a civil resister may
neither seek, nor receive, a privilege. The religious
value of jail discipline is enhanced by renouncing
privileges. The forthcoming imprisonment will be to
me more a religious than a political advantage. If
it is a sacrifice, I want it to be the purest.
With love,
Yours
Mohan

11
 A MODEL PRISONER
“Should non-co-operators shout Bande Mataram
inside jails against jail discipline which may excite
ordinary prisoners to violence, should non-co-opera¬
tors go on hunger strike for the improvement of food
or other conveniences, should they strike work inside
jails on hartal days and other days? Are non-co¬
operators entitled to break rules of jail discipline un¬
less they affect their conscience?55 Such is the text of
a telegram I received from a non-co-operator friend
in Calcutta. From another part of India when a friend,
again a non-co-operator, heard of the indiscipline of
non-co-operator prisoners, he asked me to write on
the necessity of observing jail discipline. As against
this, I know prisoners who are scrupulously observing in
a becoming spirit all the discipline imposed upon them.
It is necessary, when thousands are going to jail,
to understand exactly the position a non-co-operator
prisoner can take up consistently with his pledge of
non-violence. Non-co-operation when its limitations
are not recognized, becomes a licence instead of be¬
ing a duty and therefore becomes a crime. The divid¬
ing line between right and wrong is often so thin as to
become indistinguishable. But it is a line that is
breakable and unmistakable.
What is then the difference between those who
find themselves in jails for being in the right and those
who are there for being in the wrong? Both wear of¬
ten the same dress, eat the same food and are subject
outwardly to the same discipline. But while the latter
12
 A MODEL PRISONER 13
submit to discipline most unwillingly and would com¬
mit a breach of it secretly, and even openly if they
could, the former will willingly and to the best of their
ability conform to the jail discipline and prove wor-
their and more serviceable to their cause than they
are outside. We have observed that the most disting¬
uished among the prisoners are of greater service in¬
side the jails than outside. The coefficient of service is
raised to the extent of the strictness with which jail
discipline is observed.
Let it be remembered that we are not seeking to
destroy jails as such. I fear that we shall have to
maintain jails even under Swaraj. It will go hard
with us, if we let the real criminals understand
that they will be set free or be very much better treat¬
ed when Swaraj is established. Even in reformatories
by which I would like to replace every jail under
Swaraj, discipline will be exacted. Therefore, we
really retard the advent of Swaraj if we encourage
indiscipline. Indeed the swift programme of Swaraj
has been conceived on the supposition that we, be¬
ing a cultured people, are capable of evolving high
discipline within a short time.
Indeed whilst on the one hand civil disobedience
authorizes disobedience of unjust laws or unmoral
laws of a State which one seeks to overthrow, it re¬
quires meek and willing submission to the penalty of
disobedience and therefore cheerful acceptance of the
jail discipline and its attendant hardships.
It is now therefore clear that a civil resister’s resis¬
tance ceases and his obedience is resumed as soon as
he is under confinement. In confinement he claims no
privilege because of the civility of his disobedience.
Inside the jail by his exemplary conduct he reforms
14 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

even the criminals surrounding him, he softens the

hearts of jailors and others in authority. Such meek
behaviour springing from strength and knowledge
ultimately dissolves the tyranny of the tyrant. It is
for this reason that I claim that voluntary suffering
is the quickest and the best remedy for the removal
of abuses and injustices.
It is now manifest that shouts of Bande Mataram
or any other in breach of jail discipline are unlawful
for a non-co-operator to indulge in. It is equally un¬
lawful for him to commit a stealthy breach of jail regu¬
lations. A non-co-operator will do nothing to demora¬
lize his fellow prisoners. The only occasion when he
can openly disobey jail regulations or hunger-strike
is when an attempt is made to humiliate him or when
the warders themselves break, as they often do, the
rules for the comfort of prisoners or when food that is
unfit for human consumption is issued as it often is.
A case for civil disobedience also arises when there is
interference with any obligatory religious practice.
Young India, 29-12-‘21, p. 434

8
JAILS OR HOSPITALS?

Lord Lytton in recently speaking about jails to

the Rotarians of Calcutta said that just as we send
our sick in body to hospitals and not to jails, so must
we 'provide moral doctors and moral hospitals5 for
the sick in mind, i.e. criminals. His Excellency thus
introduced his subject:
“The ideal I wish to set before me, stated in the
briefest and simplest form, is just this,—the substitution
of reformation for retribution as the basis of our Penal
 JAILS OR HOSPITALS? 15
Code. Punishment can instil fear and enforce habits—it can¬
not inspire goodness. As a means of moral regeneration,
therefore, it is worse than useless and should be abandoned.
A morality which is only enforced by pains and penalties
is a false morality, and those who would secure the accep¬
tance of moral standards should employ other methods.”
Of the uses and limitations of punishments, Lord
Lytton said:
“Punishment, if resorted to at all, must always be aim¬
ed at teaching habits necessary for the well-being of the indi¬
vidual or discipline necessary to the well-being of a commu¬
nity. I do not say that punishment will always succeed;
the form of punishment selected in any particular case
may be well or badly suited for the attainment of its object.
Again, I do not say that punishment is the only way of
achieving this object. What I say is that those are the only
objects which can be obtained by punishment. This one thing
which can never be acquired by coercion is goodness or
moral conduct. All punishment therefore which aims at
correcting wickedness or teaching goodness is definitely
mischievous. Goodness is a condition of mind as health is a
condition of the body. Moral defects of character are no
more to be cured by punishment than defects of the body.
It may be necessary in the interest of health of a community
forcibly to segregate a person with an infectious disease;
it may be necessary on the same ground to segregate per¬
sons whose moral defects are a danger to society; but it
would be just as senseless and mischievous to try to cure a
man of scarlet fever by shutting him up with a number of
persons suffering from measles, tuberculosis or leprosy as
it is to try to cure a man of stealing or cheating by shutting
him up with other thieves and cheats.”
After this pronouncement one would expect a descrip¬
tion of prison reform being attempted or pending in
16 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Bengal. Instead, however, H. E. the Governor of

Bengal quoted two instances of successful humani¬
tarian effort in England and said:
“You may ask why I have chosen to speak to you about
this subject. The reason is that this is work which no govern
ment can do. Governments only hamper and spoil work of
this kind by interference, it must be done by those who have
the calling.”
Having thus absolved his and all governments from
responsibility for the much needed reform he threw it
on the broad and ‘idealistic5 shoulders of the Rota-
rians present.
As an old and experienced prisoner, however, I
believe that Governments have to begin the reform,
Lord Lytton will have his hearers to undertake.
Humanitarians can but supplement government
efforts. As it is, the humanitarian, if he attempted
anything, will first have to undo the mischief done
in prisons where the environment hardens the crimi¬
nal tendency, and in the case of innocent prisoners
they learn how to commit crimes without being detec¬
ted. I hold that humanitarian effort cannot cope
with the evil wrought in the jails. Lord Lytton must
have recognized this patent fact when in his intro¬
duction he talked of substituting ‘reformation for
retribution as the basis of our Penal Code5. But evi¬
dently in winding up his speech he forgot that he
had intended his Penal Code to be the basis of
reform, and as he realized that he had no reform to
show to the credit of his Government, wound up by
saying that it was no business of governments to at¬
tempt the reform.
If as Lord Lytton correctly put it, punishment
must be inflicted purely for protection of society,
 TREAT PRISONERS AS HUMAN BEINGS 17

mere detention should be enough and that too only

till the detenues can be fairly presumed to have been
cured of their evil habits, or securities are found for
their good behaviour. There can be no difficulty about
a scientific classification of prisoners, apportionment
of work from a humanitarian standpoint, selection of
better-class warders, abolition of the system of ap¬
pointing prisoners as warders, and a host of other
changes that one might easily suggest.
According to Lord Lytton’s own standard the
detention of political prisoners without trial and their
reported ill-treatment is wholly wrong. It is to be wish¬
ed that His Excellency will apply his own admirable
tests to the administration of his own jails, and there
is no doubt that he will make startling discoveries in
the shape of reforms that can be easily attempted by
his Government far more easily than anything that
humanitarians can ever hope to attempt or achieve.
Toung India, 18-2-’26, p. 67

TREAT PRISONERS AS HUMAN BEINGS

I
(Originally appeared under the title “Our Gaols”)

In spite of my two years in Indian gaols, I see that

others who have been in them for much shorter
periods than I have more knowledge of their working
than I. The Satyagrahi prisoners who were recently
discharged tell me of the many hardships which can
be avoided if there is some consideration shown to
the prisoners as human beings. The experiences of a
Satyagrahi prisoner in the Surat gaol are that the pri¬
soners are all cooped up in a small ill-ventilated and

S.-2
 18 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

ill-lighted room, the food served is hardly digestible

and not much facility given to the prisoners for keep¬
ing themselves clean.
The prisoners at the Sabarmati Central Prison
give more details. The flour issued is gritty, the dal
is pebbly and often contains animal dirt. The Satya-
grahis were inclined to excuse the gaol authorities for
this defect saying it was the fault of the prisoners who
had to do the cleaning and the grinding. I am un¬
able to adopt the view. I feel that the authorities are
bound to attend to the cleaning of foodstuffs either by
having it done outside or by effective supervision.
It is futile to expect the prisoners especially in the way
they are kept to do this or anything well or conscien¬
tiously. Instead of taking the most important work
of cooking through them, it would be better and more
economical to have the cooking and the preparatory
work done through reliable agency and take from the
prisoners other tasks of a more remunerative nature
and involving no danger to health.
Nor was unclean food indifferently cooked, the
whole of the complaint on this head. A kind of dry
fermented stinking cabbage was rationed as green
vegetable. From what the friends described I could
gather that this cabbage was a kind of human silage
copied from cattle silage, cabbage being revitalized
by subjecting it to high fermentation. If the infor¬
mation given to me is correct, I can only say that the
prison authorities are playing with prisoners’ lives
entrusted to their care.
Among the prisoners discharged were three in a
weak condition; one a student who had completed
his full term was discharged in a precarious condi¬
tion. His condition was so far gone that, in spite of
 TREAT PRISONERS AS HUMAN BEINGS 19
all the loving attention being bestowed upon him
by the Mahavidyalaya professors and students and
skilled medical assistance, he is not yet out of danger.
I was informed that for several days in spite of his
fever he was kept on coarse jowari bread for a time. I
should not at all wonder if this indigestible bread
caused intestinal inflammation.
I shall be glad to publish any explanation that
the authorities may have to give in regard to these
allegations.
I know that conditions being as they are, priso¬
ners may not expect the comforts of home life. I
know too that Satyagrahis may not grumble at
their lot which in a way is of their own seeking.
Nevertheless even a Satyagrahi whether he com¬
plains or not should receive human treatment and
should get food that is suited to his constitution and
that is, above all else, clean and cleanly prepared.
Young India, 16-8-’28, p. 278

II
(Originally appeared under the title 4‘Prison Treatment”)

The Director of Information in his communique

dated 12th September 1928, has attempted a reply to
the article in Young India of 16th August regarding
the food served out to prisoners at the Sabarmati Cen¬
tral Jail. He boldly says that these statements are
incorrect. It is perfectly clear from the communique
that he has not made the inquiry himself but his
opinion is based upon the statements supplied to
him by the very parties who are accused of neglect.
It is unnecessary for me to refute the statement that
the health statistics in the prisons of India compare
favourably with the statistics of the population living
20 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

outside. This is an admitted fact, for the simple

reason that the laws of sanitation are undoubtedly
better enforced in prisons than outside. But better
sanitation does not prove more humaneness or more
consideration for the prisoners. My point is that
there is absence of the human touch about the whole
of the prison system. And it seems to me to be wholly
beside the point to mention that the general health
of the inmates of prisons is better than outside, and
I claim that even this statement becomes untenable
when applied to the class of prisoners from whom
Satyagrahis are drawn. It was open to the Director
to say, if he had so chosen, that the Satyagrahis knew
that there would be no humanity to be found inside
the prison walls. Statements such as I made in the
article in question had point, because the claim is
often made that the prisoners in Indian prisons are
treated humanely and that as much consideration as
is possible to give to prisoners is given in these jails.

With regard to the specific statements made in

the Director’s communique I can only give extracts
from the statements made by the released prisoners,
every one of whom I hold to be far more reliable
than all the jail authorities put together. The state¬
ments were made by the Satyagrahis on their dis¬
charge from the jail in reply to my request about the
treatment, and when I saw with my own eyes the
shattered constitution of Sjt. Ghinai whom I knew
to be in possession of excellent health and when I
saw a Vidyapith lad Dinkar suffering from an obsti¬
nate fever which, but for extraordinary good nursing
and able medical aid he had the good fortune to
receive after being discharged from the prison, might
have proved fatal.
 TREAT PRISONERS AS HUMAN BEINGS 21
I shall take the first extract from the statement
made by Sjt. Sanmukhlal, a well-known man of
Valod who got dystentery twice as a result of bad
food:
“The greens served out were wretched beyond des-*
cription. . . . Luni simply stank in one’s nostrils so much so
that I had to discontinue taking it- When it was exhausted
radishes and a hotchpotch of dry leaves like those of cab¬
bage etc. were substituted in its place with the result that
soon after many prisoners began to suffer from bowel com¬
plaints in large numbers. But nobody could muster suffi¬
cient courage to lodge a complaint about it with the
Superintendent. I even heard from some prisoners that one
of the prisoners was given bar-fetters for several months for
making such a complaint. . . .
Things improved a little after some time. . . . Pump¬
kins and onions and later turiya and gowar were introduced
in the vegetable fare; the gowar and turiya were hard and
stringy being over-ripe, but even so were picked out and
regarded by the prisoners as a delicacy.
The jowar bread was only half-baked and so full of
grit that it could hardly be chewed and had to be swallowed.
This was especially the case when the grinding stones of the
flour mills were freshly dented. As a result of this food I
got dysentery, almost half of our number sharing the
same fate with me.”
Sjt. C. L. Chinai in his statement repeats the same
story:
“The food did not agree with me and I began to get
stomach ache and finally had diarrhoea, some times getting
as many as 30 or 35 motions in a day. Whenever I took the
greens they invariably gave me diarrhoea. Thus I began
to lose my weight fast. When I complained about it to the
doctor he said that I should give up taking the greens if I
22 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

wanted to keep fit, which I did and from that time till the
end remained on bread and water only. I did not complain
about it to the Superintendent because he never paid any
heed to the complaints of the prisoners regarding food. I
even heard that there had been cases of prisoners being
punished for making such complaints. Therefore no¬
body dared to take the matters before the authorities.’5
Even Sjt. Ravishankar Vyas with his iron
constitution was driven to say in his statement:
“The greens consisted of dry, tough, leathery leaves
with an admixture of pumpkin. To eat it was to court cer¬
tain stomach ache.”
Sjt. Ghinai was given hard labour beyond his
capacity and consequently he had attacks of giddi¬
ness, but for twenty days he could not get the medi¬
cine that he needed. He lost over 20 lbs. in weight
during his incarceration. Similarly, Bhawan Hira of
Nani Phalod who was already in a poor state of health
when he was sentenced, came out of jail in such a
weak condition that he could scarcely keep steady on
his legs.
I have given only the briefest extracts from the
statements in my possession. If the authorities are
serious, I shall have much pleasure to send them all
the statements and any further proof that they may
need. Refutations such as the Director of Information
has made, I feel sure, carry no weight with the pub¬
lic, certainly do not improve the condition of priso¬
ners, nor make for humaneness in the prisons. The
first condition of humaneness is a little humility and a
little diffidence about the correctness of one’s conduct
and a little receptiveness. One misses all the three in
the Director’s refutation.
Young India, 20-9-’28, p. 313
 10
JAIL TREATMENT
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the above title)

“Starvation, or its alternative canine food, no covering

much less any worth the name to protect against the severe
Delhi winter, microbe-infected, lice-laden, blood-stained
tatters, the worn-off relics of common felons, and finally the
awful ghastly- climax, preferential treatment or release cons¬
tantly suggested and enforced in favour of the very rare
civil resister, whose frailty succumbs to the temptation.”

Such is the report sent by Lala Shankar Lai of

Delhi as he was being taken from Delhi to Mian-
wali. The friend that has sent me the report says:
“We have heard of the closed Moplah death wagon,
but this Delhi jail wherein some of the best and noblest of
our workers have been clapped, has by ingenious cunning
been converted for non-co-operators into an open area where
death and the devil hold their court. Emotion chokes me as
I write. Is it that the hand which is silencing many a Shankar-
lal in our beautiful and lovable country is stifling also my
feeble voice ? Woeful tales of non-co-operators being flogged
till the hand that flogs them tires of the process, of civil
resisters being stripped of all vestige of human covering, and
subjected to a slow and gradual death from toxicity and infec¬
tion, have filled my ears.”
The writer is a highly-cultured sensitive young
man. I have removed some of the descriptive passages
from the letter. Unused to suffering he has been deep¬
ly touched by the version of the ill-treatment given
in the Delhi Jail to non-co-operators. But the sub¬
stance of the charge is true. For it is corroborated
23
24 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

from many sources unconnected with one another.

There seems to be no doubt that the Government
having failed to bend the non-co-operators and to
extort an apology from them by mere confinement,
the order has gone round for inflicting physical hard¬
ships on civil resisters. There does come a time when
with all the will in the world the flesh refuses to suffer
any further and makes the spirit its unwilling slave.
The administrators are exploiting their knowledge
of this to humble the proud spirit of civil resis¬
ters. And I would not be surprised if some of them
not being able to stand the inhuman treatment that is
evidently being systematized apologize in order to
escape unbearable torture of the flesh.
But if the spirit has at times been found weak
enough to yield to the flesh after a certain point, it
has also been found superior to the most excruciating
tortures. Given sufficient previous mental prepara¬
tion, the very extreme of suffering becomes an anaes¬
thetic that deadens pains where the spirit is willing,
the exultation induced by the willingness counter¬
acts the sensation of pain. The pleasure of serving
one’s country or religion more than balances the pain
involved in it.
It is then the duty of a civil resister to bear all
torture of the flesh but it is equally his duty to re¬
sist insanitation or humiliation. He will cheerfully
take the lash. He must not crawl. He will cheerfully
go barebodied and shiver to death. He must reso¬
lutely reject germ-laden filthy blankets or shirts. He
may go without food, but he must refuse to take bread
or dal laden with pebbles. He may do without his
bath but he must refuse to bathe in foul water. Where
submission is unmanly resistance becomes a duty.
 JAIL TREATMENT 25
Well have the civil resisters got the privilege of
voluntary suffering. It is the noblest service. They are
purifying the gaols. Even felons are entitled to human
treatment. Let the authorities give the plainest food
and clothing but both must be clean and sufficient.
It is no pleasure to me to publish accounts of
inhuman treatment where and by whom meted out.
I do not want to believe that human beings can be so
brutal as many stories related about them would prove
them to be. I am most anxious that this fight is fought
in a sportsmanlike spirit. It cuts my human flesh to
the quick to find human beings not playing the game.
But if it is to be a dirty game on the other side,
so be it. Non-co-operators have made no stipulation,
they have no choice but to take things as they come to
them and cut their way through every difficulty. Is
it not reported of the Japanese that when they came
to a ditch their army could not cross, they filled it
with human corpses? Shall we do less because we are
vowed not to kill but only to be killed? Our pledge
exacts from us more than from the Japanese soldier.
For we must go through the fire without the drum¬
beat of war.
The charge brought by my correspondent is seri¬
ous. Let me adduce corroborative evidence. Here is
a graphic and detailed description of the treatment of
Mahadev Desai, the editor of the Independent. Readers
of Young India know his connection with this journal.
He is one of the soberest of workers. He has a most
sensitive frame. A friend visited him with Mrs. Desai.
The writer says:
“We are preparing for strong repression. I have wired
you regarding Mahadevbhai’s imprisonment. He had
received a summons to attend court for trial. He was quite
26 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

joyful when he went to jail. We went yesterday to see him

but the gaoler would not let us. I took food, clothing and
books. But the gaoler would not take them. This morning
we were able to meet him. He has been put with the ordi¬
nary criminals and is being subjected to all the gaol regula¬
tions. He was dressed in gaol clothes. He had a black shirt
with sleeves reaching to the elbow and half pants. The clo¬
thes were dirty, stinking and lousy. He had two blankets
which could not have been washed for months and which
must have been and were full of lice. He had a rusty iron
bowl for water, so rusty as to make the water unfit in a
few minutes for drink. Therefore that water could not be
drunk during night. It would be found perfectly yellow in
the morning. There is a dirty tank from which drinking
water is taken and which is used for bathing too. I do not
know whether buckets are supplied. A loin cloth is supplied
for bathing. But no towel is allowed for drying. After the
body is dried in the sun the same dirty clothes have to be
worn again. It is impossible in the cold climate of this
place for the weak body of Mahadevbhai to wash these
clothes and to remain bare-bodied whilst these clothes
are drying. He has only jail food. He took nothing last night.
He had something like gruel this morning. It contained peb¬
bles and other dirt. For natural purposes the prisoners have
to go out. And they use the drinking pot to carry their
water in. For night use an uncovered pot is supplied. The
only thing not yet done is to put irons on.”

I hear from another quarter that special instruc¬

tions have been issued to subject him to ill-treatment
for the reason that Mahadev Desai’s was a calcu¬
lated defiance of authority. That the Independent could
be issued independent of printing and the conse¬
quent declaration proved too much for the autho¬
rities.
 JAIL TREATMENT 27
Well, I have no doubt that Mahadev Desai will
prove his editorial skill inside the prison walls by
retaining his independence in the face of physical
tortures. Let me console the reader with the informa¬
tion that Mahadev Desai carries with him a heart of
love which has place in it for his torturer and carries
too a stock of spiritual anaesthetics in the shape of
sacred bhajans which he will sing to ward off all feel¬
ing of pain. I do believe it as literally true that Mira-
bai never felt the pains inflicted upon her at the ins¬
tance of her husband. Her love of God and conscious
repetition of that precious name kept her cheerful for
ever. I can only picture the Rajput women of old
rejoicing as they leapt into the funeral pyre with the
name of God on their lips. Latimer certainly never
felt the pain as he majestically stretched forth his hand
straight into the fire. His faith in God and his
righteousness had saved him. The age of miracles is
not past. But a little faith in God and His protecting
power and we are ensured against unbearable suffer¬
ings. Let no civil resister with faith in is mission
doubt that at the crucial moment God will protect
him.
I shall be surprised if Mahadev Desai does not
by his humble yet dignified bearing melt even the
stony hearts of his persecutors.
But to resume the corroborative narrative. Let
ms look at Lucknow. Things seemed to be going only
too well there. The necessary conveniences were
allowed to Panditji Nehru and his co-prisoners. So
much was this the case that I had begun to think
that the United Provinces Government, whilst they
followed out the consistent policy of imprisoning those
who chose to disregard their notifications, were civilized
28 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

enough to treat political prisoners with courtesy

and decency. But a change seems to have come over
even Lucknow. I have just received the information
that Sheikh Khaliquzzaman and ten others have been
removed from the District to the Central Jail and the
conveniences that were given them are to be with¬
drawn and that probably the visits would be dis¬
allowed. Pandit Nehru and the remaining prisoners
have sent an energetic protest against such invidious
distinctions and have asked to be treated in every
respect in the same manner as other political prisoners.
It must be a matter of pride to every Indian that
some of the best men of India are today putting them¬
selves on a par with the common people and seeking
no privileges for themselves.
1-1-’22
Since writing the foregoing notes I have received a
wire saying that Mr. Desai had been seen again and
that he was hale and hearty and was better treated.
I am glad for the sake of the authorities that the treat¬
ment has been changed for the better. But the in¬
sanitation described above should have been impossible
from the very beginning. That a Mahadev Desai has
compelled better treatment is a matter of little moment.
The question is one of larger humanity. What must
be the condition of ordinary prisoners? Have they
any rights? This imprisonment of cultured men is
from that standpoint a godsend. The political prison¬
ers will incidentally solve this question of human
rights.
Toung India, 5-1-’22, p. 5
 II
A CONTRADICTION
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the above title)

The Hon’ble the Chief Commissioner of Delhi

has taken the trouble of controverting the allegations
made in Young India of the 5th instant about jail treat¬
ment. In so far as the reply controverts specific
charges about the Delhi Jail, I remain unconvinced.
In so far as it refutes general charges, it is irrelevant.
One may safely presume that food in the Delhi Jail,
as also clothing, are no better than in the other jails.
We have the testimony of Messrs. Santanam and
Desai to support Lala Shankarlal as to the quality of
food issued. The wearer alone knows where the shoe
pinches. Lala Shankarlal has made no charge about
flogging. The correspondent, who sent his allegations,
does not mention flogging in the Delhi Jail. He had
only heard of flogging in some jails. Well, it has been
officially admitted so far as the Punjab and Bengal
are concerned. So far as Allahabad is concerned,
Mr. Mahadev Desars serious allegations remain un¬
contradicted. Discharge of prisoners in a state al¬
most of nudity in Banaras also remains unchallenged.
The shocking disclosures made by Dr. Gokulchand
tell their own tale. In all these circumstances, the
Delhi Chief Commissioner’s report can carry no
weight in India. Nothing will please me better than
to be able to admit that all my informants were wrong,
and that there was no inhumanity in the treatment
of prisoners in the Indian jails. Of the apologies,
the written Independent is bringing out facts to show
29
30 stonewalls do not a prison make

how they are extorted. Corroboration of a startling

character comes from Bengal. And I am not prepared
to disbelieve the charge brought by Lala Shankarlal
about the Delhi Jail. Have not the Government
stated that if the prisoners apologize they will be dis¬
charged ? The days are gone of summary dismissal of
charges, which are made after due shifting and with
some sense of responsibility. No one in India will be
perturbed or taken in by the language the Chief
Commissioner has seen fit to use. He says, cThe
allegations contained in the article are couched in
language so extravagant, that they are unlikely
to convince the intelligent reader.5 This is what I
venture to call riding a high horse. The officials will
have to come down from their pedestals of seclusion
and exclusion, and mix and think with the common
folk, if they wish to become their servants and friends.
The Chief Commissioner would have done better, if
he had said that whilst hardships were inevitable in
the initial stages, the authorities were doing their best
to isolate the political prisoners and giving them better
treatment. This would have been a becoming and
truthful statement. For whether it is true of the
Delhi Jail or not, I thankfully admit that in Agra, for
instance, things have considerably improved. A large
number of political prisoners from different places
have been concentrated there, and are being humanely
treated. The question of larger humanity still remains.
The usual offenders are equally entitled to clean,
sufficient clothing, clean and sufficient food and
decent sanitary accommodation ensuring privacy. All
these were lacking when Mahadev Desai was treated
as an ordinary prisoner. It is not much comfort to
find that he and his companions are now treated well.
 DEGRADING PRACTICES 31
It was a bad use the U. P. Government made of his
generous nature to have published the certificate of
good treatment he issued when he began to be specially
treated. I abide by every word that I published in
Young India (5th January) of the inhumanity of treat¬
ment on his admission to the Naini Jail.
Young India, 26-l-’22, p. 49 at p. 53

12
IMPOSITION OF DEGRADING PRACTICES
IN THE NAME OF JAIL DISCIPLINE
(From comments which appeared in the columns of “Notes”
under the title “Sarkar Salaam”)

A telegram has been received from Noakhali,

enquiring whether non-co-operation prisoners should
utter the formula Sarkar Salaam. In my opinion that
formula as also Sarkar-ek-hai is degrading, and the
latter is even profane. No religiously minded person
can say or believe sarkar is only one. That can be
said only of God, and Him alone. Therefore whilst
I would advise political prisoners to conform to the
gaol regulations in so far as they are intended to keep
discipline, they must even at the risk of their lives
resist all degrading practices which may be imposed
in the name of discipline. Similar to the Sarkar
Salaam formula is the practice of stretching forth the
palm of one’s hands in front of officials or that of
sitting in a crouching posture. These things may be
necessary for dangerous criminals, but a non-co-opera-
tor must not be expected to conform to such unmanly
exhibitions of themselves.
Young India, 19-1-’22, p. 42
 13
IN ITS NAKEDNESS

The Forward of Calcutta has rendered a public

service by publishing extracts from the Report of the
Indian Jail Committee of 1919-20, being the evidence
given by Lt.-Colonel Mulvany on the treatment of
State prisoners. It brings vividly to light the evil
of the present system of Government in all its naked¬
ness. It shows how the officials themselves are coached
to do the wrong thing and thus corrupted and deprived
of any sense of self-respect. Lt.-Colonel Mulvany was
Superintendent of the Alipore Central Jail at the
time. I cull the following from his statement:
“ . . . It is equally well known that Government have
invariably been able to prove from official statements and
reports that these complaints were groundless and yet in my
experience there was every reason for complaint. I have
been in charge of one or the other of the Calcutta Jails since
the very beginning of the anarchical movement and I have
had perhaps more to do with the imprisonment of political
prisoners than any jail officer in India. And I say delibera¬
tely and with full consciousness of the serious nature of my
statement that not only was the confinement to which these men
were subjected positively inhuman but that in fact misleading reports
were deliberately submitted to the Government. I feel very strongly
on this point and I write under the greatest restraint, for
I consider that the share that I was compelled to accept in
this painful business was and is a disgrace which can never
be obliterated. And I cannot say less than that my feelings
were outraged by the cruelty of the treatment I was ordered and ex¬
pected to carry out. My verbal representations on this subject

32
 IN ITS NAKEDNESS 33

not meeting with any response, I decided at last in September,

1915 to bring the matter to the notice of Government in
the only way open to me, and I submitted a report (Appendix
X) under Section 6, Regulation III of 1818 concerning
two State prisoners, in which I expressed my opinion that
the degree of confinement to which they were subjected was so severe
as to be liable to injure their health, that the confinement was more
stringently solitary than amy solitary confinement imposed under the
Prisons Act or under jail regulations both of which limited strictly
to seven days. I submitted this report deliberately with intent
to force a crisis which must result either in my removal
(which I did not anticipate) or in some amelioration of the
cruelties I was ordered to inflict. What was the result? My
letter was returned to me with the request to reconsider
it. I was reminded that it had to go to Simla and would
arouse the Olympian wrath, that the degree of confine¬
ment was dictated by the police, and it was suggested that I
might so far report that the prisoners were in solitary con¬
finement and were permitted exercise daily, that they were
cheerful and that their health had not suffered, or words
to that effect. ... If I agreed I was to cancel my letter
in my books and substitute a new one.”

The correspondence too referred to by Lt.-Colonel

Mulvany is reproduced by the Forward. I cannot
resist the temptation to quote from the letter of then
Inspector-General of Prisons who, on receipt of the
damning report from Lt.-Colonel Mulvany, asked him
to reconsider it and suggested the falsehood he was to
say in his revised report. Here is the relevant
quotation:
“Please reconsider this letter. Remember it has to go
to Simla and it will rouse the Olympian wrath. The
degree of solitary confinement is dictated to us by the police
need of separating these prisoners not only from other native

S.-3
34 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

prisoners but from each other. I think you might so far

report that the prisoners are in solitary confinement and are
permitted to exercise daily and that both are cheerful and
the health of neither has suffered or words to that effect.”

Upon the receipt of this letter Lt.-Colonel Mulvany

regretfully pocketed his pride and sent what he knew
to be an untruthful report. How is it possible after
his report to believe any at all coming from a Govern¬
ment source and intended to whitewash it? Nor is
this an exceptional case. This cooking of reports and
statements is a most usual thing with the Government
as is known to everyone who has had anything to do
with Government departments. Today everything
has to be ‘edited5 by superior officers.
Relatives of the brave men of Bengal who are
being indefinitely detained without a trial have with
difficulty come to know certain things about the pri¬
soners, which have been given to the world and
which go to show that they are being put to much un¬
necessary hardship. The allegations are generally
denied and where a total denial is not possible, partial
truth is admitted and the blame for what suffering
is admitted is thrown on the prisoners.
When Sjt. Goswami succeeds in forcing a debate
in the Assembly he is laughed at and told from the
Government benches that Lt.-Colonel Mulvany’s
statement was not accepted by the Committee.
The Government entrenching itself behind a wall
of lies and the force of its bayonets treats the com¬
plaints with contempt in the certain belief that the
detention and ill-treatment of prisoners are necessary
for the safety of the Englishmen it represents.
Bengal has declared a day of hartal by way of
protest. The Government cares little about hartals
 FROM HIS SOLITARY CELL 35

of impotent people. It listens to no argument save

that of force, whether of the sword or the soul. It
knows and respects the former, it does not know the
latter and therefore fears it. We have not the former.
We thought we had the latter in 1921. But now—?
Young India, 4-3-’26, p. 84 .

14

FROM HIS SOLITARY CELL

(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the above title)

Here is a titbit from G. Rajagopalachari from

Vellore Jail:
“I guess you have not started for Bardoli and Anand
yet. I am allowed to write one letter a month and to receive
similarly one letter a month, and am completely shut out
from all politics, news and newspapers. What an ideal condi¬
tion which I know you are envying!

The greatest common measure between thoughts, words

and what the jail authorities would allow and what I need
write to you at all, is but little.

It took me till now to get rid of the boils. I am now quite

free from the trouble. It must horrify you to learn that I
willingly underwent five injections of vaccine for these boils.
My asthma persists, though by keeping my stomach
light I hold the upper hand over the enemy. I have gone
down from 104 to 98 lbs. but that does not matter.

Your eyes would flow with delight if you saw me here

in my solitary cell spinning—spinning not as a task imposed
by a tyrant faddist, but with pleasure. Between spinning
and beautiful Ramayana I have been spending practically
the whole of the time left me by the agony of eating, washing
36 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

of dishes, etc. The spinning wheel I have is a real beauty.

It is a live companion and younger brother in my cell.
This Ashram is very much less congested than yours at
Sabarmati and I wish more people understood the advan¬
tages of this retirement and discipline.”
. This is a curious Government. The same law is
supposed to reign in the country and yet what is a crime
in Bengal is not a crime in Madras. And the treat¬
ment in a Madras jail is not the same as in a U. P.
jail. George Joseph in the Agra jail has all the
comforts and privileges including newspapers. Raja-
gopalachari in Vellore jail must live in solitude and
have no newspapers. Rajagopalachari does not mind
the deprivation of newspapers. I know that I would
esteem it a privilege to be without any, but difference
in treatment is obvious. Rajagopalachari’s loss of
flesh is a more serious matter. This, of course, may not
be due to want of nourishing food but if the solitary
cell is anything like I know, it must be almost death
to an asthmatic patient. When you are locked up in
a cell you are in a box with a few holes for just
enough ventilation to keep you alive. There is little
light and no cross ventilation. The air in a short time
becomes thick and foul with your own exhalations.
And you are doomed to rebreathe your own emi¬
ssions. The least that humanity demands is that
C. Rajagopalachari should have, if he has not, all
the fresh air he can get night and day.
Young India, 9-2-’22, p. 81
 15
A BRAZEN DEFENCE
(Originally appeared under the title, “Government Denials—
(3) A Peep of a Bombay Jail”)

With the compliments of the Director of Infor¬

mation, Bombay.
In the issue of Young India for January 19, an
extract was printed from the Hindu dealing with the
alleged ill-treatment of a certain “Rahmat Rasool, a
Punjabi Martial Law prisoner55, in the Hyderabad
Central Prison. Enquiries show that the allegations
made are unfounded. The article appears to refer
to a Gujarati prisoner named Himat Rasool, who was
sentenced by the Ahmedabad Special Tribunal to
transportation for life for cutting telegraph wires,
setting fire to the telegraph office and rioting at
Ahmedabad on 11th April 1919. The charges made
and the actual facts relating thereto are as follows:
“On their arrival in this jail from the Andamans in
November last no meals were given them for three days until
the medical officer saw them and got them meals.”
The prisoners (who arrived on December 6th
were seen daily both by the medical officer and the
Superintendent, but they refused to take jowari diet
as they wanted wheat diet. This was given them on
December 8th.
“Whenever the Superintendent approached them they
were required to raise their hands as a Muslim does in pra¬
yer with the greeting ‘Sarkar is one’. This immoral rule
interfering with the fundamental principles of Islam, Rahmat
Rasool refused to obey, telling the Superintendent that for

37
38 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

him God alone is one and that he can raise his hand in prayer
before God alone, when the Superintendent proudly replied
that he, as representative of Government was his God in jail.”

