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assisted by his two sons, namely, Mr. Vishwanath B. A. (Bombay University), a learned man and a Barrister-at-Law of the Bombay High Court, and Dr. Popat L. M. & S., J. P., a former pupil and now an esteemed friend of mine. The report of this institution for 1905-06 published in 1907 tells its unvarnished tale of continuous success. Till the year 1907 it has trained 17 Bhishagvars and associates, 10 Midwives, 6 Paricharas (male nurses) and 15 Paricharikas (female nurses). There were 30 males and 17 females under instruction and training in the year 1906. The institution has the support and sympathy of many learned Allopaths trained in British Medicine and Surgery in India as well as in Europe. In this school Anatomy is taught from models and artistically accurate plates. It is desirable in my opinion that Anatomy should be taught from actual dissection; but where it is not possible, models and plates are useful substitutes or accessories. English-trained physicians reproachfully say that the Vaidyas are not taught Anatomy and that there is no knowledge of Anatomy forming a part of the ancient Ayurvedic studies nor there ever was. Apropos of this let me once more quote some more passages from Major Basu's essay referred to already. "The Hindus deserve credit for having utilised the dead for the living for having cultivated the most important and essential branch of medical science, practical Anatomy. It is impossible for any one to award too high a degree of praise to the sound and philosophical views of the ancient Hindu sages, respecting the uses of the dead to the living; and it is scarcely possible to withold from them the immortal credit. credit of being the first scientific and successful cultivators of the most important of all departments of medical knowledge. For what had been the views of the nations of the globe when the Aryans were so vigorously increasing the knowledge of Anatomy by the help of scalpels and scissors, and were laying down the foundation of a true system of medicine? Why, 'the mere touch of a corpse was held as a pollution among the Jews, and the Egyptian knowledge of Anatomy was confined to the low and wretched outcasts employed to embalm and disembowel the bodies of the dead, who were considered to be so low, polluted, and degraded,

other

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that no corpse of a royal or beautiful female was ever handed over to them until unequivocal indications of decay and decomposition had been exhibited. Even in ancient Greece the the study of Anatomy was neglected, for the laws of Athens were so strict respecting the prompt burial of dead bodies, that it was considered a sacred duty, and its neglect punished with such severity, that we read in Xenophon's History that six offi cers of rank were condemnd to death notwithstanding their having gained a brilliant victory, for not having taken sufficient pains to recover the bodies of the slain warriors who had fallen into the sea'." Major Basu further with regard to the Anatomy of the Ancient Hindus thus:-"It is proper to observe here that their knowledge of Anatomy is not so clear as it ought to have been for medical purposes. Though dissection was countenanced by the early medical authors, the later ones abandoned this mode of learning anatomy. The religious revolu tion that took place in India under the leadership of Buddha might account for, to some extent, the renunciation of the Hindus of not deriving their knowledge of anatomy by practical dissection. 'Do not kill any living being' was the doctrine preached by the great religious teacher of mankind. His followers pushed the doctrine a great deal further. To mutilate a dead body was a sin with them." "Thus the rise of Buddhism put a stop to the study of anatomy by actual dissections to a great extent."

In addition to the Bombay Ayurvedic Vidyalaya of Vaidyaraj Prabhuram there is another body of Vaidyas in Bombay namely the Bombay Vaidya Sabha presided over by my friend Dr. Moreshwar Gopal Deshmukh, M. D., B. Sc., J. P. It possesses a Library of Ayurvedic Literature richly endowed with books by Sheth Khemraj Shrikrishnadas J. P. of Shri Venkatesh Samachar Press. H. H. the Maharaja of Turbhanga is the Patron of this Sabha, Vaidya Trimbaklal Tribhuvandas Muni is the Vice-President and Amritlal Jatashanker Chandlia is the Secretary. They are both gracing this august assembly by their presence.

Recent advancement in Europe in the preparation of pure chemicals and vegetables into pills, tablets and potions also requires your serious attention. Your

Ayurvedic pills, pills, potions and powders are manufactured by crude, elaborate and expensive antiquated methods. Will it not save time, trouble, energy and expenditure if you adopted the modern scientific improved methods in the preparation of your medicines as is done by the Chemists and Druggists of England and America? I do not wish to underrate your pristine methods. Accept my suggestions on this score in the spirit with which they are offered for the future advancement and success of Ayurvedic medicine.

