Ahmedabad, Oct 2 (PTI) Mahatma Gandhi’s writings on subjects ranging from religion, politics and education to democracy, farming and economics remain relevant in the present day because they offer practical answers to problems that persist, a board member of Navajivan Trust said here on Friday.
The Ahmedabad-based Navajivan Trust, established in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi, has played a key role in preserving, publishing and disseminating his writings.
“The breadth of Gandhi’s writings was one of the lesser-known aspects of his literary legacy. Whether it is religion, politics, education, villages, democracy, farming, or economics, there is nothing he hasn’t spoken about. Since the problems of the past persist today, his writings offer many answers to these modern issues,” said Soham Patel, a board member of Navajivan Trust.
Patel, who has been associated with Navajivan Trust for 14 years and works in its publication department, said Gandhi’s writings are not restricted to the circumstances in which they were written and continue to have wider relevance.
“These answers are still applicable today. They are highly functional and broadly generalized rather than being overly context-specific,” he asserted.
Patel said Gandhi’s 1940 Will entrusted all copyrights of his writings to the Trust with the objective of protecting them from distortion or misinterpretation, adding that the Trust’s responsibility involves three main aspects, namely securing, publishing, and disseminating his writings.
The Trust has published more than 1,500 books over the past 106 years, including compilations of Gandhi’s views on specific subjects such as naturopathy, with the Mahatma’s autobiography ‘My Experiments with Truth’ remaining among the best-known of his works.
The Trust has published it in more than 18 Indian languages and, as the original copyright holder, has issued licences for its translation and publication in more than 30 foreign languages.
“The autobiography and other Gandhian literature have a substantial readership in south India, particularly in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages. The statistics clearly show it. The Gujarati version was first published in 1927. The Malayalam edition, published in the 1990s, has recorded sales that has exceed the sales of the Gujarati edition over 100 years,” he said.
The literature also reaches readers through programmes in south India and Maharashtra, where books are distributed to take Gandhian thought to households, Patel said.
Outside India, English is the most widely read language for Gandhi’s literature, followed by French and Spanish, Patel added.
“The English version of Gandhi’s autobiography was translated by his principal secretary Mahadev Desai during Gandhi’s lifetime and reviewed by Gandhi himself. The language carries that essence, which is why it is read so much,” Patel said.
While the Trust continues to bring out new publications, its focus in recent years has also been on reviving Gandhi’s older works that had gone out of print.
Patel said several books became unavailable over the years because they did not have enough demand to justify large-scale printing.
However, the originals were preserved in the Trust’s archives and can now be reprinted in small quantities using new technology.
“We are putting massive effort into reviving the old literature, which contains Gandhiji’s own original words. In today’s time, we feel that is the only way we can truly reach Gandhiji himself; we can only get closer to him through his own writings,” Patel said.
He said technology was also helping the Trust take Gandhi’s writings to younger generations, who increasingly read on phones and other digital devices rather than physical books.
Digitization of Gandhian literature is essential, and Navajivan is actively undertaking this task, Patel pointed out.
The Trust’s efforts also reflect Gandhi’s own emphasis on making his writings affordable.
“Gandhi had strictly instructed the organisation to keep book prices within the reach of readers, but the economics of bulk printing sometimes resulted in books becoming unavailable when copies remained unsold. Now, utilizing new technology, we have been able to revive those titles, and we are doing it again and again,” he said. PTI PJT PD BNM
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