ABSTRACT
When I first saw Mahātmā Gāndhi at the Round Table Conference in 1931 I asked how far he was saint and how far astute politician. Later I realized that the question was unanswerable: the two aspects were inextricably blended in a singularly complex character. In India saints can be politicians just as they could in medieval Europe. The ascetic interpreter of sacred writings may win for himself a place in a still largely religious community which no politician can hope to achieve in the sceptical and mechanized West. Gāndhi differs from all the other unclothed holy men whom you may meet anywhere in India because his religious inspiration had survived a lawyer’s training, a wide reading of Western books, a knowledge of the world and ruthless examination by his own powerful intellect. It is this constant testing and application of religious principle by the process of reason that fascinates me in Gāndhi.
