A burst of freedom
August 4, 2024
At the end of July 1933, Gandhi disbanded the Sabarmati ashram and prepared to set out on a march with thirty-odd men and women. The British ordered their arrest before they could leave, and after a short hearing, Gandhi was transferred to Yerwada Prison.
Built by the British in 1871 outside the city of Pune, the Yerwada prison complex covered more than 500 acres and incarcerated thousands of people. This was Gandhi’s fourth time here; he’d been held here after his 1922 criminal conviction, detained for months after the 1930 Salt March, and then again in 1932. More than three years of his life had been spent inside its walls so far, but on August 4, 1933, he would get a short burst of freedom.
Gandhi welcomed time in prison; it was a second home for satyagrahi and generated time for contemplation. In 1930, he’d written a series of letters to the ashram, reflecting on the various vows and observances. The collection was published with the nickname he often used to describe his location: From Yerwada Temple.
At 9am on August 4, Gandhi was freed. However, he was also served with a government order detailing the terms and conditions. He was to leave the village of Yerwada by 9:30, and from 10:30am on, remain inside the city limits of Pune. While residing there, he was not to encourage civil disobedience, nor was he to attend or address any meeting of a dozen or more people without permission, in advance, from the District Magistrate.1
Gandhi had already informed the authorities that he had no intention of complying. His secretary, Mahadev Desai, was released alongside him, and the two men enjoyed a bit of freedom as they waited to be rearrested. I wonder if Gandhi thought back to his first act of civil disobedience 40 years earlier, and the anxious waiting for a constable to come and forcibly eject him from the first class train car. After a ten minute grace period expired, they were taken into custody again.
The trial was held the afternoon of August 4; Gandhi’s offer to plead guilty and save the trouble of calling witnesses was declined. Under questioning, he gave his occupation as “a spinner, a weaver, and a farmer” and his residence as Yerwada Jail. Gandhi professed “no desire” to receive any special treatment and asked to be placed with the lowest class of prisoners.2 Both he and Desai were convicted and sentenced to one year’s simple imprisonment.
Once back in his cell, Gandhi began writing letters to the prison authorities, telling them the special treatment he would require during his stay in Yerwada Temple. When they balked, he threatened a fast to the death. But that’s another story…
When have you been given a deadline that carried heavy consequences?
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Order restraining Gandhiji’s movements, August 4, 1933) pp. 30,015-16
Ibid (Trial at Poona, August 4, 1933) pp. 29,833-36