mahatma gandhi-autobiography
January 30, 2007
From: Mrityunjay Bose
Gandhiji's autobiography still attracts rich and poor
MUMBAI: Sixty years after his death, Mahatma Gandhi's 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' is still catching young and old, rich and poor and till date nearly 40 lakh copies have been sold – which in itself is a record.
"It is a bestseller by all means. Till December last year more than 35.52 lakh copies had been sold," says veteran Gandhian TRK Somaiya of Gandhi Book Centre and Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal. "The message in the autobiography is unique," he said pointing out that at the annual exhibition of books on Gandhiji held at Hutatma Chowk, it is still attracting crowd and on Tuesday several hundred copies had been sold.
The 'My Experiments with Truth' – as the book is also known is originally published by Ahmedabad-based Navajivan Trust and nearly 35 lakh copies of it has been sold, besides some lakhs in foreign languages.
The autobiography is available in English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Telegu, Asamese, Tamil and Oriya. Besides English, the other foreign languages in which it has been published are French, German, Spanish, Italian, Korean and Japanese.
"At a time when the country is ridden with violence, corruption and deceit, it would surprise many to know that Gandhiji's autobiography, which gives the message of truth, non-violence and peace is amongst the books in top seller list. And the demand is increasing day by day," Somaiya told 'The Herald'.
Although the book did not have a great demand in the initial years of its publication the demand went up in 1984 after the release of Richard Attenborough's film, Gandhi.
Somaiya started selling the copies of the book outside cinema houses those days. When the demand for the book started going up, he set up the Gandhi Book Centre. Today the centre has 190 titles on Gandhiji in different languages. There are 350 translated books. The demand for these books had gone down for a while.
But the sale went up after the release of the film 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', which spoke about Gandhian thoughts, said Somaiya.
This year, 35,000 students from 173 schools and colleges voluntarily appeared for the Gandhi Peace Exam based on the Gandhi's autobiography.
Several inmates of various jails in Mumbai are drawing inspiration from Satyache Prayog. Laxman Gole, an inmate of the Nashik jail, confessed to his crimes, before the court, after reading the book. He has also vowed to follow the Gandhian path of truth and non-violence.
Sarvodaya Mandal has, over a period of five years, distributed 2,500 copies of Gandhiji's autobiography in various jails in Maharashtra. Nobody is forced to read this book. The inmates are first shown Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Do Aankhe Bara Hath. Somaiya stated that a large number of inmates of the jails have expressed their desire to read Gandhiji's autobiography after seeing these films.
Nineteen new books in English, Marathi and Gujarati have been published in the last two years. Among these books are Mohanmaya by Ramdas Bhatkal, Gandhi, Gita and Gitai by Prof Vilas Patil; Dhulitoon Dhurandar is a Marathi translation of Narayan Desai's book entitled GAndhi GAnga, a collection of articles by eminent writers on Gandhiji. The translation is done by Vishwas Patil. All these books are in great demand.
Points out Somaiya: "A legislator from Tamil Nadu was given a unique sentence by a Madurai court. He has been ordered to visit the Gandhi Museum for five days and to read Gandhiji's autobiography and other books on him. The court felt that there would be a change in the MLA's attitude after reading the book."
From: Mrityunjay Bose
Gandhiji's autobiography still attracts rich and poor
MUMBAI: Sixty years after his death, Mahatma Gandhi's 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' is still catching young and old, rich and poor and till date nearly 40 lakh copies have been sold – which in itself is a record.
"It is a bestseller by all means. Till December last year more than 35.52 lakh copies had been sold," says veteran Gandhian TRK Somaiya of Gandhi Book Centre and Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal. "The message in the autobiography is unique," he said pointing out that at the annual exhibition of books on Gandhiji held at Hutatma Chowk, it is still attracting crowd and on Tuesday several hundred copies had been sold.
The 'My Experiments with Truth' – as the book is also known is originally published by Ahmedabad-based Navajivan Trust and nearly 35 lakh copies of it has been sold, besides some lakhs in foreign languages.
The autobiography is available in English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Telegu, Asamese, Tamil and Oriya. Besides English, the other foreign languages in which it has been published are French, German, Spanish, Italian, Korean and Japanese.
"At a time when the country is ridden with violence, corruption and deceit, it would surprise many to know that Gandhiji's autobiography, which gives the message of truth, non-violence and peace is amongst the books in top seller list. And the demand is increasing day by day," Somaiya told 'The Herald'.
Although the book did not have a great demand in the initial years of its publication the demand went up in 1984 after the release of Richard Attenborough's film, Gandhi.
Somaiya started selling the copies of the book outside cinema houses those days. When the demand for the book started going up, he set up the Gandhi Book Centre. Today the centre has 190 titles on Gandhiji in different languages. There are 350 translated books. The demand for these books had gone down for a while.
But the sale went up after the release of the film 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', which spoke about Gandhian thoughts, said Somaiya.
This year, 35,000 students from 173 schools and colleges voluntarily appeared for the Gandhi Peace Exam based on the Gandhi's autobiography.
Several inmates of various jails in Mumbai are drawing inspiration from Satyache Prayog. Laxman Gole, an inmate of the Nashik jail, confessed to his crimes, before the court, after reading the book. He has also vowed to follow the Gandhian path of truth and non-violence.
Sarvodaya Mandal has, over a period of five years, distributed 2,500 copies of Gandhiji's autobiography in various jails in Maharashtra. Nobody is forced to read this book. The inmates are first shown Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Do Aankhe Bara Hath. Somaiya stated that a large number of inmates of the jails have expressed their desire to read Gandhiji's autobiography after seeing these films.
Nineteen new books in English, Marathi and Gujarati have been published in the last two years. Among these books are Mohanmaya by Ramdas Bhatkal, Gandhi, Gita and Gitai by Prof Vilas Patil; Dhulitoon Dhurandar is a Marathi translation of Narayan Desai's book entitled GAndhi GAnga, a collection of articles by eminent writers on Gandhiji. The translation is done by Vishwas Patil. All these books are in great demand.
Points out Somaiya: "A legislator from Tamil Nadu was given a unique sentence by a Madurai court. He has been ordered to visit the Gandhi Museum for five days and to read Gandhiji's autobiography and other books on him. The court felt that there would be a change in the MLA's attitude after reading the book."
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