This is a pure invention. When the Superin¬

tendent or any official visits the prisoners, the latter
stand with their hands open, the arms being at right
angles to the elbows and the elbows in at the sides.
The object of this is to show that there is nothing
concealed in the hands with which an assault can be
attempted. This attitude is obviously not that of a
Muslim raising his hands in prayer and the procedure
to which no objection has ever been raised is common
to all jails. It is absolutely untrue that the Superin¬
tendent used the words attributed to him.
“The prisoner refused to be led away from the path of
religion with the result that his religiousness was rewarded
with the five-fold punishment of 30 stripes, 6 months’ solitary
confinement, six months’ gunny clothing, 6 months’ cross
fetters and 6 months’ bar fetters.”
The facts are that on December 13th the prisoner
refused to stand up when ordered, became very ex¬
cited and was grossly impertinent to the Superin¬
tendent. He was awarded, not the punishment alleged
but gunny clothing for one month and bar fetters for
three months. Since the arrival of this prisoner in
jail he has been eleven times awarded punishments,
including 30 stripes and cross bar fetters for ten days
for gross insubordination and persistently refusing to
work. He is at present undergoing a punishment of
three months’ separate confinement awarded him in
the Andamans for refusing to work and to obey orders.
His history sheet describes him as “a man of violent
temper”.
20th February, 1922
 EFFECTS OF EXAGGERATION 39

[I venture to call this a brazen defence of a brutal

punishment. It tells the public in so many words,
“we have done it and we propose to continue55. As I
did not publish the incident for the edification of the
Government, I remain unperturbed by the shameless
admission. The reader will please note that in all
this communique there is no denial of a single material
particular. It makes no difference whether the name
or description of the prisoner is correctly given. The
facts that the prisoner had to starve for three days,
that he had to stretch forth his hands in a humiliating
fashion, that he had gunny clothing for one month,
bar fetters for three and thirty stripes and that he is
now undergoing ‘separate5 confinement for three
months is sufficient corroboration of the allegations of
the Hindu. I am prepared to assume that every
prisoner who receives punishment is, in official par¬
lance ca man of violent temper5. —M.K.G.]
Toung India, 2-3-’22, p. 139 at p. 140

16
EFFECTS OF EXAGGERATION
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the title “A Correction”)

In Toung India of 2nd February I reproduced a

letter from Pandit Arjunlal Sethi’s son regarding
Pandit Sethi’s treatment in the gaol. I have now
learnt that the son was misinformed and that no
brandy or eggs were administered to Arjunlalji. Fie
is reported also to be properly fed and clothed.
Whilst correspondents have generally sent most ac¬
curate accounts, too much care can never be exercised
in transmitting news. Correspondents should always
40 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

err on the side of understatement. Exaggeration not

only discredits us but it produces a contrary effect on
the opponent, whereas accuracy of statement brings
home the guilt to the person accused, whether he
confesses it or not. I have invariably found that a
truthful exposure of wrong has always brought about
some mitigation. I have found also that exaggeration
has generally increased intensity. Truth softens
even an untruthful person. Untruth can only harden
him, for he is a stranger to truth.
Toung India, 23-2-’22, p. 109 at p. 114

17
IN THE NAME OF DISCIPLINE
I
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the title “The Ali
Brothers”)

I reproduce the following telegram received from

Karachi by post because it would not be sent by the
authorities:
“Maulana Mohammad Ali reduced 25 lbs. in jail.
Light at night not permitted to him though recommended
by Magistrate and Medical Officer. Superintendent opposed
to allowing this.
Medical Officer recommended groundnuts or extract
of cheese by way of food for Maulana Mohammad Ali on
account of diabetes. Superintendent not disposed but after
all provided groundnuts worth one anna per day and on
Maulana’s insistence raised it to two annas. This serves as
his morning meal.
Deviating from usual treatment Maulana Shaukat Ali,
Doctor Kitchlu, Maulvi Nisar Ahmad, Pir Gulam Majid
 IN TH*E NAME OF DISCIPLINE 41

were asked on Saturday, the 28th to submit to search of

their person a practice commonly followed in jail in case
of convicts. This consists in making the prisoners absolutely
naked with the exception of a langoti made loose. The
prisoners in this condition are asked to raise hands and
open their mouths as though to show if there was anything
hidden anywhere. This humiliation Maulana Shaukat
Ali and his companions were saved so far. On Saturday 28th
on being asked to submit to this they refused. On Monday
the 30th their person was forcibly searched and as punishment
for refusing voluntarily to submit to this indignity and
humiliation, the forenamed leaders have been confined to
solitary cells for one month. In solitary cells prisoners are
allowed insuficient bedding and that at night alone. Maulana
Shaukat Ali and his companions thus forced to say their
prayers on uncleaned ground contrary to their religious
susceptibilities. Maulvi Nisar Ahmad was searched while
offering his prayers.
Maulana Mohammad Ali protests and demands like
treatment.
The leaders in jail ready to obey all jail rules except
those that offend against their religion or against their sense
of honour and dignity as Indians or human beings.
The jail authorities were up to the last moment asked
by the leaders to refer the matter to Government but they
refused to wait.”

It is evident that instructions have gone forth

that the poiicy of wise discretion is to give place to the
policy of cast-iron rigidity of enforcement of prison
rules. Imagine Maulana Shaukat Ali or any of the
high-spirited prisoners standing almost naked before
the Jailor and in the presence of one another and
submitting to what to them must be a most humiliating
examination. I can understand the necessity and
42 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

utility of such examination of confirmed criminals for

whom alone the ordinary prison regulations are framed,
but it is nothing short of lunacy to enforce obedience
to such regulations on the part of men who, apart
from their political agitation, have been regarded as
orderly citizens and in some cases even as distinguished
public men. To enforce some of the present regula¬
tions in respect of such prisoners is hopelessly to ignore
the reality and to court trouble. Ordinary discipline
must be exacted from the best of men when they happen
to be in prison, more so when they court imprison¬
ment. Discomfort of jail life they must expect and
cannot grumble at. Respect for the jail officials must
be exacted from them if they will not give it voluntarily
and gracefully.
But discipline must not take the form of humilia¬
tion. Discomfort must not be torture, and respect
must not take the form of crawling on one’s belly.
And therefore, on pain of being put in irons, in soli¬
tary confinement or being shot, non-co-operating
prisoners must decline even in the name of discipline,
to stand naked before the jailor, must decline in the
name of discomfort to wear stinking clothes, or to
eat food that is unclean or indigestible, and must
similarly decline, even in the name of respect, to
open out their palms or to sit in a crouching position
or ■ to shout Sarkar Ek Hai or Sarkar Salam when a
jail official is passing. And if the Government is
now intent upon putting us through the fire in the
jails and subject us to physical pains in order to
bend us, we must respectfully decline to be humiliated
and must fall back upon God to give us strength to
withstand studied humiliation and to suffer physical
tortures instead. Let the proud Brothers and their
 IN THE NAME OF DISCIPLINE 43

comrades purify the Karachi Jail. Let the proud

Sindhi Professor Kripalani sanctify the Banaras prison,
for I understand that Professor Kripalani and his
pupils who are undergoing imprisonment in Banaras
have found it impossible to countenance the un¬
utterable humiliations that those non-co-operators who
have been brought to the Banaras Jail have been sub¬
jected to. It passes comprehension that in the United
Provinces where the treatment of political prisoners is
supposed to be ideal, whilst it is certainly all that could
be desired in Agra and Lucknow, that in Banaras
and elsewhere it should be otherwise. Does it mean
that the local officials are out of control and disre¬
gard orders from headquarters and have become a law
unto themselves? Let the public imagine from these
incidents what untold sufferings the criminals must be
undergoing in the jails of India. I am not inclined to
believe that political prisoners are alone specially
singled out for that treatment. On the contrary, I
believe that the real criminals are much worse treat¬
ed, for they are easily cowed down in jails, and jailors
and warders being almost irresponsible, become
despotic and subject criminals to heartless treatment.
We, who have in our ignorance or selfishness hither¬
to supported a system of Government under which a
microscopic minority has brought under subjection
millions of human beings, will have to answer before our
Maker for many a crime against humanity committed
nominally in the name of law and order, but really in
the interest of this minority—crimes that have never seen
the light of the day and of which we could not have
even heard but for the immolation of non-co-operators.
In the face of the humiliation sought to be im¬
posed upon the prisoners, it seems petty to have to
44 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

criticize the meanness of authorities in Karachi in

withholding from Maulana Mahomed Ali even the
diet prescribed by the jail doctor and necessitated by
the disease which the Maulana is suffering from. I
am really hoping that the information about the refu¬
sal to supply the Maulana with cheese or enough
groundnuts is not correct, and that there is a reason¬
able explanation for it.
But be the treatment what it may, the course
before those who are not in prison is clear. We must
not be irritated into taking a false or hasty step. We
are dealing with a system that is rotten to the core
and that has debased humanity whether English or
Indian. We are really dealing with a disease. I
refuse to think that either Englishmen or Indians
are fiends by deliberation. On the contrary, I am
confident that they do not know what they are do¬
ing. It is certain that they do not think that they
are doing anything wrong and it is highly probable
that many of them even consider that terrorism is a
part of humane treatment in given circmstances, even
as many of us in our impatience do things in ordinary
relations which we cannot justify except under the
plausible plea of necessity.
Since writing the foregoing I have received the
further news that the Brothers have refused to be
voluntarily searched, that search was forcibly made,
that they were ‘punished in cells5 (meaning, I pre¬
sume, solitary confinement) and that men in charge
were behaving in an ungentlemanly manner. I
should be extremely sorry to find all this to be true.
There was reason to believe that the Government
attitude towards known public men in the prisons
would be perfectly gentlemanly and that they
 IN THE NAME OF DISCIPLINE 45

would not be subjected to any indignities. If the

reported ill-treatment of the Ali Brothers proves to
be true, the Government will have themselves to thank
if the agitation against them reaches white heat.
It is evident that God wants non-co-operators to
be tried through and through. I know that the Bro¬
thers are brave enough to stand the fiery ordeal and
.come out scatheless. All the Karachi prisoners are
picked men, well able to take care of themselves. The
public will nevertheless feel keenly the indignities
that are being heaped upon the Brothers, Dr. Kitchlu,
Pir Gulam Mujadid and their companions. Not¬
withstanding all this senseless irritation and provoca¬
tion we must be self-restrained. Our final salvation
lies in the strictest adherence to our pledge. If we feel
keenly let us be still more non-violent, not less so;
let us further concentrate on civil disobedience, let
us lose no time in fulfilling the conditions necessary
for civil disobedience. Let Hindus, Musalmans and
other races come still closer, let us rid ourselves of the
remnants of foreign cloth still in our possession, let us
bestir ourselves to manufacture more handspun
Khadi. Our progress depends upon calmly fulfilling
the programme mapped out by ourselves and not wast¬
ing a single minute in idle fretting and fuming. Let
us not worry about the ill-treatment of those who are
in jail. The Government have made no terms with
us as to treatment. We have unconditionally sur¬
rendered our bodies to them even to be hacked to
pieces without a quiver if God will give us the strength.
We must not lose temper on any account.
Young India9-2-’22, p. 81 at p. 82
46 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

II
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the title “The Ali
Brothers” and “Sabarmati Prisoners”)

Much information has been received during the

week about the Brothers. I have seen too, the con¬
tradiction bv the Government. Moreover, the Brothers
and Dr. Kitchlu were produced in the balcony of
the jail to an impatient and angry crowd that had
heard all kinds of ugly rumours including the re¬
ported death of one of the Brothers. If the Magistrate’s
version is strictly correct, the reports from Karachi
are exaggerated. But after the production by the
authorities of Mr. Mahadev Desai’s certificate of
character, although they knew that Mr. Desai had
suffered grievously before the certificate, I discount
the Magistrate’s half contradiction. It is at the same
time true that there has been inaccuracy in the Karachi
reports. We now see that they have not been as
inhumanly treated as the reports would lead one to
believe. But the authorities are themselves to blame
if they would observe needless secrecy about jail treat¬
ment and will not permit relatives to meet them.
Surely if they have nothing to hide, they should not
hesitate to permit relatives of prisoners to see them,
not as a privilege, not for the prisoners’ sake, but for
their own sake when the anxious relatives suspect
treatment worse than the authorities are prepared to
admit.
Take for instance the Sabarmati prisoners. I
understand that the information given by me last
week is quite accurate and that the ill-treatment refers
not merely to Air. Jairamdas but to Maulana Hassan
Ahmed and two Dharwar prisoners who are in the
 IN THE NAME OF DISCIPLINE 47

same jail. The Maulana and one of the Dharwar

prisoners Mr. Dabhade are old men near sixty. To
punish them in the manner they are being punished
for their objection to be searched, is surely inhuman
and cannot be justified even in the interest of daw
and order5 about which the Government betray such
feverish anxiety. Here is an extract from my corres¬
pondent’s letter:
“Mr. Jairamdas has grown thinner. He was allowed
to read The Times of India and the Sindh Observer by the Ins¬
pector-General of Prisons, but the Bombay Government by
an order has stopped the papers. The Inspector-General
had allowed him to get books from outside and allowed the
use of lamp up to 10 p.m. but the higher authorities have
prohibited these too. Recent Government orders are that
no concessions be shown to political prisoners and the rule
of daily search be put into force in their case. Maulana
Hassan Ahmed and two other prisoners have also refused to
be seached, so they were all punished with handcuffs at
night. This was for three nights. Other punishments were
to follow if they did not submit. It would be no surprise
if whipping also is resorted to. Owing to handcuffs they
cannot get proper sleep and cannot answer calls of nature
during night. During the daytime they are put to work.
Maulana Hassan Ahmed cannot say his prayers owing to
A

handcuffs which are put on from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Mr. Jai¬

ramdas was allowed shoes in the beginning. This has been
disallowed.”

Let the Government deny these serious allegations

if they dare.
Young India, 16-2-’22, p. 97
 18
A SATYAGPvAHFS CONDUCT IN JAIL
(Originally appeared in the columns of “To Correspondents”)

As non-co-operators we must work in the gaols,

for we do not non-co-operate with gaols as such.
We submit to the court’s discipline when we are dragged
to the courts. Civil disobedience by its very nature
requires us to yield complete obedience to gaol re¬
gulations, for as civil resisters we invite imprisonment
and therefore are bound to suffer the rigours of dis¬
cipline. But we can civilly resist such regulations as
are not only irksome or hard to bear but are humiliat¬
ing or specially designed to degrade non-co-operators.
Our self-respect demands willing obedience to gaol
discipline. The same self-respect may require resis¬
tance to misbehaviour euphemistically called discipline.
For instance, we would refuse to draw lines with our
noses whether within or without gaols.
Young India, 17-11-’21, p. 374

19
WORK IN GAOLS

An esteemed friend asked me whether now that

the Government have provided an opportunity for
hundreds to find themselves imprisoned and as thou¬
sands are responding, will it not be better for the prison¬
ers to refuse to do any work in the gaols at all? I am
afraid that suggestion comes from a misapprehension
of the moral position. We are not out to abolish gaols
as an institution. Even under Swaraj we would have
our gaols. Our civil disobedience therefore must not
48
 WORK IN GAOLS 49

be carried beyond the point of breaking the unmoral

laws of the country. Breach of the laws to be civil
assumes the strictest and willing obedience to the
gaol discipline because disobedience of a particular
rule assumes a willing acceptance of the sanction
provided for its breach. And immediately a person
quarrels both with the rule and the sanction for its
breach, he ceases to be civil and lends himself to the
precipitation of chaos and anarchy. A civil resister
is, if one may be permitted such a claim for him, a
philanthropist and a friend of the State. An anar¬
chist is an enemy of the State and is therefore a mis¬
anthrope. I have permitted myself to use the language
of war because the so-called constitutional method has
become so utterly ineffective. But I hold the opinion
firmly that civil disobedience is the purest type of
constitutional agitation. Of course it becomes de¬
grading and despicable if its civil, i.e. non-violent
character is a mere camouflage. If the honesty of
non-violence be admitted, there is no warrant for
condemnation even of the fiercest disobedience, be¬
cause of the likelihood of its leading to violence. No
big or swift movement can be carried on without bold
risks and life will not be worth living if it is not attended
with large risks. Does not the history of the world show
that there would have been no romance in life if there
had been no risks ? It is the clearest proof of a degene¬
rate atmosphere that one finds respectable people,
leaders of society raising their hands in horror and
indignation at the slightest approach of danger or
upon an outbreak of any violent commotion. We do
want to drive out the beast in man, but we do not
want on that account to emasculate him. And in
the process of finding his own status, the beast in him
S.-4
50 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

is bound now and again to put up his ugly appearance.

As I have often stated in these pages, what strikes me
down is not the sight of blood under every conceivable
circumstance. It is blood split by the non-co-operator
or his supporters in breach of his declared pledge,
which paralyzes me as I know it ought to paralyze
every honest non-co-operator.
Therefore to revert to the original argument, as
civil resisters we are bound to guard against universal
indiscipline. Gaol discipline must be submitted to
until gaol Government itself becomes or is felt to be
corrupt and immoral. But deprivation of comfort,
imposition of restriction and such other inconveniences
do not make gaol Government corrupt. It becomes
that when prisoners are humiliated or treated with
inhumanity, as when they are kept in filthy dens or
are given food unfit for human consumption. Indeed,
I hope that the conduct of non-co-operators in the gaol
will be strictly correct, dignified and yet submissive.
We must not regard gaolers and warders as our ene¬
mies but as fellow human beings not utterly devoid of
the human touch. Our gentlemanly behaviour is
bound to disarm all suspicion or bitterness. I know that
this path of discipline on the one hand and the fierce
defiance on the other is a very difficult path, but there
is no royal road to Swaraj, The country has deliberate¬
ly chosen the narrow and the straight path. Like a
straight line it is the shortest distance. But even as
you require a steady and experienced hand to draw a
straight line, so are steadiness of discipline and firmness
of purpose absolutely necessary, if we are to walk
along the chosen path with an unerring step.
I am painfully conscious of the fact that it is not
going to be a bed of roses for any of the civil resisters.
 ISOLATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS 51

And my head reels and the heart throbs when I recall

the lives of Motilal Nehru and G. R. Das in their
palatial rooms surrounded by numerous willing at¬
tendants and by every comfort and convenience that
money can buy and when I think of what is in store
for them inside the cold unattractive prison walls where
they will have to listen to the clanking of the prisoner’s
chains in the place of the sweet music of their drawing
rooms. But I steel my heart with the thought that it
is the sacrifice of just such heroes that will usher in
Swaraj. The noblest of South Africans, Canadians,
Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans have had to undergo
much greater sacrifices than we have mapped out for
ourselves.
Young India, 15-12-’21, p. 419

20
ISOLATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
(Originally appeared under the title “Jaipur Prisoners”)

The Jaipur Darbar communique on the treatment

of Sheth Jamnalal Bajaj and the other prisoners reads
like a laboured defence of the status quo. The question
about Sheth Jamnalalji is simple. It is admitted
that he is locked up in an out of the way place where
the water is said to be cheavy’ according to the Indian
notion. It is admitted that the place is difficult of
access. He has been given no companion. Why
this isolation? Is he a dangerous character? Is he
an intriguer ? One can understand detention as he chose
to defy the ban on his entry into his own birthplace.
The authorities know that Shethji is an ideal
prisoner. He believes in meticulous observance of
52 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

jail discipline. It is cruel to isolate him as he has

been isolated from the'outside world. The greatest
want of prisoners is the companionship of their equals
in thought, manners and customs. I suggest that with¬
out much ado he be transferred to a place which is
easily accessible and healthy and where he is allowed
company.
The special pleading with reference to the Satya-
grahi prisoners in Lamba is much worse. They admit
that the place selected for their incarceration is an
old snake-infested fort. But they point out that in¬
spite of the place being snake-infested no one has yet
been bitten by the reptiles! Must the Jaipur Durbar’s
conscience wait for snakebites before it is stined to
action? It should be remembered that these prisoners
were transferred to Lamba because they had the
presumptuousness to hunger-strike for better treat¬
ment. The strike would have continued but for my
intervention.
. And I suggest to the Jaipur Durbar that
they are going the wrong way by keeping them locked
up even though their Satyagraha has been suspended.
In any case what I must call the inhuman treatment
of the prisoners, including Sheth Jamnalalji, might
surely stop at once.
Harijan, 6-5-’36, p. 112
 21
FLOGGING IN PRISONS
(The following is the translation of a letter received
from Mr. Mahadev Desai on his way to the Agra
Jail. It is possible that the posting of the letter is a
breach of jail discipline. I hate any breach of dis¬
cipline but in this instance I have no choice. Duty
compels me to publish the letter as it has compelled
Mr. Desai to post the letter. I do not mind Mahadev
Desai being rewarded with flogging for the indiscipline
which is certainly more mischievous than the refusal
to wear lousy clothes or the innocent shouts of Jays.
—M.K.G.) ■
Near Etawa,
En route to Agra,
Dated 10th morning
I feel like one who has long been pent up in a
dark and ill-ventilated cell and who all at once finds
himself inhaling deep draughts of the fresh air of
heaven. You can easily imagine what longing I must
have had to write to you, I who was in the habit of
writing to you almost daily and of thus easing the
many troubles of my mind. We are permitted to
write one letter in a. fortnight; the letter again must be
in English and must be forwarded through the Superin¬
tendent. How then could I hope to tell you every¬
thing that was happening behind the prison walls?
But yesternight we were set free, at least till we reached
Agra. And this morning we are on our way thereto.
Yesternight 39 of us started from Naini in a prison
van comprising four barred compartments each being
3 cubits long and 5 broad. The bars were apparently
53
54 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

not considered to be an adequate safeguard; for the

prison van has no doors and no windows. Only
there are crooked holes one inch broad by the side of
the carriage for the passage of air. I asked the
Sergeant who escorts us whether there was any inten¬
tion of repeating the Moplah tragedy. The poor fellow
naively replied that there was no fear as it was
winter and that it would have been intolerable had it
been summer. Besides the four prisoners’ compart¬
ments, there was a fifth which was like ordinary third
class and was meant for our friends, the guard.
Should they not have sufficient light and air to be
able to keep us in a suffocated condition?
Devadas and Durga (Mrs. Desai) were at Allaha¬
bad Station to see us. They could not have a view
of our faces, but they stood outside near the place
where I was, and we could have a hearty talk. From
this prison van I could inform Devadas of the many
horrors about which I had been unable to tell him
anything in the jail; for the police who escort us do
not act as jailers. So some of the things in this letter
will have already appeared in Devadas’ Independent
before this reaches you.
We had had hardly a wink of sleep from about
one or two o’clock, when at four we were roused at
Kanpur. The Sergeant said, ‘Desai, Govind and
Krishnakant Malaviya, Shahsaheb and two others,
follow me. We shall seat you elsewhere so that there
might be more room here.’ I could not understand
how this selection was made, but it looked like segre¬
gation and so I said that any seven of us would come
but not the seven that were named. The Sergeant
replied that only those whom he named must come as
he did not know the rest and therefore could not take
 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 55

the risk of seating any of them in an ordinary compart¬

ment. As ‘political5 prisoners some of us had our own
clothes on; with the exception of these three or four
the rest were in jail dress and in irons, so that our
shame (even as it was) was boundless. To it was now
added the insult of being considered more ‘trustworthy5
than the rest. I thought that three out of the seven
would be ordinary prisoners, and that with the aid
of light I would have an opportunity of writing to you,
an opportunity not lightly to be allowed to slip as I
could not hope to have it anywhere else; and so we
came out. I am writing this in an ordinary third
class compartment. Seven policemen are mounting
guard over us seven!
But I must cut this story short, as there is little
time and much to write. How can I give you an idea
of the perplexities we have suffered on account of your
injunction that we should obey ail orders in jail? Every
moment we are troubled by doubts as to what to obey
and what not to obey, as always the sun sets on novel
experiences and on various oppressions. So I am not
at all certain as to the propriety of my conduct on
every occasion when I have been anxious to obey.
I am not going to detail here all the experiences
in jail. That would take many letters like this, and
this is hardly the time for it. I am going to give such
select information as I think ought to be placed before
the public.
I was taken to Naini Jail on the 24th and was
at once taken in the presence of the Superintendent,
who said angrily, ‘Look here, you may be a non-co¬
operator or anything you please but here you are a
prisoner like all others and will be treated accordingly.
You will tire of your life out here but I cannot help
56 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

it. We shall not trouble you so long as you do not

trouble us.5
This homily over, I was soon taken to my own
cell. I had previously resolved that I should accept
everything cheerfully including jail dress and irons.
So I put on jail dress as soon as it was given to me.
Fifteen members of the Provincial Committee had
arrived here a week before me, and their cell was
adjoining mine. I got the news, after I had changed
my dress, that one of them had refused to put on jail
dress and had consequently received a flogging. The
jail authorities were somewhat surprised to find that
I had accepted the change in dress without demur.
I was given a rough woollen coat worn almost thread¬
bare by long use, a shirt worn out by some prisoner
of twice my size and emitting horrible stink, an equally
dirty pair of shorts and loincloth along with two
blankets as bedding. In a few minutes I felt an
itching sensation, and an inspection at one or two
places resulted in the find of a pretty big louse. It
was difficult to say whether the vermin lived in the
blanket or the shirt, but as there was fairly bitter cold,
I had to choose between lice and offensive smell. I
elected against the smell, placed the coat as a pillow,
put away the shirt, and decided to pass the night under
the sole protection of the blanket. I had thought that
as I was dead tired I would sleep soundly. But the
lice in the blanket never ceased troubling me. My
friends in the adjoining cell gave me from their place
an account of the misbehaviour of the jailer and the
Superintendent. One of them was flogged for the
grave offence of not standing up and pushing his hand
out through the bars when the jailer arrived! Another
suffered the same punishment for refusing to wear
 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 57
dirty clothes! Add to the stings of lice the noisy
cries rending the heavens with which prisoners were
counted every quarter of an hour from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
and you can understand that I got hardly any sleep.
But I knew that sheer physical necessity would induce
sleep on the following days, no matter if I was unable
to sleep on the first.
I took no food in the eveniug as I did not feel
inclined. I was given a large iron bowl for eating
and drinking. In spite of all the scrubbing I could
give it, I found in the morning that the water in it had
turned blood-red with rust. We were taken out thrice
in the day for drinking water and for natural purposes.
There was a paved reservoir from which all of us
were to have our water by putting our bowl into it.
Filtering the water was out of the question as we
were not provided with any extra piece of cloth.
(At this point the sergeant sees me writing and
gives me notice that I should not pass any of my
writing to my friends. So I must be brief.)
For bathing purposes there was a long paved
channel joining with the reservoir mentioned above.
We were all to sit in it and bathe. As for food, we
were given dalia (a porridge of pounded wheat) in
the morning, wheat bread and dal at noon and the
same bread and a vegetable in the evening. What
shall I say as to how I liked this appetizing menu?
The other prisoners were taking it all right and so I
can hardly describe it as falling within your definition
of food unfit for human consumption.
But let me now come to other matters. There is
a rule that a newly arrived prisoner is only confined and
not given any work for the first ten days of his term.
So my friends of the Provincial Committee and myself,
58 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

having no work, were given books which we read,

heard the bitter language of the jailer and the
Superintendent in the mornings and saw prisoners
striking and abusing one another. The second day I
requested the Superintendent to give us spinning wheels
or let us have them from our homes. He replied that
wheels were given to women and that Government
who spent 10 ruppes on each prisoner had somehow
to manage to raise a like amount out of his labour,
and that therefore grinding was given to him. I said
that if the Government had commonsense, they could
earn 500 rupees out of our work. He angrily asked if
he was to get us to write articles.
In answer to my companions the Superintendent
said, ‘Owing to you disloyal people having arrived,
I could not get my leave for ten days sanctioned. We
have to suffer much on account of you. You must
behave properly. Do not think I am alone. I have
fifty millions of people behind me.5 (referring to the
population of England).
This went on for a few days. The ten days5
period of the Provincial Committee people was soon
over, and they were made to wear an iron neck-ring
and a wooden tablet showing the Section against which
they had offended and the term of the sentence of
imprisonment. They already had irons on their feet.
The same day they lost their lousy clothes and got
new ones. My clothes were still the same but I had
remained bare-bodied for two days and washed them
thoroughly with earth. Thus the stink had disappeared
and my friends had combined for one or two days to
pick out the lice from my blankets in the sunshine.
When the friends left I felt somewhat lonely and
so gradually grew very friendly with the other prisoners
 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 59

—some of them clacoits. An old man with a term of

seven years’ imprisonment came near my cell and sat
near the door. I read the Ramayana to him and he
expounded it. He was a man of much common sense
and knowledge. He had the Ramayana by heart.
Then we recited bhajans and many prisoners began to
sit near my cell. Prisoners here are finely divided
into two classes, national and Government prisoners,
i.e. ordinary prisoners and political. The politicals
are gratefully admired and served by the others.
While my new friendships were thus flourishing,
I had heard that the Provincial friends had been
given hard labour. Eleven had to grind fifteen seers
of corn every day, and the deputy jailer had ordered the
convict warder to harass them in all possible ways in
order that they might weaken and apologize. One
or two of these poor men fell ill in two days. All had
warts on their palms but had in three or four days
progressed up to about nine seers, when I received
the news that the Government had directed that I
should be treated as a political prisoner. I was sorry
for this. While my friends were given hard labour,
I was denied the privilege of spiritual elevation through
physical suffering. My own clothes, in which I had
arrived in jail and in which I was furbished up
for the day when Devadas and Durga were to see me
in order that she might not take fright at the convict’s
dress, were returned to me, but the ‘Gandhi cap’ was
withheld. I asked the Superintendent what it was.
He could not explain anything beyond saying that it
was like the one I wore and that I would not be allowed
to wear it. I might change the shape, he added, or
wear a fez like Sherwani’s. I laughed and said, that
I would do neither. ‘Then you must go bareheaded’,
60 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

he said. I agreed. I had thought of refusing to take

the other ordinary clothes, but then I remembered
your ‘Model Prisoner’ and quietly submitted.
I passed my first day as a political prisoner in
great trouble. But the next day I was at ease, as I
realized that even so there was an opportunity of
suffering. Some of my friends described their personal
experience. There is a young man named Kailasnath
still in his teens, the son of a well-known pleader of
Kanpur and a political prisoner. Being religiously
minded, he takes food after bath, worship and the
application of sandal paint etc. to the forehead. The
jailer had admitted sandal and other things for him,
but when one day he saw the sandal mark, he ordered
Kailasnath to rub it out. The young man obeyed
but refused to take food. And so the jailer arrived
on the scene and threatened punishment, but Kailas¬
nath persisted in his refusal all the same. For this he
received filthy abuse, was severely flogged with a
wooden cudgel and kicked with boots. His utensils
were dashed to the ground. The hero responsible for
this is Hamilton, an Englishman who has been pro¬
moted to jailership for his services during the war. This
incident got into the newspapers, though not in detail,
and there was an inquiry. The Inspector-General
visited the prison and told Kailasnath that he must
obey all orders. Apparently he took the jailer also to
task, as the latter came to Kailasnath and abused the
Inspector-General before him!
On hearing this, I could see that life even as a
political prisoner need not be uneventful. Meanwhile
the attitude of the jailer and the Superintendent to¬
wards me had changed and I had friendly conversations
with them about non-co-operation and other topics.
 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 61

I did not quite relish this development as I was afraid

that these officers might be trying to win me over as
a prelude to oppressing the rest.
The same evening I heard successive cries of
Gandhijiki Jay. In the morning I had read your
observations in Young India and wished I could com¬
municate them to the friends who had been given hard
labour. There was no means of doing so. The cry
started from one block and received responses from other
blocks one after another. To the Superintendent and
the jailer it looked like a mutiny. They ran up. One
of those fifteen friends was seized, and the warder fell
upon him like a wolf. The poor man was greeted
with foul abuse and flogged with lathis along with
an ironical order to repeat Gandhijiki Jay. After he had
received ten blows of a lathis one inch and a half in
diameter his magnificent frame tottered to the
ground and then he was beaten with fists etc.
The friend who thus suffered is Lakshminarayan
Sharma, a pious and inoffensive young man of
twenty-two who used to be the Secretary, Aligadh
Congress Committee. The other prisoners could not
bear the sight of this suffering and offered to retaliate
upon the warder. But Lakshminarayan prevented
them all and said it was their duty to suffer. The others
however were greatly enraged and continued the
cries of Gandhijiki Jay for which about fifty or sixty of
them were cruelly flogged. As if this were not enough,
the next morning all the prisoners were taken outside
including the Provincial Committee men, and in
the presence of all of them, two prisoners who were
suspects had their hands fastened with a stick and then
caned. The caning was so severe that the cries of the
sufferers could be heard in my cell at a distance of

l
62 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

two or three furlongs. When a prisoner swooned

after some blows, he was given rest; and as he revived,
the caning was continued. In this way two of them
received 23 cuts. It is worthy of remark that at each
cut the sufferer and his fellow prisoners sent up a
joint cry of Gandhijiki Jay in spite of the jailer and the
Superintendent, and these cries stopped only when the
authorities were tired of inflicting any more punish¬
ment. After this three or four were flogged with
sticks and fists. One of them suffered so severely that
there was an involuntary discharge of excreta and
urine. Two or three are in hospital. I was told that
prisoners had died in this jail before in consequence
of such oppression.
Having performed his ‘dirty job5 (Dyer’s phrase)
in this way, the jailer came to see me. I asked him
for an explanation of the trouble. He replied that
there might have been a big mutiny and that severe
punishment was necessary to prevent it. I told him
that be that as it might, I would fast and pray for the
day. He asked me why. I said I would pray not
only for my brethren who were no doubt in error but
those who despitefully used them. The jailer asked me
what was the value of prayer. The talk then turned
upon the Bible. I explained to him that Jesus and the
Bible were not the sole property of Christians like
himself but the joint estate of humanity at large. He
then appeared to melt somewhat. I said how good it
would be if I was permitted to read to the prisoners
Mr. Gandhi’s observations pertinent to their case and
I offered to meet all of them and talk to them about
our duty. But this was not at all acceptable to the
jailer. Only last evening he was saying to the priso¬
ners, ‘There is no victory to Gandhi here, the victory
 FLOGGING IN PRISONS 63

is to Government. So you must cry victory to Govern¬

ment.5 He was however abashed a little, said it was
no use crying over spilt milk and then left me.
After the jailer came the Superintendent. He
also tried to tease me saying ironically how obedient
my non-co-operator friends were. I was quiet and
only said that he at least was amused by the whole
affair. Then he told me I did not know the utility of
punishment. I replied I did not care to as there was a
world of difference between his mentality and mine,
and that he on his part had no appreciation of our
methods. He then expatiated upon the value of ‘force5
and said, ‘You Indians are unpractical visionaries.
We are practical. You only talk big.5 I was listening
quietly and contented myself with asking whether it
was I or he that was talking big. He said nothing more
and left me. Meanwhile I had obtained permission
to see Lakshminarayan, that friend who had been so
cruelly dealt with. I saw him. He showed me terrible
marks of the flogging upon his body. I told him we
were forbidden to cry Gandhijiki Jay and that I read
about it in the papers only the other day. On hearing
this the young man burst into tears and said at once
he must then tell the Superintendent that he had done
wrong. Thus he evidenced the incomparable tender¬
ness of his soul. But what does the enemy know or care
about our tenderness? So that we can only learn to
send forth like sandabwood greater fragrance, the
more roughly we are handled. I assure you after the
experiences that I have had that our people are mas¬
tering this lesson in some miraculous manner.
But now I must close. There is much to say but
I shall rest content if this much reaches you by post
for the present. We are not permitted to post letters
64 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

but how long should these facts be kept from the pub¬
lic? It is also a question to be considered how far we
should obey the order not to give out anything.
I have had no sleep last night, am thoroughly
fatigued and must seize an early opportunity of posting
this. I will write in English if possible, but perhaps
there may be no time.
We are all on our way to Agra, 39 in all including
the members of the Provincial Committee and some
Allahabad volunteers. Since he received^ the orders
of removal, the Superintendent was kindness itself to
us. He must have heaved a sigh of relief at our depar¬
ture as of some great trouble. On the last day he said,
‘You are an awful nuisance. I should get an allowance
of Rs. fifty for each one of you.5 We are being remov¬
ed, for the fear that we might influence the prison
population and bring them to a knowledge of their
slavery and ignorance.
But now we are reaching a station. And so I close.
'You. . . (the sentence abruptly ends here).
Young India, 19-l-’22, p. 45
 22
A HARD-LABOUR PRISONER
(Originally appeared in “Notes” under the title “Pragji Desai”)

On learning that Mr. Pragji Desai, who as the

Editor of the Navayuga of Surat, was the other day
sentenced to two years5 imprisonment with hard
labour, was wasting and was not getting proper food,
I wrote to the Inspector-General of Prisons inquiring
about Mr. Desai’s condition. The following was his
reply:
“I have enquired into the allegations regarding Mr.
P. K. Desai.
(1) It is true that his weight has fallen from 138 lbs.
on admission to 128 lbs. now. But as he is unduly obese
this can hardly be regarded as a ground for complaint. He
is still 17 lbs. above the normal weight of a man of his height.
(2) He is not isolated from the rest of the prisoners. A
convict night watchman is always with him and they work
together. He is also within sight of other prisoners.
(3) The Superintendent denies that the vegetables
given to any prisoner are as a rule grassy and uneatable.
Considering that there is a large and excellent garden at
Hyderabad Prison there is no reason why this should be so.
(4) He was sentenced to rigorous (not simple) imprison¬
ment and therefore cannot be allowed to choose the work
on which he shall be employed in jail.
(5) The Medical Officer of the Hyderabad Central
Prison is at present an Indian Officer of the I.M.S. who can
be entirely trusted suitably to regulate the diet of all prisoners
according to the requirements of their health and constitution.
He reports that Mr. Desai does not look weak or debilitated.