Now let me say a few words about the spurious and reckless men who call themselves Vaidyas and play with human lives fast and loose, disappointing credulous men in moments of extreme anxiety. In my humble opinion, no man should practise medicine unless and until he has arrived at a mature age, say between 18 and 20 and has gone through a systematic course of study for 3 or more years and shown himself qualified before competent examiners. Whatever the school of medicine be, Ayurvedic, Unani, Alopathic, Homopathic, Isopathic, Hydropathic, Physiopathic, Electric or Herbalistic, let it be understood, in all earnestness I say, that no man should be allowed by the State or by Society, to treat diseases of the human body until or unless that person has shown himself before a competent and proper tribunal and proved that he has made the organism of the human body and its various diseases a special study under a competent teacher well versed in medical lore. "This is simple and fair,"

says Professor Cornelius G. Comegys M. D. of Cincinnati, SO far back as 1st November 1855. Nay he further adds as follows:-"And Society owes this not only to itself as selfprotection but as a tribute of respect to the Medical Profession." Who knows better than a devout Hindu and an Ayurvedic Vaidya the gravity of the solemn and sacred duties of a medical attendant and the deep anxiety of the man taking upon himself the great responsibilities of relieving the physical or mental distress of the human body or mind? "Who knows," asks Dr. Comegys, "half so much the wants and the wishes, the joys and sorrows of the family circle watching by the bed-side of an ailing or a dying man? Who are the friends and comforters in adversity especially of persons in every grade of life from the sovereign to the wretched outcasts of the street, houseless, homeless, friendless, alone? Who disarms pestilence and gives Jenners to the world? Who follow in the battlefield through the thickest of fire, not that they may aid Destruction in her work, but that they may staunch the wounds she makes? The servant of religion hath not more sanctity about him than the good Physician." The Divines and Pastors promise to save the soul. The Physician tries to give relief from pain to the human body. Let the physician but know, remember and realize that he can only do so, through, and not without, an intimate knowledge of the laws of Life, the "laws by which we live and move and have our being."

MR. GANDHI AND THE COMMISSION

LEFT off in my last narrative letter at the point where Mr. Gandhi and I were fortunate enough to catch the last the last train up to Pretoria before the Great General Strike began which threw the whole of the South African Union into disorder and ended in the proclamation of Martial Law.

I cannot describe the anxiety of those

days after I first landed. All the leaders of the Indian Community, with their followers, had taken a solemn vow and covenant together not to appear before the Commission unless General Smuts showed them consideration and respect. They claimed that his acknowledgment of the principle of consultation had been broken and their own vital interests had

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What was it then that so profoundly moved them, that 20,000 of them were ready to endure once more the sufferings of hard imprisonment rather than surrender? What was it, that made delicate Indian ladies, who had just served their first term of imprisonment, ready, and even eager, to go to prison with hard labour a second time? As I explained in my letter to the "Pioneer" it was the honour of the Indian community, and nothing else than that.

I wish, in this letter, to emphasise the points I made in writing to the "Pioneer." I was obliged there to compress to the smallest limits, a mass of detailed facts. The story is so stirring and its lesson so inspiring for us here in India, that my readers will pardon any slight repetition which I may now make.

I wish first to make clear how relentlessly Mr. Gandhi threw away all that he had gained as far as human foresight could predict, in refusing to appear before the commission. He had three hundred witnesses ready, with their statements all taken, each of whom could affirm that he had seen with his own eyes things done that were illegal. By refusing to present his witnesses Mr. Gandhi laid himself open to the most damaging taunt, that he had brought the charges and afterwards shirked enquiry like a coward. This taunt of cowardice was doubly hard to bear from those who would bring it forward, with all the passion of race prejudice. But far beyond this in importance Mr. Gandhi knew that Mr. Gokhale was lying dangerously ill at Poona. Gloomy telegrams were coming to Natal about his critical condition. The strain of his anxiety about South Africa seemed to be killing him, yet it could not be removed. I think this was the bitterest cup of Mr. Gandhi's suffering at that time. To sacrifice himself to his family at the call of duty was easy

