The settlement and self-reliance

Gandhi and the lawyers now began a far-reaching inquiry into the peasants' grievances. They recorded statements from about ten thousand peasants, and gathered documents. The government set up an official commission of inquiry, with Gandhi as its only representative of the peasants.

The commission found against the planters, and they agreed in principle to refund money to the peasants. How much? Gandhi had asked for 50 per cent. The planters' representative offered 25 per cent, thinking Gandhi would refuse, and he surprised everyone by accepting it. He explained that the amount of the refund mattered less than the fact that the landlords had been obliged to give up part of the money and, with it, part of their prestige. The landlords had behaved as lords above the law; now the peasant saw that he had rights, and defenders. He learned courage.

Events proved him right. Within a few years the British planters abandoned their estates, which went back to the peasants, and indigo sharecropping disappeared.

Gandhi never contented himself with large political or economic solutions. In Champaran, he also worked on the cultural and social backwardness of the villages. He appealed for teachers; with their help, primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturbai, his wife, taught the ashram rules on personal cleanliness and community sanitation. Health conditions were miserable, and Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer for six months. Only three medicines were available: castor oil, quinine and sulphur ointment.

When C. F. Andrews, an English pacifist and a devoted follower of Gandhi, offered to stay in Champaran and help, the lawyers thought he would be a great support. Gandhi opposed it: having an Englishman on their side showed the weakness of their hearts. Their cause was just, and they must rely upon themselves to win. This was a lesson in self-reliance. Gandhi said that what he did in Champaran was a turning point in his life: it led him to decide that the British must leave India.