Gandhi on Women

Author(s): Madhu Kishwar

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 20, No. 41 (Oct. 12, 1985), pp. 1753-1758
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Gandhi on Women
Madhu Kishwar
This article reviews and analyses the role of Gandhi in drawing a large number of women into the mainstream
of the freedom movement. Gandhi's ideas about women and their role in public life was a departurefrom those
of the 19th century reformers. He saw women as a potential force in the struggle to build a new social order.
He consciously attempted to articulate the connections between private and public life in order to bring women
into the struggle. However, he failed to come to terms with the fact that oppression is not a m-oralcondition
but a social and historical experience relating to production relations. On the other hand even while insisting
that a woman's real sphere of activity was the home, he was instrumental in creating conditions which could
help women break the shackles of domesticity.
[The first two parts of the article which deal with Gandhi's views on the nature of women's oppression and the
influence his ideas had in drawing women into the freedom movement were published last week. The third part,
which reviews his personal relationships with women, appears below.]
III alone should be dearto her.He sternlykept ... They are my sheet-anchor as I am
her apart because of her fierce attachment theirs"148
GANDHI'S PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH to him. As long as she persistedin her emo-
WOMEN Thus we see that Gandhi was willing to
tional dependenceon him, he remainedvery
sacrificeeverythingwhich,in his view,might
GANDHI'Srelationshipwith Gangabehnis uneasy about her presencein the Ashram, come in the way of the ideal man-woman
typicalof the way he raisedsimple,ordinary and kept.ordering her to go and work in relationship.For him, this meanta relation-
women to the status of fellow workersfor other villages, away from him. Mirabehn ship of fellow workerswho were untainted
a common cause. "Out of a plain, ignorant may have been an extremecase, and there- by sexualfeeling. He felt that he must prac-
Gujaratiwoman" he made "a pioneer in a fore have made Gandhi uneasy. However tice in his own life what he held up as an
new era. Throughher, a tiny craft, a minia- most of the women who came into close ideal for others.
ture industrywas ... born"43 He spotted contactwith him functionedprimarilyas his
her at a meeting, and was struck by her air devotees. Gandhi'sautobiographyand variousother
of alertnessand independence.This woman A somewhatunusualrelationshipwas the accountsof his life bringout clearlyhow he
moveda long way from his earlypossessive-
not only 'discovered'the spinningwheel for one with SarladeviChaudhrani.She was the
ness and tyrannical disposition towards
Gandhibut becamethe firstorganiserof the wife of Pandit RambhojDutt Chaudhuri,
Kasturba to a healthy respect for her
khadi movement in India. To her, as to one of the nationalist leaders of Punjab.
other women such as Kamaladevi, Mira- Gandhifirstcameinto closecontact-withher autonomy.In his autobiographyhe remarks
that he learnthis 'first lesson in satyagraha'
behn, VijayalakshmiPandit,Anasuyabehn, some time in 1919.She was a very talented
from his wife's capacity for silent but firm
Gandhiwas one who followed an ideal, ex- woman,a good singerand an activeworker
resistanceto any attemptby him to impose
pecting others to be equal to workingwith for the cause of Swadeshi. However,like
on her.This revealshis gradualbreakaway
him for his ideal. "Fromeach alikehe receiv- many others, men and women, who came
from the overbearingattitude of a tradi-
ed in responsea deep, respondingdevotion, into close contactwith Gandhi,she was not
a devotionnot only for his purposes,but to a merepoliticalco-worker.He seemsto have tional husbandas he came to realisethat he
become deeply attachedto her as a person had no 'prescriptiverights'over her.For ex-
himself . ."'" It was mainly as a result of
his influencethat SarojiniNaidu and others and he took care of her son's education in ample, in responseto questions as to what
a Congressmanshoulddo if his wife refused
like her were made to shed much of their his Ashram. In one his very moving letters to wear khadi or refusedto fight untouch-
to her he explains that what he aspiredto
elitism and to identify themselveswith the
with herwasa relationshipof 'spiritualwife ability, he answeredthat even for a good
mass of the country's women.
which he describedas follows: "It is a part- cause no man has the right to compel his
Even prominentMuslim leaders like the wife: "Remember,your wife is not your pro-
nershipbetweentwo personsof the opposite
Ali brothers had to address meetings of
sex wherethe physicalis wholly absent ... perty any more than you are hers" and,
Muslimwomenblindfoldedbut Gandhihad It
is possibleonly therefore,a wife ought neverto be compelled
no problem having direct access to these in thought, wordbetween two brahmacharis
and deed ... It is a even to do 'the right thing'.'49In case the
women. He insisted on, and succeeded wife refusedto allowharijansinto the house,
meeting between two kindred spirits ... Are
remarkablywell, in talking to his 'Muslim
you spiritualwife to me of that description? she could have'a separatekitchenfor herself
sisters' unveiled. "Gandhi, they said, was Have we that
exquisitepurity,that perfect and, if she likes, also a separate room'.150
pure enough to go anywhere and every- coincidence,that perfect
meeting,that iden- However,this kind of freedom was never
where" 145
tity of ideals,that self-forgetfulness,
that fix- grantedto Kasturba.As a leaderof his peo-
However,thoughhis attemptwasto create ity of purpose, that trustfulness?For me I ple, he felt he could not allow untouchability
equalityamong men and womenworkersin can answerplainly that it is only an aspira- in his own house, even if it meant that his
the movement, most of the women who tion . . wife was denied the kind of autonomythat
came in close contact with him ended up The emotional attachementcaused some he advocatedother men should granttheir
functioning primarily as his devotees. He raisedeyebrowsamong Gandhi'sother col- wives. In spite of Kasturba'sdeep-seated
tried to channelise this devotion into com- leagues and Sarladevi seems to have pro- resistanceon several important issues, he
mitmentto the cause that'he stood for. As tested, Despite all the personalattachment slowly steeredher into becoming a kind of
he wroteto Mirain one of his verytouching and fondnessGandhiwasclearthatthis rela- juniorworkingpartnerinsteadof lettingher
letters:"Youwill truly serveme by joyously tionshiplike many othershad to fit into the remain outside his work in her private
serving the cause"'46He tried his best not mould of the ideal man-womanrelationship domesticworld. She began by offering stiff
to permit her to 'cling' to him personally: that he propagated.Therefore,he wouldgive resistance to his various experiments but
"Allthe time you weresquanderingyourlove due considerationto the objections raised slowly forced herself to co-operateactively
on me personally, I felt guilty of misap- by his colleagues however unwarranted: on almost every one of those issues, some-
propriation.And I explodedon the slightest "Theyarejealous of theirideal whichis my what in the traditionof Sita, who chose to
pretext"147He wanted her to learn to iden- character. I and you ... must give everything follow her husbandin whateverhis dharma
tify herself with the cause alone. His work to retain or deserve their due affection called him to do.
