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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy Roy has tried to present the serious as well as the light aspects of the temperament of his subject. Here is the portrait of a personality and not a biographical sketch. Personality exists simultaneously as a picture and exhibits qualities, not events. A biographical sketch spreads out in time, as a movie picture and cannot show forth total achievement of the mind, radiating from the living presence. Dilip Roy's peculiarity in this sketch and others is that he is a portrait painter, not a biographer. That is the reason why he always ignores chronology of events to show forth how the great man was made. The history of his life does not interest Roy. Its ultimate outcome and raptures engross him completely.
4. Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was the most prominent leader of Indian freedom struggle of the 20th century. Even Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his political opponent, addressed him as "the Father of the Indian Nation" in 1944. From his very young age Gandhiji imbibed the strong influence of his mother's deep religious temperament. So, sincere piety grew within him naturally. His non-violence, vegetarianism and ascetic habits were the off-shoots of his religious faith. Fasting as a means of self-purification and fasting as a weapon to fight the enemy with clear conscience, too, had been the outcome of the same. He tried to reform society by silent persuasion rather than coercion. He tried to spiritualise even politics. So he accepted Truth as the pole star of his life, the Truth as he understood it, and he characterized the whole of his life as the story of his experiments with Truth. His another ideal was love which in substance is the same as the Christian love. He called it nonviolence. As a result, he became famous rather as a saint than as a politician or as a statesman. Through a long process of trial and error, aspiration and endeavour he achieved greatness. (A) Portrait:
Dilip Roy has given the account of his relationship with "the Father of the Nation" in three books. In Among the Great he speaks of a few of his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi which took place in different cities like Pune, Delhi, Calcutta, etc. Through his conversations with Mahatma Gandhi during these few meetings, he came to know him intimately. Sir Illuminates of Modern India consists of an essay: 'Mahatma Gandhi, The Human Saint,' which focuses on the loving and sympathetic human concern of this great leader of India. In Pilgrims of the Stars, the author, in the eve of his own life, reminiscences briefly those valuable moments which he passed with Mahatma Gandhi. The author, being a hero-worshipper, finds himself emotionally associated with this eminent national hero of his time. He admires those striking features of his subject which appealed to him the most.
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