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292 THEMES IN INDIAN H ISTORY – P ART III “Mahatma”. They appreciated the fact that he dressed like them, lived like them, and spoke their language. Unlike other leaders he did not stand apart from the common folk, but empathised and even identified with them. This identification was strikingly reflected in his dress: while other nationalist leaders dressed formally, wearing a Western suit or an Indian bandgala, Gandhiji went among the people in a Fig. 11.5 simple dhoti or loincloth. Meanwhile, he spent part Mahatma Gandhi with the charkha of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel), has become the most abiding image of Indian nationalism. and encouraged other nationalists to do likewise. In 1921, during a tour of South The act of spinning allowed Gandhiji to break the India, Gandhiji shaved his head boundaries that prevailed within the traditional caste and began wearing a loincloth in order to identify with the poor. system, between mental labour and manual labour. In a fascinating study, the historian Shahid Amin His new appearance also came has traced the image of Mahatma Gandhi among to symbolise asceticism and the peasants of eastern Uttar Pradesh, as conveyed abstinence – qualities he celebrated in opposition to the by reports and rumours in the local press. When he consumerist culture of the travelled through the region in February 1921, modern world. Gandhiji was received by adoring crowds everywhere. Source 1 Charkha Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. The spinning wheel, moreover, could provide the poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant. What I object to, is the craze for machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour- saving machinery. Men go on “saving labour”, till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all; I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of few, but in the hands of all. YOUNG NDIA, I3 OVEMBER1924 Khaddar does not seek to destroy all machinery but it does regulate its use and check its weedy growth. It uses machinery for the service of the poorest in their own cottages. The wheel is itself an exquisite piece of machinery. Fig. 11.5 YOUNG INDI, 17 MARCH1927 Reprint 2026-27