GANDHI DEVOTES HIS BIRTHDAY TO PRAYER, FASTING, SPINNING
Recd. 12.23 p.m. New Delhi, Oct. 2 Gandhi devoted his 78th birthdaytoday to prayer, fasting, spinning and work for India and Pakistan peace, says the Associated Press correspondent. India celebrated the birthday as a public holiday. Gandhi rose in the moonlight at 3.30 a.m., despite influenza and a bad cough, and conducted a household prayer meeting. By 4.15 a.m. he was squatting cross-legged at a 14-inch high desk. At 5.15 a.m. Gandhi took his usual walk in the garden of his temporary headquarters, leaning slightly on the shou’ders of two young women.
In a statement, he said: With every breath I prr.y God will give" me to quench the flames or remove me from this earth. I who have staked my life to gain India’s independence, do not wish to be a living witness to its destruction. lam aware of the terrible sufferings of the Sikhs and Hindus in the West Punjab, but I appeal to them to leave it to the Indian Government to secure justice. This is an occasion for penance, prayer and self-purification.” The Indian Press praised Gandhi as the "Father of Independence.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19471003.2.48
Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, 3 October 1947, Page 5
Word Count
194GANDHI DEVOTES HIS BIRTHDAY TO PRAYER, FASTING, SPINNING Wanganui Chronicle, 3 October 1947, Page 5
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the Wanganui Chronicle. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.