Book Review: The Mahatma and the World, New Horizons
| Date | 01 October 1946 |
| Author | P. L. Bhandari |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204600100413 |
| Published date | 01 October 1946 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book
Reviews
interests
and
that
the
Western
democracies
have
not
yet
succeeded
in
persuading
the
Soviet
Union
that
their
post-war
interests
run
as
closely
parallel
as
did
their war
policies.
A
well-selected
bibliography and
extensive documentation
add
con-
siderably
to
the
value
of
this work.
I
might draw the
reader's
attention
to
an error
on
page
286;
the
name
Carr
should
read
Kerr
since
the
British
Ambassador
in
Moscow
at
that
time was
Sir
Archibald
Clark-Kerr.
University
of
Western Ontario,
London,
May
1946.
L.
Ignatieff
THE
MAHATMA
AND
THE
WORLD.
By
Krishnalal Shridha-
rani.
1946.
(New
York: Duell,
Sloan,
and
Pearce.
Toronto:
Collins.
247pp.
$4.25)
NEW
HORIZONS.
A
Study
of
Australian-Indian
Relations.
By
Bertram
Stevens.
1946.
(Sydney:
Peter
Huston.
201pp. 10/6)
Mohandas
Karamchand
Gandhi
is
a
name
which
has
appeared
re-
gularly
in
the
lists
of
"the
world's
ten
greatest
men"
for
over
a
genera-
tion.
Already
his
biographers
are
legion,
but
Krishnalal
Shridharani
need
make
no
apology.
THE MAHATMA
AND
THE
WORLD
is
an
original and
diverting
study
of
the
life,
struggles, and achievements
of
one
who
is
unquestionably
one of
the
most
outstanding
figures
of
this
century.
With
the
bold, facile
strokes
of
a
landscape
painter,
the
author
traces
the
young
Gandhi's
development
to
maturity
through
the
years
of
his
stay
in
England,
his
early
professional
career
as
a
barrister
in
India, and
the
indignities
he suffered
in company
with
his
fellow
coun-
trymen
at
the hands
of
the
white
man
in South
Africa.
It
was
in
South
Africa
that
the
Satyagraha
(passive
resistance)
movement
was
born.
In
the
author's
words:-
"It
put
power,
as
it
were,
in
reverse.
Power
is
created
some-
where
in
between
the
one
who
imposes his
will and
the
other
who
accepts
it.
By
refusing
to
submit
to
the
tyrant's
will,
his
power
is
destroyed.
It
was
a
sort
of
jiu-jitsu
tactic
wherein
you
unbalanced
the
charging
opponent
by
getting
out
of
his way.
Suffering,
self-
imposed
and
undergone
in
the
spirit
of
grace, was
an
instrument
of
self-purification,
and
self-purification
led
to
victory
on
a
higher
plane
or
even
the
highest."
When
Gandhi
returned,
to
his
native land
at
the
age
of
46,
his
was
already
a
household name.
Viceroys
and Governors
became
aware
of
him
and
his
hold
on
the
people.
"Gandhi,"
Lord
Willingdon said,
"I
want
you
to
feel
free
to
come
to me
any time you
wish."
Followed
years,
long
years,
of
his
experiments
with
truth-and
non-violent
clashes
with the
British
Raj. Now,
at
the
age
of
77,
he
can
see
his
goal
across
the
horizon.
"Are you
really
a
Mahatma
(great
soul)?"
asked
an
American
news-
paper
correspondent.
"I
do
not
feel
like
one,"
was
Gandhi's
reply.
Substitute
the
word
"Australia"
for
"Canada" and
read through
NEW
HORIZONS
as
if
a
Canadian
were
speaking
to
his
countrymen, and
you
have
as
arresting
and
appealing
a
document
presenting
"the
case
375
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