M. K. Gandhi, Attorney at Law: The Man before the Mahatma

Although some barristers accepted pupils for six months, others preferred to work with the pupil a year. "Till the student has had some training he is useless as an assistant, and if he remains only six months he is apt to be quite fifty guineas' worth of trouble to the barrister." T.B. Napier and R.M. Stephenson, A Practical Guide to the Bar (London: H. Cox, 1888), p. 62.

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 50. See also, Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Harper and Row, 1983)p. 24, quoting correspondence with Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha, a contemporary of Gandhi during his student years in London. Citing Sinha, Fischer states that Gandhi's clothes "were regarded as the very acme of fashion for young men about town at that time, and were largely in vogue among the Indian youth prosecuting their studies in law..." This is confirmed by Gilchrist Alexander, who, in writing about his days in the Temple, says: "In those days everyone in the City or the Temple wore dark clothes, stiff white shirt with cuffs, and a tall silk hat." Gilchrist Alexander, The Temple of the Nineties (London: Hodge & Co., 1938), p. 3.

Sinha also points out that Gandhi's inn, the Inner Temple, was thought by Indian students to be "the most aristocratic."

a brief time

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), pp. 50-1.

A more immediate motivation should also be noted. After Gandhi embarrassed a friend by exhibiting his vegetarianism at a posh restaurant where meat was de rigueur, Gandhi resolved to "try to become polished" and become "an English gentleman." Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 50.

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 51.

J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (Norwood, MA: J.S. Cushing Co., 1915), p. 211. While theosophy later became, to some degree, respectable, it was with no thanks to Blavatsky who was nothing less than a consummate fraud. See Charles Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953), p. 222.

Olcott was a lawyer, among other occupations he held. Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe (New York: Macmillan, 1953), p. 223.

Annie Besant, The Ancient Wisdom (London: Theosophical Publishing, 1897), p. 2. Besant was a leading figure in theosophical thought toward the end of the nineteenth century. Gandhi heard her speak in England and was deeply impressed by her. See CWMG 16, p. 201 (1969 edition).

Annie Besant, The Ancient Wisdom (London: Theosophical Publishing, 1897), p. 3. Besant's idea seems related to the teaching of Blavatsky that there exist a group of "Masters", arranged in a hierarchy and dedicated to a variety of cosmic duties. They also "send out thought forms of high intellectual power, to be caught and assimilated and used by men of genius"; help "the so-called dead"–-"watch tendencies of events";..."correct and neutralize as far as the law permits, evil currents, balancing forces that work for and against evolution, strengthening good, weakening evil";...and "above all" form the Guardian Wall around humanity within which it can progress, "uncrushed by the tremendous forces that play around our planetary house." Josephine Ransom, A Short History of the Theosophical Society (1938) at 55-56, quoted in Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953), p. 232.

J. N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (Norwood, MA: J.S. Cushing Co., 1967), p. 208. One of the myths perpetuated by Blavatsky was that she "was chosen by the Masters from amongst all modern men and women to receive the ancient wisdom in limitless measure from the highest sources." Farquhar at 260.

In her book The Inner Government of the World, Annie Besant describes God in Hindu terms. Olcott was later to travel extensively in India where he lectured on the "common aims of Theosophy and Hinduism." Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953) at 236. It must be noted, however, that Blavatksy's first efforts included no mention of Hinduism or its beliefs. "Theosophical doctrine at a later date became a blend of Buddhism, Hinduism and various forms of occultism; but, when first launched, it was merely an addition of the magic and mysticism of Egypt and of mediaeval Judaism to spiritualism, with a view to stimulating the jaded appetite of the people of New York." Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (Norwood, MA: J.S. Cushing Co., 1914),p. 220.

Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953) at 243-4.

Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953) at 243.

Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953) at 246.

According to Pyarelal, Gandhi's secretary at one time, theosophy's appeal for universal brotherhood was that which attracted Gandhi to theosophy, whereas he had no use for the nonsense that theosophy promoted concerning communication with the spirits through mediums. See Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi – The Early Years (Ahmedabad: Navijivan Publishing House 1965), p. 259, quoting Gandhi in Young India, September 12, 1929, p. 302.