Economic and Political Weekly
Vol XX, No 41, October 12, 1985 1753

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October 12, 1985
BAPU-THE MOTHER
Just as in his,politics, Gandhi refusedto
fight with 'manly' weapons, so in his per-
sonal relationshe gave full vent to what are
generally disowned by men as 'womanly'
qualities.This "fatherof the nation"is also
rememberedby those who came in-personal
contact with him as one who bestowed
'motherly'care and concernon them. Kaka
Kalelkarnarratesan incident which well il-
lustratesthis aspect of Gandhi'spersonali-
ty. A number of ex-residentsof Phoenix
Farm had returnedto India with Gandhi
and were staying at Shanti Niketan. Kaka
Kalelkarwas one of them. Early each mor-
ning, the group used to go to perform an
hour of manual labour. One-day, "when
Bapucame, we sat up till late at night, talk-
ing with him. In the morning,after prayers,
xze went to perform our labour. When we
came back, what did we see? Our breakfast,
fruitand all, was carefullypreparedahd kept
ready in plates for us. We had all gone to
work. Who had performedthis motherlike
labour of love?"On discoveringthat it was
Gandhi who had done this, Kaka Kalelkar
says he felt very embarrassed,but Gandhi
laughed and reassured him, saying that
anyonewho serves,deservesto be served.151
Gandhitook a deep personalinterestnot
only in the politicaldevelopmentof all those
who came in close contactwith him but also
in the most intimate,privatedetails of their
life in the same way that a motherdoes. His
correspondencewith hundredsof people is
full of this kind of concern.He remembered
the personalsituation and problemsof each
one, and showedparticularconcernfor their
health. Even in the midst of major political
storms,he neverforgotto recommend,in his
letters,diet changes,long walksand various
nature cure methods whenever he got to
know about someone's ill-health. In his
Ashram and also at different places he
visited, he nursedhundredsof people, per-
sonally administeringnaturecuresto them.
Evenwhen caughtup in what he considered
the most serious political crisis of his life-
the Hindu-Muslimriots precedingpartition
-he found time to nurse sick people as he
walkedthrough the villages of Naakhali in
East Bengal.
In YoungIndia and Harijan, he regular-
ly publishedarticleson diet reform.In these
columns he emphasised the urgency of
changing to healthier food habits. He also
presented for the readers'benefit his own
tried-out recipes for cheap and nutritious
meals that did not requireelaborateprepa-
ration.
His interestin food sprangpartly from a
deep concern for the individuals around
him, and partly from his involvementwith
the question of how even the poorest per-
son in the country was to be well fed. From
the time he took to publiclife, he alwayshad
a group of followersand their childrenliv-
ing with him. He held himself responsible
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ECONOMICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY
for theirwellbeingand tendedto theirneeds
with typical motherly concern.
In his Ashrams,he incessantlycarriedon
experimentsin healthy and cheap diet. He
experimentedwith ovens, cooking vessels,
quantityof waterto be used, steaming,boil-
ing, baking, determiningwhat ingredients
areto be usedor avoidedin cooking,various
ways of making bread, preparingvarious
dishes from nutritious but neglected food
itemssuchas oil cakesand soyabeans,manu-
facturingjams and murabbasout of fruits
and orange peels that might otherwise be
wasted or thrown away. He also spent
much thought and energy on making up
suitable dishes for invalids and con-
valescents, and on devising nature cure
remedies for them. The weight of every
Ashramiteused to be recordedregularly,and
Gandhi carefully observed the effects on
them of changesintroducedin theirdiet. He
spent a good deal of time devising suitable
diet for Congress workers in villages. He
wantedsuch diet to be "nourishingand yet
within the means of an averagevillagerand
within the possibility of an eight hours
minimumwage"which the Congresshad in
those days fixed at three annas per day.152
Thus his experimentswereconductedwith
a view to finding out the most wholesome
food and the most sensible way of prepar-
ing it, keeping in mind the conditions of
povertyin which a majority of people liv-
ed. Equallytouchingis his deep concernfor
eliminatingthe drudgeryof women as far
as possible.For instance,in reportingon his
experiments with uncooked, raw foods,
Gandhitells his readers:"I publishthe facts
of this experiment because I attach the
greatest importance to it. If it succeeds
it enables serious men and wQmento make
revolutionarychanges in their mode of liv-
ing. It freeswomen from a drudgerywhich
bringsno happinessbut whichbringsdisease
in its train'"153
Similarly,when he argued in favour of
eating unpolishedrice, that is, rice which is
hand poundedratherthan polishedin mills,
Gandhiemphasisednot just the nutritional
advantages but also that "If rice can be
poundedin the villagesafterthe old fashion
the wages will fill the pockets of the rice
pounding sisters ', 154 since hand poun-
ding of rice is traditionally considered a
woman's occupation.
