Self-Purification among Scheduled Tribe- Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

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 Self-Purification among Scheduled Tribe- Mahatma Gandhi

 

Shri Narayan Malkani, a professor in the Gujarat Mahavidyalaya, had recently been to the parts around Vedchhi in Bardoli taluka and saw the work being done among the Chodhras there. He has sent a report of his observations for Young India of which I give here only the gist, since many points mentioned in the original are meant for readers outside Gujarat. In 1921 a good many villages had got rid of the evil of drink. Afterwards, a good number had started drinking again. The enduring work which is now being done there, thanks to some workers having settled for good in the area, is interesting to observe. Shri Narayan Malkani is reporting only about the “clean” villages, clean in respect of drinking. The Chodhras rank high among the Kaliparaj communities. They till their own land; but, thanks to their addiction to drinking, the owners of liquor shops and money lenders in the area have become their masters and function as the “local” Government of the area. Those among them who succeed in freeing themselves from the grip of this “local” Government may be said to have won swaraj.

The Vedchhi Ashram has strengthened the anti-drink movement through sound work in the field of khadi. Four hundred spinning-wheels are in commission at present, which means that 800 persons spin on them daily. There are more men than women among them. In the first year 500 lbs. of yarn was spun; last year, the quantity rose to 16,000 lbs. This gave about 4,000 square yards of khadi. The people stock the required cotton from what they grow in their own fields, card it themselves and then spin. The yarn is woven into cloth in Vedchhi itself by Chodhra boys. The charge for weaving is only two annas a yard but the weaver gets some other help in addition to his wages. In some villages, this activity has provided work to carpenters too, and as a result people can have a fairly good spinning-wheel for Rs. 2. In this way, the people who wear khadi spend only two annas for every yard they use; and, where previously no supplementary occupation existed, two such occupations, weaving and carpentry, have come into existence. When I visited the area two years ago, I asked the people how much they got through the spinning-wheel every year. An old man replied with evident pleasure that they got ten rupees. Shri Narayan Malkani gives detailed figures now. A Chodhra family requires 34 yds, of cloth in a year—10 yds, for children and 24 yds. for the husband and the wife. The family gets these 34 yards for Rs. 4_, whereas previously when they bought their requirements in the market they had to pay Rs. 22 for the same quantity. Thus a family producing its own cloth saves Rs. 17_. It is true, of course, that this does not take into account the cost of cotton. What would a poor Chodhra get for that cotton if he sold it in the market, Seven rupees for 14 lbs? The net saving, therefore, comes to Rs. 11. To them this is a big enough saving. It is not as if all the families keep back the 14 lbs. of cotton which they would require and spin it into yarn, but we may say that a movement in the direction has started. 1

In many parts of the country, the yajna for self-purification begun in 1920 is still going on unperceived. A fresh proof of this is the purification that is going on among our Antyaja brethren. A weaver, Ramji Gopal, has handed me a letter. It contains the names of 53 persons from 13 towns in Kathiawar who have taken a pledge to give up liquor and such other things. All of them have given up drinking; some have given up smoking and opium, and some others have given up even meat. Shri Ramji has given me their names after they had kept their pledge for a year. There is no doubt that such activity is going on at many places. And its distinctive feature is that there is no artificiality in it or in other words there is no element of compulsion in it, and also that it is not being carried on by persons who do not belong to that society, but rather voluntarily by reformers thrown up by that very society. I offer congratulations to such invisible, silent workers. Let them accept my best wishes and let there be widespread emulation of these persons. 2

 

References:

 

1. Navajivan, 27-6-1926
2. Navajivan, 8-9-1929