Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles

Rating:
Summary: Reader from New Jersey
Review:

In his foreword, Mr. Ved Mehta, makes it clear that his biography is an attempt to demytholigize the Mahatama. Does this make the author unfair? Of course not. The book perhaps will shock those who refuse to see M.K. Gandhi without a pedastal. Mr. Mehta's lucid writing skills keeps the reader's attention captured from start to finish.

This is a must read for those who want to read a lively "humanized" account of M.K. Gandhi's life and legacy. Certainly an eye opener for those awed by the larger-than-life, propogandist type accounts of M.K. Gandhi.

In the end, despite the self-acquired title of the Mahatama, Gandhi was very much a human being with his own quirks and obsessions. One of the obsessions being with sexual "purity" which Gandhi believed was not only possible but was a prerequisite for all who aspire to enter public life. The much talked about "experiments" in sexual purity, which involved Gandhi (in his seventies) taking young women (some of them married) to bed with him to test his carnality, form but a small portion of Ved Mehta's well substantiated account. I wish he had more details on the subject! But despite the bizzareness of Gandhi's religious experiments, it is quite clear from Mr. Mehta's account that Gandhi did not actually indulge in deviant sexual behaviour. Nevertheless, the women who had to be guineapigs in Gandhi's experiments, did find those experiences humiliating, at least in retrospect.

Despite exposing Gandhi's quirkiness and his obsession with irrational religiosity, Ved Mehta's biography actually manages to keep the Mahatama's pedastal intact. Mehta builds M.K. Gandhi by bringing to the fore his unwavering committment to non-violence, his innate sense of humor and his ability to adhere to his convictions under trying circumstances. Whether one agrees with Gandhi's priniciples or not, Mehta makes it clear, that at least the man had principles. Contrast this with today's politicians in India, and Gandhi indeed looks a Mahatama!

But wait a minute. Ved Mehta reveals (not by any means an original revelation) that Gandhi was patronized by three powerful Indian industrialist of that era: G.D. Birla, Bajaj and Mr. Sarabhai. All three were constantly writing checks and funding Gandhi's vow of poverty! Yet, Mehta goes over this without exploring necessary details. Details such as, exactly how much funds did Gandhi recieve from these powerful industrialists over a period of decades; what was the value of this behind the door funding in todays rupees; what impact did it have on Gandhi's thought process; are skipped altogether.

Ved Mehta does tackle another issue that I found very bothersome: Gandhi as a failed husband and a failed father. But once again, Ved Mehta, refrains from making judgments or go into details, which is fine, but why he does not raise these issues (of money and his refusal to take responsibility for his family) with his followers or apostles is disappointing. That is one of the reason why Mehta, at best, only partially succeeds in his attempt to demystify Gandhi. It appears that the writer, makes the unconfessed decision somewhere during the course of his writing to leave the mystique of Gandhi unfazed. Or maybe, Mr. Mehta is a realist who understands that fleabites cannot stop a moving elephant, let alone bring him down!

Whatever the case might be, Mahatama Gandhi and His Apostles is one of the most readable biographies of Gandhi around. This book should be a part of all those interested not only in Gandhi but his legacy (a subject which is not much tackled) and in understanding the religious-cultural history of India both during and after Gandhi.

Rating:
Summary: Reader from New Jersey
Review: After becoming interested in Gandhi I took this book out of the library to read. About halfway through it became obvious that this book was nothing more than a deliberate attempt to smear Gandhi and anyone who followed him. I was surprised by this since Gandhi is so revered by so many in India. I went to the library again and got other books by Mr. Mehta and it became apparent what his motive is. Mr. Mehta is a strong proponent of rapid industrialization of India and apparently sees Gandhi's philosophies as a threat to industrialization. In all honestly I think that Mr. Mehta should simply have written a book stating that he felt that Gandhi's philosophy would hinder industrialization in India rather than writing such a transparently biased book as this.

Rating:
Summary: Balanced Profile
Review: Nuggets of lesser-known trivia about Gandhi presented in wonderful prose.

Mehta, a staff writer for The New Yorker for a quarter of a century, neither deifies nor lambastes the mahatma (great soul).

Instead, he chisels a most human profile of the man widely regarded as the originator of non-violent non-cooperation as a successful protest methodology even against the most formidable of opponents.

Rating:
Summary: A New Angle
Review: On the cover of this book is a quote from Max Lerner, describing it as "meticulously researched, passionately felt, and elegantly written." I fully agree with this. Yet, as other reviewers have noted, meticulous research doesn't mean there is no agenda, and the author's passion may strike some as irritating bias. I have given this book five stars because it does what it does superbly. However, you should know something of what the author has set out to do.

As the title suggests, Mehta is concerned as much with Gandhi's legacy as the man himself. There are three sections of the book, and the middle one is a good short biography of Gandhi. It is sandwiched by two sections which center around interviews with disciples and others who run Gandhian foundations, etc. This material is constanty interesting, and very well written. A portrait is painted of Gandhi's causes and message being largely ignored, trivialized, or merchandized - even by organizations and individuals who claim to be spreading his message. However, (with one notable exception) no one is demonized, and the tone is far from a moral tirade. Rather, one senses the author's sadness at seeing the ironies of history, and the very human process of losing touch with the real core of a revelation. I should emphasize that a number of individuals are very sympathetically portrayed. At least two disciples are seen as truly continuing Gandhi's work with integrity and dedication, if not quite on the Mahatma's level.