compared with the thought of increasing Mr. Gokhale's illness. For to the Indians generally in South Africa, Mr. Gokhale's name is the most honoured of honoured names, to be mentiond only with reverence and devotion. They have never forgotten his visit to South Africa at a time when his health was weak, nor his persistent courage and self-denial in advocating their cause. To bring suffering, and possibly even death itself, to such an Indian leader was an agonising thought. The message that was cabled cabled to Mr. Gokhale was, however, clear and unbending. "We are ready," the Indians said, in so many words, "to sacrifice life itself for you; but we cannot sacrifice our Indian honour." Few nobler messages than this have been sent at a great historic crisis. I saw with my own eyes the strain, the suffering, the tension. I watched the eagerness of painful expectation when any message came by cable from 'Servindia Poona' to 'Resister, Durban.' (Do not the very cablegram addresses give in brief the whole story?) I saw also the sharp pang of disappointment when each fresh cable that came only confirmed the worst news. Of all the darknesses of those dark days in Natal this thought produced among the Indians the deepest gloom of all. To go to prison was a light-hearted adventure, compared with the danger of causing Mr. Gokhale a fatal injury.

The wrong that would be done to the Viceroy and Lord Ampthill by refusing to give evidence, the pain of putting them in a false position after their championship of the Indian cause--this anxiety was only second to that concerning Mr. Gokhale. It was not here a question of danger to life and health, but it was a question of real suffering and injury all the same. Lord Hardinge after his generous and outspoken Madras speech, had been obliged to suffer personal insults and abuses. By Mr. Gandhi's refusal to give evidence before the commission the Viceroy was most seriously compromised. The compromised. The taunts which were levelled against Mr. Gandhi were certain to be levelled against him. For he had now no means left of substantiating the allegations which he had made in his public utterance at Madras. Mr. Gandhi fully realised this; but he could only go on affirming that Indian honour must come first.

There was one further consideration

which to my practical English nature loomed very large indeed. It was this. From all sides among the colonials I learnt the fact, that if passive resistance began again there would certainly take place violent reprisals. "If the Indians go out again, there will be shooting". This was the blunt colonial way in which it was put to me, but such a phrase meant volumes in South Africa. I could picture the scene in every detail,the thousands of men and women and children on the march with the prospect of indiscriminate shooting and violence. Such a picture was a horror to me by night and day. I cannot describe the strain of it. What then must it have been to Mr. Gandhi, who would be ultimately responsible as the leader of the struggle? Yet when I came back from European houses and told him the news I had heard, he would answer, 'Yes! I know the risk we run." He simply went on his way unflinch ing and unwavering.

It may be asked, what was my own private opinion. Was the point at issue, (as I saw the situation on the spot with my own eyes) worth the tremendous risks which the Indians were running? Indians were running? That was the exact question which I had to face immediately on landing: for I was asked for my unbiassed judgment, and on my answer much would depend. I was bound, as a Christian and a clergyman, to shrink from bloodshed to the uttermost. I had also come out with a longing in my heart for peace and goodwill. Indeed, I still trusted to be able to meet my own country men in a kindly manner and help towards a settlement. Yet the very first question that was put to me by Mr. Gandhi was this-"Are we justified if we re-open the whole struggle?" That was the question. Mr. Gandhi and the leaders were gathered together in a little room. Parsee Rustomjee was there just released from prison. Thambi Naidu was there, the hero of hardships and sufferings almost beyond counting. Imam Sahib Bawazir, Mr. Gandhi's staunch ally and friend, was there also. Mr. Polak, with his hair still short from his imprisonment, was sitting with us, and Mr. Gandhi himself was present, in his coolie's dress,-his face already looking like that of an aged man, though he is only forty-five years old. I do not know how it all came about (for the word 'honour' itself had not been mentioned by any one and I had never heard

the point discussed) but after a few minute's talk together I said to Mr. Gandhi "Isn't it simply a question of Indian honour ?" His eyes flashed into mine and I shall never forget his look, as he said quickly, almost vehemently-"Yes! that is it! That is it! That is the real point at issue". As far as I was concerned, this answer ended the whole matter. For it did not need even a day's residence in Natal to understand, that for an Indian leader to give up honour meant to lose the whole position.

