The Story of My Experiments with Truth · Chapter
XXII: Narayan Hemchandra explained
Gandhi meets the eccentric Gujarati writer Narayan Hemchandra in London, who despite his lack of English grammar and unconventional dress, possesses a boundless ambition for learning languages and foreign travel.
What happens
Gandhi meets the eccentric Gujarati writer Narayan Hemchandra in London, who despite his lack of English grammar and unconventional dress, possesses a boundless ambition for learning languages and foreign travel. Their friendship deepens over shared vegetarianism and simple living, and they visit Cardinal Manning together. Narayan Hemchandra later travels to Paris and America, where he faces prosecution for his attire.
Themes in this chapter
Vegetarianism and Dietary Discipline
Both Gandhi and Narayan Hemchandra are vegetarians; they share meals, with Gandhi cooking English-style and Hemchandra preferring Indian dal and mung.
Self-Discipline and Simplicity
Narayan Hemchandra lives with minimal food and clothing, travels third class or on deck, and values inner worth over outward appearance, reflecting a life of simplicity.
Education and Self-Improvement
Narayan Hemchandra's relentless pursuit of learning languages (English, French, German) and his ambition to travel to France, Germany, and America exemplify self-education.
Characters to notice
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Narrator and friend to Narayan Hemchandra; lives frugally, cooks for himself, and acts as interpreter during the visit to Cardinal Manning.
- Narayan Hemchandra
A Gujarati writer with a queer appearance and dress, innocent of grammar but ambitious to learn many languages and travel the world; shares vegetarianism and simplicity with Gandhi.
- Mr. Coates
Not directly mentioned in this chapter; no relevant appearance.
Key passages
“I have never been to school like you. I have never felt the need of grammar in expressing my thoughts. Well, do you know Bengali? I know it. I have travelled in Bengal. It is I who have given Maharshi Devendranath Tagore's works to the Gujarati-speaking world.”
Narayan Hemchandra tells Gandhi that he never attended school and doesn't rely on grammar to express himself. He boasts of knowing Bengali and having translated Maharshi Devendranath Tagore's works into Gujarati.
Hemchandra's unconventional self-education and pride in his literary contributions.
“What do I need money for? I am not a fashionable fellow like you. The minimum amount of food and the minimum amount of clothing suffice for me. And for this what little I get out of my books and from my friends is enough. I always travel third class. While going to America also I shall travel on deck.”
Hemchandra explains his frugal lifestyle, needing only minimal food and clothing, funded by his books and friends, and his habit of traveling third class or on deck.
Illustrates Hemchandra's extreme simplicity and disregard for material comforts.