65
S.-5
66 stonewalls do not a prison make

In conclusion I may say that I inspected Hyderabad

Prison three weeks ago and on that occasion saw Mr. Desai.
He did not complain to me of any of the matters mentioned
by you. His only request was that he should be transferred,
as the climate of Hyderabad did not agree with him. As
there was no reason for thinking that such was the case, I
did not consider it necessary to take any action.”
It is quite true that Mr. Desai made no com¬
plaint. He did not because he thought he should not
complain against officials who were all Indians. He
wanted to put up with the inconvenience. I knew
that Mr. Desai was a hard-labour prisoner, but even
a hard-labour prisoner may ask for the kind of labour
for which he is best fitted. I have the pleasure of
knowing well the present Inspector-General of Pri¬
sons, for he was the Superintendent during the last
month of my imprisonment. He is strict, but he is
just and patient. I am therefore hoping that Mr. Desai
will not be allowed to undergo unnecessary suffering.
Young India, 4-12-’24, p. 395 at p. 396

23
LACK OF REGARD FOR RELIGIOUS
SENTIMENTS
(Originally appeared under the title “In Hazaribag Jail”)

To,
The Editor,
Young India
Sir,

On 17-2-522, the Jail Superintendent, Major

Cook and Mr. Meek, the Jailer of the local Central
 DISREGARD FOR OTHER RELIGIONS 67

Jail, went to see Shah Abutorab Wazi Ahmed, B.A.,

B.L., Vakil of the High Court, who is a political
(non-co-operator) prisoner and who has been trans¬
ferred here from the Buxar Central Jail. At that
time the said Maulvi Saheb who was engaged in
reading his Koran was asked by the Superintendent to
stand up; but as he was busy in reading his Koran
he could not do so and hinted by raising his hand to
wait, whereon the Jailer shouted out something in
English and kicked the Koran and forcibly lifted up
the aforesaid Maulvi Saheb and shook him physically
and took away the Koran. This created a great deal of
sensation and unrest among the other political priso¬
ners in the jail who made some sort of protest. The
public of this town has been greatly alarmed and
shocked to hear all these incidents. So much so, that
on Friday last the Musalmans of this place held
a meeting in the mosque protesting against this
sacrilegious act of the Jailer in kicking the Koran
and brutally treating the Maulvi Saheb during his
religious devotion.
On 18-2-22, Mr. A. W. Jones, Deputy Magistrate
of Hazaribag, went to the jail hospital along with the
Superintendent and the Jailer and there examined
the aforesaid Maulvi Saheb, Babu Ram Narain Singh,
B.L., a non-co-operator political prisoner, Babu
Chittaranjan Guha Thakurta and Maulvi Md. Fasi-
uddin prisoners and they all corroborated the fact of
kicking the Koran by the Jailer. After that, Doctor,
Babu and Head Warder were examined and they
denied all knowledge of the fact. After this the Superin¬
tendent ordered that the aforesaid Maulvi Saheb
Abutorab B.L., Babu Chittaranjan Guha Thakurta
and Md. Fasiuddin be given 15 stripes each
68 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

and they were taken to the place for being flogged

and the aforesaid Maulvi Saheb Abutorab, B.L., was
fastened to the triangular post whereon Mr. Wardi
Jones, D.M. asked to wait as he had not examined the
orderly. Then orderly warder Ramsagar Ram was
examined who fully corroborated the fact that the
Jailer# kicked the Koran whereon the Deputy Magis¬
trate stopped the flogging.
On 23-2-’22 the Deputy Commissioner of Hazari-
bag went to the Central Jail and dismissed the afore¬
said warder.
Hazaribag,
21 2-22
-

I am, etc.,
Rameshwar Prasad
Secretary,
District Congress Committee

(If the statement made by the correspondent is

correct, it betrays a lamentable lack of regard even
for the most precious religious sentiments of the
people.—M. K. G.)
Young India, 16-3-’22, p. 159
 24
THE KORAN TAKEN AWAY
(From “Notes”)

The Secretary of the District Khilafat Com¬

mittee, Mirpurkhas writes to say that Maulvi
Abdul Karim Saheb who was recently convicted and
is serving imprisonment in the Hyderabad Jail has
been deprived of the Koran. Is it because the Maulvi
is comparatively unknown that the Koran has been
taken away from him and not from the disting¬
uished prisoners of Karachi ? It is this kind of thought¬
less and unnecessary persecution that breeds ill-will
which it is difficult to check. No one minds a fair
fight, but the deprivation of his religious book from a
prisoner is the extreme of meanness.
Young India, 17-11 -921, p. 367 at p. 375

25
A ONE-SIDED INQUIRY

I had hoped that I would not have to say any¬

thing on Justice Nageshvara Iyer’s report into the
allegations of ill-treatment of Satyagrahi prisoners
in Mysore. But the press criticism of the action of the
State Congress in abstaining from participation in
the inquiry demands an explanation from me. If it was
wrong for the State Congress not to participate in the
inquiry, the blame was mine. The inquiry was a
result of Mahadev Desai’s visit to Mysore at the
instance of the Dewan and the former’s confidential
69
70 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

report to me of which a copy was given to the Dewan.

Mahadev Desai had recommended an open judicial
inquiry presided over by a judge of known integrity
brought from outside. Instead there was only a de¬
partmental inquiry by a Mysore Judge. I have been
for some time guiding the Mysore Congress, and the
Congress acted upon my advice in not leading evi¬
dence before a Mysore Judge who could not, I felt,
be wholly impartial in judging the conduct of offi¬
cials with whom he must have come in close official
contact. It was too much to expect an impartial
scrutiny by one who had risen to the rank of a judge
from being a Government official.
The allegations were of a most serious character,
and they were repeated in the presence of Mahadev
Desai and before officials occupying the positions of
Deputy Commissioner, District Superintendent of
Police, Superintendent of Jail and so on. Those who
made the allegations were volunteers, not criminals,
and a few of them held high social positions. It is
impossible to treat them as liars, as the report seems
to have done.
I am not yet in possession of the Judge’s report.
What I have before me is a highly tendencious sum¬
mary of the report published by Government, inter¬
spersed by Government’s own statements of certain
happenings and Justice Nageshvara Iyer’s comments
on them in his report. It passes comprehension that
the inquiry was continued when the complainants
refused to appear before the officer. The Judge
should have dismissed the case for want of evidence.
How he could have arrived at definite conclusions in
the absence of material evidence it is difficult to say.
The Judge admits that “most of the persons who made
 A ONE-SIDED INQUIRY 71
accusations of assault and torture did not attempt to
establish those charges55, but that he “had a large
volume of oral and documentary evidence55 adduced
before him. What this “documentary55 evidence was
we do not know. The oral evidence was of people who
had nothing to do with the inquiry but were dragged
by the police before the Judge to prove the Govern¬
ment case. The Judge says he has based his conclu¬
sions “on such materials and proved probabilities55.
This is hardly the language of a judge. No judge of
integrity and impartiality would have cared to go
into the extraneous evidence that Justice Nageshvara
Iyer went into, and made uncalled for animadversions
against Satyagrahis for refusal to give evidence before
him, when he knew that their reason in doing so was
that they questioned the competence, independence
and impartiality of the Judge. Two paragraphs in the
Communique are devoted to proving that the lead¬
ers of the movement adopted questionable methods of
sending out surreptitious letters from jails. What
this has to do with the allegations of torture one is at a
loss to know. It would thus appear that, far from
the inquiry being into any allegations by Congress¬
men, it became an inquiry into allegations by Gov¬
ernment officials which the Judge has supported with¬
out giving those against whom the allegations were
made an opportunity to rebut them.
My point, however, in referring to the unfortu¬
nate inquiry is that the Mysore Congress acted under
my advice. The Judge’s biassed finding confirms me
in the soundness of the opinion I gave them. As
Satyagrahis, the members of the Mysore Congress
were not interested in the guilty parties being con¬
demned. They were interested in the truth being
72 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

known. The golden lid of the one-sided inquiry covers

the truth. But they should have the truth that the
lid will be lifted one day and the truth will be found.
The exoneration of the officials may result in the
hardening of their hearts and greater maltreatment
of the prisoners than before. If such is the case, the
prisoners should rejoice in their sufferings and know
that, if they bear them without malice, they will bring
the local Congress nearer its goal.
Sevagram, 7-5-’40
Harijan, 11 -5-540, p. 121

26
HUNGER-STRIKE
I
(From “Notes”)

I cannot sufficiently warn non-co-operation

prisoners against the danger of hastily embarking
upon hunger-strikes in their prisons. It cannot be
justified as a means for removing irksome gaol res¬
trictions. For a gaol is nothing if it does not impose
upon us restrictions which we will not submit to in
ordinary life. A hunger-strike would be justified when
inhumanity is practised, or food issued which offends
one’s religious sense or which is unfit for human
consumption. It should be rejected when it is offered
in an insulting manner. In other words, it should be
rejected when acceptance would prove us to be slaves
of hunger.
Young India, 3-ll-’21, p. 345
 HUNGER-STRIKE 73

II
(Originally appeared under the title “To Bengal Prisoners”)

The hunger-striking prisoners of Bum Dum

Jail have sent me some questions through Shri Maha-
dev Desai. It will serve the cause better if I give a
public answer. I am sorry that I can fix no date for
their release nor give any other undertaking. I would
if I had the power. The only power I have is to plead
their cause with all the force at my command. But
they give me no chance whatever by continuing their
hunger-strike. In so far as it was intended to rouse
public attention it has served its purpose. Any prolon¬
gation of the fast will now defeat that purpose. There
are many who would work actively for their release
if the strike is given up. I do feel very strorigly that
this fast is not justified. The strikers are giving a bad
lead to those who are similarly situated. Such hunger-
strikers, if they are largely copied, will break all disci¬
pline to pieces and make orderly government im¬
possible. 'The prisoners5 cause is essentially just, but
they are weakening it by their persistence. I would
ask them to live and listen to the advice of one who
claims to be an expert in fasting and who claims to
know the science of political prisonership. Let them
not hamper one whom they consider to be their best
advocate. I make bold to say that had the fates not
been against them and me, they would certainly have
been discharged before 13th April last. But I do not
propose to go into the past. Suffice it to add chat
their refusal to give up the strike will embarrass the
Working Committee in whatever effort it might wish
to make to secure their release.
Harijan, 5-8-’39, p. 224
74 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

III
Hunger-strike has positively become a plague.
On the slightest pretext some people want to resort
to hunger-strikes. It is well, therefore, that the Work¬
ing Committee has condemned the practice in un¬
equivocal terms, so far at least as hunger-strike for
discharge from imprisonment is concerned. The
Committee should have gone further and condemned
also the practice of forcible feeding. I regard forcible
feeding as an undue liberty with the human body
which is too sacred to be trifled with, even though it
belongs to a prisoner. No doubt the State has control
over the bodies of its prisoners -but never to the extent
of killing their soul. That control has well-defined
limits. If a prisoner decides to starve himself to
death, he should, in my opinion, be allowed to do
so. A hunger-strike loses its force and dignity, when it
has any, if the striker is forcibly fed. It becomes a
mockery if somehow or other sufficient nourishment
is poured down the throat, whether through the
mouth or the nose. Of course, the mind instinctively
revolts against feeding through the nose. But I
understand that after a few days’ practice the process
ceases to offend the subject himself. Where a prisoner
offers violent resistance the matter becomes difficult.
But cases of such resistance are rare. It is not possible
to keep up effective resistance for any length of time.
A determined resister will of course die at the very
first attempt and thus frustrate it. But such resis¬
tance requires great daring and reckless defiance of
death. In any case it is my firm conviction that the
method of forcible feeding should be abandoned
as a relic of barbarism. I know that some prisoners
welcome forcible feeding for the empty glorv of being
 HUNGER-STRIKE 75

regarded as hunger-strikers. Jailers have often told

me that such prisoners would deplore stoppage of
forcible feeding. I am told that under the existing
law, jail authorities are bound to resort to forcible
feeding if reasoning fails. I would recommend amend¬
ment of such legislation if any.
It is also worthy of consideration whether a
rule should not be passed by the Working Gommittee
making a public and political hunger-strike without
permission a breach of discipline. I do not like
restraint on the liberty of the individual except for his
own good and that of the society of which he is a mem¬
ber. Hunger-strike has, however, become such a
nuisance that it will be as well for the Working Gom¬
mittee to adopt measures to check it before it as¬
sumes dangerous proportions. A Working Gommittee
resolution in such matters means expression of consi¬
dered public opinion and is likely to prove a deterrent
against an abuse of the practice. It may never need
to be enforced.
Harijan, 19-8-’39, p. 240
 27
AN INGENIOUS SUGGESTION
(Originally appeared in columns of “Notes” under the above
title)

I have before me a letter from a Satyagrahi

prisoner who had over four years5 experience of pri¬
son life. On his discharge I asked him to give me his
experiences. In some respects his description is ori¬
ginal. Instead of telling me all about the tyranny of
the authorities and the hardships of jail life he has
given me the result of his own introspection. I cull
from his letter the following two paragraphs:
“Often I think that every student after he finishes his
studies should perforce be sent to jail for six months at least.
This, in my opinion, would do greater good to our boys than
the continental tour does to English boys. Voluntary tapasya
is very difficult these days, but we can have easily almost all
the fruits of tapasya for our boys if we put them in jail just
before they enter life. During six months, shut out from
the world outside, they will be able to digest what they have
acquired in their schools and colleges and they will have some
quiet to think seriously what use they should make of their
attainments. It is not given to everybody outside the jail
to think seriously; most of us live from hand to mouth as regards
thought and action; our work is mostly based on impulse rather
than thought. Why not let each of us go every year to jail,
say for a month, and review the work done during the past
year and prospect work for the ensuing year?
Another aspect of the jail life that drew my special
attention was the way in which prisoners could live so cleanly,
so economically and so simply. But for corruption and the

76
 AN INGENIOUS SUGGESTION 77
forced nature of confinement in prisons, these institutions
could stand as models for our village and town-folk who have
to live on small wages.55
Though there is from my point of view much
left to be done in respect of sanitation in the prisons
of India, I can corroborate the description given by
my correspondent. Prison sanitation is certainly
superior to the sanitation of our villages. In fact it is
want of sanitation which one regretfully observes in
the villages, no matter in what part one visits them.
Similarly simplicity of the jail dietary is also com¬
mendable and if the middle classes were to simplify
their diet there will be an enormous saving in their
wealth and health.
The suggestion that the youth of the country
should pass some time in the jails before embarking
upon life and after finishing their scholastic career is
certainly attractive, but how is it to be carried out?
Unless a revival of civil disobedience gives the stu¬
dents a chance of seeking imprisonment the only way
for them to reproduce prison discipline is to bury
themselves for a season at least in distant villages
and there live the simple life of the village minus
their insanitation. They can become their own sca¬
vengers, as to an extent every prisoner must be.
Toung India, 18-3-’26, p. 99 at p. 104
 PART TWO : MY EXPERIENCES IN SOOTH
AFRICAN JAILS

[These prison experiences were originally written by Gandhiji

in Gujarati and we are indebted to the Modern Review for the
following English version. —Editor]

1
FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE

Inspection

When the different inspectors come to inspect,

all the prisoners have to post themselves in a row,
and take off their caps to salute them. As all of us had
English caps there was no difficulty in observing
this rule. It was both legal and proper that we
should take off our caps. The words of direction used
were “fall in”. These words had, so to speak, be¬
come our food, as we had to “fall in” four or five
times a day. One of these officers, an assistant to the
Chief Warder, was a little stiff-necked, and so the
Indians had nick-named him “General Smuts”.
Generally he was the first to come in the mornings,
and again in the evenings. At half past nine the
Doctor came. He was very good and kind, and unfail¬
ing in his inquiries. Each prisoner had, according
to jail rules, to show all parts of his body, on the first
day to the Doctor, stripping himself bare of all clothes,
7 oo
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 79

but he was kind enough not to enforce the same in our

case. When many more Indians had come, he
simply told us to report to him if any one had got
itches, etc. so that he might examine him in camera.
At half past ten or eleven, the Governor and Chief
Warder came. The former was a firm, just and quiet-
natured officer. His invariable inquiries were whether
we were all right, whether we wanted anything,
whether we had any complaints to make. Whenever
we had any such, he heard them attentively, and gave
us relief, if he could. Some of these complaints and
grievances I shall refer to later on. His deputy came
also at times. He was kind-hearted too. But the best
of them all was our Chief Warder. Himself deeply
religious, he was not only kind and courteous to¬
wards us, but every prisoner sang his praises in no
measured terms. He was attentive in preserving to
the prisoners all their rights, he overlooked their
trivial faults, and knowing in our case that we were
all innocent he was particularly kind to us, and to
show his kindness he often came and talked to us.
Increase in Our Numbers
I have said before that there were only five of us
passive resisters, at first. On 14th January, Tuesday,
came in Mr. Thambi Naidu, the Chief Picket, and
Mr. Koin, the President of the Chinese Association.
We all were pleased to receive them. On the 18th,
fourteen others joined us, including Samundar Khan.
He was in for two months. The rest were Madrasis,
Kunamias and Gujarati Hindus. They were arrested
for hawking without licences, and sentenced to pay a
fine of £ 2, and in default, to 14 days’ imprisonment.
They had bravely elected to go to jail. On the 21st,
76 others came. In this batch only Nawab Khan had
BO STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

two months, the rest were with a fine of £ 2, or in de¬

fault, 14 days’ imprisonment. Most of them were
Gujarati Hindus, some Kunamias and some Madra¬
sis. On the 22nd, 35, on the 23rd, 3, on the 24th, 1,
on the 25th, 2, on the 28th, 6 and in the evening 4
more, and on the 29th, 4 Kunamias added to our
numbers. So that by the 29th, there were 155 pas¬
sive resisters, incarcerated. On the 30th I was remov¬
ed to Pretoria, but I knew that on that day 5 or 6
others had come in.

The question of food is of great moment to

many of us, in all circumstances, but to those in
prison, it is of the greatest importance. They are
greatly in need of good food. The rule is that a
prisoner had to rest content with jail food, he cannot
procure any from outside. The same is the case with
a soldier who has to submit to his regulation
rations, but the difference between the two is that
his friends can send other food to the soldier and he
can take it, while a prisoner is prohibited from do¬
ing so. So that this prohibition about food is one of
the signs of being in prison. Even in general conver¬
sation, you will find the jail-officers saying that there
could be no exercise of taste about prison diet, and
no such article could be allowed therein. In a talk
with the prison medical officer, I told him that it was
necessary for us to have some tea, or ghee or some
such thing along with bread, and, he said, you want
to eat with taste, and no palatable thing could be
allowed in a prison.
According to the regulations, in the first week,
an Indian gets, in the morning 12 oz. of “mealie
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 81

pap” without sugar or ghee; at noon 4 oz. of rice

and one oz. of ghee; in the evening for 5 days, 12 oz.
of mealie pap, for 3 days, 12 oz. of boiled beans and
salt. This scale has been modelled on the dietary of
the Kaffirs—the only difference being that in the eve¬
ning, the Kaffirs are given crushed maize corn and
lard or fat, while the Indians get rice. In the second
week, and thenceforward, for two days, boiled
potatoes and for two days cabbages or pumpkin or
some such vegetable is given along with maize flour.
Those who take meat are given meat with vegetables
on Sundays.
The first batch of prisoners had resolved to soli¬
cit for no favours at the hands of Government, and
to take whatever food was served out, if not reli¬
giously objectionable. Really speaking, the above
was not a proper kind of diet for Indians, though
medically, of course, it contained sufficient nutrition.
Maize is the daily food of the Kaffirs, so this diet suits
them, nay, they thrive on it in jail. But Indians rare¬
ly use maize-flour, rice only suits them. We are not
used to eat beans alone, nor could we like vegetables
as cooked by or for Kaffirs. They never clean the
vegetables nor season them with any spices. Again
the vegetables cooked for the Kaffirs mostly consist
of the peelings left after the same have been prepared
for the European convicts. For spices, nothing else
besides salt is given. Sugar is never dreamt of. Thus
the food question was a very difficult one for us all.
Still, as we had determined that the passive resisters
were neither to solicit nor ask for favours from the
jail authorities, we tried to rest content with this kind
of food.
S.-6
82 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

In reply to his inquiries, we had told the Governor

that the food did not suit us, but we were determined
not to ask for any favours from Government. If
Government of its own accord wanted to make a
change, it would be welcome, else we would go on
taking the regulation diet.
But this determination could not last long.
When others joined us, we thought it would be im¬
proper to make them share this trouble with us also.
Was it not sufficient that they had shared the prison
with us ? So we began to talk to the Governor on their
behalf. We told him, we were prepared to take any
kind of food, but the later batches could not do so.
He thought over the matter, and said that he would
allow them to cook separately, if they put it on the
ground of religion, but the articles of food would be the
same, it did not rest with him to make any changes
in them.
In the meantime, fourteen others had joined us,
and some of them elected to starve rather than take
mealie pap. So I read the jail rules and found out
that applications in such matters should be made to
the Director of Prisons. I asked, therefore, the Gov¬
ernor to be permitted to apply to him, and sent a
petition accordingly:
We, the undersigned prisoners, beg to state that we
are all Asiatics, 18 Indians and 3 Chinese.
The 18 Indians get for their breakfast mealie pap, and
the others, rice and ghee; they get beans thrice and “pap”
four times. We were given potatoes on Saturdays and
greens on Sundays. On religious grounds, we cannot eat
meat; some are entirely prohibited from taking it, and
others cannot do so because of its not being religiously slau¬
ghtered.
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 83
The Chinese get maize-corn instead of rice. All the
prisoners are mostly used to European food, and they also
eat bread and other flour preparations. None of us is used
to mealie pap, and some of us suffer from indigestion.
Seven of us have eaten no breakfast at all; only at
times, when the Chinese prisoners who got bread, out of
mercy, gave them a piece or two out of their rations, have
we eaten the same. When this was mentioned to the Gov¬
ernor, he said we were guilty of a jail offence in thus accept¬
ing bread.

In our opinion, this kind of food is entirely unsuitable

to us. So we have to apply that we should be given food
according to the rules for European prisoners and mealie
pap be left out entirely; or, in the alternative, such food
should be given as would support us, and be in consonance
with our habits and customs.
This is an urgent matter and a reply be sent by wire.

Twenty-one of us had signed the petition and

while it was being despatched seventy-six more came
in. They also had a dislike for the pap, and so we
added a paragraph stating that the new arrivals also
objected to the diet. I requested the Governor to send
it by wire. He asked his superior’s permission by
telephone, and allowed at once 4 oz. of bread in place
of pap. We were all very pleased, and from the 22nd,
4 oz. of bread was substituted in place of pap, morning
and evening. In the evening we got 8 oz. i.e. half a
loa£ But this was merely a temporary arrangement.
A committee was sitting on the question and we heard
that they had recommended an allowance of flour,
ghee and pulse; but before it could take effect, we had
been released, and so nothing more happened.
In the beginning when there were only eight of
us we did not cook ourselves, so we used to get uncooked
84 stonewalls do not a prison make

rice and ill-cooked vegetables whenever the same

were given, so we obtained permission to cook for
ourselves. On the first day, Mr. Kadva cooked. After
that Mr. Thambi Naidu and Mr. Jivan both took
up the function, and in our last days they had to
cook for about 150 men. They had to cook once only,
excepting on vegetable days which were two in a week,
when they had to do so twice. Mr. Naidu took great
trouble over this. I used to distribute.
From the style of the petition the reader must
have noted the fact that it was presented on behalf
of all Indian prisoners and not us (eight) alone. We
talked with the Governor also on the same lines and
he had promised to look into it for all the Asiatic
prisoners. We still hope that the jail diet of the
Indians would be improved.
Again, the three Chinese used to get other arti¬
cles instead of rice, and hence annoyance was felt,
as there was an appearance of their being considered
separate from and inferior to us. For this reason, I
applied, on their behalf, to the Governor and to
Mr. Playford, and it was ordered that they should be
placed on the same level as Indians.
It is instructive to compare this dietary with that
of the Europeans. They get for their morning break¬
fast pap and 8 oz. of bread; for the midday
meal, bread and soup, or bread and meat, or bread and
meat and potatoes or vegetables; and in the evenings
bread and pap. Thus they got bread thrice in the
day, and so they do not care whether they have the pap
or not. Again they get meat or soup, in addition. Be¬
sides this they are often given tea or cocoa. This will
show that both the Europeans and the native Kaffirs
get food suitable to them, and it is the poor Indians
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 85

alone who suffer. They had no special dietary of their

own. If they were treated like Europeans in food, they,
the Europeans, would have felt ashamed, and no
one had the concern to find out what was the food
of the Indians. They had thus to be ranked with the
Kaffirs and silently starve. For this state of circum¬
stances I find fault with our own people, the Passive
Resisters. Some Indians got the requisite food by
stealth, others put up with whatever they got and
were either ashamed to make public the story of
their distress or had no thought for others. Hence
the outside public remained in the dark. If we were to
follow truth and agitate where we got injustice,
there would be no room to undergo such inconve¬
niences. If we were to leave self and apply ourselves
to the good of others, grievances would get remedied
soon. But just as it is necessary to take steps for the
redress of such complaints, so it is necessary to think
of certain other things also. It is but meet for priso¬
ners to undergo certain inconveniences. If there
be no trouble, what is the good of being called a
prisoner? Those who are the masters of their minds,
take pleasure even in suffering, and live happily in
jails. They do not lose sight of the existence of the
suffering, and they should not do so, considering that
there are others also suffering with them.
There is another evil habit of ours, and that is
our tenacity in sticking to our manners and customs.
We must do in Rome as the Romans do. We are
living in South Africa and we must accustom ourselves
to what is considered good food here. Mealie pap is
a food, as good, simple and cheap as our wheat. We
cannot say it is without taste, sometimes it beats
even wheat. It is my belief that out of respect for the
86 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

country of our adoption, we must take food which

grows in that country, if it be not unwholesome.
Many Whites like this pap and eat it in the morning.
It becomes palatable if milk or sugar or even ghee
be taken with it. For these reasons and for the fact
that we might have to go to jail again, in the future,
it is advisable for every Indian to accustom himself to
this preparation of maize. With this habit even
when the time comes to take it merely with salt, we
would not find it hard to do so. It is incumbent on us
to leave off some of our habits for the good of our
country. All those nations that have advanced have
given up these things where there was nothing substan¬
tial to lose. The Salvation Army people attract the
natives of the soil, by adopting their customs, dress,
etc., if not particularly objectionable.
Sickness
It would have been a miracle had no one out of
150 prisoners fallen ill. The first to be taken ill was
Mr. Samundar Khan. He had been brought into jail
ailing and was taken to hospital the next day.
Mr. Kadva was a victim to rheumatism, and for
some days he did not mind being treated by the doc¬
tor in the prison cell itself, but eventually he had
to go to the hospital too. Two others suffered from
fainting fits and were taken there. The reason was that
it was very hot then, and the convicts had to remain
out in the sun the whole day and so they fell down
in fits. We nursed them as best we could. Later on
Mr. Nawab Khan also succumbed, and on the day of
our release he had to be led out by hand. He had im¬
proved a little after the doctor had ordered milk,
etc. to be given to him. On the whole, still, it may be
safely said, that the Passive Resisters fared well.
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 87

Paucity of Space
I have stated already that our cell had space
enough to accommodate only fifty-one prisoners, and
the same holds good with regard to the area. Later on,
when instead of 51 there were 151 souls to be accom¬
modated, great difficulty was felt. The Governor had
to pitch tents outside, and many had to go there.
During our last days, about a hundred had to be
taken out to sleep, and back again the morning. The
area space was too small for this number, and we
could pass our time there with great difficulty. Added
to this was our evil inborn habit of spitting every¬
where, which rendered the space dirty and there was
the danger of disease breaking out. Fortunately our
companions were amenable to advice, and assisted us
in keeping the compound clean. Scrupulous care was
exercised in inspecting the area and privies, and this
saved the inmates from disease. Everyone will admit
that the Government was at fault in incarcerating
such large number in so narrow a space. If the room
was insufficient, it was incumbent on the Government
not to send so many there, and if the struggle had been
prolonged, it would not have been possible for the
Government to commit any more to this prison.

Reading
I have already mentioned that the Governor
had allowed us the use of a table, with pen, ink, etc.
We had the free run of the prison library also. I had
taken from there, the works of Carlyle and the Bible.
From the Chinese Interpreter, who used to come
there, I had borrowed the Koran-e-Sharif trans¬
lated into English, speeches of Huxley, Carlyle’s Lives
of Burns, Johnson and Scott, and Bacon’s Essays. Of
88 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

my own, I had taken the Bhagavad Gita, with

Manilal Nathubhai’s Annotations, several Tamil
works, an Urdu Book from the Moulvi Sahib, the
writings of Tolstoy, Ruskin and Socrates. Many of
these I read or re-read in the jail. I used to study
Tamil regularly. In the morning I used to read the
Gita and at noon, mostly the Koran. In the evening
I taught the Bible to Mr. Foretoon, who was a Chinese
Christian. He wanted to learn English, and I taught
it to him through the Bible.

If I had been permitted to spend out my full

period, I would have been able to complete my
translations of a book each of Carlyle and Ruskin.
I believe that as I was fully occupied in the study of
the above works, I would not have become tired even
if I had got more than two months; not only that but
I would have added usefully to my knowledge and
studies. I would have passed a happy life, believing as
I do that whoever has a taste for reading good books
is able to bear loneliness in any place with great
ease.

Religious Study

In the West, we now see, that, as a matter of fact,

the State looks after the religion of all its prisoners,
and hence, we find a Church in the Johannesburg
prison for its inmates; but it is provided to meet only
the needs of the Whites, who alone are allowed access
thereto. I asked for special permission for Mr. Fore¬
toon and myself but the Governor told me it was only
for White Christian prisoners. • Every Sunday they
attend it, and preachers of different denominations
give them religious lessons there.
 FIRST JAIL EXPERIENCE 89

Several missionaries come in to convert the

Kaffirs also with special permission. There is no
Church for them; they sit in the open. Jews
also have got their preachers to look after them.
It is only the Hindus and Mahomedans who are
spiritually unprovided for. There are not many In¬
dian prisoners, it is true, but the absence of any
such provision for them is hardly creditable to them.
The leaders of both communities should, therefore,
lay their heads together, and arrange for the religious
instruction of the members of their community in
jail, even if there be only one convict. The preachers,
whether Hindus or Moulvis, should be pure-hearted,
and they should be careful not to become thorns in the
sides of the convicts.

The End

All that was worth knowing has been stated

above. Indians being placed on a level with the
Kaffirs is a fact which calls for further consideration.
While the White convicts get a bedstead to sleep on,
a tooth-brush to clean their teeth, a towel to wipe their
faces and hands, and also a handkerchief, Indians get
nothing. Why this distinction?
We should never think that this is not a matter
for our interference. It is these little things which
either enhance our respect or degrade us. An Arabic
book says that he who has no self-respect has no reli¬
gion. Nations have become great by gradually en¬
hancing their self-respect. Self-respect does not mean
vanity or rashness, but a state of mind which is pre¬
pared not to let go its privileges simply out of fear or
idleness. One who has really his trust in God attains
to self-respect, and I firmly believe that one who has
90 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

no trust in Him never knows what is right, nor does

he know how to do right.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (G. A. Natesan & Go.)?
4th Edn., pp. 209 to 220

SECOND JAIL EXPERIENCE

Every prisoner in the jail on getting up in the
morning is required to fold his own bedding, and to
place it in its proper place. He must finish his
toilet by 6 o’clock and be ready to start out at the
stroke of the hour. The work begins at 7 o’clock. It is
of various kinds. The ground to be dug was very
hard. It was to be worked upon with spades, and
hence the work proved too hard. Again, it was a very
hot day. The place we were taken to was about a
mile and a half from the jail. Each one of us started
very well indeed. But as none of us was used to this
kind of work, it was not long before we were quite
done up. As the day advanced, the work seemed hard¬
er still. The warder was very strict. He used to cry out
every now and then, “go on, go on”. This made the
Indians quite nervous. I saw some of them weeping.
One of them had a swollen foot. All this caused me
i

a great deal of heart-burning, and yet on every

occasion, I reminded them of the duty, and asked
them to perform it as well as possible, with a good
heart, and without minding the words of the warder.
I felt myself done up also. My hands were covered with
blisters and water was oozing out of them. I could
hardly bend the spade and felt the weight of it as if
it was quite a maund. I prayed to God to preserve
 SECOND JAIL EXPERIENCE 91

my honour, to maintain my limbs intact, and to be¬

stow on me sufficient strength to be able to perform
my allotted task. I trusted to Him and went on with
my work. The warder would sometimes remonstrate
with me at an occasional break required to get over
the fatigue. I told him that it was unnecessary for
him to remind me of my duty, and that I was pre¬
pared to go through as much of it as was possible
for me to do. Just then I saw Mr. Jhinabhai faint.
. . . While I was pouring water on jhinabhai’s head,
the following occurred to me. Most of the Indians
trusted my word, and submitted themselves to imprison¬
ment. If the advice that I happened to offer them
were erroneous, how much sin I would be committing
in the eyes of God in tendering it to them. They under¬
went all sorts of hardships on account of that advice.
With this thought in my mind, I heaved a deep sigh.
With God as my witness, I reflected on the subject
once more, and was immediately reassured that it was
all right. I felt that the advice that I tendered to
them was the only advice that I could under the cir¬
cumstances. In anticipation of future happiness, it
was absolutely necessary that we should undergo the
hardest trials and sufferings in the first instance, and
that there was no reason to be grieved at the latter.
This was simply a fit of fainting, but even if it was a
case of death, how could I offer any other advice than
what I had already done? It at once occurred to me
that it was more honourable for anybody to die suffer¬
ing in that manner, than to continue living a life
of perpetual enslavement.
% >fi *

At one time one of the warders came to me, and

asked me to provide him with two of his men to clean
92 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

the water closets. I thought that I could do nothing

better than clean them myself and so I offered him my
services. I have no particular dislike to that kind of
work. On the contrary, I am of opinion that we
ought to get ourselves accustomed to it.

I was given a bed in a ward, where there were

principally Kaffir patients. Here I passed the whole
night in great misery and terror. I did not know then
that I was to be taken the next day to another cell
that was occupied by Indian prisoners. Fretting that
I would be kept incarcerated with such men, I got
very nervous and terror-stricken. And yet I tried
my best to reconcile myself to the idea that it was my
duty to undergo the sufferings that may befall me.
I read from the Bhagawad Gita, that I had with me,
certain verses suited to the occasion, and, on pondering
over them, was soon reconciled to the situation. The
chief reason why I got nervous was that in the same
room, there were a number of wild, murderous-
looking, vicious Kaffir and Chinese prisoners. I did
not know their language. One of the Kaffirs began
to ply me with all sorts of questions. As far as I could
gather, he seemed to be mocking me indecently. I
did not understand what his questions were and I kept
quiet. He then asked me in his broken English,
“Why have they brought you here?” I gave him a very
short reply and was again silent. He was followed
by one of the Chinamen. He was worse than the
other. He approached my bed, and looked at me
intently. I kept on my silence. He then proceeded
towards the above-mentioned Kaffir’s bed. There
they began to mock each other indecently, and expose
their private parts. Both these prisoners were probably
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 93

there for murder or highway robbery. How could

I enjoy sleep after seeing these dreadful things?

