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Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi
More than half a century after his death, Mahatma Gandhi continues to inspire millions throughout the world. Yet modern India, most strikingly in its decision to join the nuclear arms race, seems to have abandoned much of his nonviolent vision. Inspired by recent events in India, Stanley Wolpert offers this subtle and profound biography of India's "Great Soul."
Wolpert compellingly chronicles the life of Mahatma Gandhi from his early days as a child of privilege to his humble rise to power and his assassination at the hands of a man of his own faith. This trajectory, like that of Christ, was the result of Gandhi's his conscious courting of suffering as the means to reach divine truth. From his early campaigns to stop discrimination in South Africa to his leadership of a people's revolution to end the British imperial domination of India, Gandhi emerges as a man of inner conflicts obscured by his political genius and moral vision. Influenced early on by nonviolent teachings in Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, and Buddhism, he came to insist on the primacy of love for one's adversary in any conflict as the invincible power for change. His unyielding opposition to intolerance and oppression would inspire India like no leader since the Buddha--creating a legacy that would encourage Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and other
global leaders to demand a better world through peaceful civil disobedience.
By boldly considering Gandhi the man, rather than the living god depicted by his disciples, Wolpert provides an unprecedented representation of Gandhi's personality and the profound complexities that compelled his actions and brought freedom to India.
Wolpert compellingly chronicles the life of Mahatma Gandhi from his early days as a child of privilege to his humble rise to power and his assassination at the hands of a man of his own faith. This trajectory, like that of Christ, was the result of Gandhi's his conscious courting of suffering as the means to reach divine truth. From his early campaigns to stop discrimination in South Africa to his leadership of a people's revolution to end the British imperial domination of India, Gandhi emerges as a man of inner conflicts obscured by his political genius and moral vision. Influenced early on by nonviolent teachings in Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, and Buddhism, he came to insist on the primacy of love for one's adversary in any conflict as the invincible power for change. His unyielding opposition to intolerance and oppression would inspire India like no leader since the Buddha--creating a legacy that would encourage Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and other
global leaders to demand a better world through peaceful civil disobedience.
By boldly considering Gandhi the man, rather than the living god depicted by his disciples, Wolpert provides an unprecedented representation of Gandhi's personality and the profound complexities that compelled his actions and brought freedom to India.
337 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2001
About the author
Stanley Wolpert
39 books101 followersStanley Wolpert is an American academic, Indologist, and author considered one of the world's foremost authorities on the political and intellectual history of modern India and Pakistan and has written fiction and nonfiction books on the topics. He taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1959-2002.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 12, 2014
The complexity of Gandhiji's life requires careful attention to both his public and personal trials. This is the basis on which Wolpert proposes to build yet another biography on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most well examined and yet one of the most enigmatic personalities. Wolpert says that even as he was writing his many works on India, he was always drawn towards Gandhi’s life but yet shying away from the endeavor, invariably daunted by Gandhi's elusive personality and the extent of his archive, yet hoping that greater maturity and deeper knowledge of India would help him to understand the Mahatma's mentality and reasons for his often contradictory behavior. When he finally decided to do so and confronted the veritable mountain of literature that exists about the great man, he almost decided then to abandon his "Gandhi" once again, “feeling that perhaps I had nothing new to add to what was known about the amazing man who called his life an "open book," and fearing that at age sixty-eight, completing my research and writing might take longer than my lifetime.”
While a noble quest in itself, in the search for an alternative take and for a more comprehensible explanation Wolpert can be said to have stumbled, and badly. One wishes he had taken better heed of his own misgivings. Gandhi used to famously call his own life as his Tapasya . Wolpert translates this tapasya as passion (thence the title of the book), then elaborates on the classic, noble meanings of the word (in drawing a parallel to 'the passion of the christ', for the benefit of his western readers) then ends up reverting back to the modern and much more ordinary meaning of the word with no sanction from the original tapasya. He continues to use the word passion in all sorts of contexts and gets it thoroughly mixed up. The reader has to put in a special effort to keep things straight about which context the word is being used in in any given instant.