My own strongest judgments are always those of instinct, rather than of reason and calculation. This temperament served me in good turn at this critical juncture. For a point of honour is incalculable, and often seemingly irrational. And the very fact that I decided in a moment was a reassurance to Mr. Gandhi. He often referred to it afterwards with a kind of wonder. "I cannot understand", he used to say, "how you made up your mind so quickly." Not that it would have made him waver, even if I had gone against him, he is set in too heroic a mould for that; and he had taken up his final position. But when, instead of urging compromise, I turned to him quite simply and said, "I am sure you are right: we must never sacrifice our honour", then our friendship was cemented in a way that years of ordinary intercourse could not have effected. And when I said to him later,-"You must let me join in the march," we were comrades and brothers from that hour. It is a glorious thing to meet a true man face to face in a time of stress and danger.

I am sure that my Indian readers, if they had been on the spot, would have grasped the situation without difficulty. My own intense love for India made me able to see the real issue with their eyes. To put it plainly, the crisis was this. Were the Indians in South Africa to be robbed of the one thing which had made them a strong people? Were they to be placed, in this matter of the Commission, on the lowest possible level with no consideration shown them at all? Or were they to be respected for their moral courage and unflinching character? This latter position of respect had been won by the great struggles of the previous years. Were all the fruits of those past struggles to be surrendered in order to obtain, by a mendicant policy, a few loaves and fishes? There could be only one answer. We

might surrender the good opinion of our friends: we might surrender our reputation in the eyes of the world: we might be misrepresented and even slandered: we might surrender the immediate abolition of the £3 tax. But one thing we could not surrender (I am writing as one of themselves), we could not sacrifice our Indian honour.

I have explained fully in my letter to the "Pioneer" how the point of honour came in, but its significance cannot really be understood except by those on the spot. It was a question of equal treatment. There had been two commissions appointed in S. Africa (within a few months of the

Rev. Andrews, Mr. Gandhi, and
Mr. Gul of Capetown.

Indian Commission) to enquire into the grievances of the European labouring community. On each of these commissions full representation was allowed. In the case of the railway workers the labourers themselves were allowed to elect by ballot their own representative. But when the Indian Grievances Commission was appointed, then not only was no representation allowed, but there was not even consultation.-The Indian community does not claim political franchise in S. Africa, but it does claim equal justice.

Now it cannot be too often repeated that this question of self-respect is crucial in S. Africa. It is not the £3 tax: it is not the money lost by withdrawal of licenses: it is not economic disabilities, which are the final issues. Far beyond these, is the question of the Indian status and position. The Indians in S. Africa can say, in the words of Shakespeare

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Mr. Gandhi had grasped this vital fact from the first day he set foot in South Africa, nearly twenty-five years ago, and he has never wavered for a single instant where Indian honour was at stake. This has constituted the greatness of his leadership and the wonder of his endurance. It has also formed the glory of the response from the Indians who have followed him to prison. The poorest and humblest men and women, just out of indenture, have been raised by Mr. Gandhi to his own readiness to sacrifice everything for the Indian cause. Muhammadans have grasped the vital issue equally with Hindus. The very life of the Indian community in S. Africa has depended on this one intangible thing-honour, and practically every Indian has responded in one way or another. When it is remembered that the Indians in S. Africa come chiefly from the coolie class, the moral courage which they have displayed is indeed remarkable. They have already gone to prison by thousands. In the Transvaal 2,500 out of a population of 10,000 Indians (making one in four of the population) went to prison, rather than give their finger-impressions after the manner of criminals. At the beginning of this year there were more than 4,000 in the prisons of Natal: and Mr. Gandhi had the pledge of the community, that if the struggle were re-opened, this number would be raised to 20,000. Though weighed down by the indenture system, though treated as inferiors and despised every day of their lives by those of another race: yet little by little these same Indian men and women (under Mr. Gandhi's leadership) have risen to such a position, that the respect of the European population has been freely given them on account of their moral endurance. It was repeatedly said to me during the General Strike,-"If the Indians had been out instead of the miners they wouldn't have given in so

There is a tiny body of 'discontents' who call themselves The Natal Indian Congress, but they are a negligible quantity. I do not wish to imply that all Indians except these have been ready to go to prison; but they have been ready to make some sacrifice for the cause.

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