It is importantto point out that Gandhi
neverrecommendedany diet reformwhich
he had not tried on himself over a period
of time. This area of Gandhi's activity
revealshim at his scientificand rationalbest.
It also throwslight on his essentialhumane-
ness which led him to try and approximate
most closely to what has been defined as a
'womanly' ideal-that of being nurturant,
life giving and healing. Towardsthe end of
his life, he seemsto havetakenon the mater-
nal role moreconsciously.In her aptly titled
book "Bapu, My Mother"'his grandniece
Manu Gandhi recallshow Bapu often said
to her that though he had been a father to
many,he was a mother to her. On another
occasion, when replyingto some workersof
the KasturbaMemorial Trustwho. wanted
the whole programmeto be run by women,
Gandhi endorsed their point of view, but
said tht he countedhimself as a woman. He
made such statementson severalother oc-
casions as well.
ATTITUDE TO SEXUALITY
For.an overallunderstandingof Gandhi's
views on women, it is importantto take in-
to accounthis viewson sex and man-woman
relationships.These views are rooted in his
personalexperiencesin childhoodand early
youth. There are obsessive and repeated
referencesto 'lust' in his autobiography.His
vow of sexual abstinence, taken in South
Africa and continued to the end of his life,
his laterexperimentsto test the extentof his
freedomfrom sexualimpulses,indicatethat
sexualitycontinuedto occupya crucialplace
in his thinking, and also to affect his views
on women. What he calls his 'juvenile ex-
cess' in the early years of his marriedlife
seem to haveleft a permanentmark.'55Any
form of sexual contact with his wife came
to embody a threat to higher loyalties. He
could never,all his life, forgive himself for
the fact that, while his father lay dying, he
was indulging in sexual intimacy with his
wife wh6 was in an advanced stage of
pregnancy.'56The fact of the death of the
child, a few days before it was supposed to
be born, only confirmed for him the 'latent
mischief in the sexual nature of man'157
The fact that he came to see in sexuality
a fatal dangeris perhapsalso relatedto the
vow of abstinence that he had to give his
mother before he was allowed to go to
England.As Gandhi himself admits, it was
only 'the hand of God' that savedhim from
'disaster'on many an occasion. In his auto-
biographyhe narrateshow providencesaved
him from breaking his vow in spite of
himself. The first occasion was when his
friend Mehtab took him to a brothel. On
another occasion, in Portsmouth,duringa
card session, some women made advances
to whichGandhinearlyresponded,but sud-
denly recallinghis vow, he walkedoff. Be-
ing awareof how little resistancehe had to
the temptation,he was convincedthat God
had saved him! Likewise,at Zanzibar,the
ship's captain took him to a brothel where
Gandhiagain experiencedhis lack of suffi-
cient self-restraintand was assistedin keep-
ing his vow only by the 'hand of God. Dur-
ing his stay in Europe,despite 'gravetemp-
tations' he was able to keep his vow to his
mother. His experiences,however,seem to
have reinforced his growing mistrust of
sexuality.
Gandhi viewed celibacy as an important
component of living a higher form of life.
He was awarethat celibacywould not work
for everyoneso he recommendedit only for
ECONOMICAND POLITICAL WEEKLY October 12, 1985

those few who wished to live more than an their integrityand selt-respect,should not cleaning latrines along with him. Whether
ordinarylife. It was a preconditionfor those allow even their husband to 'enjoy' any or not she really felt convinced of all these
who wished to become Ashram inmates: physicalrelationwith them. He insistedthat things, Gandhi seldom questioned his right
"The conquest of lugt is the highest endea- true love could flower between man and to impose them on her,becausehe was con-
vourof a man'sor a woman'sexistence.And woman, as in his own case, only when the vinced that he could confidently decide for
without overcominglust, man cannot hope two voluntarily renounced all sexual or her what she needed to do when actions to
to ruleoverself; withoutruleoverself, there 'lustful' contact. It was only then that they promotea 'highercause'wereinvolved.The
can be no Swaraj ... No worker who has could rise above 'the selfish purpose of frameworkwithin which he worked may
not overcomelust, can hope to renderany begetting children and. runnins a house- have had inbuilt safeguards against vile
genuineserviceto the cause of the harijans, hold'66 It is significant that from here he abuse of power for purely selfish ends but
communal unity, khadi, cow protectionor did not go on to attack the institutio,nof in the w'ayit functioned, it did not provide
village reconstruction. Great causes like marriageand the family as coming in the an alternativeto the traditionalpowerhierar-
these cannot be servedby intellectualequip- wayof selflesshumanity.His solutionto the chy that prevailsin most families between
ment alone, they call for spiritualeffort or problem was that mnarriedpeople "can men and women and between young and
soul force. Soul force comes only through behave [even while continuing to stay old.