At one time as soon as I got seated at the water

closet there to answer the call of nature, a very wild
and muscular looking Kaffir turned up. He asked
me to get off from the seat, and began to abuse me. I
told him I would not be long when he took hold of
me, and threw me outside. Fortunately, I was able
to catch hold of one of the doors, and to save myself
from a nasty fall. This did not make me very nervous.
I simply walked away with a smiling countenance.
But one or two Indian prisoners who happened to see
the situation in which I was placed, could not restrain
themselves from shedding tears.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, (G. A. Natesan & Go.),
4th Edn., pp. 221 to 224

3
THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE

When on the 25th February I got three months’

hard labour, and once again embraced my brother
Indians and my son in the Volksrust Jail, I little
thought that I should have had to say much in con¬
nection with my third “pilgrimage” to the jail, but
with my many other human assumptions, this too proved
to be false. My experience this time was unique,
and what I learnt therefrom I could not have learnt
after years of study. I consider these three months
invaluable. I * saw many vivid pictures of passive
resistance, and I have become, therefore, a more con¬
firmed resister than what I was three months ago.
94 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

For all this, 1 have to thank the Government of this

place (the Transvaal). Several officers have betted
this that I should not get less than six months. My
friends—old and renowned Indians—my own son
—had got six months and so I too was wishing that
they might win their bets. Still I had my own mis¬
givings, and they proved true. I got only three months,
that being maximum under the law.
After going there, I was glad to meet Messrs.
Dawood Muhammad, Rustomji, Sorabji, Pillay,
Hajura Singh, Lai Bahadur Singh and other ‘fighters’.
Excepting for about ten all others were accommodated
in tents, pitched in the jail compound for sleeping,
and the scene resembled a camp more than a prison.
Every one liked to sleep in the tents.
We were comfortable about our meals. We used
to cook ourselves as before, and so could cook as we
liked. We were about 77 passive resisters in all.
Those who were taken out for work had rather
a hard time of it. The road near the Magistrate’s
court had to be built, so they had to dig up stones,
etc. and carry them. After that was finished they
were asked to dig up grass from the school compound.
But mostly they did their work cheerfully. For three
days I was also thus sent out with the “shans” (gangs)
to work, but in the meanwhile a wire was received
that I was not to be taken outside to work. I was
disheartened at this as I liked to move out, because it
improved my health and exercised my body. Gener¬
ally I take two meals a day, but in the Volksrust
Jail, on account of this exercise I felt hungry thrice.
After this turn, I was given the work of a sweeper,
but this was useless, and after a time even that was
taken away.
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 95

Why I Was Made to leave Volksrust?

On the 2nd of March I heard that I was ordered
to be sent to Pretoria. I was asked to be ready at
once, and my warder and I had to go to the station
in pelting rain, walking on hard roads, with my lug¬
gage on my head. We left by the evening train in a
third class carriage.
My removal gave rise to various surmises. Some
thought that peace was near, that after separat¬
ing me from my companions, Government intended to
oppress me more, and some others, that in order to
stifle discussion in the House of Commons it might be
intended to give me greater liberty and convenience.
I did not like to leave Volksrust, as we passed
our days and nights pleasantly there talking to one
another. Messrs. Hajura Singh and Joshi always put
us questions, questions which were neither useless nor
trivial, as they related to science and philosophy.
How would one Like to leave such company and such
a camp ?
But if everything happened as we wished, we
should not be called human beings. So I left the
place quietly. Saluting Mr. Kaji on the road, the
warder and I got confined in a compartment. It
was very cold, and raining too for the whole night. I
had my overcoat with me which I was permitted to
use. I was given bread and cheese for my meals on
the way, but as L had eaten before I left, I gave them
to my warder.
Pretoria Jail ; The Beginning
We reached Pretoria on the 3rd, and found
everything new. The Jail was newly built, and the
men were new. I was asked to eat but I had no
96 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

inclination to do so. Mealie meal porridge was placed

before me. I tasted a spoonful only and then left it
untouched. My warder was surprised at it, but I
told him I was not hungry, and he smiled. Then I
was handed over to another warder. He said,
4‘Gandhi, take off your cap.55 I did so. Then he
asked, “Are you the son of Gandhi?55 I said, “ No,
my son is undergoing six months5 imprisonment at
Volksrust55. He then confined me in a cell. I began
to walk forwards and backwards in it. He saw it
from the watch-hole in the door, and exclaimed,
“Gandhi, don’t walk about like that. It spoils my
floor.55 I stopped, and stood in a corner, quietly. I
had nothing to read even, as I had not yet got my
books. I was confined at about eight, and at ten I
was taken to the Doctor. He only asked me if I had
any contagious disease, and then allowed me to go.
I was then interned in a small room at eleven where
I passed my whole time. It seemed to be a cell made
for one prisoner only. Its dimensions were about
10x7 feet. The floor was of black pitch, which the
warder tried to keep shining. There was only one
small glass window, barred with iron bars for light
and air. There was electric light kept to examine
the inmates at night. It was not meant for the use of
the prisoners, as it was not strong enough to enable
one to read. When I went and stood very near it, I
could read only a large-type book. It is put out at
eight, but is again put on five or six times during the
night, to enable the warders to look over the prisoners,
through the watch-holes.
After eleven, the Deputy Governor came and I
made these requests to him—for my books, for permis¬
sion to write a letter to my wife who was ill, and for
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 97

a small bench to sit on. For the first, he said, he would

consider, for the second, I might write, and for the
third, no. Afterwards I wrote out my letter in Gujarati
and gave it to be posted. He endorsed on it, that I
should write it in English. I said, my wife did not know
English, and my letters were a great source of com¬
fort to her, and that I had nothing special to write in
them. Still I did not get the permission, and I declin¬
ed to write in English. My books were given to me
in the evening.
My mid-day meal I had to take standing in my
cell with closed doors. At three, I asked leave for a
bath. The warder said, “All right, but you had better
go there after undressing yourself.” (The place was
125 feet distant from my cell). I said, if there was no
special object in my doing so, I would put my
clothes on the curtain there and take my bath. He
allowed it, but said, “Do not delay.” Even before I
had cleaned my body, he shouted out, “Gandhi, have
you done?” I said, “I would do so in a minute.” I
could rarely see the face of an Indian. In the evening
I got a blanket and a coir mat to sleep on but neither
pillow nor plank. Even when answering a call of
nature, I was being watched by a warder. If he did
not happen to know me, he would cry out, “Sam,
come out.” But Sam had got the bad habit of taking
his full time in such a condition, so how could he get
up at once? If he were to do so, he would not be
easy. Sometimes, ijie warders and sometimes the
Kaffirs, would peep in, and at times would sing out,
“get up”. The labour given to me the next day was to
polish the floor and the doors. The latter were of
varnished iron, and what polish could be brought on
them by rubbing? I spent three hours on each door
S.-7
98 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

rubbing, but found them unchanged, the same as

before.
Food
The food was in keeping with the above conditions.
* * *
I knew that no ghee was given with rice in the
evening and I had thought of remedying the defect.
I spoke to the Chief Warder, but he said, ghee was to
be given only on Wednesdays and Sunday noons in
place of meat, and if its further supply were needed, I
should see the Doctor. Next day I applied to see him
and I was taken to him.
I requested him to order out for all Indians ghee
in place of fat. The Chief Warder was present and
he added that Gandhi’s request was not proper. Till
then many Indians had used both fat and meat, and
that those who objected to fat, were given dry rice,
which they ate without any objection; that the passive
resisters had also done so, and when they were re¬
leased, they left with added weight. The Doctor
asked me what I had to say to that. I replied that I
could not quite swallow the story, but speaking for
myself, I should spoil my health, if I were compelled
to take rice without ghee. Then he said, “For you
specially, I would order bread to be given.” I said,
“Thank you, but I had not applied for myself alone,
and I would not be able to take bread for myself
alone, till ghee was ordered to be given to all others.”
The Doctor said, “Then you should not find fault
with me, now.”
I again petitioned and I came to learn that the
food regulations would ultimately be made as in
Natal. I criticized that also and gave the reasons
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 99

why I could not for myself alone accept ghee. At

last, when in all about a month and a half had
elapsed, I got a reply stating that wherever there were
many Indian prisoners, ghee would invariably be
given. Thus it might be said that after a month and
a half I broke my fast, and for the last month I was
able to take rice, ghee and bread. But I took no
breakfast and at noon, when pap was doled out, I
hardly took ten spoonfuls, as everyday it was differently
prepared. But still I got good nourishment from the
bread and rice, and so my health improved. I say so,
because when I used to eat once only, it had broken
down. I had lost all strength, and for ten days I
was suffering from a severe ache in half of my forehead.
My chest too had shown symptoms of being affected.
I had told many passive resisters that, if they left
jail with spoiled health, they would be considered
wanting in the right spirit. We must turn our prisons
into palaces so that when I found my own health
ruined I felt apprehensive lest I should have to go out
for that reason. It has to be remembered that I had
not availed myself of the order for ghee made in my
favour, so that there was a chance of my health getting
affected, but this does not apply in the case of others,
as it is open to each individual prisoner, when he is in
jail, to have some special order made in his favour,
and thus preserve his health.

Other Changes

I have said that my warder was harsh in his

dealings with me. But this did not last long. When
he saw that I was fighting with the Government about
food, etc. but obeying his orders unreservedly, he
changed his conduct and allowed me to do as I liked.
100 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

This removed my difficulties about bath, latrine, etc.

He became so considerate that he scarcely allowed it
to be seen that he ordered me to do anything. The
man who succeeded him was like a Pasha and he was
always anxious to work after my conveniences. He
said, “I love those who fight for their community,
I myself am such a fighter and I do not consider
you to be a convict.” He thus used to comfort me.
Again, the bench which was refused in the begin¬
ning was sent to me, by the Chief Warder himself,
after some days. In the meanwhile I had received two
religious books for reading from General Smuts.
From this I concluded that the hardships I had to
undergo were due, not to his express orders, but to
the carelessness and indifference to himself and others,
and also because the Indians were considered to be
like Kaffirs. The only object of isolating me appeared
to be to prevent my talking with others. After some
trouble I got permission for the use of a note-book
and pencil.

The Visit of the Director

Before I was taken to Pretoria, Mr. Lichenstein

had seen me with special permission. He had come
to see on office business, but he asked me how I was
etc. I was not willing to answer him on the point,
but he pressed me. So I said, “I will not tell you all,
but I will say this much, that they treat me cruelly.
General Smuts by this means wants me to give in,
but that would never be, as I was prepared to undergo
whatever befell me, that my mind was at peace, but
that you should publish this. After coming out, I
myself would do so.” He communicated it to Mr. Polak,
who, not being able to keep it to himself in his turn,
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 101

spoke to others and Mr. David Polak thereupon wrote

to Lord Selborne and an inquiry was held. The
warder came for that purpose and I spoke to him the
very words set out above. I also pointed out the defects,
which I have mentioned in the beginning. There¬
upon, after ten days he sent me a plank for bed, a
pillow, a night shirt, and a handkerchief, which I
took. In my memorial to him I had asked him to
provide this convenience for all Indians. Really
speaking, in this respect Indians are softer than the
Whites, and they cannot do without pillows.

Handcuffs

The opinion I had come to, in consequence of

my treatment in jail in the beginning, was confirmed
by what happened now. About four days after I
received a witness summons in Mr. Pillay’s case. So
I was taken to Court. I was manacled this time, and
the warder took no time in putting on the handcuffs.
I think this was done unintentionally. The Chief
Warder had seen me and from him I had obtained
leave to carry a book with me. He seemed to be
under the impression that I was ashamed of the mana¬
cles, and so I had asked permission to carry a book,
and hence he asked me to hold the book in my hands
in such a way as to conceal the handcuffs. This made
me smile, as I was feeling honoured in thus being
manacled. The book that I was carrying was called
The Court of God is in Their Mind. I thought this a
happy coincidence, because I thought what hard¬
ships might trouble me externally, if I were such as
to make God live in my heart, what should I care for
the hardships? I was thus taken on foot, hand¬
cuffed, to the Court.
102 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Lessons of Passive Resistance

Some of the above details might be considered
trivial, but my main object in setting them out has
been that to minor as well as important matters you
can apply the principles of resistance. I calmly ac¬
quiesced in all the troubles, bodily given to me by
the warder, with the result that not only was I able
to remain calm and quiet, but that he himself had to
remove them in the end. If I had opposed him, my
strength of mind would have weakened, and I could
not have done these more important things that I had
to do, and in the bargain made him my enemy.
My food difficulty also was solved at last because
I resisted, and underwent suffering in the beginning.
The greatest good that I derived from these suffer¬
ings was that by undergoing bodily hardships I could
see my mental strength clearly increasing, and it is
even now maintained. The experience of the last
three months has left me more than ever prepared to
undergo all such hardships with ease. I feel that God
helps all such conscientious objectors, and in putting
them to the test, He only burdens them with such
sufferings as they can bear.

What I Read?

The tale of my happiness or unhappiness is now

at an end. Amongst the many benefits that I received
in these three months, one was the opportunity I got
to read. At the start, I must admit, I fell into moods
of despondency and thoughtfulness while reading,
and was even tired of these hardships, and my mind
played antics like a monkey. Such a state of mind
leads many towards lunacy, but in my case, my books
saved me. They made up in a large measure for the
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 103

loss of the society of my Indian brethren. I always

got about three hours to read.
So that I was able to go through about thirty
books, and cover others, which comprised English,
Hindi, Gujarati, Sanskrit and Tamil works. Out of
these, I consider Tolstoy’s, Emerson’s and Carlyle’s
worth mentioning. The former two related to re¬
ligion. I had borrowed the Bible from the jail.
Tolstoy’s books are so simple and easy that any man
can study and profit by them. Again he is a man who
practices what he preaches, and hence his writings
inspire great confidence.
Carlyle’s French Revolution is written in a very
effective style. It made me think that from the White
nations we could hardly learn the remedy to remove
the present miseries of India, because I am of opinion
that the French people have secured no special benefits
from their Revolution. This was what Mazzini thought
too. There is a great conflict of opinion about this,
which it is hardly proper to mention here. Even
there I saw some instances of passive resistance.
The Swamiji had sent me Gujarati, Hindi and
Sanskrit books. Bhat Keshavram had sent Vedasabda-
sankhlja and Mr. Motilal Divan, the Upanishads. I
also read the Manu Smriti, the Ramayana Sara, pub¬
lished in Phoenix, the Patanjali Tog Darshana, the
Ahnik Prakash of Nathuramji, the Sandhya Gutika given
by Prof. Parmanand, the Bhagavad Gita and the works
of the late Kavi Shri Rajachandra. This gave me
much food for thought. The Upanishads produced
in me great peacefulness. One sentence specially has
struck me. It means, “Whatever thou dost, thou
shouldst do for the good of the soul.” The words are of
great importance and deserve great consideration too.
104 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

But I derived the greatest satisfaction from the

writings of Kavi Shri Rajachandra. In my opinion
they are such as should attract universal belief and
popularity. His life was as exemplary and high as
Tolstoy’s. I had learnt some passages from them and
from the Sandhya book by heart and repeated them
at night while lying awake. Every morning also for
half an hour I used to think over them, and repeat
what I had learnt by heart. This kept my mind in
a state of cheerfulness, night and day. If disappoint¬
ment or despair attacked me at times, I would think
over what I had read and my heart would instantly
become gladdened, and thank God. ... I would
only say, that in this world good books make up for
the absence of good companions, so that all Indians,
if they want to live happily in jail, should accustom
themselves to reading good books.
My Tamil Studies
What the Tamils have done in the struggle no
other Indian community has done. So I thought
that if for no other reason than to show my sincere
gratefulness to them, I should seriously read their
books. So I spent the last month in attentively study¬
ing their language. The more I studied, the more
I felt its beauties. It is an interesting and sweet
language, and from its construction and from what I
read, I saw that the Tamils counted in their midst,
in the past and even now, many intelligent, clever
and wise persons. Again, if there is to be one nation
in India, those who live outside the Madras Presidency,
must know Tamil.
The End
I wish that the result of the perusal of these
experiences would be that he who knows not what
 THIRD JAIL EXPERIENCE 105

patriotism is would learn it, and after doing so, be¬

come a passive resister, and he who is so already, would
be confirmed in his attitude. I also get more and more
convinced that he who does not know his true duty or
religion would never know what patriotism or feeling
for one’s own country is.
Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (G. A. Natesan & Co.),.
4th Edn., pp. 229 to 245
 PART THREE: MY EXPERIENCES IN
INDIAN JAILS

1
INTRODUCTORY NOTE

It was my intention to publish all the important

correspondence I had with the authorities during
my incarceration as part of my jail experiences, which
I intend to write out if health and time permit. But
it is not possible for me to do so for some time to come.
Meanwhile, friends have urged me to publish the
correspondence without delay. I appreciate the
force of their reasoning, and therefore present the
readers of Young India with a portion of it this week.
The main part of the contention raised in the letter
to Hakimji stands good even in the light of subsequent
experience. But in justice to the jail officials, I must
add that so far as my physical comfort was concerned
progressively better facilities were given to me.
Mr. Banker, much to my joy, was restored to me. The
marking line, referred to in the first letter to Hakimji,
was done away with and both of us had a run of
the whole yard. On Mr. Banker’s discharge, without
any request on my part, the then Superintendent
Major Jones obtained the Government permission to
send Mr. Manser Ali Sokta to me as a companion, a
consideration which I very greatly esteemed. For,
Mr. Manser Ali Sokta was not only a valuable com¬
panion, but was also an ideal Urdu teacher for me.
106
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 107
Soon after Mr. Indulal Yagnik came and added to
our pleasure. Major Jones then transferred us three
to the European yard where we had superior accom¬
modation and not a bad garden in front of us. On
Mr. Manser Ali Sokta’s discharge, Major Jone’s
successor Col. Murray obtained the Government’s
permission to put Mr. Abdul Gani with me as a com¬
panion, who, in addition to giving Mr. Yagnik and
myself joy, replaced Mr. Manser Ali Sokta as my
Urdu teacher and took great pains in order to improve
my Urdu calligraphy. Had my sickness not inter¬
rupted the course, he would have made of me a passable
Urdu scholar. So far, therefore, as my physical com¬
forts were concerned, both the Government and the jail
officials did all that could possibly be expected to
make me happy. And if I suffered from illness now
and then, it is my firm belief that neither the Govern¬
ment nor the jail authorities could in any way be blamed.
I was allowed to choose my own diet and both Major
Jones and Col. Murray, as also in this respect Col.
Dalziel, who preceded Major Jones, strictly respected
all my scruples about diet. The European jailers
too were most attentive and courteous. I cannot re¬
call a single occassion when they can be said to have
unduly interfered with me. And even whilst I was
subjected to ordinary jail inspection, to which I cheer¬
fully submitted, they carried it out considerately, and
even apologetically. I entertain high regard for both
Major Jones and Col. Murray as men. They never
let me feel that I was a prisoner.
Subject to what I have said about the kindness of
officials, I am unable to revise the estimate I gave in
Hakimji’s letter about the soulless policy of the Govern¬
ment regarding political prisoners. All I have said
108 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

in that letter was confirmed by later experience. For

proof of this statement the reader must wait till I am
able to write out my experiences. My purpose just
now is to avoid any the least possibility of the corres¬
pondence being so interpreted as to cast any reflection
upon the jail officials or for that matter even upon the
Government, so far as my physical well-being was
concerned.
I must not close this note without expressing my
deep gratitude to the convict warders who were placed
in charge of us. Instead of acting as supervisors they
rendered me and all my companions every assistance.
They will not allow us to do any labour in the shape
of cleaning the cells, etc. I shall have to say more
about them in my experiences, but I cannot restrain
myself against mentioning the name of Gangappa.
He became a most efficient nurse to me. His scrupu¬
lous regard to every detail, his always anticipating every
want of mine, his readiness to serve me at all hours
of the night, his loving nature, his strict honesty and
his general observance of the jail rules commanded
my admiration. I wonder how society can punish a
man capable of showing such lofty character and how
a Government can keep such a man in prison.
Gangappa is unlettered. He is not a political prisoner.
He was convicted of murder, or some such crime. But
I must not pursue this subject any further. I must
postpone its consideration to a future date. I have
mentioned Gangappa merely to pay my humble tribute
to fellow prisoners like him.
Poona,
26th February, 1924
Young India, 28-2-’24, p. 69.
 2
JAIL CORRESPONDENCE
A Prisoner and His Keepers
[We are thankful that the pleasure and the privilege of pub¬
lishing what we hope is only the first chapter of Mr. Gandhi’s
fresh Jail Experiences, belongs to us. Letter No. 1 is the letter '
Mr. Gandhi addressed to Hakimji in April 1922. It was returned
because the Government would not send it unless Mr. Gandhi
removed material parts of it. Letter No. 2 is the one addressed to
the Government, questioning the validity of the grounds on
which they refused to send letter No. 1. Letter No. 3 is what
should have been Mr. Gandhi’s ‘first and last letter’ from jail.
No. 4 is a request to Government to return the unposted ‘first
and last’.
As we go to the press the post brings in Mr. Gandhi’s
introductory note to this correspondence. We publish this on the
front page. The readers will please read this correspondence in
connection with that note.—Ed. T. /.]

‘The Permitted Letter’ to Hakimji

Yeravda Gaol,
14th April (1922)
Dear Hakimji,
Prisoners are allowed one visit every three months
and to write and receive one letter during the same
period. I have had a visit from Devadas and Raja-
gopalachari. And I am now writing the permitted letter.
You will remember that Mr. Banker and I were
convicted on the 18th March on a Saturday. On
Monday night about 10 p.m. we received notice that
109
110 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

we were to be removed to an unknown destination.

At 11-30 p.m. the Superintendent of Police took us
to the special that was awaiting us at Sabarmati.
We were given a basket of fruit for the journey and
we were well looked after during the whole journey.
The Doctor of the Sabarmati Gaol had allowed me
for health and religious reasons the food to which I
am used, and Mr. Banker bread and milk and fruit
for medical reasons. Cow’s milk for Mr. Banker and
goat’s for me were therefore ordered on the way by the
Deputy Superintendent who was escorting us.
We were taken off at Kirkee where a prison van
was waiting to take us to the gaol from where I am
writing this.
Yeravda, not Sabarmati
I had heard bad accounts of this gaol from ex¬
prisoners and was therefore prepared to face difficulties
in my path. I had told Mr. Banker that if my hand¬
spinning was stopped, I would have to refuse food as
I had taken a vow on the Hindu New Year’s Day
to spin every day at least for half an hour except
when I was ill or travelling. He should not, therefore,
I told him, be shocked if I had to refuse food and
that he should on no account join me out of false
sympathy. He had seen my view-point.
We were not therefore surprised when reaching
the gaol about 5-30 p.m. I was told by the Superin¬
tendent that he could not allow the spinning wheel
which was with us nor could we be allowed to take
the fruit that was with us. I pointed out that hand¬
spinning was a matter of vow with me and that as a
matter of fact both of us were permitted to do it
everyday at the Sabarmati Gaol. Thereupon we were
told Yeravda was not Sabarmati.
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 1 1 1

No Accommodation for Human Sentiment

I told the Superintendent too that both of us were
permitted at the Sabarmati Gaol for health reasons
to sleep outside, but that was not to be expected at
this gaol.
Thus the first impression was rather unhappy.
I felt however totally undisturbed. The semi-fast of
Tuesday following that of Monday did me no harm.
I know that Mr. Banker felt it. He has night terrors
and requires some one near him. And this was his
first rough experience in life perhaps. I am a seasoned
jail-bird.
The Superintendent came the next morning to
question us. I saw that the first impression did not
do justice to the Superintendent. The previous even¬
ing he was evidently in a hurry. We were received
after the regular time and he was totally unprepared
for what was undoubtedly to him a strange request.
He discovered however that my request for the spin¬
ning wheel was not a matter of cussedness but, rightly
or wrongly, a real religious necessity. He saw too that
it was no question of hunger-striking. He gave orders
that the spinning wheels should be restored to both of
us. He realized too that both of us would need the
diet we had mentioned.
And so far as I have been able to observe, the
animal comforts are well looked after in this gaol.
Both the Superintendent and the Gaoler appear to me
to be tactful and have pleasant manners. The
first day’s experience I count as of no consequence.
The relations between the Superintendent and the
Gaoler and myself are as cordial as they can be between
a prisoner and his keepers.
112 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

But it is evident to me that the human element

is largely, if not entirely, absent in the gaol system.
The Superintendent informs me that all prisoners are
treated as I am treated. If that is so, as animals
prisoners could hardly be better cared for. But for
the human sentiment there is no accommodation in
the gaol regulations.
Nonsensical
This is what the Gaol Committee consisting of
the Collector, a clergyman and some others did the
next morning. This Committee met quite by coin¬
cidence the very next day after our admission. The
members came to find our needs. I mentioned that
Mr. Banker suffered from nervousness and that he
should be kept with me and that his cell should be
kept open. I cannot describe to you the contemp¬
tuous and callous indifference with which the request
was treated. As the members turned their backs
upon us one of them remarked ‘nonsensical’. They
knew nothing of Mr. Banker’s past or his position in
life or of his upbringing. It was none of their business
to find all this out and to discover the cause for what
appeared to me to be the most natural request. It
was certainly of greater importance for him than his
food that we should be able to have undisturbed rest
at night.
Deprived of Her Only Child
Within one hour after the interview a
warder came ordering Mr. Banker to be removed
to another quarter. I felt like a mother suddenly
deprived of her only child. It was by a stroke
of good fortune that Mr. Banker was arrested with
me and that we were tried together. At Sabarmati
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 113

I had written to the District Magistrate that I

would deem it a courtesy if the authorities did not
separate Mr. Banker from me and had told him that
we could be mutually helpful if he was kept with me.
I was reading the Gita with him and he was nursing
my weak body. Mr. Banker lost his mother only a
few months ago. When I met her a few days before
her death, she said she would die in peace as her son
would be quite safe under my care. Little did the noble
lady know how utterly powerless I would prove to
protect her son in the hour of his need. As Mr. Banker
left me, I entrusted him to God’s care and assured
him that God would take care of him and protect him.
He has been since permitted to come to me for
about half an hour to teach me carding which he knows.
This he does in the presence of a warder in order to
see that we do not talk about anything else than the
purpose for which he is brought to me.
Books and Periodicals
I am trying to coax the Inspector-General and
the Superintendent to let me read the Gita with
Mr. Banker during the few minutes he is allowed to
come. This request is under consideration.
In fairness to the authorities I must mention
that Mr. Banker’s animal comforts are well looked ♦

after and that he is not looking bad at all. He is

gradually losing his nervousness.
It has required the use of all my tact to retain
possession of seven books, five of which are purely
religious and the other two are an old dictionary I
prize and an Urdu manual presented to me by Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad. Strict orders given to the Super¬
intendent were that prisoners were not to be allowed
S.-8
 114 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

any books save the gaol library books. I was given

the option of presenting the said seven books to the
gaol library and then using them. Whilst I was pre¬
pared to do so with my other books, I gently told the
Superintendent that to ask me to present religious
books which I was using or gifts with a history was
like asking me to give up my right arm. I do not
know how much tact the Superintendent had to use
in persuading his superiors to let me retain those books.

X am now told that I could import at my own

expense periodicals. I had said a newspaper was a
periodical. He seemed to agree but he had his doubts
about a newspaper being allowed. X had not the
courage to mention The Chronicle Weekly. But I
mentioned The Times of India Weekly. That seemed
to the Superintendent to be too political. I could
name the Police News, Tit Bits or Blackwood's. This
matter is however quite beyond the Superintendent’s
province. What is to be considered a periodical will
probably be finally decided by His Excellency the
Governor in Council.

Knife—A Lethal Weapon

Then there was the question of the use of a knife.

* If I was to toast my bread (I could not digest it
without it) I must cut it up in slices and if I was to
squeeze my lemons X must cut them also. But a
knife was a ‘lethal weapon5 and most dangerous in
the hands of a prisoner. X gave the Superintendent
the option of withdrawing bread and lemons or giving
me the use of a knife. At last the use of my own pen¬
knife has been restored to me. It has to remain in
the custody of my convict warder to be given to me
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 115

whenever I require it. It goes back to the Gaoler

every evening and comes back every morning to the
convict warder.

An Interesting Species
You may not know the species. Convict warders
are those long-term prisoners who by their good be¬
haviour may be given a warder’s dress and may be
under supervision entrusted with light responsibilities.
One such warder who has been convicted for a murder
is in charge of me during the day and another remind¬
ing me of Shaukat Ali’s size is added for night duty.
This addition was made when the Inspector-General
at last decided to leave my cell open. Both the warders
are quite inoffensive. They never interfere with me.
And I never engage in any conversation with them.
I have to speak to the day warder for some of my
wants. But beyond that I have no intercourse with
them.
I am in a triangular block. One side (the longest)
of the triangle which falls West has eleven cells. I
have as my companion in the yard an Arabian State
prisoner (I suppose). He does not speak Hindustani.
I unfortunately do not know Arabic; therefore our
intercourse is restricted to morning greetings. The
base of this triangle is a solid wall and the shortest
side is a barbed wire fence with a gate opening on to a
spacious open ground. The triangle is divided by a
lime line beyond which I was not to go. Thus I had
about seventy feet length for exercise. As an illus¬
tration of the want of human touch I mentioned the
white line to Mr. Khambata, the Cantonment Magis¬
trate, who is one of the visiting Magistrates. He did
not like the restriction and reported likewise. The
 116 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

whole length of the triangle is now open for exercise

to me giving me probably 140 feet length. My eyes
are set upon the open space just mentioned. But that
is perhaps too human to be permissible. Any way
seeing that the white line is gone, the barbed wire
fence, may, I have suggested, be disregarded so far as
my exercise is concerned. It is rather a ticklish pro¬
blem for the Superintendent and he is taking time to
consider it.

An Isolation Prison©*
The fact is I am an Isolation Prisoner. I must
not talk with anybody. Some of the Dharwad pri¬
soners are in this gaol, so is the great Gangadharrao
of Belgaum. Verumal Begraj, the reformer of Sukker,
is also in this gaol and so is Lalit, one of the Bombay
editors. I cannot see any of them. What harm I
can do to them if I live in their midst I do not know.
They can certainly do me no harm. We cannot plot
our escape. It will be just the thing the authorities
would relish, if we did plot. If it is a question of
infecting them with my views, they are all sufficiently
inoculated. Here in the gaol I could only make them
more enthusiastic about the spinning wheel.
But if I have mentioned my isolation to you, it is
not by way of complaint. I am happy in it. By
nature I like solitude. Silence pleases me. And I
am able to indulge in studies, which I prize, but which
I was bound to neglect outside.
But not all prisoners can enjoy isolation. It is
so unnecessary and unhuman. The fault lies in the
false classification. All prisoners are practically
grouped together, and no Superintendent, however
humane he may be, can possibly do justice to the
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 117
variety of men and women that can come under his
custody and care, unless he has a free hand. Therefore
the only thing he does is to study their bodies to the
entire neglect of the man within.
Add to this the fact that the gaols are being
prostituted for political ends so that political persecu¬
tion follows a political prisoner even inside the prison
wall.

The Routine

I must finish the picture of my gaol life by giving

you the routine. The cell itself is nice—quite clean
and airy. The permission to sleep outside is a blessing
to me being used to sleeping in the open. I rise at
4 a.m. for prayers. The Ashram people will be inter¬
ested to know that I recite the morning verses unfail¬
ingly and sing some of these hymns I have by heart.
At 6-30 a.m. I commence my studies. No light is
allowed. As soon therefore one can read, I commence
work. It stops at 7 p.m. after which it is impossible
to read or write without artificial light. I retire at
8 p.m. after the usual Ahsram prayer. My studies
include reading the Koran, Ramayana by Tulsidas,
books on Christianity given by Mr. Standing, study
of Urdu. These literary studies receive six hours.
Four hours are given to hand-spinning and carding.
At first I gave only 30 minutes to spinning when I had
only a limited supply of slivers. The authorities have
kindly given me some cotton. It is exceptionally
dirty. It is perhaps good training for a beginner in
carding. I give one hour to carding and three to
spinning. Ansuyabai and now Maganlal Qandhi have
sent slivers. I would like them to stop sending slivers,
but one of them may send good clean cotton, not more
118 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

than two pounds at a time. I am anxious to make

my own slivers. I think that every spinner should
learn carding. I was able to card after one lesson.
It is harder to practise but much easier to learn than
spinning.

Coming Neafei* to God

This spinning is growing on me. I seem to be

daily coming nearer to the poorest of the poor and to
that extent to God. I regard the four hours to be
the most profitable part of the day. The fruit of
my labour is visible before me. Not an impure thought
enters my mind during the four hours. The mind
wanders whilst I read the Gita, the Koran, the
Ramayana. But the mind is fixed whilst I am turning
the wheel, or working the bow. I know that it may
not and cannot mean all this to everyone. I have so
identified the spinning wheel with the economic salva¬
tion of pauper India, that it has for me a fascination all
its own. There is a serious competition going on in
my mind between spinning and carding on the one
hand and literary pursuits on the other. And I
should not be surprised if in my next letter I report
to you an increase in the hours of spinning and carding.
Please tell Maulana Abdul Bari Saheb that I
expect him to compete with me in spinning which he
informed me he had just taken up. His example will
lead many to take up this great occupation as a duty.
The Ashram people may be informed that I have
finished the primer I promised to write. I presume
that I shall be permitted to send it to them. I hope
to be able to overtake the religious primer I promised
to write as also the history of the struggle in South
Africa.
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 119

Books for a Pillow

Instead of three, for the sake of convenience, I

am taking two meals only here. But I am taking
quite enough. The Superintendent is offering every
convenience in the shape of food. For the last three
days, he has procured for me goat’s milk, butter and
I expect in a day or two to be baking my own chapatis.

I am allowed two perfectly new, warm, heavy

blankets, a coir mat and two sheets. A pillow has
been added since. It was hardly necessary. I used
books or my extra clothing as a pillow. The latter
has been added as a result of the conversation with
Rajagopalachari. There is privacy for bathing which
is allowed daily. A separate cell is allowed as a work
room whilst it is not otherwise required. Sanitary
arrangements have been made perfect.

Friends therefore need not worry about me in

any way whatsoever. I am as happy as a bird. Nor
do I think I am doing less useful service there than
outside. To be here is good discipline for me, and
separation from co-workers was just the thing required
to know whether we were an organic whole or,
whether an activity was one man’s show—a nine days’
wonder. I have no misgivings. I have therefore no
curiosity to know what is happening outside. And
if my prayers are true and from a humble heart, they,
I know, are infinitely more efficacious than any amount
of meddlesome activity.

I am anxious about Das’s health. I shall always

have cause for complaint against his good partner
that she did not keep me informed of his health.
Motilalji’s asthama, I hope, has left him.
120 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

The Proud and Sensitive Boy

Do please persuade Mrs. Gandhi not to think of
visiting me. Devadas created a scene when he visited
me. He could not brook the idea of my standing in
the Superintendent’s office when he was brought in.
The proud and sensitive boy burst out weeping aloud
and it was with difficulty I could restrain him. He
should have realized that I was a prisoner and as
such I had no right to sit in the presence of the Superin¬
tendent. Seats might and should have been offered
to Rajagopalachari and Devadas. But I am sure
there was no discourtesy intended. I do not suppose
it is usual for the Superintendent to supervise such
interviews. But in my case evidently he wanted to
run no risks. I would not like the scene to be repeated
by Mrs. Gandhi nor do I want a special favour to be
done in my case by a seat being offered. Dignity,
I am sure, consists in my standing. And we must
yet wait for a while, before the British people naturally
and heartily extend the delicate courtesies to us in
every walk of life. I am not at ail anxious to have
visitors and I would like friends and relations to restrain
themselves. Business visits may always be paid under
circumstances adverse or otherwise.