He then proceeds to analyze Gandhi’s life and his now much publicized 'personal life' from what can only be a called simplified western understanding of some vague tantric and magical ‘stuff’. This leads to selective attention to possibly controversial letters and passages and Wolpert eventually slides into a continuous exposé-mentality that makes not much of an attempt at trying to understand the real meaning behind the ‘experiments’. The world has been treated to a lot of this about Gandhiji by now but the mud does not seem to stick. This might perhaps be because he was open about his life in a way almost unimaginable now and just as when he asked his friends then to point out any error in his ways, the same question can hardly be answered assertively even now.
Wolpert's overly spiritual take on Gandhi’s life and seeking an explanation in that alone is detrimental to any real understanding. Gandhiji was not a mere spiritual guru, he was a shrewd political leader who mobilized more people voluntarily than perhaps anyone ever has. He combined religion, politics, idealism and personal relationships into a single field of action. Gandhi's life can even be said to be, without too much exaggeration, an object lesson on codes of purity and honor, on the meaning of martyrdom, and on the construction of a heroic life. Nevertheless, his life should be seen as a human life, no more and no less, and as a testament to the heights that the human spirit can climb with patient effort. That is where the inspiration of his ‘life as message’ lies: in replicating a part of that ambition of spirit, not in being a distant unattainable sainthood emulatable only through statues and honorifics.
In the end, the book is reduced to an overly romanticized set of platitudes, talking sometimes dreamily of yogic strength and sometimes of some mysterious ‘ancient civilization’ in Wolpert’s half-distracted quest to explain the reason behind these ‘experiments’ and of Gandhi's 'passion'. The explanations are not always coherent and shows scant understanding of the scriptural knowledge and Vedic traditions that Gandhi drew from in order to formulate his life and rules, and if drilled the author might be hard pressed to supply what he meant by half of these platitudinous terms.
The book also disappoints as a scholarly exercise: Wolpert has in fact tried to deconstruct Gandhiji from an almost anthropological perspective. There are many different ways in which the traditional subjects of social anthropology can be described, and one would perhaps contend, borrowing from Marc Augé, that anthropology has always been an anthropology of the 'here and now'. This does not mean Augé would implore Wolpert that anthropology has to cast its eye only on objects that are near it, but rather that the mode by which knowledge is produced in anthropology is the mode of intimacy. The 'here' is the society in which the anthropologist must have travelled and lived, while the 'now' refers to the privileged place given to the present. Unfortunately Wolpert satisfies neither condition and hence his mode of producing knowledge, has a unique intellectual object - the ‘ exotic Other ’. This exotic Other can not be encountered accidentally, it has to be sought out as the opposite of the Self. Hence, as Amartya Sen would argue, anthropological knowledge can come to be a map of difference, of alterity or to be entirely slotted into his one of three categories: the exoticist approach . Any biography thus conceived is doomed to be a theatre of the exotic and hardly a source of knowledge or understanding.
In never being able to make up his mind about whether he wanted to explore the personal life or the political life, or in perhaps not being able to find any way to separate the entangled strands of the two, Wolpert compromises too much and presents us with a very shallow work. The book cannot serve as an introductory read because it leaves out and simplifies too much, and it cannot serve as a supplementary read since it has nothing original to add. So what purpose did the book serve? I cannot discern one.
February 14, 2013
Timeless Leader
This book dwells more on the failures of Gandhi's methods than others I have read. It describes how he tried unsuccessfully over several years to reach a compromise with Jinnah over Hindu-Muslim relations in India.
Curiously - more than other books - Wolpert says there was a wide split between Nehru and Gandhi. It also mentions the attraction that several Westerners had for him - Margaret Slade, Charlie Andrews...
Wolpert dwells on some of the negative (or questionable) aspects of Gandhi's behavior - his repressed sexuality, the relationship with his children and his sleeping with young woman (strictly on a platonic level says Wolpert, as well as several other authors).