God'sgraceand neverdescendsupon a man married] as if they were not married ... If Though sometimes borderingon cranki-
who is a slave to lust"158 the marriedcouple can think of each other ness and perverseness,Gandhi's obsession
Evenbetweenmarriedcouples,he felt that as brother and sister, they are freed for and experiment with sexual abstinence
sexual restraintwas vitally necessary.That universalservice."Their love becomes free should not be dismissed as mere products
is why he was firmly opposed to any form from the impurity of lust and so grows of personal eccentricity.His 'self control'
of birthcontrolexceptabstinence.Margaret stronger.167 His blessing to a young couple and brahmracharya were not mere claptrap
Sangertrieddesparatelyto convincehim of upon their marriagewas "Mayyou haveno of life denyingasceticismwith a moralistic
the urgent need for birth control methods children'"168 facade. In the hands of a reactionary
as a necessaryprecondition for the libera- A Sati would, in Gandhi's view, regard moralist,sexualabstinenceinvariablycomes
tion of women.He remaineduntouched,un- marriagenot as a means of satisfying the to representa repressiveand life denying
movedby her impassionedargumentsbased animal appetite but "as a means of realis- ideology.But Gandhitriedliterallyto trans-
on herexperienceof the miserablecondition ing the ideal of selflessand self-effacingser- cend his sexualityand to makeit contribute
of working-classwomen in England who vice ..." 169 Selflessness here equals sex- to forging the powerful, modern political
suffereddue to the lack of disseminationof lessness and anybody wanting to perform weapon of satyagraha. He experimented
scientificbirthcontrol methods.Gandhiin- social serviceor havea glimpse of religious with these ideas as part of his social revolu-
sisted that 'self control or Brahmacharya' life must lead a celibate existence,whether tion and vision of a new man-womanrela-
was the only healthy method. "Artificial married or tnmarried. 170 In Gandhi's tionship. Since there used to be many let-
methods are like putting a premiumupon Ashram, even marriedcouples had to vow ters on sex problems written to him, he
vice ... [and]must resultin imbecilityand to live a life of celibacy.In love and compa- bagan to discuss them in a regularcolumn
nervous prostration"'59The sexual urge in nionship between man and woman, there in the Harijan. It is noteworthythat almost
man or woman was seen by him as 'animal was no room for se,-ual satisfaction. That all his advocacyof sexual restraintwas ad-
passion' or 'bestial lust'. He saw it as "an satisfaction was seen as a denial of true dressed to men. He saw male sexuality as
insult to the fair sex to put up her case in friendship.Gandhi tells us that he and his almost synonymouswith aggressiontowards
support of birth control by artificial wife tastedthe realbliss of marriedlife when and humiliation of women. In his view,
methods ... [which] will still further they renouncedall sexual contact and that women, by and large, were passive objects
degrade her".'60For him, "the difference in the heydayof youth."'' Even though he of male sexual urge.
between a prostitute and a woman using likedto believethat this self-denialwas born His ideas on control of sexuality served
contraceptivesis only this-that the former out of theirgreatdesirefor service,we know, to createa favourablesocial atmospherefor
sells her body to severalmen, while the lat- fromhis own account,that he took the deci- womento come out of theirhomes and par-
ter sells it to one man".'6' Gandhi con- sion unilaterallyand Kasturbaacquiescedin ticipate in social and political struggles,to
demned "the use of contraceptivesin every it, as she silently acquiescedin many other be ableto live awayfromhome withoutfear,
conceivablecircumstances"because he felt things which she did not really agree with. shame or exploitation. His upholding
it was "not necessaryfor man or woman to Gandhi'sexperimentswith changing key celibacyas a higherideal than marriagealso
satisfy the sexual instinct except when the aspectsof the usual powerrelationshipbet- madeit possiblefor manywomento live un-
act is meant for race reproduction". '162 Any ween men and women always included a marriedand yet be respectedin society.Just
sexualcontact betweena husbandand wife, healthyrespectand considerationfor every as Mirabaihad optedout of marriageby em-
except when they both wanteda child, was humanbeing,allowingthem to obeythe dic- bracinga new religious trend which allow-
sinful, immoraland bestial.Gandhiinsisted tatesof theirown conscience.All this mutual ed such an option, so many women during
that therewouldbe no birthcontrolproblem respectand considerationwas, however,cir- the national movementwerehelpedto exer-
in Indiaif the womencould be taughtto say cumscribedin a benevolentand enlightened cise this option, because of the active en-
'No' to theirhusbands,whenthey 'approach patriarchalmould.Gandhithe patriarchwas couragementgiven by Gandhi.
them carnally'.'63When MargaretSanger confident that he would never abuse the Gandhi tried to ensurethat his model of
cited cases of nervous and mental break- authorityand trust vestedin him. The rela- an ideal relationship between men and
downs as a result of the practice of self- tionshiphe envisageddid not, however,pro- womenwaspractisednot only in the Ashram
control, Gandhi dismissed the evidence as vide realequalityto women.ThoughKastur- but also in the nationalmovementgenerally.
'based on examinationof imbeciles'.164Free ba remainedpubliclysilent on these issues, His insistenceon makingthe love of Ashra-
love was, for him, 'dog'slove' which is what even Gandhi'sown version of his relation- mites a love of brothersand sisters served
contraceptives would bring about. "If ship with her, despite all the respect he an important purpose in bringing about a
peoplewantto mnultiply likerabbits,theywill claimed to have for her, bears this out. In 'freer'social interactionbetweenthe sexes.
also have to die like rabbits;If we become everything,he decided and she acquiesced, The kind of innovationshe triedin Ashram
licentious, there will undoubtedly be whetherit was Gandhiunilaterallygivingup life bear witness to this: My brahmacharya
Nature's punishment descending upon all sexualcontact betweenthem, or his op- khewnothing of the orthodox laws govern-
us"' 165 ting for an Ashramlife instead of a private ing its observance.I framedmy own rules,
Accordingto Gandhi,women,to preserve householder's life, or his insisting on her as occasion necessitated.But I have never

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October 12, 1985
believedthat all contact with womenwas to
be shunnedfor the due observanceof brah-
macharya.That restraintwhichdemandsthe
abstentionfrom all contact, no matterhow
innocent, with the opposite sex, is a forced
growth, having little or no vital value ...
I sleepin the Ashramsurroundedby women,
for they feel safe with me in everyrespect.