I hope Chhotani Mian has distributed the spinning

wheels donated by him among poor Musalman women
in Panchmahals, East Khandesh and Agra. I forget
the name of the missionary lady who wrote to me from
Agra. Kristodas may remember.
I shall soon finish the Urdu manual. I would
prize a good Urdu dictionary (and) any book you or
Dr. Ansari may choose.
Please tell Shuaib I am at ease about him.
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 121
I do hope you are keeping well. To hope that
you are not overworking yourself is to hope for the
impossible. I can therefore only pray that God will
keep you in health in spite of the strain.
With love to every one of the workers,
Yours sincerely,.
M. K. Gandhi

n
Prisoner’s Protest
From
Prisoner No. 8677
To
The Government of Bombay
With reference to the Government orders passed
on Prisoner’s letter to Hakimji Ajmalkhan, a friend
of prisoner and returning said letter to prisoner with
certain remarks in the said orders read out to prisoner
by the Superintendent, Yeravda gaol, prisoner No. 8677
begs to say that on application to the Superintendent
for a copy of the said orders, he says he has no autho¬
rity to give prisoner a copy thereof.
Prisoner would like to possess a copy of the said
orders and send one to friends so that they may know
under what circumstances prisoner has been unable
to send to friends a letter of welfare. Prisoner hereby
applies for instructions to the Superintendent to give
him a copy of the said orders.
Regarding the orders so far as prisoner recollects
and understands them, the Government base their
refusal to send prisoner’s letter to its destination on
the ground that as (i) the letter contains reference to
prisoners dther than prisoner himself, and (ii) the
letter is likely to give rise to political controversy.
122 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

With regard to the first ground, prisoner submits

that the letter contains no references that are not
strictly relevant to prisoner’s own personal condition
and welfare.
With regard to the second ground prisoner res¬
pectfully contends that the possibility of a public
controversy cannot be a valid ground to deprive a
prisoner of the right of sending a quarterly letter of
welfare to friends and relatives. The implication of
the ground is in prisoner’s opinion dangerous in the
extreme; it being that an Indian prison is a secret
department. Prisoner contends that Indian prisons
are an open public department subject to criticism
by the public in the same manner as any other depart¬
ment.
Prisoner contends that his said letter is strictly
one containing information regarding his personal
welfare. References to other prisoners were necessary
to complete the information. Prisoner would gladly
correct misstatement or exaggeration if any be dis¬
covered to him. But to send the letter in the muti¬
lated manner suggested by the Government would be
to give an erroneous idea of his condition to his friends.
Unless, therefore, the Government will forward priso¬
ner’s letter subject to such corrections that may be
found necessary, prisoner has no desire to exercise the
right of sending to friends a letter of welfare which
right becomes of doubtful value under the restrictions
imposed by the Government under the said orders.
Yeravda Gaol, M. K. Gandhi
12th May, 1922 prisoner no. 8677
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 123

III

My First and Last

Yeravda Gaol,
12th May 1922
Dear Hakimji,
I wrote to you on 14th April a long letter giving
you full information about myself. It contained
messages among others to Mrs. Gandhi and Devadas.
The Government have just passed orders refusing to
send the letter unless I would remove material parts
of it. They have given grounds for their decision,
but as a copy of the order has been refused to me,
I cannot send them to you nor can I give you the
grounds so far as I recollect.
I have written to the Government questioning the
validity of their grounds and offering to correct mis¬
statement or exaggeration in my letter if any is dis¬
covered to me. I have told them too that if I can¬
not send my letter without mutilation, I have no desire
to write even regulation letters to friends, which then
become of doubtful value. Unless, therefore, the
Government revise their decision this intimation must
be my first and last from the gaol to you or other friends.
Hoping you are keeping well.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. Gandhi
prisoner no. 8677
124 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

IV

Three Matters Pending

To,
The Superintendent,
Yeravda Central Gaol
Sir,
There are regarding myself three matters pending
for some time.
(1) In May last, I wrote to my friend Hakimji
Ajmal Khan of Delhi the usual quarterly letter. The
Government declined to forward it unless I cut out
portions objected to by them. As I considered the
portions strictly relevant to my condition in the gaol
I could not see my way to remove them and I respect¬
fully notified to the Government that I did not propose
to avail myself of the privilege or the right of sending
to my friend the usual letter unless I could give him
a full description of my condition. At the same time
I wrote a brief letter to my friend saying that the
letter I had written to him was disallowed and that
I did not propose to write any letter regarding my
welfare unless the Government removed the restrictions
imposed by them. This second letter, too, the Govern¬
ment have declined to send. It is this second letter,
which I have asked, should be returned to me as the
first has been.
(2) After having received permission from Col.
Dalziel to write a vernacular primer and the assurance
that there would be no objection to my sending it to
my friends for publication, I wrote the primer and
gave it to Col. Dalziel for dispatch to the address
mentioned in the covering letter. The Government
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 125

have declined to send the primer to the address given,

on the ground that prisoners cannot be permitted to
publish books whilst they are serving their term. I
have no wish to see my name on the primer as
publisher or author. If the primer may not be
published even without my name being connected
with it in any way, I would like it returned to me.
(3) The Government were pleased to notify that
I could be allowed periodicals. I therefore asked for
permission to send for The Times of India weekly, the
Modern Review—a high class Calcutta monthly, and
the Saraswati,—a Hindi magazine. The last named
has been kindly allowed. No decision has yet been
received regarding the other two. I am anxiously
awaiting the Government decision about them.
Yeravda Gaol, I remain,
12th August 1922 Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
Young India, 28-2-’24, p. 72

MAHATMAJFS JAIL DIARY

[We publish below the second instalment of Mr. Gandhi’s

jail correspondence, along with his notes thereon:]

Yeravda Jail,
14th October 1922
To,
The Superintendent,
Yeravda Central Jail
Sir,
With reference to Government refusal to let me
have the Modern Review, I beg to state that the friends
126 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

who accompanied my wife last week at the quarterly

interview told me that the Government had announced
that magazines were allowed to the prisoners. If the
information is correct I renew my request and ask for
the Indian Review, a monthly magazine edited by
Mr. Natesan of Madras.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
(The Indian Review was refused.—M.K.G.)

VI

Yeravda Jail,
20th December 1922
To,
The Superintendent,
Yeravda Central Jail
Sir,
You were good enough to tell me that of those
who had recently applied for permission to see me,
Pandit Motilal Nehru and Hakim Ajmal Khan and
Mr. Maganlal Gandhi were refused permission to see
me.
Mr. Maganlal Gandhi is a very near relative of
mine, holds my power of attorney and is in charge of
my agricultural and hand-weaving and hand-spinning
experiments and is in close touch with my work among
the depressed classes.
Panditji and Hakimji are, besides being political
co-workers, personal friends interested in my wellbeing.
I shall be obliged if you will kindly ascertain
from the Government the reason for the refusal to
Pandit Motilal Nehru, Hakimji Ajmal Khan and
Mr. Maganlal Gandhi.
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 127

I observe that under the prison regulations govern¬

ing interviews with prisoners all the three gentlemen
named above appear to be eligible as visitors to their
prisoner friends. I would like to know, if I may,
what the Government wishes are regarding interviews
with me; whom I may and may not see and whether
I may receive information from the permitted visitors
on non-political topics or activities with which I am
connected.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
no. 8622

VII

Yeravda Jail,
20th December 1922
t°,
The Superintendent
Yeravda Central Jail
Sir,
You have been good enough to tell me that the
Inspector-General has without giving reasons refused
to sanction the use by me of two Gujarati monthlies,
namely Vasant and Samalochak.
In view of the orders of the Government about
the use of periodicals by prisoners the foregoing decision
is a surprise to me. The Government orders, as I
have understood them, are that prisoners may have
periodicals which do not contain current political
news. I am not very conversant with the Samalochak
but I am with the Vasant. It is the standard Gujarati
literary monthly, edited by Rao Bahadur Ramanbhai,
128 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

well known as a social reformer, and contributed to

mainly by those who are in some way or other connected
with the Government. I have not known it to treat
political questions as such, nor have I ever known it
to contain political news. But it may be that the
Inspector-General has other reasons for disallowing
the periodicals or that both the Vasant and the Sama-
lochak have now become political magazines. Will
you kindly therefore ascertain from the Inspector-
General the reasons for his decision ? I may add that
if the decision is not altered it will deprive me of the
opportunity of keeping myself in touch with Gujarati
literature.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi

VIII

Yeravda Central Prison,

4th February 1923
To,
The Superintendent,
Yeravda, C.P.
Sir,
You were good enough to tell me yesterday that
the Inspector-General had replied to my letter of the
20th December last to the effect that you had full
discretion regarding interviews by relations and friends
within terms of the prison regulations governing such
interviews.
This reply has come upon me as a surprise and is
at variance with the information given me by my wife
who together with Mrs. Vasumati Dhimatram was
permitted to see me on the 27th ultimo.
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 129

My wife told me that she had to wait for over

twenty days before receiving reply to her application
for interview. On hearing rumours of my illness she
came to Poona in the hope of being admitted to see
me. Consequently early last week, accompanied
by Mrs. Vasumati Dhimatram, Mr. Maganlal Gandhi,
Radha, his daughter, about fourteen years old, and
Prabhudas, a lad about eighteen years old, Mr.
Chhaganlal Gandhi’s son, who had come in the place
of his father who was one of the applicants and who
was ailing, my wife applied at the prison gate for
admission. You told the party that you could not
admit them as you had no authority to grant permi¬
ssion and that you were awaiting reply from the
Government to whom the original application was
sent by you. On Mr. Maganlal Gandhi’s pressing, you
undertook to telephone to the Inspector-General who
too, it seems, could not grant the proposed interview
and my wife and party had to go away disappointed.
On the 27th ultimo my wife told me you telephoned
to her saying that you had heard from the Govern¬
ment that she and three others who were named in
her original application could see me. This therefore
excluded youngsters Radha and Prabhudas.
If you had the discretion retained to you, the
whole of the circumstances narrated above need
revision. I feel sure that I have not misunderstood
my wife.
Moreover, if your discretion had been retained
Radha and Prabhudas could not have been excluded.
I shall therefore be obliged if you will enlighten
me on the discrepancy between the Government reply
and my wife’s version, and inform me further—

S.-9
 130 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE
4

(1) On what ground Pandit Motilal Nehru and

Hakim Ajmal Khan and Mr. Maganlal Gandhi were
excluded last year?
(2) Who will and who will not be allowed to
see me in future?
(3) Whether at these interviews I may receive
information on non-political matters and activities
initiated and now being conducted by my various
representatives ?
Though I will not permit myself to believe that
any humiliation was intended, I venture to think that
the treatment received by them was in fact humiliating.
I should not like a repetition of the unfortunate oc¬
currence.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 8622

IX

Yeravda Jail,
10 th February 1923
Dear Major Jones,

This is a personal letter because it embraces and

travels beyond my province as a prisoner. At the
same time if your official position demands that you
cannot take official note of it, of course you are at
liberty to do so.
Yesterday morning I heard screaming and some
of the men about shouted out there was flogging. I
wondered. A short while after I saw four or five
young men in gunny clothing being marched. One
had a bare back. They were all walking very slowly
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 131

and with bent backs. I observed that they were in

pain. They bowed to me. I returned the bow. I
concluded that they must have been flogged. During
the day I saw a respectable man in irons pass by. He
too bowed. Contrary to my custom, I asked him who
he was. He told me he was a Mulshi Peta man.
I asked him whether he knew the flogged men. He
said he knew them all, as they were also Mulshi Peta
men.
The object in writing this is to know whether I
could be permitted to see these men who are refusing
to work. If I find them to be acting foolishly or thought¬
lessly, I might be able to persuade them to reconsider
their position. 1 Satyagraha requires a prisoner to
obey ail reasonable prison regulations and certainly to
do the work given. In fact, his resistance ceases once
a Satyagrahi is in prison. It can be revived for extra¬
ordinary reasons e.g. studied humiliation. If these
men claim to be Satyagrahis, I should like to explain
all this to them.
I know that a prisoner cannot ordinarily be per¬
mitted to assist or intervene in prison administration.
My only reason for expecting response to my suggestion
is that of common humanity. You, I am sure, will
want to leave no stone unturned to avoid flogging,
if it is at all possible. I have suggested a possibility
in all humility. I wish you would and could be
permitted to avail yourself of my offer.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. Gandhi
132 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Yeravda Jail,
12th February 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda Central Jail
Sir,
I have just learnt that Mr. Jeramdas has been
awarded some punishment for having talked to some
Mulshi Peta men. I do not write this to complain of
the punishment but to ask for the same or greater for
myself. I make this request not in a querulous, but
if I may so put it, in a religious spirit. For the breach
is more mine than Mr. Jeramdas’s. I asked him to
tell any Mulshi Peta man he could see that if he
claimed to be a Satyagrahi, he should not refuse to
work. Mr. Jeramdas would not reject such a request
from me. I told him too to tell you all that happened
if you visited him today, and I was to have told
you tomorrow what happened between us today,
because you do not visit me on Mondays, as it is my
day of silence. I assure you that I would not mis¬
understand the infliction of punishment on me. I
should feel sorry if I escaped when the one who is less
guilty—if there be guilt in the act—is punished.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi

(The Superintendent in reply to the foregoing

came to my cell and said that he harboured no anger
against Jeramdas. Whatever he (Mr. Jeramdas)
did was done openly but he was bound to take some
notice of the breach of regulations. He could not
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 133

punish me for instigation. I had not left the boundary

of my yard to talk to the Satyagrahis and therefore
he could not punish me. Owing to Mr. Jeramdas’s
talk to the Satyagrahis an ugly situation was prevented.
—M.K.G.)

XI

Yeravda G. J.,
12 th February 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda Central Jail
Sir,
I observe that some Mulshi Peta prisoners have
been flogged, as they are said to have refused to work
and to have wilfully done short task.
If these prisoners claim to be Satyagrahis they are
bound to obey all prison regulations so long as they
are not humiliating or unreasonable, and certainly to
the best of their capacity do the tasks allotted to them.
If therefore they have refused to work or do not work
according to their physical capacity they are commit¬
ting a breach of their own canon of good conduct in
addition to that of prison regulations.
1 am sure that the authorities do not desire to
flog them, if they can be otherwise persuaded to work,,
and that they would wish prisoners to yield to reason
rather than to fear of punishment. I fancy that the
men will listen to me. I therefore request that I may
be permitted to meet in your presence all the Mulshi
Peta men who wilfully break prison regulations, so that
I may explain to them their duty as Satyagrahis if they
claim to be such.
134 <
stonewalls do not a prison make

I am aware that it is not usual to permit prisoners

to assist or intervene in matters of prison administra¬
tion. But I imagine that considerations of humanity
such as in the case mentioned will be allowed to super¬
sede those of administrative custom.
I remain*
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
(In reply the Superintendent told me that whilst
the Government thanked me for the offer, they could
not avail themselves of it.—M.K.G.)

XII

Yeravda Central Prison,

23rd February 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda C. P.
Sir,
You were kind enough to tell me today that you
had heard from the Government in reply to my letter
of the 4th instant, and that the Government was sorry
for the inconvenience that was caused to my wife and
that with reference to the other parts of my letter, the
Government could not discuss with a prisoner the prison
regulations in general. I appreciate the expression of
sorrow about the inconvenience caused to my wife.
Regarding the other part of the Government
reply, I beg to state that I am well aware of the fact
that as a prisoner I may not discuss the prison regulations
in general. If the Government will re-read my letter
of the 4th instant they will discover that I have not
invited a general discussion of the regulations. On the
contrary, I have merely ventured to seek information on
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 135

the particular application of certain regulations in so

far only as they bear on my future conduct and welfare.
I presume that a prisoner is entitled to seek and receive
such information. If I am to see my friends and wife
in future, I ought to know whom I may or may not
see, so as to avoid disappointment or even possible
humiliation.

I venture to make my position clear. I have the

good fortune to have numerous friends who are as
dear to me as relatives. I have children being brought
up under me who are like my own children. I have
associates living under the same roof with me, and
helping me in my various non-political activities and
experiments. I could not, without doing violence to
my most cherished sentiments, see my wife if I may
not from time to time also see these friends, associates
and children. I see my wife not merely because she
is my wife but chiefly because she is my associate in
my activities.

Nor should I have any interest in seeing those I

wish to, if I may not talk to them about my non¬
political activities.

Again, I am naturally interested in knowing why

Pandit Motilal Nehru, Hakimjee Ajmal Khan and
Mr. Maganlal Gandhi were excluded. I should under¬
stand their exclusion if they were guilty of ungentle-
manly conduct, or if they wanted to see me for any
political discussion. But if they have been excluded
for any unnamable political reasons, the least I could
do is to waive the pleasure of seeing my wife. I
entertain ideas of honour and self-respect which I
would like the Government, if they can, to understand
and appreciate.
136 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

I have no desire to hold political discussion with

anybody much less to send out political messages. The
Government may post anyone they wish to be present
at these interviews and their representative may take
short-hand notes thereon, if the Government deem it
necessary. But I may be excused if I wish to guard
against friends and relatives being refused permission
for reasons outside the prison regulations. I have now
stated my position frankly and fully. This correspon¬
dence commenced on 20th December last. I would
urge the Government to let me have an early, straight
and undiplomatic reply.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 827

XIII

Yeravda Central Prison,

23rd February 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda G.P.
Sir,
You have kindly informed me that in reply to
my letter of the 4th ultimo, the Inspector-General says
that the use of the two periodicals Vasant and Samalo-
chak cannot be granted. I beg to state that I knew
that decision before writing the letter in question.
If the Inspector-General will please have the letter
read to him again he will notice that I knew that
decision and he will notice further that what I have
sought in my letter is the reason for the refusal. I
have ventured to ask in my letter whether the use of
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 137

the periodicals was refused on the ground that they

contained current political news, or whether the
decision was based on any other ground. I venture
to repeat my request and hope to be favoured with an
early reply.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi

XIV

Yeravda Gentral Prison,

25th March 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda C. P.
Sir,
You have kindly informed me that the Inspector-
General has replied to my letter of the 23rd ultimo
saying that the decision about the Vasant and the
Samalochak was given by a competent authority
and that I was to be referred to the last paragraph
of the Government’s letter regarding my inquiry
about certain applications for interviews with me.
I beg to tender my congratulations to the I.G. for
the promptness of his reply, but greatly deplore the
position adopted by him. Government’s competency
to decide as to the periodicals was never questioned
by me. And the paragraph of the Government’s
letter referred to by him does not help me in the
least. It says that you may not discuss with prisoners
the prison regulations in general. I have asked the
I.G. to do no such thing with me. I have merely asked
for the reasons of his decision. I may remind him
that when he was Superintendent, and applied on my
138 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

behalf for Modern Review, the Government did give

reasons for their refusal. I venture to suggest that the
present case in no way differs from the previous
one.
Moreover the Inspector-General knows, from his
conversations with me, that I regard these refusals to
let me have the use of periodicals a punishment in
addition to that awarded by the convicting judge.
I feel sure, that in every case, a person is entitled to
reasons for punishments inflicted on him by competent
authorities.
With due respect to the Inspector-General, I
venture to submit that he cannot take up the lofty
attitude of indifference towards prisoners that the
Government may permit itself to take. Whilst he was
Superintendent, he taught me to think that as Super¬
intendent of a prison, although he undoubtedly carried
out the discipline of a prison, his appointment required
him equally to protect the rights such as they were of
prisoners. He led me to think that a Superintendent
of a prison was in fact guardian of the prisoners under
his charge. If this is true, the Inspector-General is,
I take it, the Super-guardian of prisoners, who therefore
expect him to press their just claims even before the
Government, when it happens to overlook or disregard
them. A prisoner also expects him not to evade his
just inquiries but to satisfy him in every possible and
reasonable way.
I am sorry for carrying on this correspondence.
But rightly or wrongly, I believe that even as a prisoner
I have certain rights, for example, the right to have
pure air, water, food and clothing. Similarly, I have
the right to have such mental nourishment given
to me as I am used to. I ask for no favours,
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 139

and if the Inspector-General thinks that any single

thing or convenience has been given to me as a favour,
let it be withdrawn. But this matter of receiving
periodicals I consider as important a right as that of
receiving suitable food. I do therefore respectfully
ask him not to treat my application for reasons for his
decision with indifference that his letters have un¬
fortunately hitherto betrayed.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
(The Inspector-General Col. Dalziel at last con¬
descended and replied that the decision was arrived
at by higher authority.—M.K.G.)

xv
Yeravda Central Prison,
16th April 1923
The Superintendent
Yeravda C. P.
Sir,
As my youngest son has come to see me today I
should like if possible to see the Government reply to
my letter of the 23rd Feb. last regarding the regulation
of interviews with me. The reply will enable me to
find out whether consistently with my said letter I
should see my son or not, as you know to day is my
silent day. The silence breaks at 2 p.m. today.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
140 stonewalls do not a prison make

(The result of the correspondence was that the

Government at last gave their reason for prohibiting
the visits referred to, viz. it was in the public interest
that the said visits were prohibited, but that if in future
I wanted to see anybody in particular, the Superinten¬
dent was to send the name or names to the Govern¬
ment. I may add that to the last moment the names
of all who wanted to see me had to be submitted to the
Government. In spite of the Government statement,
in my case and those who were in the same block with
me, the Superintendent had no discretion to grant
permission to visitors, which he had in the case of all
the other prisoners.—M.K.G.)

xvi

Yeravda Central Prison,

1st May 1923

The Superintendent,
Yeravda C. P.

Sir,

You have kindly shown me the regulation classifying

certain simple imprisonment prisoners in a special divi¬
sion and told me that I am so classified. In my opinion,
there are hard labour prisoners like Messrs. Kaujalgi,
Jeramdas and Bhansali, who are no more criminals
than I am, and who have enjoyed outside a status
probably superior to mine, and who certainly have
been used to a softer life than I have for years. Whilst
therefore such prisoners remain outside the special
classification, much as I should like to avail myself
of some of the regulations, I am unable so to avail
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 141

myself, and I should be glad if my name is removed

from the special division.
I remain,
Yours,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 827

XVII

Yeravda Central Prison,

28th June 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda G.P.
Sir,
I heard this morning that six Mulshi Peta priso¬
ners were flogged today for short task. A few days ago,
I heard that one such prisoner was also flogged for
the same “offence”. Today’s news has considerably
agitated me and seems almost to compel some action
on my part. But I want to take no hasty step. And I
owe it to you that I should, before doing anything
whatsoever, seek accurate information from you
regarding the punishment, which I do hereby.
I am aware that as a prisoner I have no right to
ask you for such information, but I venture to do so
as a man and in my capacity as a public worker.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 827
 142 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

XVIII

Yeravda Central Prison,

29th June 1923
The Superintendent,
Yeravda G. P.
Sir,
With reference to my letter of yesterday regard¬
ing the flogging of certain Mulshi Peta prisoners, I
beg to thank you and the Inspector-General for giving
me full information about the cause of the punish¬
ment.
You will recall that when some months ago simi¬
lar punishment was awarded to some other Mulshi
Peta prisoners, I requested the Government to let me
interview all such prisoners with a view to inducing
them to conform to jail discipline. The Government
were good enough to thank me for the offer but de¬
clined to accept it. I did not press my request further,
if for the reason that I had hoped that occasion would
not again arise for flogging such prisoners. But the
hope has not been fulfilled and flogging has been
resorted to more than once since the one referred to
by me.
I believe that if I could see the prisoners I could
induce them to look at their imprisonment in the
proper light and not to shirk work or resort to in¬
subordination, as they are said to have done. To en¬
able me to do so from time to time I request that I
may be accommodated with them. If this cannot be
done, I request the permission to see the prisoners as
often as the occasion may require.
I am aware that as a prisoner I may not ask or
receive such permission, but I respectfully ask it as a
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 143

human being to serve a humane purpose. The Gov¬

ernment, I am sure, cannot wish to see the punishment
of flogging inflicted, if it can be at all avoided, on any
prisoner, much less on one who rightly or wrongly
regards himself as imprisoned for conscience’s sake.
They will appreciate my position when I state that
these floggings are most distressing to me, specially
as I believe that they can be avoided if I am permit¬
ted to live with the prisoners.
I venture to trust that the Government will reci¬
procate the spirit of my letter and not put me, by
rejecting my offer of service, in the most awkward posi¬
tion of being compelled to take action, which may,
without any such wish on my part, prove embarras¬
sing to them. It is not my purpose whilst undergoing
imprisonment to embarrass the Government by any
conduct that I can possibly avoid.
In view of the fact that some of the prisoners are
hunger-striking in connection with the matter, I
request as early a reply as possible.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 827

(For reasons I do not wish to enter into at this

stage, I am unable to publish further correspondence
in this matter. But I may state that I was permitted to
see two of the leading hunger-strikers in the presence
of the Superintendent of the gaol and the Inspector-
General of Prisons. The result was that Messrs.
Dastane and Dev, the two prisoners, appreciated
the moral argument I advanced, and at once broke
their long fast. The Government after investigating
the cause of flogging and surrounding circumstances
144 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

issued instructions that no flogging was to be adminis¬

tered by the Jail Superintendent without previous
sanction from the Government, except in the case of as¬
sault by prisoners upon jail officials, or like conduct.
I have observed that exaggerated reports were
published about the conduct of Major Whitworth
Jones, then Superintendent and that he was described
as an inhumane Superintendent, and his conduct
as inhuman. Whilst in my opinion the flogging in ques¬
tion was a grave error of judgment on the part of the
Superintendent it was nothing more. Major Jones
was often hasty, but so far as I am aware never heart¬
less. On the contrary, all I saw of him and heard about
him from those prisoners with whom I came in con¬
tact, he was a most sympathetic Superintendent,
ever willing to listen to the prisoners and to take
severe notice of the subordinates who in any way ill-
treated them. He was ever willing to admit his mis¬
takes—a rare quality in an official. At the same time
he was a disciplinarian, and a hasty disciplinarian is
often likely to make mistakes. The two floggings of
Satyagrahis were such mistakes. They were of the head,
not of the heart. The fact is that the powers of indiscri¬
minate flogging should never have been vested in the
hands of Superintendents of jails. They were taken
away none too soon. A detailed examination of the pri¬
son administration and of these floggings must be
reserved for a further occasion.—M.K.G.)
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 145

XIX
«

Yeravda Central Prison,

15th July 1923

H. E. the Governor of Bombay

Sir,
Your Excellency will, I trust, forgive me for
referring to our conversation of Monday last. The
more I think of what you said about the powers of
the Government about framing regulations and
reducing sentences, the more I feel that you are mis¬
taken. I must confess that behind the special division
regulations, I have always read not a sincere recogni¬
tion of the necessity of some such provision, but a
reluctant and therefore a mere paper concession to
some public pressure. But if you are right in think¬
ing that the law gives you no authority .to specially
classify rigorous imprisonment prisoners or to reduce
sentences, I must revise my view of the Government
action and rid myself of the suspicion about its
motives. I should like to be able to do so, all the more
as you tell me, you have personally framed the regu¬
lations in question. I have always considered you to
be the last person to do things weakly or to appear
to conciliate public sentiment when you did not wish
to. I would be glad therefore to find that you excluded
rigorous imprisonment prisoners from the benefit of
the regulations only because the law rendered you
helpless.

But if your law officers advise you that the law

does not prevent you, as you imagine it does, I
hope you will do one of the two things:

S.-10
146 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

(1) Either remove me and my colleagues men¬

tioned to you by me from the special division, or (2)
logically include in the special division those rigorous
imprisonment prisoners who are accustomed to the
same mode of life as we are.
I would ask your Excellency to send for and read
my letter of 1st May last addressed to the Superin¬
tendent together with this.
I remain,
Your faithful servant,
M. K. Gandhi
(This letter was written as a result of His Excel¬
lency’s visit at which I discussed with him, when he
pressed me as to whether I had anything to say on
the question of Special Division. I told him in effect
that in my opinion the Special Division Regulations
were an eyewash and were designed merely to deceive
the public into thinking that something was done to
accord to the political prisoners a treatment that their
general upbringing rendered necessary. But the Gov¬
ernor told me with the greatest assurance that he had
no authority whatsoever in law to bring rigorous im¬
prisonment prisoners within the special division.
And when I ventured to question the accuracy of
his legal knowledge, he told me he ought to know
inasmuch as he had framed the regulations himself.
I was amazed at the industry of a Governor who went
so much into details as even to draw up regulations
_a work that is generally left to legal officers. Al¬
though my knowledge of law has become rusty for
lack of use, in spite of the authoritative manner in
which the Governor spoke, I could not reconcile my¬
self to the fact that the law had given the Government
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 147
powers to specially classify only simple imprison¬
ment, and not hard labour prisoners, and that it gave
no discretion to the Government to reduce sentences.
Hence the foregoing letter. The reply received was
that H. E. was mistaken about the law and that the
Government had the necessary powers, but in spite of
that discovery he could not see his way to revise the
regulations so as to include all political prisoners
whether undergoing simple or rigorous imprisonment.
My suspicion therefore that the Special Division
Regulations were a mere eye-wash became, am
sorry to say, confirmed.—M.K.G.)

xx
Yeravda Central Prison,
6th September 1923
The Superintendent,
Y. G. P.
Sir,
With reference to the names sent to the Govern¬
ment of certain visitors intending to see me, you have
today informed me that the Government have now
decided to restrict the number of visitors to be permit¬
ted to see me to two, and that of the names sent only
Messrs. Narandas and Devadas Gandhi may be per¬
mitted to see me for this quarter’s interview.
As the Government have hitherto permitted me
to receive five visitors, I must confess that the present
decision has come upon me as a surprise. But I wel¬
come the decision inasmuch as they have refused to
grant similar permission to my colleague Mr. Yagnik
who is kept in the same block with me. Had it not
appeared graceless, I would myself have waived the
148 stonewalls do not a prison make

facility which, I then saw, was exclusively allowed

to me.
The case, however, of restricting the permission
only to Messrs. Narandas and Devadas Gandhi stands
on a different footing. If it means that henceforth I
am not to see any but such blood relations only as
may be allowed, I must deny myself the usual privi¬
lege of receiving visitors twice every quarter. I had
thought that the question of the qualifications of per¬
sons who were to be permitted to see me, was decided
once for all. I have no desire to weary the Government
by reiterating the argument contained in the previous
correspondence on this subject. I can only state that
the three friends whose names have been sent to the
Government fall under the category of those who have
been permitted to see me since the correspondence
referred to by me. And if I may not see these friends,
whom I regard in the same light as my blood relations,
I must simply not receive any visitors at all.
I observe that the Government have taken over a
fortnight to give the decision you have conveyed to
me. May I ask now for an early decision on this letter,
so as to avoid unnecessary suspense both to those who
are eager to see me and to myself?
I remain,
Yours faithfully,
M. K. Gandhi
NO. 827
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 149

XXI

Yeravda Central Prison,

12th November 1923
To
The Superintendent,
Y. G. P.
Sir,
At the time you told my companion Mr. Abdul
Gani that the prison rules did not permit you to let
him have diet that cost more than the authorized
scale, I informed you that your predecessor had al¬
lowed all my companions and me to regulate our
diet. I further submitted to you that it was awkward
for me to enjoy a facility Mr. Abdul Gani could not
enjoy and that therefore my diet too should be so re¬
duced as to be brought in harmony with the regu¬
lations, and the scale allowed to Mr. Abdul Gani.
You were good enough to suggest that for the time
being I should continue the present rations and that
I might discuss the matter with the Inspector-
General, who would shortly visit the prison. I have
waited now for over ten days. I feel that if I am to
keep the peace of my mind, I should wait no longer,
and in any case, I have nothing to discuss with the
InspectorrGeneral. I have no complaint whatsoever
to make against your decision regarding Mr. Abdul
Gani. I recognize that you are powerless even if you
were minded to help my companion. Nor is it my
intention to seek any revision of the prison regula¬
tions regarding diet. All I am desirous of doing is to
avoid my favoured treatment. You have kindly sug¬
gested that my diet scale might have been consi¬
dered by your predecessor a medical necessity. I
150 stonewalls do not a prison make

know, however, as a matter of fact, that such could

not be the case, for my diet has been the same more
or less from the time of my admission to this jail; and
what is more to the point, my companions and I have,
as has been already mentioned, been hitherto permit¬
ted to regulate our diet without regard to cost.
I propose, therefore, to discontinue oranges and
raisins as from Wednesday next. My diet will still ex¬
ceed the authorized rate. I am not sure that I need
4 lbs. of goat’s milk, but unless you will kindly assist
me to further change my diet so as to reduce the cost
to the authorized rate, I shall reluctantly continue
to take the 4 lbs. of milk and sour lime not exceeding
two.
I need hardly assure you that I contemplate the
reduction in no querulous spirit. I fully sympathize
with your decision regarding Mr. Abdul Gani. I
propose to make the change purely for my inner peace,
and in this I ask for your sympathy and approval.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
M. K. Gandhi
no. 827
(The reader is warned not to read a meaning
into the letter which it was never intended to bear.
The letter is only published in order to explain the
incident referred to in the letter, as it has been the
subject matter of much talk and speculation. And as
the renunciation of fruit is said to have hastened my
collapse, it is necessary to make it clear that it was
in no way a protest against the Superintendent’s
refusal to grant Mr. Abdul Gani’s request. Moreover
Mr. Abdul Gani had the right under the special divi¬
sion regulations to send for fruit and any other
 JAIL CORRESPONDENCE 151

food that he wanted. But he, Mr. Yagnik and I had

come to the conclusion that it would not be proper
for us to send for food from outside. The autho¬
rities could therefore be in no way blamed for the
consequence of my abstention. The Superintendent,
as well as the Inspector-General of Prisons pleaded
with me to desist from enforcing my decision. They
warned me of the possible serious consequences of
abstention, but for the peace of my mind I had to
take the risk. And after all the serious illness I have
gone through, I do not feel sorry that I took the
step I did. Nor should the reader in any way blame
Mr. Abdul Gani for having asked for a change of
his diet. He asked for it after full consultation with
me, and I approved of the change not knowing that
the regulations would not allow the Superintendent
to grant the changed diet. I was misled into think¬
ing so, because as stated in the letter, Mr. Yagnik
and other fellow prisoners were allowed by the pre¬
vious Superintendent to change their diet from time to
time. When I decided to renounce fruit after the
refusal to Mr. Abdul Gani, he tried his utmost to
dissuade me from the course, but it was not possible
for me to forego the experiment until it was abso¬
lutely clear to me that fruit was necessary for my
constitution.
Young India, 6-3-’24, p. 77
 3
MY JAIL EXPERIENCES

I
In t r o chi c tl on■

The reader knows that I am a hardened criminal.