Gandhi's quest for change in a peaceful and truthful way is what has made him a great leader who will be remembered for centuries. He has left a timeless legacy in India. It is one reason why India is at the forefront of developing countries today. This willingness for open dialog and conflict between leaders (which Gandhi encouraged) is seldom seen in developing countries.
The book also has an interesting bibliography of writings on India.
This book dwells more on the failures of Gandhi's methods than others I have read. It describes how he tried unsuccessfully over several years to reach a compromise with Jinnah over Hindu-Muslim relations in India.
Curiously - more than other books - Wolpert says there was a wide split between Nehru and Gandhi. It also mentions the attraction that several Westerners had for him - Margaret Slade, Charlie Andrews...
Wolpert dwells on some of the negative (or questionable) aspects of Gandhi's behavior - his repressed sexuality, the relationship with his children and his sleeping with young woman (strictly on a platonic level says Wolpert, as well as several other authors).
Gandhi's quest for change in a peaceful and truthful way is what has made him a great leader who will be remembered for centuries. He has left a timeless legacy in India. It is one reason why India is at the forefront of developing countries today. This willingness for open dialog and conflict between leaders (which Gandhi encouraged) is seldom seen in developing countries.
The book also has an interesting bibliography of writings on India.
August 14, 2007
So, this book gets two stars. The one star is for Gandhi himself and the other is for his life. Why? The book was so incredibly dry, I didn't think I would make it to the end..., which is tragic considering Gandhi lived the life most of us are aspiring to!!! I'm tellin' ya! The book was dryer than burnt toast! I think the author mentioned that he is an engineer by trade and a Gandhi fan by night. Well, the book was totally writen like a scientific manual. No creativity, all facts.
There were some historical facts I found to be interesting though. Just as many of us have people in our lives or those who came before us that inspire us to do great things, Gandhi had people he looked up to as well. His first "works" were in Africa, where he launched his first newspaper called "Indian Opinion". Gandhi's first political teachings were inspired by John Ruskin's "Unto This Last" which he translated and used the central ideas to form "Sarvodaya" which literally means "the uplift of all", otherwise known as Gandhian Socialism. He used his new knowlegde from Ruskin to start his first ashram, and many more followed in the years to come. He also appreciated Tolstoy's "Kingdom of God is Within You" and John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" which he hailed as "the most beautiful book in the English language." I was surprised to learn of his influences and somehow felt that I knew a little about the authors Gandhi studied even thought I was not familiar with their works.
Later on in life, Gandhi tried to irradicate the cast system and accepted "untouchables" into his ashram which was unheard of at the time. Besides spending his time happily in prison for this protest or that outburst, he also loved to spin/weave and was certain that it would bring world peace. His relationship with his nuclear family was not well and he had one son that he never spoke to. His son eventually converted to Islam.
The book talks about some of Gandhi's most devout followers whose lives I find uplifting. Vinoba Bhave is by far my favorite. After Gandhi's death, Vinoba walked India asking wealthy landowners to "adopt him as their fifth son" and then allocate one-fifth of their land to him for redistribution among the village's landless peasants. Some attribute his success to his saintly appearance. By 1957, he received over four million acres of land for 50,000 villages!!!! I found the description of his kind heart, hard work and patience truly admirable. This was by far the largest non-violent agrarian revolution among India's poor.
So, in summary, as many know, Gandhi lived a commendable life and his followers are worth noting as well.
There were some historical facts I found to be interesting though. Just as many of us have people in our lives or those who came before us that inspire us to do great things, Gandhi had people he looked up to as well. His first "works" were in Africa, where he launched his first newspaper called "Indian Opinion". Gandhi's first political teachings were inspired by John Ruskin's "Unto This Last" which he translated and used the central ideas to form "Sarvodaya" which literally means "the uplift of all", otherwise known as Gandhian Socialism. He used his new knowlegde from Ruskin to start his first ashram, and many more followed in the years to come. He also appreciated Tolstoy's "Kingdom of God is Within You" and John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" which he hailed as "the most beautiful book in the English language." I was surprised to learn of his influences and somehow felt that I knew a little about the authors Gandhi studied even thought I was not familiar with their works.