And what was the Mahatma's level, according to this author? Did he write the book to humanize Gandhi? Certainly, the author believes, and wants to convince the reader, that Gandhi was capable of making mistakes and did so, and was not "complete" and perfect. Yet for all that, he clearly sees Gandhi as a truly great person, with tremendous inner and worldly achievements to his name. Remember that Mehta wrote his book when about 400 biographies of Gandhi had already been published, mostly hagiographic (devotional biography of a saint) in nature. Yet this book contains lots of information not easily available elsewhere, mostly about complexities and ironies of Gandhi's life. I think the author relied on people already having been given an impression of Gandhi's spiritual greatness from other sources, and wrote his book as a "new angle," and therefor didn't emphasize that which was already the standard image of his subject. Don't get me wrong - Mehta's book contains a lot which would lead one to be in awe of Gandhi (how could any biography of Gandhi not?) - but I think the simple, shining elements of Gandhi's life and ideas were downplayed to leave room for complex and controvertial aspects.

In summary, I would recommend this book strongly for someone who is already duly impressed by Gandhi from other sources - whether his autobiography, or the famous film, or elsewhere. I would particularly recommend "Gandhi The Man" by Eknath Easwaran, which is full of powerful quotes and beautiful pictures, as well as a basic biography. This would help give some impression of the power and light which radiated from Gandhi. Yet in Easwaran's book, some of the darkness is downplayed to better see the light. Darkness about Gandhi himself, but mostly the darkness of the failure of many of Gandhi's programs and ideas in India. Yet Mehta's book suffers from the opposite problem - hiding the light to bring out the dark. Taken together, these two books would convey both the intensity and purity at the heart of Gandhi, and the complexities and questions surrounding him and his legacy.

Rating:
Summary: A New Angle
Review: On the cover of this book is a quote from Max Lerner, describing it as "meticulously researched, passionately felt, and elegantly written." I fully agree with this. Yet, as other reviewers have noted, meticulous research doesn't mean there is no agenda, and the author's passion may strike some as irritating bias. I have given this book five stars because it does what it does superbly. However, you should know something of what the author has set out to do.

As the title suggests, Mehta is concerned as much with Gandhi's legacy as the man himself. There are three sections of the book, and the middle one is a good short biography of Gandhi. It is sandwiched by two sections which center around interviews with disciples and others who run Gandhian foundations, etc. This material is constanty interesting, and very well written. A portrait is painted of Gandhi's causes and message being largely ignored, trivialized, or merchandized - even by organizations and individuals who claim to be spreading his message. However, (with one notable exception) no one is demonized, and the tone is far from a moral tirade. Rather, one senses the author's sadness at seeing the ironies of history, and the very human process of losing touch with the real core of a revelation. I should emphasize that a number of individuals are very sympathetically portrayed. At least two disciples are seen as truly continuing Gandhi's work with integrity and dedication, if not quite on the Mahatma's level.

And what was the Mahatma's level, according to this author? Did he write the book to humanize Gandhi? Certainly, the author believes, and wants to convince the reader, that Gandhi was capable of making mistakes and did so, and was not "complete" and perfect. Yet for all that, he clearly sees Gandhi as a truly great person, with tremendous inner and worldly achievements to his name. Remember that Mehta wrote his book when about 400 biographies of Gandhi had already been published, mostly hagiographic (devotional biography of a saint) in nature. Yet this book contains lots of information not easily available elsewhere, mostly about complexities and ironies of Gandhi's life. I think the author relied on people already having been given an impression of Gandhi's spiritual greatness from other sources, and wrote his book as a "new angle," and therefor didn't emphasize that which was already the standard image of his subject. Don't get me wrong - Mehta's book contains a lot which would lead one to be in awe of Gandhi (how could any biography of Gandhi not?) - but I think the simple, shining elements of Gandhi's life and ideas were downplayed to leave room for complex and controvertial aspects.

In summary, I would recommend this book strongly for someone who is already duly impressed by Gandhi from other sources - whether his autobiography, or the famous film, or elsewhere. I would particularly recommend "Gandhi The Man" by Eknath Easwaran, which is full of powerful quotes and beautiful pictures, as well as a basic biography. This would help give some impression of the power and light which radiated from Gandhi. Yet in Easwaran's book, some of the darkness is downplayed to better see the light. Darkness about Gandhi himself, but mostly the darkness of the failure of many of Gandhi's programs and ideas in India. Yet Mehta's book suffers from the opposite problem - hiding the light to bring out the dark. Taken together, these two books would convey both the intensity and purity at the heart of Gandhi, and the complexities and questions surrounding him and his legacy.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written but not always fair.
Review: This is a relatively short book about one of the largest lives in human history. However, Mehta (a former staff writer for The New Yorker) proves himself a master of collage, giving the reader a multifaceted portrait of Gandhi and his legacy. All of the major events of Gandhi's life are recounted, including the sexual-spiritual crises that didn't make it into the movie. As the title indicates, this book is also about Gandhi's followers and his legacy, and Mehta seems to go out of his way to show how strange and unstable many of Gandhi's followers were. Mehta also spends a lot of time examining Gandhi's bramarchya experiments, where he tested his ability to resist temptation by sharing his bed with young girls. This is the most cited fact about Gandhi that people use to discredit him, and Mehta is no exception. He comes out without an understanding of Gandhi's peculiar (to us) behavior, and he has the journalist's typical approach of never voicing a judgment but merely arranging the facts in such a way to make his opinion clear. If you have not read anything about Gandhi, this may be a decent introduction to him (an implicit critique from a distance is generally better than a pious view from the bottom of a pedestal), but the best place to start is still the Mahatma's own autobiography.