‘Hind Swaraj: the Indian Home Rule’, a small book written by Mahatma Gandhi 100 years ago, is to be published by the Navjivan Press once again — this time in a collector’s edition. This book is standard reference for committed Gandhians, as well as for students of the Gandhian philosophy that came to constitute the ideological basis of India’s freedom struggle.
Gandhi wrote ‘Hind Swaraj’ in 10 days — from November 13 to November 22, 1909 — while returning from London on the ship, ‘Kildonon Castle’. Jitendra Desai, managing trustee of Navjivan Trust, said that this is the only book that was printed with Gandhiji’s handwriting.
“It is unique in many respects,” he said. “Gandhiji wrote it in his mother tongue, Gujarati, and then translated it into English himself. More importantly, this small classic is the key to an understanding of his thought, which is relevant even today, a century after the book was written.”
Desai further said that Navjivan Publishing House had first published ‘Hind Swaraj’ in the Mahatma’s handwriting in 1923, on his 54th birthday. “The publisher of that edition was late Ramdas Gandhi, the third son of Gandhiji,” he said. “Navjivan trust is now publishing it in a collector’s edition. We plan to release the new edition on November 23 at Sabarmati Ashram and at 4-5 other places in the country.”
The first edition of ‘Hind Swaraj’ that was published in Bapu’s own handwriting is not available anymore.
“The design used for the collector’s edition was made in 1985-86 by Swati Sarin Bakshi, a student of the National Institute of Design (NID),” Desai said. “She had made the design as part of a project for her course at NID. We have used her design with minor changes.”
He said that this being the centenary year of the book, the Navjivan trust had received many queries about the edition containing the text in Gandhiji’s own handwriting.
The collector’s edition will have the original Gujarati manuscript in Gandhi’s handwriting along with its English and Hindi versions.
“Gandhiji was comfortable writing with either hand,” Desai said. “When his right hand got tired, he wrote with his left hand. In the new edition, one can see that the handwriting of his left hand was better than that of his right hand.”
Navjivan has printed 2,000 copies of the Mahatma’s classic work. “One thousand copies have been printed on hand-made paper; they are priced at Rs500 per copy,” said Desai. “Another 1,000 copies have been printed on normal, good quality paper and they are priced at Rs300 per copy. The collector’s edition has 324 pages.”
Separate paperback editions of the book in Gujarati, English and Hindi will also be published. The paperback editions will have around 100 pages each and will be priced at Rs10 per copy.
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