Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is among the most enigmatic, charismatic, deeply revered and equally reviled figures of the twentieth century. His Autobiography, one of the most widely read and translated Indian books of all time, is a classic that allows us to glimpse the transformation of a well-meaning lawyer into a Satyagrahi and an ashramite.
In this first-ever critical edition, eminent scholar Tridip Suhrud shines new light on Gandhi’s life and thought. The deeply researched notes elucidate the contexts and characters of the Autobiography, while alternative translations capture the flavour, cadence and quirkiness of the Gujarati. In the highly original and insightful introduction, Suhrud traces Gandhi’s transformation into a Satyagrahi, a seeker of Truth as God, and explores possible modes of reading the Autobiography.
This edition is an absorbing, illuminating text about the life-affirming journey of the most public yet most complex figure of Indian history.
‘Gandhi’s autobiography is probably the most important book ever published in India; in part because of the stature of the author, in part because of the nature of the work. In The Story ofMy Experiments with Truth, the Future Father of the Nation provided an astonishingly frank and revelatory account of his moral evolution and his personal struggles. In this superb critical edition, Tridip Suhrud explains how and why the book was written, provides detailed notes on the characters and situations mentioned, and subtly analyses the evolution of the English translation from the Gujarati original. Suhrud’s work is a colossal contribution to Gandhi scholarship; as well as a vital aid to all readers, present and future, of Gandhi’s remarkable autobiography. This edition will be read and discussed for generations to come’-Ramachandra Guha, author of Gandhi Before India
‘This pioneering critical edition subtly and invaluably expands our understanding of one of Gandhi’s key texts-and our sense of the man himself’-Sunil Khilnani, author of The Ideaof India.
‘Gandhi’s Autobiography is an important document for understanding both the Mahatma and the nature of the Self. This edition is unlikely to be surpassed in value. It will authoritatively guide the lay reader through the textures of Gandhi’s prose and references. But even the most accomplished Gandhi scholars will learn new things about this text. Tridip Suhrud is the gold standard in scholarship. This meticulous and powerful textual engagement will only enhance his reputation’-Pratap Bhanu Mehta, vice-chancellor of Ashoka University and former president of the Centre for Policy Research.
‘Written in his incomparably limpid English, M.K. Gandhi’s Autobiography is comparable, as great literature, to Augustine’s and Rousseau’s Confessions. The invaluable new Introduction by Tridip Suhrud, arguably the finest interpreter and editor of Gandhi’s writings and correspondence in our times, alerts our attention to the tensions between Gandhi’s zest for living in and building an Ashramic community and his willingness to die for Truth-that is, ahimsa-between fasting to expiate others’ impurity and marching with the masses to make salt to break unjust colonial laws, between spinning cotton thread in large groups and meditating alone to listen for the ‘still, small voice within’. If we let Suhrud teach us how to read Gandhi, then Gandhi’s life-writing can teach us how to seek the Self’s Truth instead of self-seeking’-Arindam Chakrabarti, director, EPOCH Project, University of Hawaii.
‘An Autobiography by one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable figures, this hugely influential book continues to be read widely around the world. This first critical edition allows us to understand the context and concerns that animated Gandhi’s writing as never before’- Faisal Devji, author of The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence
‘Gandhi’s Autobiography is a seminal work for understanding Gandhi’s vision and work, and is a classic twentieth-century spiritual and political text. Suhrud provides in this critical edition abundant notes for the contemporary reader, alternative translations where the Desai translation is obscure, and a significant Introduction which situates the Autobiography in Gandhi’s life and thinking. A most welcome addition to serious Gandhi scholarship’-Judith M. Brown, University of Oxford.
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