The Danish Peace Academy
GANDHI AND NORDIC COUNTRIES
Collected by E. S. Reddy - EReddy@aol.com and Holger TerpLetter, May 11, 1918
[Sabarmati,]
May 11, 1918
My dear Esther,
I have your letter. I shall - we shall look forward to your coming to the ashram during Xmas. The main buildings will then have been ready and the weather will be delightful.
I hope you have read my letter to the Viceroy51 as also my letter in reply to Mr. Pratt’s speech.52 They contain in the briefest form my views on Government and the philosophy of life, and the one to the Viceroy shows in the vividest form the view I take of the law of love and suffering. Passive Resistance expresses the idea in the crudest form. Indeed, I dislike the phrase as a weapon of the weak. It totally misrepresents the law of love. Love is the epitome of strength. Love flows the freeliest only when there is entire absence of fear. Punishments of the loved ones are like balm to the soul.
Will you not try an absolute fast for your liver? You may drink boiled water copiously and, if that is not enough, you may drink orange juice diluted with water. If you feel weak and faint, lie in bed, better still take a cold hip bath, i.e., sit in a tub with your legs and the upper part of the body out of water. It is most invigorating. There is nothing like fasting for liver complaints.
Yours sincerely,
Bapu
Source: The Diary of Mahadev Desai; Collected Works, Volume 14, page 394
51 “Letter to Viceroy,” on home rule for India and respect for Muslim sentiments concerning the holy places, April 29, 1918. Collected Works, Volume 14, pages 377-79.
52 “Letter to The Bombay Chronicle,” about the no-tax campaign in the Kheda district, April 15, 1918. Collected Works, Volume 14, pages 338-41.
There was a widespread failure of crops in the Kheda (Kaira) district in 1917-18. The peasants claimed that the yield was less then 25 percent of normal and that they were entitled under the regulations to suspension of land revenue. The authorities rejected their appeals. Gandhi investigated the situation and tried all means to persuade the government to suspend the collection of land revenue where the yield was below 25 percent. As the government was intransigent, he advised the peasants not to pay land revenue and take the consequences. The authorities resorted to coercive measures and when they failed, the government issued orders to officials not to recover land revenue from those unable to pay.
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