Later on in life, Gandhi tried to irradicate the cast system and accepted "untouchables" into his ashram which was unheard of at the time. Besides spending his time happily in prison for this protest or that outburst, he also loved to spin/weave and was certain that it would bring world peace. His relationship with his nuclear family was not well and he had one son that he never spoke to. His son eventually converted to Islam.
The book talks about some of Gandhi's most devout followers whose lives I find uplifting. Vinoba Bhave is by far my favorite. After Gandhi's death, Vinoba walked India asking wealthy landowners to "adopt him as their fifth son" and then allocate one-fifth of their land to him for redistribution among the village's landless peasants. Some attribute his success to his saintly appearance. By 1957, he received over four million acres of land for 50,000 villages!!!! I found the description of his kind heart, hard work and patience truly admirable. This was by far the largest non-violent agrarian revolution among India's poor.
So, in summary, as many know, Gandhi lived a commendable life and his followers are worth noting as well.
August 30, 2008
OW! My head hurts.... I normally whip through biographies, but I really struggled with this one. By the time I got to the 1930's-ish, I could not keep straight what all the infighting between Nehru and Jinnah were about (maybe that is the point?) and "Bapu" started getting more depressed, withdrawn, politically irrelivant, and downright strange (sleeping nude with virgins to prove he had control over his passion?) My conclusion is that the "birth" of modern-day India and Pakistan were one big fuster-cluck, and that I am glad to be done reading this book. I am now going to prepare a large stiff drink.
November 14, 2023
I somehow finished this book. It would be a good read for someone interested in Indian Politics and Gandhi. I know that it would be difficult to separate Gandhi from politics but I was more interested in learning about him. I feel like I know a little bit more than I did, but it was a disappointing read for me.
March 8, 2012
It was a bit of a challenge to get through this book, but I’m glad I persevered. I had just finished a book of his compilations, but I also wanted to learn the history of his life, too. In the process, I also learned a TON about the history of India and the formation of Pakistan. I didn’t always agree with some of Gandhi’s beliefs (i.e. his vows of celibacy and his relationship with his family), but I gained such an appreciation for many of his other teachings (i.e. his call for non-violent resistance, his example in loving one’s enemy, and his vegetarianism!) It also seemed to me that his frequent resorting to fasting to attain his means was very similar to my propensity to run marathons (My most recent marathon’s motto sums what I think Gandhi craved at times: It’s “pain you enjoy”).
One particular quote I wanted to point out by Gandhi with which I absolutely agree: “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”
There is so much we women can do and withstand for the very same reasons that Gandhi listed: superior self-sacrifice, endurance, and courage. Makes me want to try harder to live up to my full potential.
One particular quote I wanted to point out by Gandhi with which I absolutely agree: “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”
There is so much we women can do and withstand for the very same reasons that Gandhi listed: superior self-sacrifice, endurance, and courage. Makes me want to try harder to live up to my full potential.
August 4, 2014
If you only read one book about Gandhi, this is NOT the one to pick. Very dry, and assumes reader has pre-knowledge of the various Hindu and Muslim personalities, about whom he will refer to by last name only, without any introduction as to who they were. Pick a different Gandhi book to read!
June 29, 2024
Gandhi has always been someone in history I had been curious about. I always believed he was a monk or something (like most ignorant Americans i know). I was shocked to find out he was a lawyer and a very well-educated man. I respect him even more now because of his reason for his stance and his nonviolence no matter what others do. I have learned a lot by reading this book.
August 10, 2021
Well written biography
I found this book engaging and very readable. It was detailed but so well organized and well told that it was hard to put down .
I found this book engaging and very readable. It was detailed but so well organized and well told that it was hard to put down .