By the year 1884 the Theosophical Society had attained great proportions. There were over a hundred branches in India, and Hindus everywhere rejoiced in its work. Nor is their enthusiasm hard to understand. Theosophy provided a new defence of Hinduism for the thousands of educated men whose Western education had filled them with shivering doubts about their religion. It condemned Christian missionaries as impudent and ignorant intruders...."

J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (Norwood, MA: J.S. Cushing Co., 1914), p. 233.

It is also worth noting that one of theosophy's themes was to find expression in Gandhi's language many times over in the future. In her 1888 book, The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky begins and ends with the declaration "There is no religion higher than truth." Gandhi later writes glowingly of Annie Besant's dedication to truth. CWMG 1, p. 202 (1969 edition).

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 67.

J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India (Norwood, MA: J.S. Cushing Co., 1914) at 267. Besant published, among other titles, The Ancient Wisdom (1897), Esoteric Christianity (1901), Theosophy (1912), The Inner Government of the World (1922), and, with C.W. Leadbeater, Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913). Besant eventually served as president of the Theosophical Society. Farquhar at 237. She also served as president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

Charles Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953), p. 243.

Gandhi, CWMG 16, p. 201 (1969 edition).

“The Key to Theosophy”

Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (Theosophical Publishing: London, 1889).

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 68. Gandhi was not always enamored of Christian missionaries. In his autobiography, he accuses them of loitering near his high school for the purpose of "pouring abuse on Hindus and their Gods." Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 33. Of course, in later years he was to become a close friend and ally of the Reverend Charles Andrews.

There is some evidence that Gandhi actually joined the Theosophical Society but it is not very persuasive. In Josephine Ransom's A Short History of the Theosophical Society (Theosophical Publishing: Adyar, 1938), an official publication of the Society, she writes that a "Mr M K Gandhi, then a member" was introduced to the co-founder of the society, Henry S. Olcott, at a meeting of the Blavatsky Lodge in London. Here is Pyarelal's explanation:

There is obviously a confusion of identities here. For the year of the supposed meeting is given as 1896, when Gandhiji was in South Africa. Col Alkide in his own biography refers to meeting a Mr. Gandhi, "a distinguished Jain". Josephine Ransom seems to have mixed up M.K. Gandhi with Virchand Gandhi, a Jaina friend of Gandhiji, who was studying for the Solicitor's examination when Gandhiji returned to India in 1891, and with whom Gandhiji shared room at Bombay."

Pyarelal, The Early Years (Ahmedabad: Navijivan Publishing House, 1965), p. 259. Gandhi himself states that he refused at least one invitation to join the Society. Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 68.

looming

Gandhi tells us he was introduced to theosophy "[t]owards the end of my second year in England...." Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 67. Does Gandhi mean at the end of 1889 or does he means at the end of twenty-four months in London? The answer, of course, depends on how is Gandhi is calculating years. Would he have said in January 1889 that he was in his second year in London (1888 being the first and 1889 the second)? Or would he have not said so until after the completion of twelve months of time in London, that is, after September 1889? One clue is that Gandhi calls 1890 his "last year...of my stay in England....", when we know that departed in 1891. Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 70. This would militate in favor of the theory that by his "second year" Gandhi meant the fall of 1890.

A different light is shed on this question by our knowledge that Annie Besant, whose speech so influenced Gandhi, did not give her first public talk in London until August, 1889. Hunt, Gandhi in London (New Delhi: Promilla & Co., 1978), p. 32. This is consistent with "Gandhi's recollection, articulated in 1919, that "[i]t was in 1889 that I first paid my respects to Mrs. Besant.... I was privileged to do so by the courtesy of two English friends who were at the time ardent Theosophical students." CWMG 16, p. 201 (1969 edition). Moreover, in his autobiography Gandhi claims to have heard Mrs. Besant's speech when she "had just joined the Theosophical Society." Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 68. Professor Braden tells us that Mrs. Besant joined the Society in 1889. Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1953) at 237.

Also contributing to the theory that he became interested in theosophy in 1889 as opposed to 1890 is the notion that Gandhi could not possibly have performed all the reading he claims to have done–including the entire text of the Bible–between the fall of 1890 and the time when he says he had to put his religion books away in favor of studying for his examination in December 1890. Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 69.

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 44.

Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth (Boston: Beacon, 1957), p. 58.

“swinging practice”

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