It should be rememberedthat there is no
privacy in the Segaon Ashram:"172
Sometimes, he even receivedvisitors while
bathing, and had his massageadministered
by young women. Besides keeping his own
clothes to a minimum,he inveighedagainst
the muffling up and false modesty imposed
on women: "Chastity ... must be a very
poor thing [if] it cannot stand the gaze of
men" So he asked women to 'tear [down]
the purdah','73
Gandhi's conception of brahmacharya
differed in one importantrespect from the
conceptionthat had come down throughthe
mainstreamtradition of sages and ascetics
who practised and preached celibacy as a
precondition to the achievement of self-
realisation.In the ancient ascetic tradition,
womanwas consistentlyseen as the embodi-
ment of temptation, the seductress who
luredthe sage away from his high pursuits.
Therefore,a tapasvi who had takenthe vow
of brahmacharyawas alwayswarnedto stay
far awayfrom women and to shunthem like
the plague.Manyof them wentto the ridicu-
lous extent of vowing never to set eyes on
women lest their tapasya be shattered.
Gandhitook a far more rationalview of the
phenomenonof lust, and temptation,in that
he blamedthe lustful eye ratherthan the ob-
ject viewedby that eye. His writingson sex-
ualityare freeof that misogynisttaintwhich
is so visiblein muchtheologyand mythology
of the ascetic traditions, Christian, Hindu
and Islamic.Gandhi, by and large,saw man
as the perpetratorof lust and woman as its
victimratherthan as temptressor agent. His
life at the Ashram, surroundedby women,
was an acknowledgment that woman in
herselfis not an embodimentof evil sexuali-
ty but that such evil must be cleansed from
the mind wherein it may exist.
In the Ashram,therewas no segregation.
Men and women slept, ate and worked
together. Taking the cue from Gandhi,
Ashramites of opposite sex nursed each
other in illness without the usual restraints.
This was indeed a radical experiment for'
evolving a new frameworkand a new con-
cept of a workingrelationshipbetweenmen
and women.Uninhibitedby each other'ssex,
the commonbond betweenman and woman
was to be theircommonideal and theircom-
mon work.
Moreover,under the prevalentsocial cir-
cumstances, brahmacharya had a very
liberatingpotential for women. In the ex-
isting social structures,this was-perhapsthe
only waywomen could freethemselvesfrom
household drudgery and the burden of
childcareto an extentsufficient for them to
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
become activeparticipantsin social change.
Even married couplgeswere asked to prac-
tise sexual abstinence and direct their
energies to constructivework.
However, Gandhi recommended sexual
abstinenceeven more stronglyfor men than
for women.Theseexperimentswithbrahma-
charyaas a way of life werepart of a much
largereffort for findingnewerand healthier
ways of relating with the opposite sex and
movingout of the frameworkof powerrela-
tions based on sex.
The experimentswith abstineinceare also
part of an old Indian tradition wherein
ascetics were believed to acquire extra-
ordinarypowers,even greaterthan those of
the gods, by yearsof hardtapasya.Gandhi's
sexualabstinencewaspartof a largertapasya
throughwhich he attemptedto disciplinehis
life for devotionto a highcause.His rigorous
austerity,various fasts and dietary experi-
ments,vows of silence,livingbarebodiedex-
cept for a loin-cloth, and travellingas far
as possible in the mannerof ordinarypoor
people, all wereessentialcomponentsof his
rigoroustapasya.Whilemost of this seemed
to come relativelyeasily and naturally to
Gandhi, he seems to havebeen botheredby
sexual unrest till the very end of his life.
Could it be that he saw himself as similar
to the prominentrishisand muniswho, after
acquiring extraordinary powers through
their tapasya, lost all their accumulated
power because they failed to resist sexual
lust?Gandhinot.onlydeliberatelysurround-
ed himself with 'temptation',living in close
proximitywith a numberof young women
and staying in close physical contact with
them. He also kept testing himself in more
and more ultimateways,especiallytowards
the end of his life, when he was facing a
serious moral and political crisis.
A very fundamental part of his philo-
sophy and world-viewwas the idea of the
responsibility of each human being for
everyoneelse. He believedthat the spiritual
force of even one fully formed satyagrahi
coulq set right the world's wrongs. At the
end of his life it was clear that many things
had gone terriblywrong. He and the India
of his dreams had been pushed aside.
Millions were being slaughtered in com-
munalriots.The Congresspartywas assum-
ing poweras the inheritorof the British.Raj,
not as the regeneratorof India. Day after
day,he sought an explanationas to why his
ideals and hopes had endedin such a sham-
ble. He no longer spoke of living a hundred
years but spoke of the sadness of continu-
ing to live at all. To one who believed so
firmly in the connection between personal
purity and the force of truth and fearless-
ness, some explanationhad to be forthcom-
ing for the ruin that had ensued.
This constan; preoccupiedbrooding led
him to malkeone of his final major, prac-
ticalexperimentswithtruth.He thoughtthat
perhaps his own commitment was flawed
andhypocriical,andthatflawwasresonsble
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
for the whole disaster.Consideringthe pro-
foundfaithhe had in the unityof theoryand
practice,could'bein all sinceritybe surethat
his sexual lust was a thing of the past and
that he saw women who were close to him
only as sisters and daughters uiited in a
common faith? He began to test himself, as
always hiding nothing and increasing the
stakesday by day.His final experimentswere
with Manu, his cousin's 19-year-oldgrand-
daughter.They slept together without any
clothes, holding each other. In this way,
Gandhi felt he could find out whether any
remnantsof his formerlyactivesexualurges
remainedin him to be revealed.
