Water and the Spirit

Inside the palace of the Aga Khan at Poona, wizened, rebellious, mystical Mohandas K. Gandhi last week began his tenth hunger strike since 1918. At the age of 74, Gandhi said that he planned to live on a diet of fruit juice and water for 21 days.* He embarrassed the British, who have branded Gandhi as a traitor at worst, a troublesome mystic at best. For his own Congress party followers (including at least 60,000 who have been arrested since last August) the fast was an effort to bolster sagging morale and stiffen the fraying fibers of resistance to British rule.

Immediate results were a spate of hartals (closing of shops), factory strikes, one bombing which killed three men, the start of a wave of riots. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry clearly feared that the fast might bring a complete disruption of national life: the Federation asked that Gandhi be given his "unconditional release."

Peril & Prestige. Visitors from India reported British prestige at its lowest point in recent history. The British can scarcely afford to allow Gandhi to die and become a martyr--the consequences would be unpredictable, and they might be fatal to British rule. As for the fasting Mahatma, he was again demonstrating, along with his appeal to millions of Indians, his shrewd sense of politics and his ability to regain prestige on fruit juice, water and an unquenchable spirit.

* Gandhi has gone through two previous 21-day fasts, has twice broken "fasts to the death." The rest averaged three to seven days.

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