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When
Gandhi went to South Africa on a legal assignment he had little idea
of the struggles that awaited him. His troubles started early. On
the second or third day after his arrival, he went to see the Durban
court. In the court the Magistrate kept staring at Gandhi and
finally asked him to take off his turban. This he refused to do and
left the court.
Later his client Abdulla Sheth who had accompanied him told him the
reason why some Indians were required to take off their turbans.
The Indians in South Africa Gandhi found out were divided into
different groups. One was that of Musalman merchants, who would call
themselves 'Arabs.' Another was that of Hindu, and yet another of
Parsi, clerks. The Hindu clerks were neither here nor there, unless
they cast in their lot with the 'Arab.' The Parsi clerks would call
themselves Persians. These three classes had some social relations
with one another. But by far the largest class was that composed of
Tamil, Telugu and North Indian indentured and freed labourers. The
other three classes had none but business relations with this class.
Englishmen called them' coolies' and as the majority of Indians
belonged to the labouring class, all Indians were called 'coolies,'
or 'samis'. "Those wearing the Musalman costume" Sheth said "might
keep their turbans on, but the other Indians on entering a court
have to take theirs off as a rule."
Being obliged to take off one's Indian turban would be pocketing an
insult. So Gandhi thought that he'd better bid good-bye to the
Indian turban and begin wearing an English hat, which would save him
from the insult and the unpleasant controversy. |
But
Abdulla Sheth disapproved of the idea. He said, "If you do anything of
the kind, it will have a very bad effect. You will compromise those
insisting on wearing Indian turbans. And an Indian turban sits well on
your head. If you wear an English hat, you will pass for a waiter."
Gandhi felt that the reference to the waiter betrayed a kind of
narrowness in Abdulla's thinking, but on the whole he liked the advice.
He wrote to the press about the incident and defended the wearing of his
turban in the court. The question was widely discussed in the papers.
Some described him as an 'unwelcome visitor' and criticized him while a
few supported him. On the whole the incident served as a kind of
advertisement for Gandhi and his principles in the region. His turban,
of course, stayed with him practically until the end of his stay in
South Africa. |