An importantcomponentof his viewswas
also the,belief that loss of semen leads to
seriousloss of physicaland spiritualenergy
of men. Sexualresponsiveness to womenwas
to be banned as an evil temptation, not by
shunningwomenbut by acquiringtotal con-
trol over one's own sexuality.In this part of
his attempt to transform himself, where
Gandhi as a man is concerned with self-
realisationand disciplininghimselfto attain
what he believed to be a higher moral and
spiritualforce,his attentionseemsto lie with
his own strugglewith no apparentattention
paid to how his actions might affect the
woman who became participantsin his ex-
periments.Just as he seems to have shown
no concern for Kasturba'sopinion when he
first decided to launch his sexual experi-
ments with abstinence,so he seems to over-
look the possibleeffcts of his experimenton
the 19-yearold Manu.174
Gandhi's revulsion against sex and sen-
suality often led him to practise a kind of
inner violence on those under his charge.
Certainautobiographicalinstancesnarrated
by him highlight a streak of perverseself-
righteous arbitrariness. For example, at
TolstoyFarm, as part of an experiment,he
use4 to send young boys and girls 'to bathe
in the same spot at the same time' afterhav-
ing fully introduced them to the necessity
of 'self-restraint'.He tells us that his eye
'alwaysfollowed the girls as a mother'seye
would follow a daughter'.One day, he got
to knowthat one of the boys had 'madefun
of two girls'.He then forcedthe girls to 'cut
off' their fine, long hair so that they would
have some sign on their person to 'sterilise
the sinner'seye'.He reportswith satisfaction
Lhathe neverheardof a joke again.175 Later
on, at Phoenix, a girl of 20 was made to
.hop off her hair because of having sinned
with two boys. Muchlater,he had Mirabehn
also shave off her hair to make her fit for
Ashram life.
While it is true that Gandhi gave up sex-
ual intimacyfor a widercommunalintimacy,
and for disciplininghimself as a servantof
a higher cause, yet there is also some sign
of a streakof vindictivenesstowardswoman
as the temptressthat can be detectedin his
viewsand actions. While some of his diatri-
bes againstpromiscliousmale sexualityhave
humaneaspects,Gandhimadeone most un-
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
characteristicand shockingstatementwhich
betrayedhis violent revulsion against any
sexual contact outside marriage. When
criticisingthe work of orphanages,one of
his points among severalothers, was that
they admit 'foundlings',that is, infantswho
have been abandoned because they were
born out of wedlock:"I am not yet convinc-
ed that providing for such admissions is
ethicallysound. I havea kind of feelingthat
such facilitieslead to increasein indulgence.
It can in no way be provedthat keepingalive
everycreaturethat is born, no matterhow,
is a part of humanitarianism.It is indeed
futile to make such an effort ... Humani-
tarianismdoes not mean saving a definite
number of lives ... Unclean flour is infested
with numberlesslives.To preservesuch flour
is no hurianitarianism.It lies ratherin cover-
ing up the flour with earthor destroyingit,
though either way the vermin in the flour
perish.Numberlessverminperishevenin the
processof keepingour bodies clean"'There-
fore he concludes that humanitarianism
"willnot encourageand shield laxity by ac-
cepting the burdenof such admissions".'76
The fact that one as devotedto non-violence
as was Gandhi,shouldsee innocentchildren
born out of marriageas verminwho deserv-
ed to be left to perish is another reflection
of his moralisticself-righteousnessand vin-
dictive revulsionagainst what he saw as ir-
responsiblesex for the sake of sensual en-
joyment. Even if one makes allowance for
the statment by acknowledgingthat it was
made in 1917when Gandhiwas only begin-
ningto evolvehis philosophyof non-violence
and love for every human being including
an enemy, it is hard to comprehend the
violence of thought underlying this senti-
ment consideringthat he neverused similar
language or expressed such sentiments
againstwell knownexploitersof society,and
would not have condoned violence against
them as he does against little babies who
could not by any stretchof imaginationbe
held responsible for being born of people
who refusedto takeresponsibilityfor them.
PRACTICEIN ADVANCEOF PRECEPT
While in many ways, Gandhi's views on
womenand their role in society arenot very
different from those of the 19th century
reformers,in some other importantwayshe
marks a crucial break from that tradition.
The nmostcrucial differenceis that he does
not see women as objects of reform, as
helplesscreaturesdeservingcharitablecon-
cern. Instead, he sees them as active, s'elf-
conscious agents of social change. His con-
cernis not limitedto bringingabout change
in selectedareasof social life such as educa-
tion and marriageas a way of regenerating
Indiansociety,as was that of most 19thcen-
tury social reformers.He is primarilycon-
cerned with bringing about redical social
reconstruction.The political movementfdr
national liberationwas a means, a weapon
to achievethat end. And he sawwomenplay-
This content downloaded from 203.197.118.112 on Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:04:01 AM
ing a major role in the task of social re-
construction.He thoughtthat in the process
of reconstructingsociety, they would also
free themselvesfrom the specific forms of
bondage that affected them as women.
Yet,whilethe newsocietythat he envisions
is a radicaldeparturefrom the past, and is
based on anarchistprinciplesof local self-
determination,the rolethat he envisagesand
advocates for women is based on the ideo-
logy of division of labourbetweenthe sexes
which has been historically an important
tool for the oppressionand exploitationof
women.
Gandhi saw the home as the main sphere
of activity of most women, barringthe ex-
ceptionalwomanwho devotesherselfto ser-
ving humanity as an extension of the
domestic role of selfless service. Gandhi
believesin the equaldignityof both men and
womenand in women'sabsolutefreedomfor
self-realisation.But his notion of equality
does not extendto equalityin employment,
or in economic and political power. He
wanted, first and foremost, to change the
moralconditionof women'slives, and to do
awaywith the vile abuses of powerby men,
but not so much to alter the basic relation-
ship fromwhichthat powerwas derived.He
attemptedto extendthe powerof womenas
wives, mothersand sisterswithinthe house-
hold rather than to have women acquire
political power in their own right. Gandhi
did not envisage a radical change in their
social role even though he was in favourof
removingall legal and juridical disabilities
against them.