It was not for the first time that I found myself a
prisoner in the March of 1922. I had three previous
South African convictions to my credit, and as I was
regarded at the time by the South African Govern¬
ment as a dangerous criminal, I was moved from jail
to jail and was able, therefore, to gather much expe¬
rience of jail life. I had, before the Indian conviction,
passed through six prisons and had come in touch
with as many Superintendents and many more jai¬
lors. When, therefore during the beautiful night of
the 10th of March I was taken to the Sabarmad Jail
together with Mr. Banker, I did not feel any awk¬
wardness which always attends upon a strange and
new experience. I almost felt I was going from one
home to another in order to make more conquests of
love. The preliminaries were more like being taken
to a pleasure-trip than to jail. The courteous Superin¬
tendent of Police, Mr. Healy, would not even enter
the Ashram but sent Anasuyabai, with a message that
he had a warrant for my arrest and that a car await¬
ed me at the Ashram gate. I was to take whatever
time I needed for getting ready. Mr. Banker, who
was on his way back to Ahmedabad, was met by
Mr. Healy on the way and already arrested. I was
not at all unprepared for the news that Anasuyabai
brought. As a matter of fact, after having waited
152
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 153

long enough for the coming .of the warrant which

everybody thought was imminent, I had given ins¬
tructions that all should retire and I was myself
about to lay myself to bed. I had returned that eve¬
ning from Ajmer after a fatiguing journey where
most reliable information was given to me that a
warrant had been sent to Ajmer for my arrest, but
the authorities would not execute the warrant, as the
very day that the warrant reached Ajmer, I was
going back to Ahmedabad. The real news of the
warrant therefore came as a welcome relief. I took
with me an extra kachchha (loin cloth), two blankets,
and five books, Bhagavad Gita, Ashram Hymn Book,*
Ramayana, Rodwell’s translation of the Koran, a
presentation copy of the Sermon on the Mount, sent by
schoolboys of a High School in California with the
hope that I would always carry it with me. The
Superintendent, Khan Bahadur N. R. Wacha received
us kindly, and we were taken to a separate block of
cells situated in a spacious, clean compound. We
were permitted to sleep on the verandah of the cells,
a rare privilege for prisoners. I enjoyed the quiet
and the utter silence of the place. The next morning
we were taken to the Court for preliminary examination.
Both Mr. Banker and I had decided not only not to
offer any defence but in no way to hamper the prose¬
cution, but rather to help it. The preliminary exami¬
nation was, therefore, quickly over. The case was
committed to the Sessions, and as we were prepared
to accept short'service, the trial was to take place on
the 18th of March. The people of Ahmedabad had
risen to the occasion. Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel had
issued instructions that there should be no crowds
* Otherwise and popularly known as Ashram Bhajanavali.
154 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

gathering near the Court-house and that there

should be no demonstration of any kind whatsoever.
There were, therefore, in the Court-house only a
select body of visitors, and the police had an easy
time of it, which I could see was duly appreciated by
the authorities.
The week before the trial was passed in receiving
visitors who were generally permitted to see us without
restriction. We were allowed to carry on corres¬
pondence so long as it was harmless and submitted to
the Superintendent. As we willingly carried out all
the jail regulations, our relations with the jail officials
were smooth and even cordial during the week that
we were in Sabarmati. Khan Bahadur Wacha was
all attention and politeness, but it was impossible not
to notice his timidity in everything he did. He
seemed to apologize for his Indian birth and uncon¬
sciously to convey that he would have done more for
us had he been a European. Being an Indian, even in
allowing facilities which the regulations permitted, he
was afraid of the Collector and the Inspector-General
of Prisons and every official who was at all superior
to him. He knew that if it came to a struggle between
himself and the Collector or the Inspector-General of
Prisons, he had nobody to back him up at the Secre¬
tariat. The notion of inferiority haunted him at every
step. What was true outside was equally true, if not
truer, inside the jail. An Indian official would not
assert himself, not because he could not, but because
he lived in mortal fear of degradation, if not dismissal.
If he was to retain his post and obtain promotion, he
must please his superiors even to the point of cringing
and even at the sacrifice of principles. The contrast
became terrible when we were transferred to Yeravda.
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 155

The European Superintendent had no fear of the

Inspector-General of Prisons. He could claim just
as much influence at the Secretariat as the latter.
The Collector for him was almost an interloper. His
Indian superiors he held cheap and therefore he was
not afraid to do his. duty when he wished and was
equally unafraid to neglect it, when discharge of duty
was an onerous task. He knew that, as a rule, he was
always safe. This sense of safety enables young
European officers often to do the right thing in spite
of opposition either from the public or from the
Government, and he has also often driven coach and
six through all regulations, all instructions and defied
public opinion.
Of the trial and the sentence I need say nothing
as the reader knows all about it, except to acknowledge
the courtesy which was extended to us by all the
officials including the Judge and the Advocate-General.
The wonderful restraint that was observed by the
small crowd of people that was seen in and about the
Court, and the great affection showed by them can
never be effaced from memory. The sentence of six
years’ simple imprisonment I regarded as light. For,
if Section 124-A of the Penal Code did really con¬
stitute a crime and the Judge administering the laws
of the land could not but hold it as a crime, he would
be perfectly justified in imposing the highest penalty.
The crime was repeatedly and wilfully committed,
and I can only account for the lightness of the sentence
by supposing, not that the judge took pity on me, for
I asked for none, but that he could not have approved
of Section 124-A. There are many instances of judges
having signified their disapproval of particular laws
by imposing the minimum sentence, even though the
156 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

crime denoted by them might have been fully and deli¬

berately committed. He could not very well impose a
lighter sentence seeing that the late Lokamanya
was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for a
similar offence.
The sentence over, we were both taken back to
the prison, this time as fully convicted prisoners, but
there was no change in the treatment accorded to us.
Some friends were even permitted to accompany us.
Leave-taking in the jail was quite jovial. Mrs. Gandhi
and Anasuyabai bore themselves bravely as they
parted. Mr. Banker was laughing all the time and
I heaved a sigh of relief thanking God that all was
over so peacefully and that I would be able to have
some rest and still feel that I was serving the country,
if possible more than when I was travelling up and
down addressing huge audiences. I wish I could
convince the workers that imprisonment of a comrade
does not mean so much loss of work for a common
cause. If we believe, as we have so often proclaimed
we do, that unprovoked suffering is the surest way of
remedying a wrong in regard to which the suffering is
gone through, surely it follows as a matter of course
that imprisonment of a comrade is no loss. Silent
suffering undergone with dignity and humility speaks
with an unrivalled eloquence. It is solid work be¬
cause there is no ostentation about it. It is always
true because there is no danger of miscalculation.
Moreover, if we are true workers the loss of a fellow
worker increases our zest and therefore capacity for
work. And so long as we regard anybody as irreplace¬
able, we have not fitted ourselves for organized work.
For organized work means capacity for carrying it on
in spite of depletion in the ranks. Therefore, we must
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 157

rejoice in the unmerited suffering of friends or ourselves

and trust that the cause if it is just will prosper through
such suffering.
Toung India, 17-4-’24, p. 125

2
Some Officials
It was on Saturday the 18th March that the trial
was finished. We were looking forward to a quiet
time in the Sabarmati Gaol at least for some weeks.
We had expected that the Government would not let
us remain in that gaol for any length of time. We
were however not prepared for the very sudden re¬
moval that actually did take place. For the reader
may recall that we were removed on Monday the
20th March to a special train which was to take us
to the Yeravda Central Jail. We were made aware
of the proposed removal only an hour before departure.
The officer in charge was all politeness and we were
enabled to feel perfectly comfortable in the journey.
But immediately on alighting at Kirkee we observed
the difference and were made to feel that we were
prisoners after all. The Collector and two others
were awaiting the train. We were put in a motor
prison-van which had perforations for ventilations.
But for its hideous appearance it could well be a
pardah motor. Certainly we could see nothing of
the outside world. For the story of our reception at
the gaol, the tearing away of Mr. Banker from me,
his restoration, the first interview, and kindred interest¬
ing details, I must refer the reader to my letter to
Hakimji Ajmal Khan Saheb, already published in these
columns.* After the first unpleasantness the relations
* See page 109.
158 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

between the then Superintendent Col. Dalziel and

ourselves rapidly improved. He was most considerate
regarding our creature comforts. But there was a
certain something about him which always jarred.
He could never forget that he was Superintendent
and we were prisoners. He would not let it be granted
that we were fully aware that we were prisoners and
he was Superintendent. I made bold to say that we
never once forgot that we were prisoners. We showed
him all the deference due to his rank. The reminders
were so unnecessary. But he had the needlessly
haughty demeanour which one often regretfully notices
about so many British officials. This weakness of him
made him distrustful of the prisoners. Let me give a
pleasant illustration of what I mean. He was most
anxious that I should eat more than I was taking. He
wanted me to take butter. I told him I could take
only goat’s milk butter. He gave special orders that
it should be procured at once. Well, it came. The
difficulty was what to mix it with. I suggested that
some flour might be issued to me. It was given. But
it was too coarse for my very delicate digestive appar¬
atus. Refined mill flour was ordered and 20 lbs.
was issued to me. What was I to do with all this?
I cooked or Mr. Banker cooked for me chapatis. After
some trial I felt I needed neither flour nor butter.
I asked that the flour may be removed from me and
the issue of butter stopped. Col. Dalziel will not listen.
What was issued was issued. I might feel tempted
later. I pleaded that it was all waste of public money.
I gently suggested that I was as solicitous about the
use of public money as I would be about my own.
There was an incredulous smile. I then said, “Surely
it is my money.” “How much have you contributed
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 159

to the public treasury?” was the quick retort. I

humbly replied, “You contribute only a percentage
out of the salary you get from the State whereas I give
the whole of myself, labour, intelligence and all.”
There was a loud burst of suggestive laughter. But I
did not collapse for 1 believed what I said. A labourer
like me who labours for the State for mere maintenance
contributes more to the State than a Viceroy who re¬
ceives Rs. 20,000 together with royal residences and
contributes to the State, if his salary be not income-
tax free, a certain percentage of his salary. It becomes
possible for him and those who belong to the system
of which he is the chief to receive what he does out
of the labour of millions. And yet many Englishmen
and some Indians honestly believe that they serve
the State (whatever the word may mean to them)
more than the labourers and in addition contribute
from their very salaries a percentage towards the up¬
keep of the State. There never was a grosser fallacy
or a more absurd presumption than this modern belief
in self-righteousness.

But I must return to the gallant Colonel. I have

given the pleasantest sample of Col. DalziePs haughty
distrust. Will the reader believe that I had to care¬
fully preserve the flour till the advent of Major Jones
who took Col. DalziePs place when the latter acted for
the Inspector-General of Prisons?

Major Jones was the very reverse of Col. Dalziel.

From the very first day of his arrival, he became
friends with the prisoners. I have a vivid recollection
of our first meeting. Although he came with Col.
Dalziel with becoming ceremonial, there was a refresh¬
ing absence of officialdom about him. He greeted
160 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

me familiarly and talked about my fellow prisoners in

Sabarmati and conveyed their regards too, which he
said they had sent. Though a strict disciplinarian, he
never stood on his dignity. I have rarely met an official
whether European or Indian so free from humbug or
false notions of prestige and dignity. He was ready
to confess errors—a dangerous and rare practice with
Government officials. He once awarded punishment
not to a ‘political5 prisoner but to a helpless bona fide
criminal. He subsequently came to learn that the
punishment was not deserved. He straightway and
without any pressure from outside cancelled it and
made the following remarkable entry: T repent of
my decision5 in the prisoner’s history ticket. The
accurate mariner in which the prisoners sum up
superintendents is truly amazing. Major Jones was
4bahut bhala?. They had nicknames for every one of
the officials.
To finish however the story of my attempt to save
the flour and other superfluous articles of diet. At
Major Jones5 very first visit of inspection I requested
that what I did not need should be cut oflf. He
immediately gave orders that my request should be
complied with. Col. Dalziel distrusted my motive,
his successor took me at my word and he allowed
me to make all the changes I wanted in the interest
of economy, never once suspecting that I could be
guilty of mental reservations.
Another official with whom we early came in
contact was of course the Inspector-General of Prisons.
He was stiff, monosyllabic and gave one the impres¬
sion that he was severe. His reserve was peculiarly
his own and most uncomfortable for poor prisoners.
Most officials being deficient in imagination often do
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 161

unintentional injustices. They refuse to see the other

side. They will not have patience to listen to prisoners
and expecting from them prompt, coherent replies and
failing to get them, succeed in giving wrong decisions.
Visits of inspection are often therefore a farce and al¬
most invariably result in the wrong men—bullies or
sycophants—being favoured. The right man, the silent
humble prisoner will not be heard. Indeed most of
the officials frankly admit that their duty is confined
to keeping the prisoners sanitarily clean, preventing
prisoners from fighting one another or from absconding
and keeping them healthy.

I must consider in the next chapter one of the

sad results of this mentality.

Toung India, 24-4-’24, p. 137

3
Some Terfrible Results

In this chapter, I propose to discuss the results

of the officials thinking that their duty ends with caring
for the health of the prisoners, preventing fights among
them or abscondings. I do not think I am exaggerat¬
ing when I say that the jails may be described as well
or ill managed cattle-farms. A superintendent who
ensures good food for the prisoners and does not punish
without cause, is considered both by the Government
and the prisoners as a model superintendent. Neither
party expects more. If a superintendent were to
introduce the real human touch in his relations with the
prisoners, he is likely to be misunderstood by the pri¬
soners and will very probably be distrusted by the
Government as being unpractical, if not worse.

S.-ll
162 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

The jails have therefore become hot-beds of vice and

degradation. The prisoners do not become better for
their life in them. In most cases they become worse
than before. Perhaps all the world over the jails are
an institution the most neglected by the public. The
result is that there is little or no public check on their
administration. It is only when a political prisoner of
some fame finds himself within the walls of a prison,
that there is any public curiosity about the happenings
therein.
What classification there is of prisoners is regulated
more in the interests of the administration than those
of the prisoners. Thus, for instance, one would find
habitual criminals and persons who have committed
not a moral but a merely statutory offence are put
together in the same yard in the same block and even
in the same cell. Fancy forty or fifty persons of
varying types being locked in the same cell for night
after night! An educated man who had been con¬
victed under the Stamp Act for having used an offici¬
ally defaced stamp, was put in the same block as habi¬
tual offenders regarded as dangerous characters. It
is no unusual thing to see murderers, abudctors, thieves,
and mere statutory offenders huddled together. There
are some tasks which can only be done jointly by
several men, such as working the pump. Able-bodied
men alone can be put on such tasks. Some highly
sensitive men were included in one such gang. Now
the ordinary prisoners in such a gang will use language
which no decent man would care to hear. The men
who use indecent language have no sense of indecency
in the language they use. But a sensitive man will
feel most uncomfortable when such language is used
in his presence. Convict-warders are in immediate
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 163

charge of such gangs. In the discharge of their duty,

it is customary for them to swear at prisoners in the
choicest billingsgate. And when they are sufficiently
worked up they do not spare the rod either. Needless
to say both the punishments are not only unauthorized
but they are unlawful. I could however present quite
a decent catalogue of things unlawful that happen in
jails to the knowledge of, and sometimes even with the
connivance of, officials. In the case mentioned by me
the sensitive prisoner could not put up with the foul
language. He therefore refused to work in the gang
unless it was stopped. It was due to the prompt
intervention of Major Jones that a most awkward
situation was averted. But the relief was momentary.
He had no power to stop a recurrence of the trouble;
for it must continue to recur so long as prisoners are
not classified in accordance with a moral standard and
with regard to their human requirements rather than
administrative convenience.
One would have thought that in a jail where every
prisoner is under surveillance night and day and can
never be out of the sight of a warder, crimes will not
be possible. But unfortunately every conceivable
crime against morality is not only possible but is com¬
mitted almost with impunity. I need not mention
small pilferings, deceptions, petty and even serious
assaults, but I wish to refer to unnatural crimes. I will
not shock the reader with any details. In spite of my
many jail experiences, I did not think that such crimes
were possible in jails. But the Yeravda experience
gave me more than one painful shock. The discovery
of the existence of unnatural crimes produced one of
the greatest of shocks. All the officials who spoke
to me about them said that under the existing system
164 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

it was impossible to prevent them. Let the reader

understand that in a majority of cases the consent of
the victim is lacking. It is my deliberate opinion that
it is possible to prevent such crimes if the administration
of jails is humanized and can be made a matter of
public concern. The number of prisoners in the
jails of India must be several hundred thousand.
It should be the concern of public workers to know
what happens to them. After all, the motive behind
punishment is reformation. The legislature, the
judge and the jailer are believed to expect that the
punishments would act as deterrents, not merely for
the physical and mental hurt they cause, but for the
repentance that prolonged isolation must bring about.
But the fact is that punishments only brutalize the
prisoners. In the jails they are never given an op¬
portunity for repentance and reform. The human
touch is lacking. True, there is weekly visit from
religious preachers. I was not permitted to attend
any of these meetings, but I know that they are mostly
shams. I do not wish to suggest that the preachers
are shams. But a religious service once a week for a
few minutes can produce no impression on those who
ordinarily see nothing wrong in crimes. It is nece¬
ssary to provide a responsive atmosphere in which a
prisoner unconsciously sheds bad and cultivates good
habits.
But such atmosphere is impossible so long as the
system of entrusting convicts with most responsible
work is continued. By far the worst part of the system
is the appointment of convict-officers. These men are
necessarily long-term prisoners. They are therefore
men who have committed the most serious crimes.
Generally, the bullies are chosen as warders. They
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 165

are the most forward. They succeed in pushing

themselves to the front. They are the instruments
for the commission of almost all the crimes that take
place in the jails. A free fight resulting in one death
once took place because two such warders were con¬
cerned in the same prisoner who was a victim of their
unnatural lust. Every one knew what was happening
in the jail. But the authorities intervened only to
prevent further fighting and further bloodshed. These
convict-officers recommend tasks for the other prison¬
ers. They supervise the tasks. They are responsible
for the good behaviour of the prisoners under their
charge. In fact the will of the permanent officers
is expressed and carried out through these convicts
who are dignified as officers. The marvel to me was
that under such a system things were not much worse
than they actually were. It once more demonstrated
to me how superior men were to a wicked system as
they were inferior to a good one. Human beings
seem naturally to seek the middle path.
The whole of the cooking too is entrusted to
prisoners. The result is indifferent cooking and
organized favouritism. It is the prisoners who grind
corn, shred vegetables, cook food, and serve. When
complaints as to short and badly cooked rations were
recurringly made, the invariable answer was that the
remedy was in their own hands as they cooked their
own food, as if they were related to one another and
understood mutual responsibility! Once when I
pushed the argument to its logical extent, I was told
that no administration could afford the cost. I
differed from the view at the time of argument. Further
observation has confirmed me in my contention that
under a well-devised system, jail administration can
166 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

be made self-supporting. I hope to devote a chapter

to an examination of jail economics. For the present I
must satisfy myself with saying that no question of cost
can possibly be admitted as relevant in a consideration
of moral abuses.
Toung India, l-5-’24, p. 141

4
‘Political5 Prisoners

‘We do not make any distinction between political

and other prisoners. Surely you do not want any such
distinction to be made in your favour?5 Thus said
Sir George Lloyd when he visited the Yeravda Jail
about the end of the last year. He said that in reply
to an inadvertent use made by me of the adjective
‘political5. I ought to have known better. For I was
fully aware of the Governor’s distaste for that word.
And yet strange to say the history tickets of most of us
were marked ‘political5. When I remarked upon the
anomaly, I was told by the then Superintendent that
the distinction was private and was intended only for
the guidance of the authorities. We the prisoners were
to ignore it, for we could not base any claim upon it.

I have reproduced Sir George Lloyd’s language

word for word so far as I can remember. There is
a sting about what Sir George Llyod said. And it was
so gratuitous. For he knew that I was asking for no
favours and no distinction. Circumstances have
brought about a general discussion. But the idea was
to tell me ‘you are no better than the rest in the eye
of the law and the administration.5 . And yet the pain¬
ful inconsistency was that the very time the distinction
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 167

was, without any occasion for it, combated in theory,

it was made in practice. Only in the majority of
cases, it was made against the political prisoners.
As a matter of fact, it is impossible to avoid making
distinctions. If the human factor were not ignored,
it would be necessary to understand a prisoner’s habits
of life, and model his life accordingly in the prisons.
It is not a question of distinguishing between rich
men and poor men or educated and uneducated, but
between modes of life these antecedents have developed
in them. As against the inevitable recognition of the
existing fact, it has been urged that the men who com¬
mit crimes should know that the law is no respecter
of persons, and that it is the same to the law whether
a rich man or a graduate commits theft. This is a
perversion of a sound law. If it is really the same to
the law as it should be, each will get the treatment
according to his capacity for suffering. To give thirty
stripes to a delicately built thief and as many to an
able-bodied one, would be not impartiality but vindi¬
ctiveness towards the delicate one and probably in¬
dulgence to the able-bodied. Similarly to expect,
say, Pandit Motilalji to sleep on a rough coir-mat
spread on hard floor is additional punishment, not
equality of treatment.
If the human factor was introduced into the
administration of the jails, the ceremony on admission
would be different from what it is today. Finger
impressions would undoubtedly be taken, a record of
past offences would fmd its place in the register. But
there will be in addition particulars about the prisoner’s
habits and mode of life. Not distinction but classi¬
fication is perhaps the word that better describes the
necessary method which the authorities, if they would
168 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

treat prisoners as human beings, must recognize.

Some kind of classification there already is. For
instance, there are circles wherein prisoners are housed
in batches in long cells. Then there are the separate
single cells intended for dangerous criminals. There
are solitary cells where prisoners undergoing solitary
confinement are locked. There are again the condemned
cells in which are locked prisoners awaiting the gallows.
Lastly there are cells for under-trial prisoners. The
reader will be surprised to find that political prisoners
were mostly confined in the separate division or the
solitary. In some cases they were confined in condem¬
ned cells. Let me not do an injustice to the authorities.
Those who do not know these divisions and cells may
form the impression that the condemned cells, for
instance, must be specially bad. Such, however, is
not the case. The cells are well-constructed and airy so
far as Yeravda jail is concerned. What is however open
to strong objection is the association about these cells.
The classification being as I have shown inevitable
and in existence, there is no reason why it should not
be scientific and human. I know that revision of
classification, according to my suggestion, means a
revolution in the whole system. It undoubtedly
means more expense and a different type of men to
work the new system. But additional expense will
mean economy in the long run. The greatest advantage
of the proposed revolution would no doubt be a reduc¬
tion in the crimes and reformation of the prisoners.
The jails would then be reformatories representing to
society sinners as its informed and respectable members.
This may be a far-off event. If we were not under the
spell of a long-lived custom, we should not find it a
difficult task to turn our prisons into reformatories.
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 169

Let me quote here a pregnant remark made by

one of the jailers. He once said, ‘When I admit
search or report prisoners, I often ask myself whether
I am a better man than most of them. God knows,
I have been guilty of worse crimes than what some
men have come here for. The difference is that these
poor man have been detected whereas I am not.5 Is
not what the good jailer confessed true of many of us ?
Is it not true that there are more undetected than
detected crimes? Society does not point the finger
of scorn at them. But habit has made us look askance
at those who are not smart enough to escape detection.
Imprisonment often makes them hardened criminals.
The animal treatment commences on arrest. The
accused are in theory assumed to be innocent unless
they are found guilty. In practice the demeanour of
those in charge of them is one of haughtiness and
contempt. A convicted man is lost to society. The
atmosphere in the prison inures him to the position
of inferiority.
The political prisoners do not as a rule succumb
to this debilitating atmosphere because they, instead
of responding to the depressing atmosphere, act against
it and therefore even refine it to a certain extent.
Society, too, refused to regard them as criminals. On
the contrary they become heroes and martyrs. Their
sufferings in the jail are exaggerated by the public.
And such indulgence in many cases even demoralizes
the political prisoners. But unfortunately, exactly
in proportion to the indulgence of the public, is the
strictness, mostly unwarranted, of the officials. The
Government regard the political prisoners as more
* dangerous to society than the ordinary prisoner. An
official seriously contended that a political prisoner’s
170 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

crime placed the whole society in danger whereas an

ordinary crime harmed only the criminal.
Another official told me the reason why the politi¬
cal prisoners were isolated and denied newspapers,
magazines, etc. was to bring the guilt home to them.
Political prisoners, he said, seemed to glory in ‘impri¬
sonment5. The deprivation of the liberty, while it
afflicted the ordinary criminal, left the political prisoner
unmoved. It was therefore, he added, but natural
that the Government should devise some other method
of punishment; hence, he said, the denial of facilities
which otherwise such prisoners should undoubtedly
have. The remarks were made in connection with
my request for The Times of India weekly, or the Indian
Social Reformer, or the Servant of India, or Modern Review
or Indian Review. Let the reader not regard this
deprivation as a light penalty for those who regard
the newspaper as a necessity in no way inferior to
breakfast. I dare say that Mr. Majli would not have
suffered mental derangement, if he had been allowed
the use of newspapers. It is equally depressing for
one who is not like me a reformer for all occasions, to
be put up together with dangerous criminals as almost
all political prisoners were put in Yeravda. It is no
light thing to be in the company of those who never
speak but to utter foul language or whose conversation
is as a rule indecent. I could understand political
prisoners being put in such surroundings, if the Govern¬
ment sanely took them in their confidence and used
them to exercise a wholesome influence on the ordi¬
nary criminal. This, however, is, I admit, not a practi¬
cal proposition. My contention is that the placing
of political prisoners in unwholesome surroundings is -
an additional and an unwarranted punishment. They
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 171

ought to be put in a separate division and given a

treatment in keeping with their antecedents.

I hope civil resisters will not misunderstand this

or any other chapter in which I have advocated reforms
of prisons. It would ill become a civil resister to
resent whatever inconvenience he may be subjected
to. He is out to put up with the roughest treatment.
If the treatment is humane, it is well; but it is also
well if it be otherwise.

Young India, 8-5-524, p. 149

5
Possibilities of Reform

It has been my invariable experience that good

evokes good, evil, evil; and that therefore if the evil
does not receive the corresponding response, it ceases
to act, dies of want of nutrition. Evil can only live
upon itself. Sages of old, knowing this law, instead of
returning evil for evil, deliberately returned good for
evil and killed it. Evil lives nevertheless, because many
have not taken advantage of the discovery, though
the law underlying it acts with scientific precision.
We are too lazy to work out in terms of the law the
problems that face us, and therefore fancy that we are
too weak to act up to it. The fact is, that the moment
the truth of the law is realized, nothing is so easy as
to return good for evil. It is the one quality that dis¬
tinguishes man from the brute. It is man’s natural
law not to retaliate. Though we have the human
form we are not truly human till we have fully realized
the truth of the law and acted up to it. The law
admits of no escape.
172 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

I cannot recall a single instance in which it has

not answered. Utter strangers have within my expe¬
rience irresistibly responded to it. In all the South
African jails, through which I passed, the officials
who were at first most unfriendly to me, became uni¬
formly friendly because I did not retaliate. I answer¬
ed their bitterness with sweetness. This does not mean
that I did not fight injustice. On the contrary, my
South African jail experiences were a continuous
fight against it, and in most cases it was successful.
The longer Indian experience has but emphasized
the truth and the beauty of non-violent conduct. It
was the easiest thing for me to acerbate the authorities
at Yeravda. For instance, I could have answered the
Superintendent in his own coin when he made the
insulting remarks described in my letter to Hakim
Saheb.* I would have in that case lowered myself in
my own estimation and confirmed the Superinten¬
dent in his suspicion that I was a cantankerous and
mischievous politician. But the experiences related
in that letter were trivialities compared to what was to
follow. Let me recall a few of them.
A European warder, I knew, suspected me. He
thought it was his business to suspect every prisoner.
As I did not want to do any the slightest thing without
the knowledge of the Superintendent, I had told him
that if a prisoner passing by salaamed, I would return
the salaam and that I was giving to the convict ward¬
er in charge of me all the food that I could not eat.
The European warder knew nothing of the conversa¬
tion with the Superintendent. He once saw a prisoner
salaam me. I returned the salaam. He saw us both in
the act, but only took from the prisoner his ticket. It
* See p. 109.
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 173
meant that the poor man would be reported. I at once
told the warder to report me too, as I was equally
guilty, with the poor man. He simply told me he had
to do his duty. Instead of reporting the warder for his
officiousness, but in order to protect a fellow prisoner
I merely mentioned to the Superintendent the inci¬
dent of salaaming without the conversation I had with
the warder. The latter recognized that I meant no ill
whatsoever to him, and from that time forward
ceased to suspect me. On the contrary, he became very
friendly.
I was subject to search like the other prisoners.
I never objected. And so, daily before the lock-up,
a regular search took place for many months. Occa¬
sionally a jailer used to come who was exceptional¬
ly rude. I had nothing but my loin-cloth on. There
was therefore no occasion for him to touch my person.
But he did touch the groins. Then he began overhaul¬
ing the blankets and other things. He touched my pot
with his boots. All this was proving too much for me
and my anger was about to get the better of me.
Fortunately I regained self-possession and said no¬
thing to the young jailer. The question, however, still
remained whether I should or should not report him.
This happened fairly long time after my admission
to Yeravda. The Superintendent was therefore likely
to take severe notice of the jailer’s conduct if I report¬
ed him. I decided to the contrary. I felt that I must
pocket these personal rudenesses. If I reported him
the jailer was likely to lose his job. Instead therefore
of reporting him, I had a talk with him. I told him
how I had felt his rudeness, how I had at first thought
of reporting him, and how in the end, I decided mere¬
ly to talk to him. He took my conversation in good
174 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

part and felt grateful. He admitted too, that his con¬

duct was wrong, though he said he did not act with
the intention of wounding my susceptibilities. He
certainly never molested me again. Whether he
improved his general conduct in regard to other
prisoners I do not know.
But what was most striking was perhaps the
result of my intervention, in connection with the
floggings and the hunger-strikes. The first hunger-
strike was that of the Sikh life-sentence prisoners. They
would not eat food without the restoration of their
sacred loin cloth and without the permission to them to
cook their own food. As soon as I came to know
of these strikes, I asked to be allowed to meet them.
But the permission could not be granted. It was a
question of prestige and jail discipline. As a matter of
fact there was no question of either, if the prisoners
could be regarded as human beings just as susceptible
to finer forces as their species outside. My seeing
them, I feel sure, would have saved the authorities a
great deal of trouble, worry and public expense, and
would also have saved the Sikh prisoners the painful
prolonged fast. But I was told, if I could not see them
I could send them ‘wireless messages’! I must explain
this special expression. Wireless messages in prison
parlance means unauthorized messages sent by one
prisoner to another with or without the knowledge
of the officials. Every official knows and must connive
at such interchange of messages. Experience has shown
them that it is impossible to guard against or to detect
such breaches of prison regulations. I may say that I
was scrupulously exact about such messages. I can¬
not recall a single occasion when I sent a ‘wireless’ for
my own purpose. In every case it was in the interest
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 175
of prison discipline. The result was, I think, that the
officials had ceased to distrust me and if they had in
their power, they would have availed themselves of
my offer of intervention in such cases. But the supe¬
rior authority, so jealous of its prestige, would not
hear of it.
In the above instance, I did set in motion the
wireless apparatus, but it was hardly effective. The
fast was broken after many days but I am unable to
say whether it was at all due to my messages.
This was the first occasion when I felt that I
should intervene in the interest of humanity.
The next occasion was when certain Mulshi Beta
prisoners were flogged for short task. I need not go into
the painful story at length. Some of these prisoners
were youngsters. It is likely that they had wilfully
done much less task than they could have. They were
put on grinding. Somehow or other these prisoners
were not classed political as the Swaraj prisoners were.
Whatever the cause, they were given mostly grinding
as their task. Grinding has an unnecessary bad odour
about it. I am aware that all labour is irksome when
it has to be done as a task and under supervision not
always gentle. But a prisoner who courts imprison¬
ment for conscience’s sake, should look upon his task as
a matter of pride and pleasure. He should put his
whole soul into the labour that may be allotted to him.
The Mulshi Peta prisoners, or for that matter the
others, as a body were certainly not of this type. It
was a new experience for them all and they did not
know what was their duty as Satyagrahis—whether
to do the most or the least or not at all. The majority
of the Mulshi Peta prisoners were perhaps indifferent.
They had perhaps not given a thought to the thing.
176 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

But they were mostly high-spirited men and youths.

They would brook no jo hukum, and therefore there was
constant friction between them and the officials.
•

The crisis came at last. Major Jones became

angry. He thought they were wilfully not doing their
task. He wanted to make an example of them and
ordered six of them to receive stripes. The flogging
created a sensation in the prison. Everybody knew
what was happening and why. I noticed the prisoners
as they were passing by. I was deeply touched. One of
them recognized me and bowed. In the ‘separate5
the ‘political5 prisoners intended to strike as a pro¬
test. I have paid my tribute to Major Jones. Here
it is my painful duty to criticize his action. In spite
of his sterling good nature, love of justice, and even
partiality for prisoners as against officials, he was
hasty in action. His decisions were sometimes there¬
fore erroneous. It would not matter, as he is equally
ready to repent, if it was not for sentences like flog¬
ging which once administered are beyond recall.
I discussed the matter gently with him, but I know
that I could not persuade him that he was wrong in
punishing prisoners for short task. I could not persuade
him to think that every short task was not proof of
wilfulness. He did indeed admit, that there always
was a margin for error, but his experience was that it
was negligible. Unfortunately, like so many officers
he believed in the efficacy of flogging.

The political prisoners having taken a serious

view of the case, were on the point of hunger-striking.
I came to know of it. I felt that it was wrong to hunger-
strike without an overwhelming case being made
out. The prisoners could not take the law into their
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 177

own hands and claim to judge every case for them¬

selves. I asked Major Jones again for permission to
see them. But that was not to be allowed. I have al¬
ready published the correspondence * on the subject
which I invite the studious reader to consult at the
time of reading these notes. I had, therefore, again to
fall back upon the ‘wireless5. The hunger-strike and
a crisis were averted as a direct result of the wireless.
But there was an unpleasant incident arising from
the matter. Mr. Jeramdas had delivered my message
contrary to the regulations. Mr. Jeramdas saw, as
he had to see, the political prisoners concerned.
They were purposely kept in separate blocks. He
therefore ‘wandered5 from his own to the other blocks
with the knowledge of the convict officers and one of
the European jailers. He told them that he knew he
was breaking the regulations and that they were free
to report him. He was reported in due course. Major
Jones thought that he could not but take notice
of the breach although he knew that it was for
a good cause, and although he even appreciat¬
ed Mr. Jeramdas’s work. The punishment awarded
was seven days5 solitary confinement. On my
coming to know of this, I invited Major Jones to award
at least the same penalty to me as to Mr. Jeramdas.
For he (Mr. Jeramdas) had broken the regulations
at my instance. Major Jones said that in the inte¬
rest of discipline he was bound to take notice of an
open defiance, brought officially to his notice. But he
was not only not displeased with what Mr. Jeramdas
had done, but he was glad that even at the risk of
being punished, he saw the prisoners who were about
g to hunger-strike and thus saved an ugly situation.
* See pp. 125-51.

S.-12
178 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

There was no occasion, he saw, to punish me as I had

not left my boundary and as my instigation of
Mr. Jeramdas was not officially brought to his notice.
I recognized the force of Major Jones’s argument
and attitude and did not further press for punishment.

I must consider in the next chapter another

incident, still more telling and important from the
Satyagrahi standpoint, and then consider the moral
results of non-violent action and the ethics of fasting.
Young India, 15-5-’24, p. 161

6
Ethics of Fasting

When the incidents related in the last chapter

took place, my cell was situated in a triangular block
containing eleven cells. They were also part of the
separate division but the block was separated from
the other separate blocks by a high massive wall. The
base of the triangle lay alongside the road leading to
the other separate blocks. Hence I was able to watch
and see the prisoners that passed to and fro. In fact
there was constant traffic along the road. Communi¬
cation with the prisoners was therefore easy. Some¬
time after the flogging incident, we were removed
to the European yard. The cells were better venti¬
lated and more roomy. There was a pleasant garden
in front. But we were more secluded and cut off from
all contact with the prisoners whom we used to see
whilst we were in the ‘separate’. I did not mind it.
On the contrary, the greater seclusion gave me more
time for contemplation and study. And the ‘wire¬
less’ remained intact. It was impossible to prevent
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 179

it so long as it was necessary for a single other priso¬

ner or official to see us. In spite of effort to the con¬
trary, some one of them will drop a remark resulting
in our knowing the happenings in the jail. So one
fine morning, we heard that several Mulshi Peta
prisoners were flogged for short task and that as a
protest against the punishment, many other Mulshi
Peta prisoners had commenced a hunger-strike. Two
of these were well known to me. One was Dev, and
the other Dastane. Mr. Dev had worked with me in
Ghamparan, and had proved one of the most con¬
scientious, sober and honest among the co-workers,
whom I had the privilege of having in Ghamparan.
Mr. Dastane of Bhusaval is known to everybody. The
reader may therefore imagine my pain when I heard
that Dev was among the party flogged and that he
was also one of the hunger-strikers. Messrs. Indulal
Yagnik and Mansar Ali Sokta were at this time my
fellow prisoners. They were agitated equally with me.
Their first thought was to declare a sympathetic
hunger-strike. We discussed the propriety of such
strike and came to the conclusion that it would be
wrong to do so. We were neither morally nor in any
other way responsible for the floggings or the subse¬
quent hunger-strike. As Satyagrahis we were to be
prepared for and to suffer cheerfully the rigours of
jail life and even injustices including flogging. Such
hunger-strike, therefore, with a view to prevent future
punishment would be a species of violence done to the
jail officials. Moreover, we had no right to sit in
judgment upon the action of the authorities. That
would be an end to all prison discipline. And even if
we wished to judge the authorities, we had not and
could not get sufficient data to warrant an impartial
180 stonewalls do not a prison make

judgment. If the fast was to be out of sympathy with

the hunger-strikers, we had no data to enable us to
judge whether their action was justified or not. Any
one of these grounds was sufficient to show that the
proposed fast would be wholly premature. But I sug¬
gested to my friends that I should try to find out the
true facts through the Superintendent, and endea¬
vour as before to get into touch with the hunger-
strikers. I felt that we as human beings could not
possibly remain uninterested in such matters al¬
though we were prisoners, and that under certain
circumstances even a prisoner was entitled to claim a
hearing in the matter of general jail administration
when it was likely to result in the perpetration of
gross injustice bordering on inhumanity. So we all
decided that I should approach the authorities in
the matter. The letter of 29th June 1923, published
in Young India of March 6, 1924, will give the reader
further details about the matter. There was a great
deal of correspondence and negotiation, which being
of a confidential nature, I do not wish to publish.
I can however say that the Government recognized
that I had no desire to interfere with the prison
administration and that my proposal to be permitted
to see the two leaders among the hunger-strikers was
dictated by purely humanitarian motives. They
therefore permitted me to see Messrs. Dastane and
Dev in the presence of the Superintendent and
Mr. Griffiths, the Inspector-General of Police. It was
to me a rare pleasure and a matter of pride to see these
two friends walking unaided and with a steady step
after full thirteen days’ unbroken fast. They were as
cheerful as they were brave. I could see that they were
terribly reduced in body, but their spirit had waxed
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 181

strong in exact proportion to the reduction of the

body. As I hugged them and greeted them with the
question, “Are you nearly dead?55, they rang out
“Certainly not55, and Dastane added, “We are able
to prolong the fast indefinitely, if need be, for we are
in the right.55 “But if you are in the wrong?55 I asked.
“We shall then like men admit our mistake and aban¬
don the fast,55 was the reply. By their brightness they
made me forget that they were suffering from pangs
of hunger. I wish I had leisure to reproduce the whole
of the ethical discourse we held. Their ground for
fasting was that the punishment inflicted by the
Superintendent was unjust and that therefore, unless
the Superintendent admitted his mistake and apolo¬
gized, they must go on with the fast. I pleaded that
this was not a correct attitude. Whilst I was discus¬
sing the moral basis of their action the Superintendent
voluntarily and out of his usual good nature inter¬
vened and said, “I tell you if I felt that I had done
wrong I should surely apologize. I know that I do
make mistakes. We all do. I may have erred even in
this case, but I am not conscious of it.55 I continued
my pleading. I told my friends that it was improper
to expect an apology from the Superintendent unless
he could be convinced that he was wrong. Their fast
could carry no conviction to him of the wrongness of
the punishment. Such conviction could be brought
about only by reasoning. And in any case as Satva-
grahis who were out for suffering, how could they
fast against injustices whether done to them or their
co-prisoners ? My friends appreciated the force of
my argument and Major Jones’s generous statement
did the rest. They agreed to break the fast and to
persuade the others to do likewise. I asked for the
182 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Major’s permission to give them a portion of my

milk which he readily granted. They accepted the
milk but said they would first take their bath and then
take the milk in the company of the other hunger-
strikers. The Major ordered milk and fruit diet for the
strikers during the period of recuperation. A hearty
hand-shake between us all terminated the meeting.
For the moment the officials were not officials and
we were not prisoners. We were all friends engaged
solving a knotty problem and glad that it was solved.
Thus ended this eventful hunger-strike. The Major
admitted that this was the cleanest hunger-strike he
had witnessed. He had taken extraordinary precau¬
tions to see that no food was passed surreptitiously
and he was satisfied that none was passed. Had he
known the stuff of which these strikers were made,
he need not have taken any precaution at all.
One permanent result of the incident was that the
Government passed orders that except in cases of the
gravest provocation and insult offered to the officials,
flogging should not be administered without the pre¬
vious sanction of the superior authority. The precau¬
tion was undoubtedly necessary. Whilst in some
matters widest discretion must be given to the superin¬
tendent of jails, in matters such as punishments which
cannot be recalled, the wisest of superintendents must
be subject to salutary checks.
There can be no doubt that the hunger-strike of
Messrs. Dastane and Dev and the other Satya-
grahis produced startling results of a beneficial
character. For the motive though mistaken was excel¬
lent and the action itself purely innocent. But though
the result attained was good, the fast must be con¬
demned. The good result was not a direct result of
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 183

the fast but of repentance and admission of mistaken

motive and consequent abandonment of the fast.
Fasting by a Satyagrahi can only be justified when
it is a shame to eat and live. Thus still confining my
attention to a prisoner’s conduct it would be a shame
to eat and live if I was deprived of religious liberty or
degraded as a human being as when food is thrown
at me instead of being given to me in a courteous
manner. It should be unnecessary to say that reli¬
gious objection should be really so and discourtesy
should be such as would be felt by an ordinary priso¬
ner. The caution is necessary because a religious
necessity is often pretended merely in order to em¬
barrass, and discourtesy is often felt where none is
meant. I may not insist on keeping or bringing the
Bhagavad Gita for the purpose of stealing in prohi¬
bited correspondence. I may not resent as discourtesy
the ordinary search which every prisoner must under¬
go. In Satyagraha there is no room for shams. But
I would have been bound to fast, say, if the Govern¬
ment had not given me the opportunity of seeing the
hunger-strikers merely with a view to understand
their view-point and dissuade them from their error,
if I found them to be erring. I could not afford to eat
to live, when I knew that it was possible to prevent
starvation if my keepers recognized the ordinary
rules of humanity.
“But” say some friends, “why should you draw
these fine distinctions? Why should we not embarrass
the jail officials as we embarrass officials outside?
Why should we co-operate as you co-operated with the
jail authorities? Why should we not non-violently
resist them? Why should we obey any regluations
at all save for our own convenience? Have we not a
 184 stonewalls do not a prison make

perfect right, is it not onr duty to paralyze the prison

administration ? If we make the officials’ position
uncomfortable without using any violence, the Gov¬
ernment will find it difficult to arrest a large number
and will thus be obliged to sue for peace.” This
argument has been seriously advanced. I must
therefore devote the next chapter to its consideration.