November 21, 2020
An interesting biography of Gandhi. I have been wanting to read the details on Gandhi’s life and this book was a good starting point. While I thought an Indian could not have gone into details and written the way this author has, I felt some parts did not have a basis and could have been better detailed - the Khilafat movement, the killing of Swami Shraddanand, his views on noakhali, or his assignation.
Nonetheless a good read
Nonetheless a good read
April 8, 2012
Inspired by the impact Gandhi had on MLK, I read this book to learn more about the father of the non-violent resistance movement in India. Key takeaway is rights have to be demanded through concrete actions, as rights are never given to those without them freely. When the oppressed rise to violence, they are almost always crushed and oppressed more vigorously. However, with non-violent civil disobedience, people can achieve freedom and justice. Jesus would have been a strong inspiration for Gandhi and MLK.
This book was not as inspirational or well written as the Autobiography of MLK. I would recommend that book before this one.
This book was not as inspirational or well written as the Autobiography of MLK. I would recommend that book before this one.
September 1, 2013
Gandhi had great passion as he strived eagerly towards peace and equality with all religions and people. Though he believed and demonstrated some of the characteristics of Christ, it was disappointing his pride and works based Hinduism left him powerless in the end. It's interesting how a person can get so close to God and seeing His attributes of unconditional grace, but not receive it for themselves. Such a fine line, feeling like you have to live up to a stand vs. receiving a standard that has already been won for you. So much frustration and uncertainty in the 1st but so much freedom in the latter.
May 6, 2012
I liked this book. It gave many details of the pre-independence in-fighting between Nehru and Gandhi with which I was not fully aware.
Some times it's a little slow but I actually liked all the detail.
I had also read Gandhi's autobiography but since that was written in the 1920's it does not cover the last 20 years of his life.
I REALLY liked the section on the Salt protests and the untouchables.
Some times it's a little slow but I actually liked all the detail.
I had also read Gandhi's autobiography but since that was written in the 1920's it does not cover the last 20 years of his life.
I REALLY liked the section on the Salt protests and the untouchables.
June 29, 2014
Maybe this is not the best book tells about Gandhi's life and treasure but it was very helpful to learn about great things about him. Especially his personality, beliefs, and life style... This is admirable. The great soul who ever lived in this world... I impressed that he constituted his army which didnt show any violence and was filled with love. They didnt have any weapon but they had great success to get back their freedom and self-respect as India. So inspirational!
January 26, 2016
I did not think this was a particularly well written book. It was interesting to read about Gandhi's life and his philosophy. His beliefs about non-violence have certainly influenced many other causes. At the same time, I didn't really like the man. I am not sure if that is justified or if it is just the way this book was written. I never really caught the "passion" that I know he had.
November 22, 2009
A very interesting and readable account of Gandhi's life. Anyone wishing to learn more about the history of the partition of the British Raj into the free nations of India and Pakistan and the attendant regional conflicts that afflict this area...a must read.
August 3, 2012
I had wanted to read about Gandhi for a while so I picked this book up. Gandhi was an amazing person, so any book telling his life is going to be somewhat good. That said, this book was quite a dry read.
February 11, 2015
To give such an amazing man such a dry, boring, and completely un-captivating biography should be illegal. I am going to try and find a much (MUCH) better biography to read about one of my favorite historical figures and idols.
February 22, 2008
Saya membaca versi terjemahan. Tak ada hal baru yang disampaikan mengenai Gandhi. Atau saya melewatkan sesuatu?
March 26, 2008
To write about someone so interesting and completely bore you is bad writing! I couldn't finish this one if I tried.
October 14, 2011
I'm sorry for giving this book such a poor review, especially since it deals with Gandi! But the book got so tedious, I just could not finish it. Decided I may try it again another day.
September 25, 2017
Extensa y muy completa biografía de Gandhi, buena para quienes ya conozcan al personaje y deseen profundizar. Para los que quieren (queremos) una aproximación humana al personaje puede resultar farragosa la cantidad de datos, fechas y acontecimientos que pueden distraer del objetivo principal. Se echa aquí de menos la maestría de un Stefan Zweig, por poner un ejemplo.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews