When Mahatmaji was sentenced for six years in 1922 for his non-cooperation movement, he was allowed to receive a few visitors and read books. Not wasting even a single second of his time in jail, he planned in such a way that would be called ‘workaholic’ or ‘busybody’. But for him, remaining busy was the only way to relax. Laziness was never in his life’s dictionary. In the footnotes, it gives the details:
“Gandhiji was taken to the Yeravda Central Jail on March 21, 1922. During the period of his imprisonment there, he read, in all, about 150 books on religion, literature, social and natural sciences. In the series, My Jail Experiences, which appeared in Young India from April 1924, Gandhiji offered detailed comments on some of these books.” — p. 409, CWMG, vol. 26
These are the books of books he read in jail within two years, as he was released before completing his six-year term due to his health, is mind-blowing. It is not the number of books but the topic that covered on various subjects is worth noting. This he has done amidst his other regular activities. He spent several hours a day reading books. Who knows how much more he would have read if he were allowed to complete his full sentence, for which he regretted getting early release, not completing his full term. In the following list, I keep only the date and title of the books and not other details. This covers only books in English and Sanskrit. Though in the footnotes, it is mentioned about the list of books, it was not included in this volume. I removed the page numbers in this from this volume CWMG 26
Gurukulam 31-5-20234
APRIL 212 ,
Upto today, I have read the following books:3
Master and His Teaching
Arm of God
Christianity in Practice
By an Unknown Disciple
Satyagraha aur Asahayoga
The Koran
The way to Begin Life
Trips to the Moon
Indian Administration (Thakore)
The Ramayana-TulsidasI have started baking chapatis since yesterday.
APRIL 22,
finished reading Natural History of Birds.APRIL 23,
Finished reading The Young Crusader.
Gave up lemons and sugar from today.
APRIL 26,
Yesterday I finished reading A History of Scotland-Book I.
The Rev. Lawrence has sent me Bible View of the World.
APRIL 29,
Finished reading the book sent by the Rev. Lawrence.
Glanced through a book on martyrs.2
MAY 1,
Finished reading A History of ScotlandBook II….
MAY 5,
Finished reading Farrar’s Seekers after God. Stopped taking oranges since yesterday.
MAY 6,
Finished reading A History of Scotland….
Finished reading Misar Kumari.
MAY 12,
Finished reading Stories from the History of Rome….
(p. 410)
MAY 17,
Finished reading Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Some portions of it are beautiful.
from the same book as above.
MAY 20,
Finished reading Bacon’s The Wisdom of the Ancients….
MAY 28,
Read the history of India up to the Moghul dynasty. Went thro-ugh Morris’s grammar.
MAY 29,
Finished reading Chandrakant, Part II, as also Patanjali’s Yogadarshan.
Started reading the Gujarati translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana.
MAY 31,
Finished reading Kipling’s The Five Nations
JUNE 4,
Finished reading Edward Bellamy’s Equality.
JUNE 7,
Finished reading St. Paul in Greece (by Davis).
JUNE 9,
Finished reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
JUNE 14,
Finished reading Pitt by Lord Rosebery.
JUNE 17,
Finished reading Kipling’s Second Jungle Book.
JUNE 21,
Finished reading Faust .
JUNE 24,
Finished reading John Howard’s life.
JUNE 25,
Finished reading Valmiki’s Ramayana. Started reading Shant-iparva2 , Part I.
JUNE 28,
Finished reading Jules Verne’s Dropped from the Clouds.
JULY 1,
Finished reading the life of Columbus by Irving….
JULY 5,
Warner came yesterday and gave me a box and some books. Commenced reading Girdhar’s Ramayana and The Crusades. Fini-shed reading Wilberforce’s Five Empires.
JULY 10,
Finished reading Lays of Ancient Rome.
JULY 13,
Finished reading The Crusades. Started reading Gibbon’s Rome .
JULY 16,
Finished reading Shantiparva, Part I. Started reading Part II.
JULY 18,
Finished reading First Urdu Book.
JULY 22,
Finished reading Girdhar’s Ramayana. Started reading Shrimad Bhagavat.
JULY 23,
Started reading Krishnacharitra (by Jhaveri).
JULY 29,
Finished reading Krishnalal Jhaveri’s Krishnacharitra.
AUGUST 4,
Finished reading Vaidya’s Krishnacharitra.
AUGUST 7,
Finished reading Gibbon, Vol. I. Started reading Vol II.
AUGUST 10,
Finished reading the Gita by Tilak, Shantiparva-Part II, and Bhagavat-Part I. Started reading Bhagavat-Part II.
AUGUST 24,
Finished reading Adiparva.
AUGUST 27,
Finished reading Bhagavat-Part II. Started reading Sabhaparva on . Started reading Sarasvatichandra.
AUGUST 28,
Finished reading Manusmriti. Started reading Ishopanishad.
AUGUST 30,
Finished reading Sabhaparva. Started reading Vanaparva.
SEPTEMBER 1,
Finished reading Gibbon, Vol. II. Finished reading Ishopani-
shad.
SEPTEMBER 2,
Started reading Gibbon, Vol. III.
SEPTEMBER 3,
Finished reading Sarasvatichandra-Part I. Started reading Part II.
SEPTEMBER 6,
Finished reading Sarasvatichandra-Part II. Started reading Part-III
SEPTEMBER 9,
Finished reading SarasvatichandraPart III. Started reading Part IV.
SEPTEMBER 20,
Finished reading Sarasvati-chandraPart IV today. Finished reading Kabir’s poems. Started reading Jacob Boehmen….
SEPTEMBER 23,
Finished reading Boehmen’s Supersensual Life.
(p. 415) 415
BOEHMEN, Supersensual Life.
Started reading Pro Christo et Ecclesia
SEPTEMBER 24,
Finished reading Kathavalli Upanishad
SEPTEMBER 25,
Finished reading Pro Christo et Ecclesia. Started reading Satyartha Prakasha. Finished reading Vanaparva..
SEPTEMBER 26,
Started reading Viratparva and Galilean.
SEPTEMBER 27,
Started reading Jnaneshwari
SEPTEMBER 30,
Finished reading Virataparva and Gibbon Vol. III.
OCTOBER 1,
Started Gibbon, Vol. IV, and Udyogaparva.
OCTOBER 3,
Finished reading Galilean.
Started reading Philo Christus and Fourth5 Urdu Book.
OCTOBER 15,
Finished reading Udyogaparva.
OCTOBER 16,
Started reading Bhishmaparva.
OCTOBER 18,
Finished reading Satyartha Prakasha.
OCTOBER 22,
Finished reading Bhishmaparva and Philo Christus.
OCTOBER 23,
Finished reading Gibbon. Started reading Dronaparva and Prem Mitra. Finished reading Jnaneshwari.
OCTOBER 24,
Finished reading Prem Mitra.
OCTOBER 25,
Started reading Shad-darshan-samuchchaya and The Gospel and the Plough. Started reading Nathuram Sharma’s commentary on the Gita.
OCTOBER 28,
Finished reading The Gospel and the Plough.
NOVEMBER 6,
Finished reading Dronaparva.
NOVEMBER 7,
Started reading Karnaparva. Shankerlal was taken ill yesterday:
he vomited, etc.
NOVEMBER 11,
Finished reading Karnaparva.
NOVEMBER 12,
Started reading Shalyaparva.
NOVEMBER 17,
Finished reading Shalyaparva. Left off oranges from today as an experiment. Started reading Anushasanparva.
NOVEMBER 22,
Finished reading Shad-darshan-samuchchaya.
NOVEMBER 27,
Finished reading Urdu Reader No 3. Started reading Urdu Rea-der No 4.
NOVEMBER 28,
Finished reading Anushasanparva. Started reading Ashvame-dhikaparva.
DECEMBER 2,
Finished reading Ashvamedhikaparva. Started reading Ashram-
vasik.
DECEMBER 4,
Finished reading the Mahabharata. Started reading the writings of poet Rajchandra. Had started reading the Mahabharata on June 25.
DECEMBER 6,
Commenced J. Brierly’s Ourselves and the Universe.
DECEMBER 9,
TERTULLIAN.
J. B RIERLY in Ourselves and the Universe
DECEMBER 15,
Completed J. Brierly’s Ourselves and the Universe.
DECEMBER 16,
Started reading What Christianity Means to Me by Lyman Abbott.
DECEMBER 25
Finished reading What Christianity Means to Me. Took raisins and figs sent by Anasuyabehn. (p.429)
- JAIL DIARY, 1923
JANUARY 3,
Finished reading Steps to Christianity yesterday. Started reading Trine’s My philosophy and Religion….
JANUARY 7,
Finished reading My Philosophy and Religion yesterday. Star-
ted reading Rabindranath’s Sadhana and Upanishad [-Prakash].
JANUARY 14,
Finished reading Sadhana yesterday.
FEBRUARY 4,
Finished reading Rajchandra’s writings and Ishopanishad with a commentary. Reading Kena1 . Completed the second reading of Urdu Book III. Finished reading Auto-suggestion….
FEBRUARY 5,
Finished reading Helps to Bible study. Started reading Max Muller’s translation of the Upanishads as also Well’s History.
FEBRUARY 22,
Finished reading Max-Muller’s translation to the Upanishads as also Upanishad-Prakash, Part III. Reading Part IV and Well’s History.
FEBRUARY 25,
Finished reading the Upanishad [-Prakash,] Part IV. Started reading Part V, Kathavalli Upanishad.
MARCH 2,
Finished reading Wells’s History, Part II, on February 28. Started reading the Bible yesterday. Finished reading the leaflet on the worship of Vishnu. Started reading Wells’s History, Part I.
MARCH 11,
Finished reading the Upanishad [-Prakash], Part V, on . Started reading Part VI…. Completed Urdu Book IV. Started reading Book V.
MARCH 16,
Finished reading Wells’s History, Part I, yesterday. Today glanced through Science of Peace by Bhagwandas.
MARCH 19,
Finished reading Kipling’s Barrack-room Ballads. Reading
Kena UpanishadGeddes’s Evolution of cities. Finished reading the pamphlet on Vedic religion.
MARCH 21,
Yesterday finished reading Geddes’ Evolution of Cities. Today started reading a biography of Ramanuja….
MARCH 22,
Finished reading the biography of Ramanujacharya. Started reading Sikh history.
MARCH 26,
Started reading Mirza’s Ethics of Islam yesterday.
MARCH 31,
Finished reading Sikh history and Mirza’s Ethics of Islam yesterday and started reading Benjamin Kidd’s Social Evolution. Started reading Buhler’s translation of Manusmriti today.
APRIL 4,
Finished reading Kidd’s Social Evolution yesterday. Finished reading Buhler’s preface to Manusmriti today. Started reading Rise of the Sikh Power by Gokulchand.
APRIL 9,
Yesterday finished reading Gokulchand’s Rise of the Sikh Power as also Kabir’s Songs by the Poet {Tagore} . Started reading Our Hellenic Heritage by James today. Started reading Dadachandji’s Avesta and Purani’s translation of Aurobindo’s2 Gitanishkarsha.
APRIL 17,
Finished reading James’s Our Hellenic Heritage….
APRIL 26,
Finished reading Upanishad-Prakash, Parts VII-X (Katho-panishad). Today started reading Part XI commencing with Prashno-panishad. Completed on the second reading of Urdu Reader No. I. S
APRIL 28,
Yesterday I finished reading Dadachandji’s Avesta and started reading Spencer’s Elements of Sociology. Today I started reading History of Sikhism by Macauliff.
MAY 9,
Finished reading Gitanishkarsha yesterday.
MAY 16,
Finished reading Herbert Spencer’s Elements of Sociology today. Also glanced through Shivram Pherwani’s Social Efficiency.
MAY 19,
Yesterday I finished reading Wadia’s Message of Mahomed and started reading Message of Christ. Finished reading Prashnopanishad.
MAY 20,
Started reading Mandukopanishad.
MAY 21,
Finished reading Hasan’s Saints of Islam. Started reading Moulton’s Early Zoroastrianism.
MAY 27,
Finished reading Kaka’s Himalayno Pravas and History of Sikhism. Part III. commenced reading Part IV and also Chandra-shankar’s Sitaharan. Read Rolf Evelyn’s Bars and Shadows.
MAY 31,
Finished reading Chandrashanker’s Sitaharan yesterday. Today finished reading Moulton’s Early Zoro-astrianism.
JUNE 1,
Finished reading Kishorelal’s book, Buddha and Mahavira, as also History of Sikhism, Part V.
JUNE 3,
Finished reading Kishorelal’s Rama and Krishna, and also History of Sikhism, Part VI.
JUNE 6,
Finished reading the story of Aurobindo’s imprisonment and Mandukopanishad.
JUNE 16,
Finished reading Man and Superman yesterday. Finished reading Bhagyano Varas today. Started reading English translation of Markandeya Purana.
JUNE 30,
At the beginning of this week, finished reading Poorva Rang by Kaka and Narahari and started reading the lectures given in the Puratatvamandir. Yesterday finished reading a book on an episode in the life of the Prophet in Urdu and started reading the account of the companions of the Prophet [Usva-e-Sahaba].
JULY 2,
Yesterday finished reading Markandeya Purana and started reading Chapters XV and XVI of Mandukyopanishad and Chapter XVII of Gaudapadacharya’s Karika.
Started reading today Buckle’s History of Civilization, Part I
JULY 7,
Finished reading the lecture series1 given at the Puratatva-mandir. Started reading Jaya-jayant.
JULY 10,
Yesterday finished reading the lecture series given at the Puratatvamandir and started reading Rabindranath’s book on ancient literature.
JULY 22,
Finished reading, during the week, the autobiography of Countess Tolstoy and Buckle’s History, Part I. Reading Part II and Kalapani-ni-katha. Wrote a letter3 to Mr. Griffiths about Dastane and others on .
JULY 30,
Finished reading Kalapani-ni-katha last week. Finished reading Sampattishastra, Part I. Reading Part II. Finished reading Juno Karar4 yester-day. Started reading Navo Karar5 today.
AUGUST 8,
Finished reading Buckle’s History, Part II, and Gitagovind.
AUGUST 12,
Finished reading the last part of the Upanishad [-Prakash], cov-ering Aitareya Brahmana and Taittiriya Brahmana. Started reading Chhandogya Upanishad. On , started reading Prof. James’s Varieties of Religious Experience. Finished reading Sampattishastra.
AUGUST 15,
Finished reading [Usva-e-]Sahaba today. Reading Stories from the History of Rome.
AUGUST 19,
Finished reading Buckle’s History, Part III. Started reading Hopkins’ Origin and Evolution of Religion.
AUGUST 23,
Finished reading Hopkins’ book. Started reading Lecky’s European Morals
AUGUST 26,
Finished reading James’s Varieties of Religious Experience. Four days ago finished reading Vinoba’s Maharashtra-Dharma, Part I. Part II. is about to be finished.
AUGUST 28,
Today finished writing Gitakosh1 . Started reading Holmes’ Freedom and Growth yesterday.
AUGUST 31,
Finished reading Holmes’ Freedom and Growth. Started reading Haeckel’s Evolution of Man.
SEPTEMBER 2,
Finished reading the Bible yesterday. Started reading an illustrated account of Jesus today.
SEPTEMBER 9,
Finished reading the illustrated account of Jesus and also Kavi’s Muktadhara and Dubtoon Vahan.2
Glossary to the Gita; it was later revised to incorporate meanings given to words and phrases in Gandhiji’s Anasaktiyoga (1929), a Gujarati translation of the Gita, and was published under the title Gitapadarthakosh, in 1936, by Navajivan Publishing House.
Plays by Rabindranath TagoreSEPTEMBER 16,
Finished reading the first part of Maulana Shibli’s life of the Prophet, and also the preface to the Koran by Dr. Mahomed Ali.
SEPTEMBER 28,
This week finished reading Vivekanand’s Rajayoga and Champakrai Jain’s Dharmani Ekata. Finished reading life of the Prophet (by Maulana Shibli) today.
SEPTEMBER 30,
Started reading Nicholson’s Mystics of Islam yesterday and finished it today. Started making the fair copy of Gitakosh today. Yesterday started reading Sahaba Ekram, Part II, and the unread portion of Urdu Reader No. V. Started reading Paul Carus’s Gospel of Buddha. Today Major Jones came to bid me farewell.
OCTOBER 7,
Finished reading Paul Carus’s Gospel of Buddha during the week. Reading Rhys Davids’ Hibbert Lectures on Buddhism. Started reading Ameer Ali’s Spirit of Islam today. Work on the fair copy of Gitakosh continues.
Finished reading Chhandogyopanishad today and started reading Brihadaranyak.
OCTOBER 14,
Finished reading Davids’ Hibbert Lectures on Buddhism.
Reading Sir Oliver Lodge’s Modern Problems.
OCTOBER 21,
Finished reading Sir Oliver Lodge’s Modern Problems and started the current issue of Puratatva.
OCTOBER 25,
Finished reading Ameer Ali’s book on .
Started reading Washington Irving’s Mahomed Yesterday.
Started reading Syadvada Manjari today.
NOVEMBER 4,
Finished reading Irving’s Mahomed.
STARTED READING HISTORY OF THE S ARACENS BY AMEER ALI.
NOVEMBER 11,
Finished reading Brihadaranyak Upanishad on . Started reading History of Civilization in Europe by Guizot on . Finished reading Sahaba, Part II, today. Will commence tomorrow Maulana Shibli’s biography of Hasrat Omar.
NOVEMBER 24,
Today finished reading Ameer Ali’s History of the Saracens and also making the fair copy of the Gitakosh. Yesterday finished reading Guizot’s History of Civilization in Europe. Today started reading Guizot’s History of Civilization in France, Part II.
NOVEMBER 26,
Yesterday started reading Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic. Today commenced writing the history of Satyagraha in South Africa2 . Finished reading Reese’s autobiography and started reading Rajam Iyer’s Vedantabhraman.
Originally in Gujarati, this book was published in two parts in 1924 and 1925 by the Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, and the English translation in 1928, by S. Ganesan, Madras.DECEMBER 9,
Today finished reading the first part of Motley’s book and star-ted the second part. Finished reading Rajam Iyer’s Vedanta-bhraman.
On finished reading Guizot’s History of Civilization in France, Part II, and started Part III.
Finished reading Syadvada Manjari today. Started reading Uttaradhyayan Sutra.
DECEMBER 15,
Finished reading Guizot and started Rosicrucian Mysteries.
DECEMBER 16,
Finished reading the second part of Motley’s book and started the third.
DECEMBER 23,
. On , finished reading Rosicrucian Mysteries and started Plato’s Dialogues. Today finished reading the biography of Hasrat Omar and started reading Maulana Shibli’s Al Kalam and also Woodroffe’s Shakta and Shakti. Finished reading Motley’s book.
DECEMBER 30,
Finished reading Uttaradhyayan Sutra and started Bhagavati Sutra. Finished reading Woodroffe’s Shakta and Shakti. finished reading the first part of Plato’s Dialogues and started the second.
APPENDIX: LIST OF BOOKS
Natural History
The Wisdom of the Ancients
Natural Features of India
Stories from the History of Rome See Diary of 23-4-1922
The Young Crusader
Lives of Fathers and Martyrs
Dropped from the CloudsIvanhoe
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Five Empires
Westward Ho
Seekers after God
The Five Nations: Kipling
The Second Jungle Book
J. HowardSatires and Epistles of Horace
Goethe’s Faust
Tropical Agriculture
Lays of Ancient Rome
Primer of Marathi Language
Natural History of BirdsEnoch Arden
Historical English Grammar
Scott’s Poetical Works
Life and Voyages of ColumbusMuktivivek2 Translation of Vidyaranyaswami’s book Kanta Do
The significance of the asterisks is not known, but the numerals apparently stand far catalogue numbers.
The originals of this and the following book were in Sanskrit.
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