![GANDHI, Mohandas Karamchand (1869-1948). Two autograph letters signed (‘M.K. Gandhi’ and ‘M.K.G.’) and one letter signed (‘M.K. Gandhi’) to [Edmund] Gibson, Anand Kunj, Rajkot, 2 and 6 March 1939.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0088_000(gandhi_mohandas_karamchand_two_autograph_letters_signed_and_one_letter062827).jpg?w=1)
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GANDHI, Mohandas Karamchand (1869-1948). Two autograph letters signed (‘M.K. Gandhi’ and ‘M.K.G.’) and one letter signed (‘M.K. Gandhi’) to [Edmund] Gibson, Anand Kunj, Rajkot, 2 and 6 March 1939.
In English. 8½ pages in total (174 x 114mm to 256 x 139mm), (two of the letters with paperclip rust-stains). [With:] Two envelopes addressed to Gibson in another hand [And:] Two copy letters by Gandhi, originally enclosed [And:] a related letter. Provenance: Lt Col Sir Cyril Percy Hancock (1896-1990; Civil Servant in the Indian Political Service), and by descent.
Gandhi on his reasons for fasting: a striking series of letters from Gandhi to the British Resident in the States of Western India, Edmund Gibson, during a fast undertaken to force the hand of the Thakore Saheb of Rajkot State and achieve constitutional reform. The first a letter signed enclosing a copy of a letter in Gujarati [present] that ‘as a matter of sheer duty I have just sent to H.H. the Thakore Saheb’, for which he promises an authorised English translation in the course of the day, asking for Gibson’s ‘fullhearted cooperation, in so far as it lies in your power in the prosecution of my proposal’; the second accompanied by the promised translation [present], sent a little late for ‘I was so exhausted’. The final letter, sent four days later, contains the text of wire that Gandhi wishes to be transmitted to the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow: ‘My actions especially my fasts are never taken mechanically. They are promptings of the inner call. The call to fast came to deal with an emergency. There could be no waiting, no consultation with anybody’. Police excesses have been significant, but breach of promise is the real motivating cause; Gandhi would end the fast if Thakore Saheb were to hear his demands. ‘The strain of the fast is nothing compared to the uncertainty of the immediate future. I may run no risk. There is anarchy in Rajkot. If I survive to tell the tale I shall relate it … Thakore Saheb is a cipher. He does not rule’. Gandhi goes on to reiterate the demands for change, stressing the power Linlithgow has to help address the wrongs as they stand and to end his fast, before closing the wire-text and informing Gibson: ‘This being my silence day, I could not dictate this letter. I am writing it lying in my bed…’.
Gandhi’s 1939 Rajkot fast was prompted by the failure of her ruler, the Thakore Saheb, to institute reforms alleviating authoritarian rule within the state; after his list of seven suggestions to achieve this end – sent on 2 March – went unanswered, Gandhi began his fast on 3 March 1939. He then appealed to the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, for his intervention, later meeting with the British Resident, Edmund Gibson, on 7 March. Gandhi’s actions obtained the desired result: Linlithgow offered the service of the Chief Justice of India, Sir Maurice Gwyer, to oversee the path to reform. Gandhi broke his fast, of which he later repented, stating: ‘This was not the way of ahimsa or conversion. It was the way of himsa or coercion’.
In English. 8½ pages in total (174 x 114mm to 256 x 139mm), (two of the letters with paperclip rust-stains). [With:] Two envelopes addressed to Gibson in another hand [And:] Two copy letters by Gandhi, originally enclosed [And:] a related letter. Provenance: Lt Col Sir Cyril Percy Hancock (1896-1990; Civil Servant in the Indian Political Service), and by descent.
Gandhi on his reasons for fasting: a striking series of letters from Gandhi to the British Resident in the States of Western India, Edmund Gibson, during a fast undertaken to force the hand of the Thakore Saheb of Rajkot State and achieve constitutional reform. The first a letter signed enclosing a copy of a letter in Gujarati [present] that ‘as a matter of sheer duty I have just sent to H.H. the Thakore Saheb’, for which he promises an authorised English translation in the course of the day, asking for Gibson’s ‘fullhearted cooperation, in so far as it lies in your power in the prosecution of my proposal’; the second accompanied by the promised translation [present], sent a little late for ‘I was so exhausted’. The final letter, sent four days later, contains the text of wire that Gandhi wishes to be transmitted to the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow: ‘My actions especially my fasts are never taken mechanically. They are promptings of the inner call. The call to fast came to deal with an emergency. There could be no waiting, no consultation with anybody’. Police excesses have been significant, but breach of promise is the real motivating cause; Gandhi would end the fast if Thakore Saheb were to hear his demands. ‘The strain of the fast is nothing compared to the uncertainty of the immediate future. I may run no risk. There is anarchy in Rajkot. If I survive to tell the tale I shall relate it … Thakore Saheb is a cipher. He does not rule’. Gandhi goes on to reiterate the demands for change, stressing the power Linlithgow has to help address the wrongs as they stand and to end his fast, before closing the wire-text and informing Gibson: ‘This being my silence day, I could not dictate this letter. I am writing it lying in my bed…’.
Gandhi’s 1939 Rajkot fast was prompted by the failure of her ruler, the Thakore Saheb, to institute reforms alleviating authoritarian rule within the state; after his list of seven suggestions to achieve this end – sent on 2 March – went unanswered, Gandhi began his fast on 3 March 1939. He then appealed to the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, for his intervention, later meeting with the British Resident, Edmund Gibson, on 7 March. Gandhi’s actions obtained the desired result: Linlithgow offered the service of the Chief Justice of India, Sir Maurice Gwyer, to oversee the path to reform. Gandhi broke his fast, of which he later repented, stating: ‘This was not the way of ahimsa or conversion. It was the way of himsa or coercion’.
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