3 Review(s)

Who is responsible for the Mahatma's death? Just one determined zealot, the larger ideology that supported him, the Congress-led government that failed to protect him or a vast majority of Indians and their descendants who considered Gandhi irrelevant, and endorsed violence instead? Paranjape's meticulous study culminates in his reading of Gandhi's last six months in Delhi where, from the very edge of the grave, he wrought what was perhaps his greatest miracle-the saving of Delhi and thus of India itself from the internecine bloodshed of Partition. Paranjape, taking a cue from the Mahatma himself, also shows us a way to expiate our guilt and heal the wounds of an ancient civilization torn into two. This is a brilliant, farreaching and profound exploration of the meaning of the Mahatma's death.