The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Gandhi wrote his autobiography in weekly installments in his journal Navjivan from 1925 to 1929, translating from Gujarati for simultaneous English publication in his journal Young India. The book covers his life from childhood in Porbandar through his student years in London, two decades as a lawyer and activist in South Africa, and his return to India up to 1921. He structures the narrative as a record of personal experiments rather than a conventional memoir: experiments with diet, with celibacy (brahmacharya), with simplicity, and above all with satyagraha — the discipline of nonviolent resistance he developed in South Africa and brought to India.

Gandhi writes with unusual candour about his child marriage, his failures and moments of dishonesty, his struggle with physical fear, and his evolving understanding of God as Truth. The five parts trace the slow formation of the methods that would define the Indian independence movement. In 1998 a panel of global spiritual and religious authorities named it one of the 100 best spiritual books of the twentieth century.

My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God than Truth.

Part V

First lines

It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I believe, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all my experiments will not be without benefit to the reader.

Contents

Reception

The autobiography is noted for its direct, idiomatic prose and the candour of its self-portrayal. George Orwell, in his 1949 essay "Reflections on Gandhi," wrote that the book showed Gandhi's "natural physical courage" and freedom from racial prejudice, though he judged it "not a literary masterpiece" and found it "the more impressive because of the commonplaceness of much of its material." Scholars in South Asian history, political theory, and religious studies have treated it as a primary source for interpreting Gandhi's thought and methods; it has been reprinted continuously since its first US publication in 1948. The Beacon Press edition (1993), with a foreword by Sissela Bok, is the standard English version in wide circulation. All royalties from the Beacon Press edition are paid to the Navajivan Trust, which Gandhi founded.

Frequently asked

What is The Story of My Experiments with Truth about?

It is Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, covering his life from childhood in Porbandar through his years in London, two decades of activism in South Africa, and his return to India up to 1921. Gandhi frames the narrative as a series of personal experiments — with diet, celibacy, simplicity, and nonviolent resistance — rather than a conventional memoir.

Why did Gandhi write his autobiography?

He began writing in 1925 at the insistence of fellow workers who wanted him to explain the background of his public campaigns. Gandhi serialized it in weekly installments in his journal Navjivan, with simultaneous English translation in Young India, and completed it in 1929.

What language was the autobiography originally written in?

Gandhi wrote it in Gujarati under the title Satyana Prayogo Athava Atmakatha. The standard English translation was made by Mahadev Desai; Chapters XXIX–XLIII of Part V were translated by Pyarelal Nayyar.