The Story of My Experiments with Truth

• 1. Genesis And Serialization

  ›

  In the winter of 1925, a fifty-six-year-old Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began writing his life story. The project started at the insistence of Swami Anand and other close co-workers who urged him to explain the background of his public campaigns. He serialized the work in his own weekly journal Navajivan from the 25th of November 1925 until the 3rd of February 1929. The text appeared in 166 installments over this period. English translations were printed simultaneously in Young India and Indian Opinion. A Hindi version followed almost immediately in the Gujarati edition of Navajivan. Gandhi initially refused to adopt a book format but agreed to write it as a series of chapters for weekly publication. He stated that he did not intend to create a real autobiography but rather to tell the story of his experiments with truth.

• 2. Childhood Experiments

  ›

  Gandhi recorded profound impacts from two childhood plays that shaped his character. He read Harishchandra with intense interest and haunted himself by acting out the role times without number. Another text called Shravana Pitrabhakti Nataka deeply affected him through its depiction of devotion to parents. At age thirteen, he married a girl in what he later called a preposterously early union. He described this marriage as a painful duty to record. His disdain for physical training at school included specific complaints about gymnastics. The death of his father Karamchand Gandhi marked another significant event during these formative years. These early experiences laid the groundwork for his lifelong pursuit of moral integrity and self-discipline.

• 3. South African Crucible

  ›

  The incident at Maritzburg became justly famous when Gandhi was thrown off a train for refusing to leave first class. This moment sparked a growing sense of outrage against discriminatory policies in South Africa. Indians had migrated to work on coffee and sugar plantations yet faced numerous laws making them second-class citizens. Gandhi organized a new political group called the Natal Indian Congress which held regular meetings. He published pamphlets like An Appeal to Every Briton in South Africa to argue against injustice. A crowd of rioters once awaited him at Port Natal determined to stop his entry. Local white residents eventually escorted him to safety after establishing friendly relationships with him. He remained in South Africa for about twenty years instead of the planned month or year.

• 4. Return To India

  ›

  Gandhi returned to India in 1896 and visited Madras where most manual laborers originated. He experienced a taste of popularity when crowds greeted him with applause and adulation. In 1901 he attended the meeting of the Indian National Congress founded by Allan Octavian Hume. Gopal Krishna Gokhale supported resolutions for Indian rights in South Africa during this gathering. Gandhi stayed in Gokhale's house for a month and met many political connections. He created the Satyagraha ashram near Ahmedabad on the 25th of May 1915. The ashram included one family of untouchables who swore to poverty and chastity. He delivered speeches at Benares Hindu University discussing independence and reform. His efforts led to government commissions investigating abuses against indigo cultivators in Champaran.

• 5. Mass Mobilization And Martyrdom

  ›

  On the 6th of April 1919 millions of Indians did not go to work as part of a peaceful protest. The British colonial government arrested Gandhi which provoked angry crowds filling streets across cities. Violence erupted everywhere despite his firm belief that satyagraha should not take place without non-violence. In Amritsar Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a crowd of over ten thousand people. Hundreds died and many more were wounded during the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. This event outraged both British public opinion and Indian society alike. Gandhi urged Muslims to boycott British goods when the Caliphate faced abolition. On August 1 he returned the kasar-i-hind medal received for medical service during the Boer War. By September 1920 he passed an official constitution creating two national committees for non-cooperation.

• 6. Prison Writings And Philosophy

  ›

  The British authorities sentenced Gandhi to six years in prison for sedition in March 1922. Judge C.N. Broomfield hesitated to impose harsher punishment given Gandhi's fame and admission of guilt. He requested the heaviest possible sentence consistent with his philosophy of self-denial. Authorities allowed him to use a spinning wheel and receive reading materials while incarcerated. Gandhi wrote most of his autobiography during this period of confinement. He felt content with these conditions as they furthered his commitment to truth. After release he resumed his personal quest for purification and truth. He admitted fighting with dormant passions within his own soul. His farewell stated that conquering subtle passions is far harder than physical conquest by arms.

• 7. Global Reception And Legacy

  ›

  George Orwell argued in 1949 that the book made clear Gandhi's natural physical courage. Orwell noted the lack of envy or racial prejudice in Gandhi's character. He found the book impressive despite its commonplaceness because it was not a literary masterpiece. The text became a key document for interpreting Gandhi's life and ideas. In 1998 a committee designated the work as one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century. Gujarati writer Harivallabh Bhayani called it the most important work from Gujarat in the last fifty years alongside Saraswatichandra. The original English edition sold 50,000 copies before becoming too expensive for many Indians. Mahadev Desai translated the work from Gujarati to English with revisions by an unnamed scholar.