One of the most lasting contributionsof
Gandhi to the women's cause was that he
gaveit a moral legitimacy.He helpedcreate
a traditionand a social-politicalatmosphere
in which even today, hardly anyone will
publicly stand up and. explicitly oppose
women's fundamental rights or will deny
them participationin politics. Such was the
moral legitimacy that leaders like Gandhi
createdfor the causeof womenthatwomen's
entry into politics as 'equal'partnerscame
without much overt resistanceand opposi-
tion. The tradition was set for patronised
entry of a handful of urban middle-class
women into politics and for tailoring the
movementin such a waythat some women's
issuescould easily be accommodatedwithin
the parametersof male domination and
supremacy without throwing a serious
challenge to it.
Slowly,this legitimacyhad degeneratedin-
to token representationof women, with a
handful of urban, educated, middle-class
women being the beneficieries while the
mass of womenremainvoicelesswith no ac-
cess whatsoeverto political power at any
level, especially no access to power at the
village level.
Women'srepresentation in parliamenthas
never exceeded five per cent of total seats
and has been on a decline, recentlysettling
down to about threeper cent. In most parts
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
October 12, 1985
of the country, women are not allowed to
participatein whateverexistsby wayof pan-
chayatsand othermoreinformalinstitutions
of political power at the village level.
Gandhi'slegacyin the contemporarypolitical
culturehas been distortedto meanencourag-
ing "tokenism" at the very top without
bringingabout any real changes at the bot-
tom. Thus the myth has come to acquirea
powerfulhold that Indianwomenhaveequal
rights in.everysphereand that if things are
wrong, it is because women choose not to
make use of their rights.
Despitegreatconcernfor women'srights,
Gandhidid not encouragewomento organ-
ise as a political force in their own right
aroundtheir own issues. They wereto seek
theirliberationby servingthe nationalcause,
in the traditionof selflesssocial workers.As
a result, women nevercame to acquireany
real political power within the Congress.
Eventhe most prominentof womenleaders
remainedperipheralto the hard core deci-
sion-making within the Congress because
they were not seen as representing any
organised constituency of women.
Even as women's participation grew
numerically in the national movement,
women did not come to play a greaterrole
at decision-makinglevels.Womenweremore
prominentin runningthe Ashramon a day-
to-day basis by their unremittingservices.
Theywereinvolvedin decision-makingonly
at rare and exceptional moments.
This is partly becauseGandhi saw an im-
portant role for women not in political
decision-makingbut in those parts of the
movement which addressed themselves to
the task of transformingpeople'sideas and
lives as. for instance, participants in
demonstrations, satyagrahis, boycott
organisers.Moreover,evenwithinthe move-
ment, women were encouragedto be more
active in the 'constructive' programme,
which had to do with social transformation
and social service.Gandhisaw the world of
politics and power as too ruthless and cor-
rupt for women. They wereto be the moral
forcein the niovementby stayingawayfrom
the strugglefor powerand by transforming
people's hearts through their quiet, non-
violent strength.
The very presenceof women was seen as
a discipliningforce in agitations and strug-
gles. Women were frequently preferredas
leadersof picketingsquadsbecauseGandhi
was afraidthat it wouldbe far moredifficult
to restrainmen picketers from using vio-
lence. Also, he felt that those againstwhom
picketingwas being practisedwould be less
likely to retaliate with violence against
women picketers.Thus, on the one hand,
emphasison women'sparticipationin satya-
graha sought to ensure that the movement
stayednon-violent,while on the otherhand,
emphasison non-violencemade it possible
for largernumbersof womento participate.
It fact, Gandhi'snon-violencewas a power-
ful revolutionaryweaponbecauseit created
1757
October 12, 1985
a favourableatmosphere for participation
of very large numbersof people, especially
women, giving them all a meaningfulplace
in the struggle.It is easierfor womento prove
their courage and strength without resort
to violence while in weilding weapons apd
usingphysicalviolence,men usuallyhavethe
upperhand. Historically,men havecome to
acquirean almost exclusivemonopoly over
weaponsof destructionand over organised
social violence.Therefore,it was out of that
faculty which was hitherto consideredthe
source of women's powerlessness that
Gandhi forged an effective weapon for
political action. In this kind of satyagraha,
women in large numberscould participate
and even lead, more naturally than men.
Again, however,.Gandhi's idealisingthe im-
age of woman as the 'embodiment of
sacrifice' and extolling the strength that
comes from sufferinghelped strengthenthe
prevailingoppressivestereotypeof woman
as selfless companions and contributorsto
a social cause defined by men, in the tradi-
tion of Sita.
Integral to the image of women as the
moral force in society, as the 'embo4iiment
of sacrifice'was the idea of woman having
to transcend her sexual needs so that she
need not be as a 'slaveto any man. Gandhi
did not see the sexual life of women as very
important.In his nlind, women'sneedsseem
to exist in response only to men's needs.
Womenareto say'no' to men when the lat-
ter behave 'carnally',like 'beasts' This is to
help men become better humar'beings. It
is best if women renounce sexual contact
altogetherin orderto set freemen'senergies
for highergoals. In all this, thereis no place
for women's own sexual expression.
Despite insisting on the stereotype of
womenas runningthe householdwhilemen
dominate the affairs of the outside world,
in practice Gandhi encouraged a breaking
away from these stereotypes. This is most
evidentin his beliefin the superiorityof non-
violent satyagrahaas a weapon of struggle.
He learntthis from his wife and it is a form
of resistancemoreoftenpractisedby women.
