Gandhi And Jainism

Author(s): Shugan C Jain
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 99

test its efficacy in India to resolve its social problems. In the first year itself plague broke out in Kocharab forcing Gandhi to relocate Satyagraha Ashram to an area of thirty-six acres on the banks of the river Sabarmati. It came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram sited between a jail and a crematorium, as he believed that a satyagrahi has invariably to go to either place. Some rules and regulations were written and adopted for practice by all inhabitants of the Ashram. These included undertaking physical activities (like spinning, farming, cleaning etc), wearing simple uniform clothing, common kitchen and vegetarian food, observance of vows of truth, Ahimsa, celibacy, non-stealing, non-possession, abolition of untouchability, practice Swadeshi and control of the palate etc."
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Gaining trust of Indians for the efficacy of Satyagraha: 19141918
During this period, with the support of people like Madan Mohan Malaviya, he worked hard against the British government to stop emigration of indentured labour to South Africa successfully. The bill to this effect was passed on 3rd July 1917.
He started experimenting Satyagraha on a local scale by leading movements in Champaran, Ahmedabad, and Kheda.
Champaran Satyagraha: The Tinkathiya system in Bihar required tenants (farmers) to plant indigo in three out of every twenty parts of the land causing extreme financial hardship to the tenants. At the invitation of Rajkumar Shukla, a tenant, Gandhi visited many villages and cross-examined thousands of the cultivators and recorded their statements in the presence of the C.I.D. officer to have a deeper understanding of their grievance and the causes underlying them. He worked closely with Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Prof. Kripalani and others. Realizing that the ignorance of the cultivators was one of the main reasons for the
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