Young India, 22-5-’24, p. 165

7
Satyagrahi Prisoner’s Conduct

The argument advanced by some friends and put

by me at the end of the last chapter deserves consi¬
deration if only because so many honestly believe
in it and so many followed it out consistently in their
conduct in 1921 and 1922, when thousands went to
jail.

In the first instance even outside the jails em¬

barrassment of the Government is not our goal. We
are indifferent if the Government is embarrassed so
long as our conduct is right. Our non-co-operation
embarrasses the Government as nothing else can.
But we non-co-operate as lawyers or councillors be¬
cause it is our duty. That is to say we will not cease
to non-co-operate if we discovered that our non-co-
operation pleased the rulers. And we are so indi¬
fferent because we believe that by non-co-operation we
must ultimately benefit ourselves. But there cannot
be any such non-co-operation in the jails. We do not
enter them to serve a selfish end. We are taken there
by the Government as criminals, according to their
estimation. Our business therefore is to disillusion
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 185

them by acting in an exemplary (and by them expected)

manner just as our business outside is to disillusion
them by avoiding say their law courts, schools or councils
or titles and by showing that we are prepared to do
without their doubtful benefits.
Whether all of us realize or not the method of
non-co-operation is a process of touching the heart
and appealing to reason, not one of frightening by
rowdyism. Rowdyism has no place in a non-violent
movement.
I have often likened Satyagrahi prisoners to pri¬
soners of war. Once caught by the enemy, prisoners
of war act towards the enemy as friends. It will be
considered dishonourable on the part of a soldier as a
prisoner of war to deceive the enemy. It does not
affect my argument that the Government does not
regard Satyagrahi prisoners as prisoners of war. If
we act as such, we shall soon command respect. We
must make the prisons a neutral institution in which
we may, nay, must co-operate to a certain extent.
We would be highly inconsistent and hardly self-
respecting if on the one hand we deliberately break
prison rules and in the same breath complain of
punishment and strictness. We may not for instance
resist and complain of search and at the same time
conceal prohibited things in our blankets or our clothes.
There is nothing in Satyagraha that I know whereby
we may under certain circumstances tell untruths or
practise other deception.
When we say that if we make the lives of prison
officials uncomfortable, the Government will be obliged
to sue for peace, we either pay them a subtle com¬
pliment or regard them as simpletons. We pay a
simple compliment when we consider that even
186 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

though we may make prison officials5 lives uncom¬

fortable, the Government will look on in silence and
hesitate to award us condign punishment so as utterly
to break our spirit. That is to say we regard the ad¬
ministrators to be so considerate and humane that
they will not severely punish us even though we give
them sufficient cause. As a matter of fact, they will
not and do not hesitate to throw over-board all ideas
of decency and award not only authorized but even
unauthorized punishments on given occasions.
But it is my deliberate conviction that had we
but acted with uniform honesty and dignity, behoving
Satyagrahis, we would have disarmed all opposition
on the part of the Government and such strictly
honourable behaviour on the part of so many prisoners
would have at least shamed the Government into
confessing their error in imprisoning so many honour¬
able and innocent men. For is it not their case that
our non-violence is but a cloak for our violence ? Do
we not therefore play into their hands every time we
are rowdy?
In my opinion therefore as Satyagrahis we are
bound when we become prisoners
1. to act with the most scrupulous honesty;
2. to co-operate with the prison officials in
their administration;
3. to set by our obedience to all reasonable
discipline an example to co-prisoners;
4. to ask for no favours and claim no privi¬
leges which the meanest of prisoners do not get and
which we do not need strictly for reasons of health;
5. not to fail to ask what we do so need and
not to get irritated if we do not obtain it;
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 187
6. to do all the tasks allotted, to the utmost
of our ability.
It is such conduct which will make the Govern¬
ment position uncomfortable and untenable. It is
difficult for them to meet honesty with honesty for
their want of faith and unpreparedness for such a rare
eventuality. Rowdyism they expect and meet with a
double dose of it. They were able to deal with anar¬
chical crime but they have not yet found out any way
of dealing with non-violence save by yielding to it.
The idea behind the imprisonment of Satyagrahis
is that he expects relief through humble submission
to suffering. He believes that meek suffering for a just
cause has a virtue all its own and infinitely greater
than the virtue of the sword. This does not mean
that we may not resist when the treatment touches
our self-respect. Thus for instance we must resist
to the point of death the use of abusive language by
officials or if they were to throw our food at us which
is often done. Insult and abuse are no part of an
official’s duty. Therefore we must resist them. But
we may not resist search because it is part of prison
regulations.
Nor are my remarks about mute suffering
to be construed to mean that there should be no
agitation against putting innocent prisoner like Satya¬
grahis in the same class as confirmed criminals. Only
as prisoners we may not ask for favours. We must be
content to live with the confirmed criminals and even
welcome the opportunity of working moral reform in
them. It is however expected of a government that
calls itself civilized to recognize the most natural
divisions.
Toung India,) 5-6-’24, p. 189
 Jail Economics

Everyone who has any experience of jails knows that

they are the most starved of all departments. The
hospitals are comparatively the most expensive of
public institutions. In the jails everything is of the
simplest and the crudest type. In them there is
extravagance in the spending of human labour, there
is miserliness in the spending of money and materials.
In hospitals it is just the reverse. And yet both are
institutions designed to deal with human diseases —
jails for mental and hospitals for physical. Mental
diseases are regarded as a crime and therefore punish¬
able, physical diseases are regarded as unforeseen
visitations of nature to be indulgently treated. As a
matter of fact there is no reason for any such distin¬
ction. Mental as well as physical diseases are trace¬
able to the same causes. If I steal I commit a breach
of laws governing healthy society. If I suffer from
stomach-ache, I still commit a breach of laws govern¬
ing a healthy society. One reason why physical diseases
are treated lightly is because the so-called higher
classes break the laws of physical health—perhaps
more frequently than the lower classes. The higher
classes have no occasion for committing crude thefts
and as their lives would be disturbed if thefts continued,
they, being generally law-givers, punish gross stealing,
knowing all the while that their swindles which pass
muster are far more harmful to society than the crude
thefts. It is curious too that both institutions flourish
because of wrong treatment. Hospitals flourish
because patients are indulged and humoured, jails
188
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 189

flourish because the prisoners are punished as if they

were beyond recall. If every disease, mental or physical,
were regarded as a lapse, but every patient or prisoner
were to be treated kindly and sympathetically, not
severely or indulgently, both jails and hospitals would
show a tendency to decrease. A hosptial no more
than a jail is a necessity for a healthy society. Every
patient and every prisoner should come out of his
hospital or jail as a missionary to preach the gospel
of mental and physical health.
But I must stop the comparison at this stage.
The reader will be surprised to learn that the parsi¬
mony in prisons is exercised on the ground of economy.
Although all labour is taken from prisoners, e.g. draw¬
ing water, grinding flour, cleaning roads and closets,
cooking food, the prisoners are not only not self-support¬
ing but they do not even pay for their own food. And
in spite of all their labour the prisoners do not get the
food they would like nor the manner of cooking they
would appreciate; this for the simple reason that the
prisoners who do the cooking etc., are not as a rule
interested in their work. It is for them a task to be
performed under unsympathetic supervision. It is
easy enough to see that if the prisoners were philan¬
thropists and therefore felt interested in the welfare
of their fellow prisoners, they would not find themselves
in prisons. If, therefore, a more rational and more
moral system of administration was adopted, the
prisons would easily become self-supporting refor¬
matories instead of, as they are now, expensive penal
settlements. I would save the terrible waste of
labour in drawing water, grinding flour, etc. If I was
in charge, I would buy flour from outside, I would
draw water by machinery, and instead of having all
190 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

kinds of odd jobs, I would devote the prisons to agri¬

culture, hand-spinning, and hand-weaving. In the
small jobs only spinning and weaving may be kept.
Even now weaving there is in most of the central
prisons. All that is necessary is to do carding and
hand-spinning. All the cotton needed can be easily
grown in connection with many jails. This will
popularize the national cottage industry and make the
prisons self-supporting. The labour of all the prisoners
will be utilized for remunerative and yet not for com¬
petitive purposes, as is now the case in some respects.
There is a printing press attached to the Yeravda
Jail. Now this press is largely worked by convict
labour. I regard this as unfair competition with the
general printing presses. If the prisons were to run
competitive industries, they would easily be made
even profitable. But my purpose is to show that they
can be made self-supporting without entering into
such competition and at the same time teach the in¬
mates a home industry which on their discharge would
give them an independent calling thus providing for
them every incentive to live as respectable citizens.

I would moreover provide for the prisoners as

homely an atmosphere as is consistent with public
safety. I would thus give them all facility for seeing
their relatives, getting books and even tuition. I would
replace distrust by reasonable trust. I would credit
them with every bit of work they might do and let
them buy their own food cooked or raw.

I would make most of the sentences indeterminate,

so that a prisoner will not be detained a moment longer
than is necessary for the protection of society and for
his own reform.
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 191

I know that this requires a thorough reorganiz¬

ation and the employing of a different kind of warders
from the ex-military men that most of them are now.
But I know, too, that the reform can be initiated
without much extra cost.
At the present moment the prisons are rest-houses
for rogues and torture-houses for ordinary simple
prisoners which the majority are. The rogues manage to
get all they want, the simple untutored prisoners do not
get even what they need. Under the scheme which I
have endeavoured to sketch in its barest outline, the
rogues will have to be straight before they feel com¬
fortable and the simple innocent prisoners will have as
favourable an atmosphere as is possible to give them
in the circumstances. Honesty will be remunerative
and dishonesty at a discount.
By making the prisoners pay for their food in
work, there will be little idleness. And by having only
agriculture and cotton manufacture, including what
handicrafts may be required for these two industries,
the expensive supervision will be considerably lessened.

Toung India, 12-6-’24, p. 193

9
Some Convict Warders (1)

I have already dealt with the system of appointing

convicts as officers or warders. I hold the system to
be thoroughly bad and demoralizing. The prison
officials know it. They say it is due to economy. They
think that the jail cannot be efficiently administered
with the present paid staff without supplementing it
with convict officers. There is no doubt that unless
192 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

the reform suggested by me in the last chapter is in¬

augurated, it is not possible to do away with the system
of entrusting convicts with responsible duties without
a very large increase in the prison expenditure.
However, it is not my purpose in this chapter to
deal any further with prison reform. I simply wish to
relate my happy experiences of the convict officers who
were appointed to watch over and look after us.
When Mr. Banker and I were transferred to the
Yeravda Central Prison, there was one warder and
one baradasi. The latter is what the name implies, a
mere servant. The convict warder whose acquain¬
tance we first made was a Hindu from the Punjab side.
His name was Harkaran. He was convicted of murder.
The murder according to him was not premeditated
but due to a fit of anger. By occupation he was a
petty merchant. His sentence was fourteen years,
of which he had almost served nine years. He was
fairly old. The prison life had told on him. He was
always brooding and most anxious to be discharged.
He was therefore morose and peevish. He was con¬
scious of his high dignity. He was patronizing to
those who obeyed and served him. He bullied those
who crossed his path. To look at him, no one would
think he could be guilty of murder. Pie could read
Urdu fluently. He was religiously minded and was
fond of reading bhajans in Urdu. The Yeravda library
has a few books for prisoners in several Indian languages,
e.g. Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Kanarese,
Tamil. Harkaran was not above keeping and hiding
trifles in defiance of jail regulations. He was in the
majority. It would be regarded snobbish and foolish
not to steal trifles. A prisoner who did not follow this
unwritten law would have a bad time of it from his
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 193

fellows. Ostracism would be the least punishment.

If the whole of the jail yard were to be dug up twelve
inches deep, it would yield up many a secret in the
shape of spoons, knives, pots, cigarettes, soap and such
like. Harkaran being one of the oldest inmates of
Yeravda was a sort of purveyor-general to the pri¬
soners. If a prisoner wanted anything, Harkaran
was the supplier. I wanted a knife for cutting my
bread and lemons. Harkaran could procure it if I
would have it through him. If I wanted to go through
the elaborate process of asking the Superintendent,
that was my business. I must be prepared for a
snubbing. When we became friends, he related all
his wonderful exploits; how he dodged officials, how
he procured for himself and others dainties, what
skilful tricks were employed by prisoners to obtain
what they wanted and how it was almost impossible
(in his opinion) not to resort to these tricks, was des¬
cribed in minute detail and with much gusto. He was
horrified to discover that I was neither interested in
the exploits nor was I minded to join the trade. He
endeavoured subsequently somewhat to repair the
indiscretion he had let himself into, and to assure me
that he had seen my point and that he would thence¬
forth refrain from the irregularities. But I have a
suspicion that the repentance was put on. The reader,
however, must not run away with the idea that the
jail officials do not know these irregularities. They
are all an open secret. They not only know them but
often sympathize with the prisoners who do these tricks
to make themselves happy and comfortable. They
(the officials) believe in the doctrine of dive and let
live’. A prisoner who behaves correctly in the pre¬
sence of his superiors, obeys their orders, does not
S.-13
 194 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

quarrel with his fellows and does not inconvenience

officials, is practically free to break any regulation for
the sake of procuring greater comfort.
Well, the first acquaintance with Harkaran was
not particularly happy. He knew that we were
‘important5 prisoners. But so was he in a way. After
all he was an officer with a long and honourable
record of service behind him. He was no respecter
of persons. Mr. Banker was torn away from me the
very next morning. Harkaran allowed the full force
of his authority to descend upon me. I was not to do
this or that. I was not to cross the white line referred
to in my letter to Hakimji. But I had not the faintest
idea of retaliating or resenting what he said or did.
I was too engrossed in my own work and studies even
to think of Harkaran’s simple and childish instructions.
It gave me momentary amusement. Harkaran dis¬
covered his error. When he saw that I did not resist
his officiousness, nor did I pay any attention to it,
he felt non-plussed. He was unprepared for such an
emergency. He therefore took the only course that
was left open to him and that was to recognize my
dissimilarity and respond to me when I refused to
respond to him. My non-violent non-co-operation
led to his co-operation. All non-violent non-co-opera¬
tion, whether among individuals or societies, or whether
between governments and the governed, must lead
ultimately to hearty co-operation. Anyway Harkaran
and I became perfect friends. When Mr. Banker was
returned to me he put the finishing touch. One of his
many businesses in the jail was to boom me for all I
was worth. He thought that Harkaran and others
had not sufficiently realized my greatness. In two or
three days’ time I found myself elevated to the position
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 195

of a baby in woollens. I was too great to be allowed

to sweep my own cell or to put out my own blankets
for drying. Harkaran was all attention before, but
now he became embarrassingly attentive. I could
not do anything myself, not even wash a handkerchief.
If Harakaran heard me washing it, he would enter
the open bath-room and tear the kerchief away from
me. Whether it was that the authorities suspected
that Harkaran was doing anything unlawful for us or
whether it was a mere accident, Harkaran was, to our
sorrow, taken away from us. He felt the separation
more perhaps than we did. He had a royal time with
us. He had plenty of eatables and that openly from
our rations, supplemented as they were with fruit
that friends sent from outside. And as our fame was
‘noised abroad5, Harkaran’s association with us had
given him an added status with the other prisoners.
When I was given the permission to sleep on the
cell verandah the authorities thought that it was too
risky to leave me with one warder only. Probably
the regulations required that a prisoner whose cell
was kept open should have two warders to watch over
him. It might even be that the addition was made
for my protection. Whatever the cause, another
warder was posted for night duty. His name was
Shabaskhan. I never inquired about the cause but
I thought that a Mahomedan was chosen to balance
the Hindu Harkaran. Shabaskhan was a powerful
Baloochi. He was Harkaran5s contemporary. Both
knew each other well. Shabaskhan too was convicted
of murder. It resulted from an affray in the clan to
which he belonged. Shabaskhan was as broad as he
was tall. His build always reminded me of Shaukat
Ali. Shabaskhan put me at ease the very first day.
 196 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

He said, ‘I am not going to watch you at all. Treat

me as your friend and do exactly as you like. You will
never find me interfering with you. If you want
anything done I shall be only too happy, if I can do
it for you.’ Shabaskhan was as good as his word.
He was always polite. He often tempted me with
prison delicacies and always felt genuinely sorry that
I would not partake of them. 4You know,5 he would
say, cif we do not help ourselves to these few things,
life would be intolerable, eating the same things day
in and day out. With your people, it is different.
You come for religion. That fact sustains you,
whereas we know that we have committed crimes.
We would like to get away as soon as ever we can.5
Shabaskhan was the gaoler’s favourite. Growing
enthusiastic over him he once said, “Look at him. I
consider him to be a perfect gentleman. In a fit of
temper he has committed murder for which he truly
repents. I assure you there are not many men outside
who are better than Shabaskhan. It is a mistake to
suppose that all prisoners are criminals. Shabaskhan
I have found to be most trustworthy and courteous.
If I had the power I would discharge him today.5
The gaoler was not wrong. Shabaskhan was a good
man, and he was by no means the only good prisoner
in that gaol. Let me note in passing that it was not
the gaol that had made him good. He was good
outside.
It is customary in the jails never to keep a convict
officer on the same duty for any length of time.
Transfers constantly take place. It is a necessary pre¬
caution. Prisoners cannot be allowed, under the
existing system, to develop intimate relations. We
had therefore most varied experience of convict officers.
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 197

After about two months, Shabaskhan was replaced

by Adan. But I must introduce this warder to the
reader in the next chapter.

Young India, 26-6-’24, p. 210

10
Some Convict Warders (2)

Adan was a young Somali soldier who was

sentenced to ten years5 hard labour for desertion from
the British Army which he had joined during the war.
He was transferred by the Aden Jail authorities. Adan
had served four years when we were admitted. He was
practically illiterate. He could read the Koran with
difficulty but could not copy it correctly, if at all. He
was able to speak Urdu fairly fluently and was anxious
to learn Urdu. With the permission of the Superin¬
tendent I tried to teach him but the learning of the
alphabet proved too great a strain upon him and he left
it. With all that he was quick-witted and sharp as
a needle. He took the greatest interest in religious
matters. He was a devout Musalman, offered his
prayers regularly including the midnight one, and
never missed the Ramzan fast. The rosary was his
constant companion. When he was free, he used to
recite selections from the Koran. He would often
engage me in a discussion on complete fasts according
to the Hindu custom as also on Ahimsa. He was a
brave man. He was very courteous but never cring¬
ing. He was of an excitable nature and therefore
often quarrelled with the bardasi or his fellow warder.
We had therefore sometimes to arbitrate between them.
Being a soldier and amenable to reason, he would
198 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

accept the award, but he would put his case boldly

and cogently. Adan was the longest with us. I
treasure Adan’s affection. He was most attentive to
me. He would see to it that I got my food at the
appointed time. He was sad if I ever became ill and
anticipated all my wants. He would not let me exert
myself for anything. He was anxious to be discharged
or at least to be transferred to Aden. I tried hard.
I drew up petitions for him. The Superintendent too
tried his best. But the decision rested with the Aden
Authorities. Hope was held out to him that he would
be discharged before the end of last year. I do hope
he is already discharged. The little service I rendered
gave rise to deep personal attachment. It was a sad
parting when Adan was transferred to another part
of the prison. I must not omit to mention that when
I was organizing spinning and carding in the jail,
Adan, though one of his hands was disabled, helped
most industriously at making slivers. He became
very proficient in the art which he had come to like.
As Shabaskhan was replaced by Adan, Harkaran
was replaced by Bhiwa. Much to our agreeable
surprise, Bhiwa was a Mahar from Maharashtra and
therefore an untouchable. Of all the warders we met
he was perhaps the most industrious. The reader will
be surprised to find that the canker of untouchability
has not left even the jails untouched. Poor Bhiwa!
He would not enter our cells without considerable
hesitation. He would not touch our pots. We
quickly set him at rest by telling him that we had not
only no prejudices against untouchables but that we
were trying our best to do away with the curse.
Shankarlal Banker specially befriended him and made
him feel perfectly at home with us. He permitted
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 199

Bhiwa to be so familiar with him that the former

would resent an angry word from Mr. Banker and the
latter would even apologize. He induced Bhiwa to
apply himself to studies and taught him also spinning.
The result was that Bhiwa became in an incredibly
short space of time an accomplished spinner and
began so to like it that he thought of learning weaving,
and earning his living through that occupation when
he went out. I cultivated in the jail the habit of
drinking hot water and lemon at 4-15 a.m. When I
protested against Mr. Banker doing it for me, he ini¬
tiated Bhiwa into the mystery. Prisoners, though they
get up early enough, do not like to leave their matting
(which is their bed) at that early hour. Bhiwa how¬
ever immediately responded to his friend’s suggestion.
But it was Mr. Banker’s business always to wake up
Bhiwa at 4 o’clock. When Bhiwa went (he was dis¬
charged under special remission) Adan undertook
the duty. He will not listen to my doing it myself.
And the tradition was kept up even after Mr. Banker’s
discharge, each out-going warder initiating the in¬
coming one into all the mysteries. Needless to say
this morning duty was no part of the prison task.
Indeed convicts when they became warders were not
expected to do any labour at all. Theirs is but to order.
Even as the best of friends must part some day,
Bhiwa bade goodbye. He was permitted to receive
from Mr. Banker khaddar caps, khaddar dhotis,
khaddar vests and a khaddar blanket. He pro¬
mised to wear nothing but khaddar outside. Let
me hope good Bhiwa, wherever he may be, is keeping
the promise.
Bhiwa was followed by Thamu. He too belonged
to Maharashtra. Thamu was a mild-marinered warder.
200 STONEWALLS do not a prison make

He had not much cgo’ in him. He would do what

he was asked but he did not believe in specially exert¬
ing himself. He and Adan therefore did not get on
quite well together. But Thamu being timid always
yielded to Adan in the end. He had such a royal
time (all had) with us that Thamu did not want
to be separated from us. He therefore preferred to
bear Adan’s hard yoke to being transferred. Thamu
having come to us a considerable time after Adan,
the latter was Thamu’s senior with us. It is remark¬
able how these fictitious seniorities spring up in little
places like jails. Yeravda was to us a whole world
or better still the whole world. Every squabble,
every little jar, was a mighty event commanding
sustained interest for the day and sometimes even for
days. If the jail authorities permitted a jail news¬
paper to be conducted by the prisoners and for them,
it would have a cent per cent circulation and such
toothsome news as properly cooked dholl, well dressed
vegetables, and sensational items as war of words
between prisoners, sometimes even resulting in blows
and consequent khatla (trial) before the Superinten¬
dent, would be as eagerly devoured by the prisoners
as the news of big dinner parties and great wars are
devoured by the public outside. I make the present
of a suggestion to enterprising members of the Assem¬
bly that if they desire fame they cannot do better
than introduce a bill requiring superintendents of
jails to permit the publishing and editing of news¬
papers by prisoners exclusively for their own use and
under strict censorship by the authorities.
To return to Thamu, though he was flabby, as
a man he was otherwise as good as any of his predece¬
ssors. Ele took to the Charkha like fish to water. In
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 201

a week’s time, he pulled a more even thread than I

did. And after a month, the pupil out-distanced the
teacher by a long way. So much so that I grew
jealous of Thamu’s superiority. I saw too from
Thamu’s rapid progress that my slow progress was a
peculiar defect of mine and that an ordinary person
could pull a perfect thread in a month at the outside.
Everyone of those who were taught by me excelled
me in no time. To Thamu as to Bhiwa, the spinning
wheel had become a welcome companion. They were
able to drown the sorrows of separation from their
nearest in the soft and gentle music of the wheel.
Later on spinning became Thamu’s first work in the
morning. He spun at the rate of four hours
per day.
When we were shifted to the European yard,
there were several changes. Among them was a change
of warders. Adan was the first to be transferred.
Though neither he nor we liked it, we took his transfer
bravely. Then came Thamu’s turn. Poor fellow,
he broke down. Pie wanted me to try to keep him.
I would not do that. I thought it was beyond my
province. The authorities had a perfect right to shift
whom and where they would. Adan and Thamu
were followed by Kunti, a Gurkha and a Kanarese
by name Gangappa. The Gurkha was called Goorkha
by everybody. He was reserved but grew ‘chummy’
later on. For the first few days, he did not know where
he was. Probably, he thought we would report and
involve him on the slightest pretext. But when he
saw that we meant no mischief, he came closer to us.
But he was soon transferred. Gangappa I have partly
described in the introduction to the jail correspondence.
He was an elderly man. Plis almost punctilious
202 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

observance of rules and his great devotion to duty

commanded my admiration. He put his whole soul
into whatever he was ordered by the authorities to do.
He took up duties which he need not have. He rarely
remained idle. He learnt to make and cook chapatis
for my companions. His devotion to me personally I
shall never forget. No wife or sister could be more
unsparing than Gangappa in his attention. He was
awake at all times. He took delight in anticipating
my wants. He saw to it that all my things were kept
spotlessly clean. During my illness, he was my most
efficient nurse, because he was the most attentive.
When we were transferred to the European yard,
Messrs. Mansar Ali and Yagnik used to join me at
prayer time. Mr. Mansar Ali was transferred to
Allahabad for his discharge in due course. Mr. Yagnik
because he needed more intensive and philosophical
rather than devotional meditation dropped out.
Gangappa felt that without these friends I would feel
lonely at prayer. The very first time that he saw
that I was alone at prayer, he quietly took his seat in
front of me. Needless to say I appreciated the delicate
courtesy underlying the action. It was so spontaneous,
so unofficious, and natural for Gangappa. I do not
call it religious in the accepted sense of the term,
though, according to my conception, it was truly
religious. I always hesitated to invite anybody to
these prayer meetings of mine. I did not want them
to come for my sake. I did not feel lonely. I realized
most at that time the companionship of God. If
any one came, I wanted him not for keeping company
but for sharing the divine companionship. I there¬
fore particularly hesitated to invite the warders. I
felt that they may join merely out of form, whereas
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 203

I wanted them to join only if they naturally felt like

joining. With Gangappa it was a mixture of pity for
me in my loneliness and desire to share with me the
sacred half-hour, though he could understand not a
word of what I sang save of course Ramanama.
Gangappa drew to the prayer meeting another warder
Annappa, also a Kanarese, and later Mr. Abdul Gani
felt impelled to join. I imagine that Mr. Abdul Gani
was unconsciously influenced by Gangappa5s un-
obstrusive act of joining me.

The reader will see that I had a uniformly happy

experience of these convict warders. I could not
have wished for more devoted companions or more
faithful attendants. Paid service would but be a
patch upon this and that of friends could only equal
it. And yet the pity of it is that society treats such
men as criminals and out-castes because they had the
misfortune to be convicted. I entirely endorse the
remark of the head jailer already quoted by me in a
previous chapter that there are in our jails many men
who are better than those outside. The reader will
now understand why I felt a pang when I heard that I
was discharged, and most of the companions who had
covered me with so much kindness and whom there
was in my opinion no occasion to detain any longer
in the jails were left behind.

One word more and I must regretfully part with

Gangappa. Gangappa always knew his limitations.
He would not spin. He said he could not do it. His
fingers had not the cunning for it. But he kept the
workroom in order, cleaned my wheel and devoted all
his spare time to sunning and cleaning the cotton for
carding.
204 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Of all the many happy memories of my prison-

life I knew that those of the company of the convict
warders will perhaps linger the longest.

Young India, 10-7-’24, p. 226

11

What I Read (i)

As a boy I had not much taste for reading any¬

thing outside my school books. They alone gave
me enough food for thought; for it was natural for
me to reduce to practice what I learnt at school.
For home reading I had an intense dislike. I used to
labour through home lessons because I had to. During
my student days in England too the same habit persis¬
ted of not reading outside the books for examinations.
When however I began life, I felt I ought to read for
the sake of gaining general knowledge. But at the
earliest period of my life it became one of storm and
stress. It commenced with a fight with the then
political agent of Kathiawad. I had therefore not
much time for literary pursuits. In South Africa for
one year I had fair leisure in spite of the battle for
freedom that faced me. The year 1893 I devoted to reli¬
gious striving. The reading was therefore wholly
religious. After 1894 all the time for sustained read¬
ing I got was in the jails of South Africa. I had deve¬
loped not only a taste for reading but for completing
my knowledge of Sanskrit, and studying Tamil, Hindi
and Urdu; Tamil because I was in touch with so
many Tamilians in South Africa and Urdu because I
had dealings with so many Musalmans. The South
African jails had whetted my appetite and I was
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 205
grieved when during my last incarceration in South
Africa I was prematurely discharged.
When therefore the opportunity came to me in
India, I hailed it with joy. I mapped out a rigid
programme of studies at Yeravda to finish which six
years were not enough. During the first three months
I had a vague hope that India would rise to the occa¬
sion, complete the boycott of foreign cloth and un¬
lock the prison gates. But I soon learnt that such was
not to be the case. I saw at once that it meant labo¬
rious, quiet organizing which could not take the
nation anything less than five years. I had no desire
whatsoever for being discharged before my time
except by the peaceful constructive act of the nation
even if it was not actually Swaraj. I therefore settled
down to studies with the zest of a youth of twenty-
four instead of an old man of fifty-four with a broken
constitution. I accounted for every minute of my
time and would have been discharged a fair Urdu
and Tamil scholar and well-versed in Sanskrit. I
would have satisfied my desire for reading original
Sanskrit texts. But such was not to be the case. My
studies were rudely interrupted by my unfortunate
illness and consequent discharge. However the follow¬
ing list gives the reader an idea of my studies:
The Cambridge History of Scotland; The Master and
His Teaching; Arm of God; Christianity in Practice; Tulasi-
das' Ramayana (Hindi); Satyagraha and Asahayoga (Hindi);
The Koran; The Way to Begin Life; Trips to the Moon
(Lucian); Indian Administration (Thakore); Natural
History of Birds; The Young Crusader; Bible View of the
World Martyrs; Farrar's Seekers after God; Misra Kumari
(Guj.) ; Stories from the History of Rome; Tom Brown's
School Days; Wisdom of the Ancients (Bacon); History of
206 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

India (Chandrakant) (Guj.); Patanjala Togadarshana

(Kama’s trans.); Valmiki's Ramayana (Guj. trans.);
Five Nations (Kipling); Equality (Edward Bellamy);
St. Paul in Greece; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde; Rose bury's Pitt; Jungle-Book (Kipling);
Faust; Life of John Howard; Mahabharata—all the
books (Guj. trans.); Dropped from the Clouds (Jules
Verne); Irving's Life of Columbus; Ramayana by Girdhar
(Guj.) ; Five Empires (Wilberforce); Lays of Ancient
Rome; The Crusades; Gibbon's Rome; Urdu Readers;
Bhagawat (Guj. trans.); Bankim's Krishna Charitra
(Jhaveri’s Guj. trans.); Vaidya's Krishna (Guj. trans.);
Tilak's Gita (Guj. trans.); Saraswatichandra (Guj.);
Manusmriti (Guj. trans.); Ishopa?iishad (Aravinda’s
commentary); Kabir's Songs; Jacob Boehmen's Super-
sensual Life; Pro Christo et Excelsia; Kathavali; Upani-
shads (Hindi commentary); Galilean; Jnaneshwari
(Guj. trans.); Philo Christus; Satyartha Prakash (Hindi);
Prem Mitra (Eng.); The Six Systems (Guj. trans.);
The Gospel and the Plough; Nathuram's Commentary on
the Gita; Shankar's Commentary on the Gita; Rajachandra's
Letters and Writings; Ourselves and the Universe (J.
Brierly); What Christianity Means to Me (Abott);
Steps to Christianity; My Philosophy and Religion (Trine);
Sadhana (Rabindranath); Bhanu's Commentaries on
Upanishads; Max Muller's Upanishads; Well's History;
The Bible; Science of Peace (Bhagawandas); Barrack-
room Ballads (Kipling); Evolution of Cities (Geddes);
Life of Ramanuja; Cunningham's Sikhs; Gokulchand's
Sikhs; Macanliffi's Sikhs; Ethics of Islam; Social Evolu¬
tion (Kidd); Manusmriti (Buhler); Our Hellenese Heri-
tage (James); Avesta (Dadachanji); Gita (Arvinda);
Elements of Sociology (Spencer); Social Efficiency (Pher-
wani); Message of Mahomed (Wadia); Message of Christ
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 207
(Wadia); Saints of Islam (Massan); Early Zoroastrian¬
ism (Moulton); Travels in the Himalayas (Guj.); Sita-
haran (Guj.); Buddha ane Mahavir (Guj.); Rama ane
Krishna (Guj.); Man and Superman; Markandeya Pur an
(Guj.); Poorva Rang (Guj.); Life of Hasrat Mohani
(Urdu); Confessions of the Prophet (Urdu); History of
Civilization (Buckle); Jaya ane Jayant (Guj.); Rabin¬
dranath's Essays (Guj.); Countess Tolstoy's Defence;
Kalapani-ni Katha (Guj.); Economics (Guj.); Gita-Govind;
Varieties of Religious Experiences (James); Origin and
Evolution of Religion (Hopkins); Lecky's European
Morals; Maharashtradhanna (Marathi); Freedom and
Growth (Holmes); Evolution of Man (Haeckel);
Muktadhara (Guj.), (Rabindranath); Sinking Ship
(Guj.), (Rabindranath); Life of the Prophet (Urdu),
(Maulana Shibli); Dr. Mahomed Aids Koran; Raja-
yoga (Vivekananda); Confluence of Religions (Champa-
krai Jain); Mysteries of Islam (Nicholson); Gospel of
Buddha (Paul Gar us); Lectures on Buddhism (Rhys
Davids); Spirit of Islam (Ameer Ali); Modern Problems
(Lodge); Mahomed (Washington Irving); Syadvada
Manjari; History of the Saracens (Ameer Ali); European
Civilization (Guizot); Al Faruq (Shibli); Rise of the Dutch
Republic (Motley); Musings of Saint Theresa; Vedanta
(Rajam Iyer); Uttaradhyayana Sutra; Rosicruscian Mys¬
teries ; Dialogues of Plato; Al Kalam (Urdu), (Shibli);
Woodroffe's Shakta and Shakti; Bhagavati Sutra (in¬
complete) .
Let the reader however not imagine that I read all
these books by choice. Some of them were useless and
outside the jail I would not have read them. Some of
them were sent by friends known and unknown and
I felt I was bound for their sakes at least to go through
them. The Yeravda jail has what may be called not
208 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

a bad collection of English books. Some of them were

really good books such, for instance, as Farrar’s
Seekers After God, Lucian’s Trips to the Moon or Jules
Verne’s Dropped from the Clouds, all of them excellent
in their own way. Farrar’s is an inspiring book giving
the best side of the lives of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca
and Epictetus. Lucian’s book is a fine and instructive
satire. Jules Verne teaches science in the guise of a
story. His method is inimitable.
Many Christian friends were most attentive to
me. I received books from them from America, Eng¬
land and India. I must confess that whilst I recogniz¬
ed their kind motive, I could not appreciate the majo¬
rity of the books they sent. I wish I could say some¬
thing of their gifts that would please them. But that
would not be fair or truthful if I could not mean it.
The orthodox books on Christianity do not give me
any satisfaction. My regard for the life of Jesus is
indeed very great. His ethical teaching, his common
sense, his sacrifice command my reverence. But I
do not accept the orthodox teaching that Jesus was
or is God Incarnate in the accepted sense or that he
was or is the only son of God. I do not believe in the
doctrine of appropriation of another’s merit. His
sacrifice is a type and an example for us. Every one
of us has to be ‘crucified5 for salvation. I do not take
the words ‘son’, ‘father5 and the ‘Holy Ghost5 lite¬
rally. They are all figurative expressions. Nor do I
accept the limitations that are sought to be put upon
the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. I can
discover no justification in the New Testament for
wars. I regard Jesus as one amongst the most illus¬
trious teachers and prophets the world has seen.
Needless to say I do not regard the Bible as an
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 209

infallible record of the life and teachings of Jesus. Nor

do I consider every word in the New Testament as
God’s own word. Between the Old and the New there
is a fundamental difference. Whilst the Old contains
some very deep truths, I am unable to pay it the same
honours I pay the New Testament. I regard the
latter as an extension of the teaching of the Old
and in some matters rejection of the Old. Nor do I
regard the New as the last word of God. Religious
ideas like everything else are subject to the same law
of evolution that governs everything else in this
universe. Only God is changeless and as His mes¬
sage is received through the imperfect human medium,
it is always liable to suffer distortion in proportion
as the medium is pure or otherwise. I would therefore
respectfully urge my Christian friends and well-
wishers to take me as I am. I respect and appreciate
their wish that I should think and be as they are even
as I respect and appreciate a similar wish on the part
of my Musalman friends. I regard both the religions as
equally true with my own. But my own gives me full
satisfaction. It contains all that I need for my growth.
It teaches me to pray not that others may believe
as I believe but that they may grow to their full height
in their own religion. My constant prayer therefore
is for a Christian or a Musalman to be a better
Christian and a better Mahomedan. I am convinc¬
ed, I know, that God will ask, asks us now, not what we
label ourselves but what we are, i.e. what we do.
With Him deed is everything, belief without deed'is
nothing. With Him doing is believing. The reader
will pardon me for this digression. But it was necessary
for me to deliver my soul over the Christian literature
with which the Christian friends flooded me in the
S.-14
 210 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

jail, if only to show my appreciation of their interest

in my spiritual welfare.
That which I would not have missed was the
Mahabharata and the Upanishads, the Ramayana
and the Bhagawata. The Upanishads whetted my
appetite for exploring the Vedic religion at its source.
Its bold speculations afforded the keenest delight. And
their spirituality satisfied the soul. At the same time
I must confess that there was much in some of them
that I was unable to understand or appreciate in
spite of the help of the copious notes of Professor
Bhanu who has incorporated in them the whole of
Shankara’s commentaries and the substance of the
others. The Mahabharata I had never read before
except in scraps. I was even prejudiced against it
believing (falsely as it has now turned out) that it was
nothing but a record of bloodshed and impossible
long descriptions which would send me to sleep.
I dreaded to approach the bulky volumes covering
over closely printed six thousand pages. But having
once commenced the reading, I was impatient to
finish it, so entrancing it proved to be except in parts.
I compared it, as I finished it in four months, not
to a treasure chest in which you find nothing but
polished gems limited as to quantity and quality but
to an inexhaustible mine which the deeper one digs
the more precious are the finds. The Mahabharata
is not to me a historical record. It is hopeless as a his¬
tory. But it deals with eternal verities in an allegorical
fashion. It takes up historical personages and events
and transforms them into angels or devils as it suits
the purpose of the poet whose theme is the eternal duel
between good and evil, spirit and matter, God and
Satan. It is like a mighty river which in its progress
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 211

absorbs many streams some even muddy. It is the

conception of one brain. But it has undergone rava¬
ges and received accretions in process of time till it
has become difficult always to say which is the ori¬
ginal and which is apocryphal. The ending of it is
magnificent. It demonstrates the utter nothingness of
earthly power. The great sacrifice at the end is proved
inefficacious in comparison with the sacrifice of the
heart by a Brahmana who gave his little all, the last
morsel, to a needy beggar. What is left to the virtuous
Pandavas is poignant grief. The mighty Krishna
dies helplessly. The numerous and powerful Yadavas,
because of their corruption, die an inglorious death
fighting amongst one another. Arjuna, the un¬
conquerable, is conquered by a band of robbers, his
Gandiva notwithstanding. The Pandavas retire leav¬
ing the throne to an infant. All but one die on the jour¬
ney to heaven. And even Yudhishthira, the very em¬
bodiment of Dharma, has to taste the foetid smell of
hell for the lie he permitted himself to utter under
stress. The inexorable law of cause and effect is allowed
without exception to run its even course. The claim
put forth in its behalf that it omits nothing that is
useful or interesting and that is to be found in any
other book is well sustained by this marvellous poem.
Young India, 4-9-’24, p, 295
 12
What I Read (2)

My Urdu studies proved as absorbing as the

reading of Mahabharata. They grew on me as I
proceeded. I approached this study with a light heart
foolishly imagining that in two or three months I
should be quite an adept in Urdu. But to my sorrow
I discovered that it had been made into a language
distinct from Hindi and that the tendency was grow¬
ing in that direction. But that discovery only made
me more determined than ever to be able to read and
understand Urdu literature. I therefore gave nearly
three hours per day to Urdu reading. The Urdu writ¬
ers have purposely gone out of their way to use Ara¬
bic or Persian words even to the rejection of words
current among Hindus and Musalmans. They have
rejected even the common grammar and imported
Arabic or Persian grammar. The result is that the
poor nationalist if he will keep in touch with the
Musalman thought, must study Urdu as a separate,
new language. The Hindi writers I know have done
no better or no less. Only I thought that the evil had
not gone very deep and that the separatist tendency
was a mere passing phase. Now I see that if we are
to have a common national language being a mix¬
ture of Hindi and Urdu, special and prolonged effort
will have to be made to effect a juncture between the
two streams which seem at present to be diverging
more and more one from the other. In spite however
of the difficulty I retain the opinion that it is neces¬
sary for a Hindu to complete his education to know
literary Urdu as it is for a Musalman to know
212
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 213

literary Hindi. It is easy enough if begun early. This

study may have no pecuniary value, it may not open
up the treasures of Western knowledge. But its na¬
tional value is beyond compare. I am the richer for
my close study of Urdu. I wish I could even now
complete it.

I know the Musalman mind much better than

I did two years ago. I was interested in the religious
side of Urdu literature and therefore plunged, as
soon as I was able, into Urdu religious books. Fates
have always favoured me. Maulana Hasrat Mohani
had sent to Mr. Mansar Ali Leaves from the Lives of the
Companions of the Prophet. As he was teaching me Urdu
he passed the volumes on to me. And I went through
them with the greatest diligence. The volumes though
they contain repetitions and would gain in lucidity
for compression were to me deeply interesting for the
insight they gave me into the doings of the Prophet’s
many companions. How their lives were transformed
as if by magic, what devotion they showed to the Pro¬
phet, how utterly unmindful they became of worldly
wealth, how they used power itself for showing the
utter simplicity of their lives, how they were un¬
touched by the lust of gold, how reckless they were
of their own lives in a cause they held sacred, is all
told with a wealth of detail that carries conviction
with it. When one notes their lives and then the lives
of the present-day representatives of Islam in India,
one is inclined to shed a tear of bitter grief.

I passed from the companions to the Prophet

himself. The two bulky volumes written by Maulana
Shibli are a creditable performance. But I have the
same complaints about them that I have lodged about
214 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

the diffuseness of the volumes devoted to the compa¬

nions. But the diffuseness did not interfere with my
interest to know how a Musalman had treated the inci¬
dents of the life of one who has been almost uniformly
maligned and abused in the West. When I closed
the second volume, I am sorry there was not more
for me to read of the great life. There are incidents in
it which I do not understand, there are some I cannot
explain. But I did not approach the study as a critic
or a scoffer. I wanted to know the best of the life of one
who holds today undisputed sway over the hearts of
millions of mankind. And I found enough in the volumes
to account for it. I became more than ever convinced
that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam
in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid
simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet,
the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion
to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearless¬
ness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission.
These, and not the sword, carried everything before
them and surmounted every obstacle. As I do not
regard any human being absolutely perfect, be he a
prophet or an avatar, it is unnecessary for me to be
able to explain to the censor’s satisfaction every detail
of the Prophet’s life. It is enough for me to know
that he was a man among millions who tried to walk
in the fear of God, died a poor man, wanted no grand
mausoleum for his mortal remains and who did not
forget even on his deathbed the least of his creditors.
The teaching of the Prophet is no more responsible for
the degrading intolerance or questionable proselytiz¬
ing methods that one sees around himself, than Hindu¬
ism is responsible for the degradation and intolerance
of present-day Hindus.
 •MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 215

From the Prophet I passed to the two volumes

devoted to the life of Umar the unconquerable. As
I pictured him before my mental eye walking to
Jerusalem upbraiding some of his followers for aping
the pomp of their neighbours, refusing to pray in a
Christian Church, lest succeeding generations might
claim to convert it into a mosque, granting the most
liberal terms to the conquered Christians, and as I
picture him declaring that the word of a follower of
Islam, though pledged by one not authorized thereto,
was as good as the written decree of the great Caliph
himself, he commands my humble respect. His was
an iron will. He weighed out the same justice to his
daughter that he would weigh to an utter stranger.
I fancy I understand the breaking of idols and wanton
desecration of temples, the thoughtless intolerance of
Hindu music now going on in our midst. These acts
seem to me to be due to an utter misreading of the
events in the life of the greatest of the Caliphs. I fear
that the acts of this great and just man are being
presented to the Musalman masses in a most distorted
fashion. I know that if he rose from his grave, he
would disown the many acts of the so-called followers
of Islam which are a crude caricature of those of the
great Umar himself.
From this entrancing study, I went to the philoso¬
phical volumes called Al Kalam. These are difficult to
understand. The language is highly technical.
Mr. Abdul Gani, however, made my study fairly easy.
I was only sorry my illness interrupted my study when
I bad only half finished the volumes.
Of the English books Gibbon takes easily the first
place. It was recommended to me years ago by so
many English friends. I was determined to read
216 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Gibbon in the jail this time. I was glad of it. For me

even history has a spiritual significance. As the author
proceeds to trace the events in the life of the citizens
of a single city who built up a world empire, one
traces the history of the soul. For Gibbon does
not deal with trifles, he deals with vast masses of facts
and arrays them before you in his own unimitable way.
He deals with three civilizations Pagan, Christian and
Islamic in sufficient detail to enable you to frame your
own conclusions. His own compel attention. But
he is as a historian jealous of his calling, faithful
enough to give you all his data so as to enable you to
judge for yourself.
Motley is another type. Gibbon traces the decay
of a mighty empire. Motley extracts from a little
republic the life of his hero. Gibbon’s heroes are sub¬
servient to the story of a mighty empire. Motley’s
story of a State is subservient to that of one single life.
The republic merges in William the Silent.
Add to these two, Lord Rosebury’s Life of Pitt.
And you are perhaps then prepared to draw with me
the conclusion that the dividing line between fact and
fiction is very thin indeed, and that even facts have
at least two sides, or as lawyers say, facts are after all
opinions. However, I have no desire to engage the
reader’s attention upon my speculations on the value
of history considered as an aid to the evolution of our
race. I believe in the saying that a nation is happy
that has no history. It is my pet theory that our Hindu
ancestors solved the question for us by ignoring history
as it is understood today and by building on slight
events their philosophical structure. Such is the
Mahabharata. And I look upon Gibbon and Motley
as inferior editions of the Mahabharata. The im-
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 217

mortal but unknown author of the Mahabharata

weaves into his story sufficient of the supernatural to
warn you against taking him literally. Gibbon and
Motley are necessarily at pains to tell you they are
giving you facts and nothing but facts. Lord Rosebury
comes to the rescue and tells you that even the last
words said to have been uttered by Pitt are disputed
by his butler. The substance of all these stories is,
“Names and forms matter little, they come and go.
That which is permanent and therefore necessary
eludes the historian of events. Truth transcends
history.55
Toung India, ll-9-’24, p. 303

13

What I Read (3)

I must not omit to mention one little but precious

book a deai\ friend sent. It was Supersensual Life by
Jacob Boehmen. I notice it to enable me to share
with the reader some of the striking passages I copied
from it. Here they are:

“It is naught indeed but thine own hearing and will¬

ing that do hinder them, so that thou dost not see and
hear God.”

“If thou rulest over the creatures externally only and

not from the right internal ground of thy inward nature,
then thy will and ruling is in a bestial kind or matter.”

“Thou art like all things and nothing unlike thee.”

“If thou wilt be like all things, thou must forsake all
things.”
218 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

“Let thy hands and the head be at labour. Thy

heart ought nevertheless to rest in God.”

“Heaven is the turning in of the will to the love of God.”

“Hell is the turning in of the will into the wrath of

God.”

Whilst I am turning over my scrappy notebook,

I come across certain other passages collected in the
course of my reading from other books.
Here is one for Satyagrahis:
“They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think.
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.”
—Lowell
Copied from Tom Brown’s School Days

Another bearing on the same subject is from

Claude Field’s Mystics and Saints of Isla7n:
“Sufi Shah Mullah Shah, when' he was advised to flee
from the wrath of Shah Jehan, is reported to have said, ‘I
am not an impostor that I should seek safety in flight. I am
an utterer of truth. Death and life are to me alike. Let my
blood in another life also redden the unpaling stake. I am
living and eternal. Death recoils from me, for my knowledge
has vanquished death. The sphere where all colours are
effaced has become my abode.’ Mansuri Hallay said, ‘To
cut off the hands of a fettered man is easy, but to sever the
link that binds me to the Divinity would be a task indeed.’ ”

Here is another from Lowell. It helps those who

would give to the Malabar sufferers to do so in the right
spirit and to share their very best:
 MY JAIL EXPERIENCES 219

“The Holy supper is kept indeed

In what we share with another’s need,
Not that which we give, but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare.
Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbours and Me.”

The following will strengthen those who believe

in the gospel of non-violence:
“To wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill or to think ill of
any one we are equally forbidden without exception.”
—Tertullicin

Copied from J. Brierley’s Ourselves and the Universe

The last set of books I should like to mention are

the histories of the Sikhs by Cunningham, Macauliffe
and Gokulchand Narang. All these books are good
in their own way. It is impossible to appreciate the
present Sikh struggle without understanding their
previous history and the life of Gurus. Cunningham’s
is a sympathetic record of events leading to the Sikh
wars. Macualiffe’s is a life story of the Gurus giving
copious extracts from their compositions. It is a
sumptuously printed publication. It loses its value
because of its fulsome praise of the English rule and
the author’s emphasis on Sikhism as a separate religion,
having nothing in common with Hinduism. Gokul¬
chand Narang’s is a monograph supplying information
not available in the two works mentioned.
Before concluding this review of my studies in the
jail, let me draw the student reader’s attention to the
value of doing things regularly and the ways of making
dry things interesting. I had a mind for my own
instruction and guidance to prepare a concordance
of the Gita. It is not a particularly interesting task to
220 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

note down works and references and index them twice.

I thought I should do it during the incarceration. At
the same time I grudged giving much time to the task.
My time-table was packed. I determined therefore
to do what I could do in 20 minutes daily. Doing it
for such a short time freed the task from becoming a
drudgery. On the contrary, I daily looked forward to
it. When it came to re-indexing, it became absorb¬
ing. The curious may solve the knotty problem for
themselves. The first indexing gave me the alphabeti¬
cal order of the first letters of the words to be indexed.
But how to re-arrange the words under each letter in
their alphabetical orders was a problem to solve. I
had never written a dictionary. I had therefore to
discover my own method. I was glad when I made the
discovery. It was so good that it became deeply
interesting. It was neat, quick and infallible. The
whole work took me nearly eighteen months to finish.
I am now by referring to the concordance able to
know where and how often a particular word occurs
in the Gita. It has also a meaning attached to it.
If I ever succeed in reducing to writing my thoughts
on the Gita, I propose to share the concordance and
the thoughts with the public.
Young India, 25-9-’24, p. 318
 APPENDIX

GANDHIJI IN JAILS

I. In South Africa

January 10, 1908

Johannesburg Two months5 simple imprison¬
ment. Released on January 30,
1908.
October 15, 1908
Volksrust and About two months in different
Pretoria jails.
November 6, 1913
Palmford Arrested and released on bail.
November 8, 1913
Standerton Arrested and released on bail.
November 9, 1913
Teakworth Arrested and taken to Dundee
for trial.
November 11, 1913
Dundee Nine months5 rigorous im¬
prisonment.
November 17, 1913
Volksrust Three months5 rigorous im¬
prisonment; kept in jail for a
few days.
November 1913
Bloemfontein Transferred from Volksrust.
. Released on December 18,1913.
First imprisonment in Johannesburg on January 10,
1908. Sentenced to two months5 simple imprisonment
221
 222 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

for disobeying an order to leave the Transvaal.

Taken to the fort of Johannesburg in prison garb and
thrown into a cell with Negroes and Common Law
criminals. Released on January 30, 1908, as a result
of a settlement arrived at between him and General
Smuts.
Struggle resumed on August 16, 1908 on account
of breach of promise by General Smuts. But for
two months in October-December 1908, Gandhiji
not put in prison till November 6, 1913.
While leading march of 2037 men, 127 women
and 57 children from Newcastle in Natal across Trans¬
vaal border, he was arrested at Palmford. Released
immediately on bail.
Arrested again on November 8, 1913 at Standerton
and released on bail. Arrested on November 9 at
Teakworth again, he was taken to Dundee on November
11, to stand trial. Sentenced to nine months’ rigorous
imprisonment for inducing indentured labourers to
leave Natal. Taken to Volksrust to stand second trial
for aiding and abetting prohibited persons in entering
Transvaal. Sentenced on November 17, 1913, to
three months’ rigorous imprisonment on second charge.
Taken to Volksrust jail for a few days, then transferred
to Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State,
to isolate him from Indian prisoners.
Released on December 18, 1913 for carrying on
negotiations for a settlement.
II. In India
April 17, 1917 Motihari Served with a notice to
quit but not arrested.
April 10, 1919 Kosi Arrested and escorted
back to Bombay.
 GANDHIJI IN JAILS 223

March 10, 1922 Sabarmati Arrested for sedition.

March 18, 1922 Yeravda Sentenced to six years
and taken to Yeravda.
Released on February
7, 1924.
May 5, 1930 Yeravda Arrested at Karadi,
taken to Yeravda. Re¬
leased on January 26,
1931.
January 4, 1932 Yeravda Arrested in Bombay and
taken to Yeravda. Re¬
leased on May 8, 1933.
July 31, 1933 Yeravda Arrested and detained.
Released but put under
restraint order on
August 4, 1933.
August 4, 1933 Poona Sentenced to one year.
Released on August 23,
1933.
August 9, 1942 Aga Khan Arrested in Bombay and
Palace detained in Aga Khan
Palace. Released on
May 6, 1944, on ac¬
count of illness.
First clash with authorities in India on April
17, 1917. He had gone to Motihari to inquire into the
grievances of Ghamparan peasants. Served with notice
to quit district. Refused. Tried but not sentenced.
Case withdrawn.
In 1919 while proceeding to Punjab on urgent
call during Satyagraha week—April 6 to 13— arrested
on April 10 at Kosi near Delhi and escorted back to
Bombay. No case launched.
224 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

Arrested on March 10, 1922, at Sabarmati for

sedition for three articles in Young India. Sentenced to
six years’ simple imprisonment and sent to Yeravda.
Attack of appendicitis. Released on February 7,
1924.
Dandi March on March 12, 1930. He encamped
at Dandi and broke the salt law. Not arrested.
On night of May 3, arrested under Regulation XXV
of 1827 and lodged in Yeravda without trial on May
5. Released on January 26, 1931 for negotiations with
Lord Irwin. Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
Civil disobedience resumed on December 31,
1931. Gandhiji arrested in the early morning of
January 4, 1932, along with Sardar Patel. Detained
without trial under Regulation III of 1818.
Gandhiji released on May 8, 1933, when he started
purificatory fast for 21 days. Decided upon offering
individual civil disobedience on July 31. Arrested
and detained in Yeravda for a few days. Released and
restraint order served on August 4. He broke it the
very day. Sentenced to one year’s simple imprison¬
ment, Confined in Yeravda.
As protest against Communal Award, began fast
which resulted in release. Decided to restrict him¬
self to anti-untouchability work during unexpired
period of sentence up to August 4, 1934.
Arrest in Bombay on August 9, 1942. Detained
under Section 26 of Defence of India Rules and con¬
fined in Aga Khan Palace. Released at 8 a.m. on
May 6, 1944, on account of anaemia and other com¬
plaints which threatened to endanger his life.
Gandhiji—His Life & Work, edited by D. G. Tendulkar
and others, p. 306
 INDEX

ABDUL GANI, 203 Chhotani Mian, 120

Adan, 197-99 Chinai, C. L., 20-22
Agra Jail, 30 Chinese prisoners, 82-84, 92
Alipore Central Jail, 32 Civil disobedience, 13, 45, 48,
Anasuyabahen Sarabhai, 117 77; is constitutional agita¬
152, 156 tion, 49
Andrews, C. F., 11 Civil resistance, civil resister,
Ansari, Dr., 120 13, 23-25, 49, 50, 171
Ashram Bhajanavali, 153 Congress Working Committee,
Asiatic Prisoners, 82, 84 73-75
Azad, Maulana Abul Convict officers, convict
Kalam, 113 warders, 164-65, 191, 196
Crime, is a kind of a disease,
BAJAJ, JAMNALAL, 51-52 9
Banaras Jail, 43
Bande Mataram, 12, 14 DALZIEL, COL., 107, 124,
Banker, Shankarlal, 106, 109, 158-60
110, 111, 112, 113, 152- Das, C. R., 51, 119
53, 156, 157, 158, 192, Dastane, 143, 179-80, 182
194, 198-99 Delhi Jail, 23, 29-30
Bari Saheb, Maulana Abdul, Desai, Mahadev, 25-28, 30,
118 46,53, 69, 70, 73; his letter,
Begraj, Verumal, 116 53-64
Bhagawad Gita, 88, 92, 113, Desai, Mrs. Durgabahen, 25,
117, 153, 183, 211 54, 59
Bhiwa, 198-99 Desai, Pragji, 65-66 .
Bible, 62, 87, 88 Dev, 143, 179-80, 182
Discipline, 43, 48, 50, 75; see
CARDING, 113, 198 Jail discipline
Charkha 200 Dum Dum Jail, 73

225
S. -15
226 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

EUROPEAN PRISONERS, as an expert in fasting and

83-85 in the science of political
prisonership, 73; opposes
FASTING, its ethics, 178-84 forcible feeding of hunger-
Flogging, 130-31, 141-44,174, strikers, 74; his jail experi¬
176, 178-79; in prisons, ences in S. African jails,
53-64; orders are passed 78-105; his first jail ex¬
restricting, 182 perience, 78-90; sends
Food, in Indian jails is unfit petition to the Director of
for human consumption, Prisons for a change in
72; in jails of South Africa, diet of all Asiatic prison¬
80-81 ers, 82-83; his reading in
Forward, The, 32 African jails, 87-88; his
Forcible feeding, 74 second jail experience, 90-
93; prays to God to bestow
GANDHI, CHHAGANLAL, on him sufficient strength
129 to perform his task, 91;
Gandhi, Devadas, 54, 59, 109, gets reconciled to the dis¬
120, 123, 147-48 turbing situation in jail
Gandhi, Kasturba, 120, 123, on reading Gita, 92; his
126, 156 third jail experience, 93-
Gandhi, Maganlal, 117, 126, 105; in company of ruffi¬
129-30, 135 ans in jail, 92-93; is con¬
Gandhi, M. K., passim; learns fined in a solitary cell,
most when he suffers 96; states if passive resisters
most, 6; does not believe leave jail with spoiled
in imprisoning those com¬ health, they would be
mitting violence, 9; his considered wanting in
ideal of jail life, 11; sug¬ the right spirit, 99; is
gests prison reforms, 17; handcuffed, 101; what he
opines non-co-coperators read in jail, 102-04; stud¬
must work in jails, 48; ies Tamil and Urdu, 104-
advises Dum Dum pri¬ 07, 120; fasts for not
soners to give up fast, 73; being allowed spinning
 INDEX 227

in Yeravda Jail, 111; 175rff., 180; analyses

discovers human element mental and physical dis¬
is largely absent in the eases, 188-89; prefers
gaol system, 20, 112; likes self-supporting industries
silence and solitude, 116; to competitive industries
his routine in Yeravda for prisoners, 190; suggests
jail, 117-18; criticizes devoting prisons to agri¬
Government’s refusal to culture, hand-spinning
send his letter to Hakimji, and hand-weaving, 190;
121-22; his letter, Govern¬ would provide homely
ment declines to send to atmosphere to prisoners,
Hakimji, 124; his primer 190; gets time for sustain¬
is refused to be sent by ed reading only in jails
government, 125; his jail in S. Africa after 1894,
diary, 125-51; regards re¬ 204; Studies Sanskrit,
fusal to have the use of Tamil, Hindi and Urdu,
periodicals an added puni¬ 204; what he read in
shment, 138; is regarded Yeravda Jail, 204-20;
as a dangerous criminal, settles down to study in
152; his jail experiences, Yeravda Jail like a youth
152-220; on Indian and of 25, 205; on Jesus, 208-
European officers in jails, 09; on Mahabharata,
157-61; on some jail 210-11; studies Urdu and
officials, 157; describes jails Islamic literature 212-15;
as ill-managed cattle- in jails in S. Africa,
farms, 161; favours a 221- 22; in jails in India,
separate division for poli¬ 222- 24
tical prisoners, 171; does
Gandhi, Narandas, 147-48
not recall a single instance
Gandhi, Prabhudas, 129
in which the law of re¬
Gandhi, Radhabahen, 129
turning good for evil has
not favourably answered, Gangappa, 108, 201-03

172; his intervention in Gani, Abdul, 107, 149, 150-

jail administration, 174, 51
 228 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

God, alone can take life be¬ Indian Review, 126, 170
cause he also gives it, 10 Indians, 84-86, 89-93, 97-99,
Griffiths, 180 101, 104
Grinding, 175 Indian Social Reformer, 170
Gulam Majid, Pir, 40, 45 Iyer, Justice Nageshvara,
69-72
HAJURA SINGH, 94-95
Hakimji, 30, 106-07, 109, JAILS, as hot-beds of vice
121-22, 123-24, 126, 135, and degradation, 162; and
157, 194 hospitals, compared, 188-
Handicrafts, 191 89; as self-supporting in¬
Harkaran, 192-95 stitutions, 189-90
Hassan Ahmed, Maulana, Jail administration, 166
46-47 Jail discipline, 12-14, 31, 49,
Himat Rasool, martial law 52-53, 142, 174, 179
prisoner, 37-39 Jail economics, 188-91
Hospitals, 188 Jail officials, 35, 81, 106, 113
House of Commons, 95 Jail regulations, 145, 147,
Humanitarian motives, 16, 149, 154, 192, 194-95
180 Jail treatment, 23-28
Human rights, 28 Jaipur Darbar, 51-52
Human touch, absence of— Jairamdas, 46-47, 132-33,
about prison system, 20 140, 177-78
Humiliation, 14, 24, 41-43, Jews, 89
' 48, 50, 130-31, 133, 135 Jivan, 84
Hunger-strikes, 12, 14, 52, Jones, Major, 106-07, 159-
72-75, 143, 176-83; when 60, 163, 176-78, 181/
—is justifiable, 14 Joseph, George, 36
Hyderabad Prison, 65-66, 69 Joshi, 95

ILL-TREATMENT, 34, 45- KADVA, 84, 86

46 Kaffirs, 81, 84-85, 89, 92-93,
Independent, 25-26, 29, 54 97, 100
Indian Jail Committee, 32 Kailasnath, 60
 INDEX 229

Kaji, 95 NAIDU, THAMBI, 79, 84

Karachi Jail, 43 Nehru, Pandit Motilal, 28
Kaujalgi, 140 51, 119, 126, 130, 135, 167
Khambata, 115 Non-co-operation, non-co¬
Kitchlu, Dr., 40, 45-46 operators, 12, 14, 23, 25,
Koran, 67-69, 87-88, 118, 43, 45, 48, 50, 55, 60, 72,
157, 197 184-85, 194
Kripalani, Prof., 43 Non-political activities, 135
Kristodas, 120 Non-violence, 9, 12, 45, 49
Kunti, 201 Non-violent conduct, I72jf

LAKSHMINARAYAN PASSIVE RESISTANCE, 6,

SHARMA, 61, 63 93, 103; its lessons, 102
Lala Shankar Lai, 23, 29-30 Passive resisters, 81, 85-86,
Lai Bahadur Singh, 94 93-94, 96, 98-99
Lalitji, 116 Patel, Vallabhbhai, 153
Lloyd, Sir George, 166 Penal Code, 9, 14-16
Lokamanya, 156 Polak, 100
Lytton, Lord, on jails, 14-17 Prestige, 174-75
Pretoria Jail, 95
MAJLI, 170 Prisons, human touch is lack¬
Mansar Ali, 202 ing, in, 164, 167-68, 171
Miracles, age of—is not past, Prison administration, 184
27 Prison authorities, 18
Modern Review, 125, 138, 170 Prison discipline, 174-75
Mohammad Ali, Maulana, Prison reforms, 15, 168, 171-
40-42, 44-46 78, 192

Moplah death wagon, 23 Prison regulations, 133-34,

136-37, 140, 149, 177,
Mulshi Peta, 131-33, 141-43,
183, 185, 187
175-76, 179
Prisoners, 131, 133-34, 142;
Mulvany, Lt.-Colonel, 32-34
political, 30-32,43,47,59-
Murray, Col., 107 60,67, 166-71; even—have
Mysore Congress, 69-72 certain rights including
230 STONEWALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE

the right to have mental Satyagrahi, 131-33, 144, 175,

nourishment, 138; their 178-79, 181-83
classification 162, 168; Satyagrahi prisoners, 17-20,
abusing and beating—are 52, 69, 72, 76, 184-87;
unlawful, 163; their ani¬ rules for, 186-87
mal treatment, 169; their Selborne, Lord, 101
search, 173, 185 Sermon on the Mount, 153,
Public money, 158 208
Public opinion, 155 Sethi, Pandit Arjunlal, 39-40
Public pressure, 145 Shabaskhan, 195-96, 198
Shaukat Ali, Maulana,
RAJACHANDRA, KAVI, 40-42, 44-46, 115
103-04 Smuts, General, 100
Rajagopalachari, C., 35-36, Socrates, 88
109, 119-20 Sokta, Manser Ali, 106-07,
Ramanbhai, Rao Bahadur, 179
127 Solitary Confinement, 33-35,
Ramanama, 203 38, 41-42, 44, 51-52, 168,
Ramayana, 59, 117, 118, 177
153, 211 Sorabji, 94
Reformatories, 13,35-36, 167, South Africa, 6, 85
189 Special division, 146
Rowdyism, 185-87 Special regulations, 146-47,
Rustomji, 94 150-51
Spinning, 35-36, 110, 190,
SABARMATI CENTRAL 198-99
PRISON, 11, 18, 19, 110, State prisoners, 33
111, 152, 160 Suffering, 6, 25, 34, 60, 85,
Salaaming, 172-73 91-92, 102, 156, 181, 187;
Samalochak, a Gujarati perio¬ its rationale, 6-9
dical, 127, 136, 137 Swaraj, 13, 48, 50-51
Sanitation, 20, 77
Saraswati, 125 THAMU, 199-201
Satyagraha, 131, 183 The Times of India, 125, 170
 INDEX 231

Thoreau, on imprisonment, Vyas, Ravishankar, 22

8-9
Tolstoy, 88, 103-104 WAGHA, KHAN BAHA¬
Transvaal Jail, 8 DUR N. R., 153-54
Weaving, 190, 199
UNNATURAL GRIME,
Wireless messages, 174, 177-78
163-64

YAGNIK, INDULAL, 107,

VASANT, a Gujarati periodi¬
147, 151, 179, 202
cal, 136-37
Vasuiiiati Dhimatram, 129 Yeravda Central Jail, 110,

Vellore Jail, 35-36 157, 163, 170, 190, 192

Violence, 9, 49 Young India, 25, 29, 31, 37,

Volksrust Jail, 93-96 39
 \

l . '1 ■ v . '

- . . • . A

: . ■ :

. ,

ton ■
, v ' - • lh.]
/ . -

(:
 OTHER BOOKS
OF
GENERAL INTEREST
Rs. nP.
A Philosophy of Indian
Economic Development 2.50
Ba and Bapu 1.50
Bal Gangadhar Tilak 7.00
Bapu and Children 1.25
Conquest of the Serpent 3.00
Gandhi and Tagore 0.80
Gandhian Techniques in the
Modern World 1.00
Gandhi Faces the Storm 1.00
Gandhi Wields the Weapon
of Moral Power 5.00
Gopal Krishna Gokhale 8.00
Jamnalal Bajaj 2.50
Kasturba 1.50
My Childhood with Gandhiji 2.50
Public Finance and Our
Poverty 1.50
Seven Months with
Mahatma Gandhi 4.00
The Big Idol 0.75
The Coiled Serpent 6.00
The End of an Epoch 1.00
Towards New Horizons 2.00
Truth Galled Them Differently 1.50
Two Memorable Trials of
Mahatma Gandhi 1.25
Under the Shelter of Bapu 3.50
Which Way Lies Hope? 2.00
Postage etc. extra
Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad-14
 SOME IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS
BY MAHATMA GANDHI

LETTERS TO MANIBAHEN PATEL

Gandhiji had taken charge of Manibahen Patel’s
political education and education for life many years
before her graduation. These letters reveal the
motherly way in which he sought to impart the
training.
Pages iv, 100 Price Re. 1 Postage etc. 25 nP.

GANDHIJFS CORRESPONDENCE
WITH THE GOVERNMENT (1944-47)
The present volume takes up the thread where it
was left in the earlier volume, namely, from release
in May, 1944 to the advent of independence on
15-8-1947. This covers the period dealt with in
Shri Pyarelal’s book—Mahatma Gandhi—The Last Phase,
Pages xLviii, 375 Price Rs. 6.00 Postage etc. Re. 1.30

BY HARIDAS T. MUZUMDAR

MAHATMA GANDHI
(A Prophetic Voice)
The America-domiciled author beautifully details
in this biographical booklet how Mahatma Gandhi
towered above his contemporaries by the sheer power
of his personality, by the depth of his insight, by the
sweep of his vision, by the purity of his character, by
the steadfastness of his devotion to ideals, by his titanic
heroism and utter trust in the highest attributes of the
spirit.
Pages xvi, 194 Price Rs. 2.50 Postage etc. 90 nP.
Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad-14