So far,this kind of resistanceusedto be con-
sidered'unmanly'.Gandhi realisedthat the
identification of 'manliness' with violence
was likely to lead humanityto destruction.
Men needed to emulate women's quiet
strength and their resistance of injustice
without resortingto violence.
Similarly,Gandhi insisted on everyCon-
gressmantaking to spinning, hitherto con-
sidereda women'soccupation,as a necessary
qualification. This despite resistancefrom
within the Congresson the groundthat this
amounted to wasting the energies of men.
This was indeed a radical step in breaking
the hold of oppressive stereotypes and in
weaning men away from aggressive 'man-
liness'. It was an essential step in purging
violence out of society.
Gandhi'saction, in bringingwomendigni-
ty in social life, in breakingdown some of
1758
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
the prejudicesagainsttheir participationin 175 M K Gandhi, "Satyagraha in South
social and political life, in promotingan at- Africa!', Navajivan Publishing House,
mosphereof sympatheticawarenessof their 1928, p 245.
issues, goes far beyond his own views and 176 CW, Vol XIII, p 471.
pronouncementsof women'srole and place
in society.
iConcluded)
Madras Refineries
Notes
MADRAS REFINERIES(MRL) will soon
rrhis is a revised version of a paper I wrote in
marketthe multi-purposeHimelt Paraffin
1977. I am indebted to my friends Berny and
Wax, an exclusiveproduct which will pro-
Ruth for their suggestions and help in revising
vide an opportunityto paper technologists
the paper.]
to enterinto productionof new waxpolymer
143 Eleanor Morton, "Women Behind
blends, at present available only in the
Mahatma Gandhi", Max Reinhardt, developedcountries. This major change in
London, 1954, p 107.
the qualityof wax will revolutionisepackag-
143 Ibid, p 108 ing materialslike bread-wrapsand folding
145 Cited in Tandulkar, op, cit, Vol II,
p 34, Vol V, p 196.
cartonsfor frozenfood, ice creamsand milk
146 "Bapu's Letters To Mira", Navajivan products.In particular,Himelt wax coated
Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1949, paper and board could be used in serving
p 152. Letter dated June 24, 1931, and packaginghot food items (Himelt wax
147 Ibid, p 152 melts only at above 700C).This wax could
148 Martin Green, "Tolstoy and Gandhi", also be used for poultry depluming and
pp 163-165 coating of cheese and fruits. At full capaci-
149 Harijan, March 9, 1940 CW, Vol LXXI ty, MRL will be producing4,000 tonnes of
p 302. Himelt wax, 9,500 tonnes of Midmelt wax
150 Harijan, 13.4.1940, in M K Gandhi, and 6,500 tonnes of Lowmelt wax per
Women",Navajivan Prakashan, Ahmeda- annum, conforming to lIYpe-l,Tlype-2and
bad, 1958.
'lype-3specificationsof ISI. These types of
151 KakaSaheb Karlekar,"Bapu kiJhankian"t,
waxes c6uld also be used in the manufac-
Navajivan Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1948,
p 6. tureof matches,candles,textiles,tarpaulins,
152 M K Gandhi, "Diet and Diet Reform", crayons,rubbermaterialsand a host of other
Navajivan Prakashan, Ahmedabad, 1949, products. Meanwhile, the fluid catalytic
p 30. cracking(FCC) unit of the company,com-
153 Ibid, p 16. missioned towardsend of March last, has
154 M K Gandhi, "Diet and Diet Reform",op reached100per cent capacity in September
cit, p 41. 1985. The throughput for the month was
155 Bric Brikson, "Gandhi'sTruth",Faberand 50,000 tonnes.
Faber, London, 1970, p 120.
156 M K Gandhi, "An Autobiography", The During 1984-85, the company improved
Navajivan Thust, 1983, pp 24-26 its performancewith total crudethroughput
157 Geoffrey Ashe, op cit, pp 11-12. of 3,413,274tonnes as against2,647,000ton-
158 Tandulkar, op, cit, Vol IV, p 63. nes in the previousyear,salesof Rs 887 crore
159 M K Gandhi, "Birth Control", ed, Anand against Rs 625 croreand profit after tax of
T Hingorani, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Rs 21.61 crore against Rs 2.67 crore. LPG
Bombay, 1962, pp 1-2. production increased from previous year's
160 Ibid, p 4. 33,700 tonnes to 42,500 tonnes. During the
161 Ibid, pp 52-53. first six months of the currentyear,produc-
162 Ibid, pp 8-9. tion of LPG was 52,700 tonnes. MRL also
163 Ibid, p 65. continues to improveits recordin the field
164 Ibid, pp 65-66. of energy conservation, although there is
165 Ibid, p 60. very little scope for it. The company has
166 Ibid. added five tanks with a capacity of 55,000
167 Ibid. tonnes of storagecapacityeach at a cost of
168 Eleanor Morton, "The Women in Rs 21 crore.
Gandhi's Life', Dodd, Mead and Co, New
York, 1953, p 148. MRL has set up an RefineryEngineering
169 CW, Vol XLVI, May 21, 1931, pp 73-74. School of Training, first of its kind in
170 Ibid, p 74. India. The first module of the first course
171 M K Gandhi, "The Role of Women", op
was attendedby engineersfromthe company
cit, p 64. See also CW, Vol LXV p 111.
and otherrefineriesand was verysuccessful.
The company has also set up an Industrial
172 Cited in Tandulkar,op, cit, Vol V, p 196. TrainingInstitute (ITI) to conduct courses
173 Ibid, Vol II, p 249. in variousdisciplinesto upgradeand update
174 N K Bose, "My Days with Gandhi", the skills and knowledge of industrial
Nishatna, Calcutta, pp 174-175. workersand technicians.