The original title of this work, when it was first compiled in Gujarati, gave primacy to Gandhi's 'experiments with truth' over 'autobiography'. In An Autobiography, which went on to become one of the most widely read and translated Indian books of all time, Gandhi emerged as an exemplary protagonist not by hiding his faults, but by laying bare his fumbling, evolving self for all to see. The candid account allowed the world to glimpse his transformation from a well-meaning lawyer into a Satyagrahi and an ashramite.

In this first-ever Critical Edition of the classic text, eminent scholar Tridip Suhrud attempts to bring the reader closer to Gandhi. With alternative translations, he captures the flavour, cadence and quirkiness of the Gujarati as well as Gandhi's transparent writing style. Through the deeply researched notes, he elucidates the contexts and characters in the book, providing a comprehensive historical background. And in the insightful introduction Suhrud shines new light on Gandhi's thought and life, tracing his evolution into a seeker of Truth as God.

This special edition of the Autobiography, published on the occasion of Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, is an absorbing, illuminating text about the life-affirming journey of an extraordinary Indian and a universal icon for non-violent struggle.

An Autobiography: Or, The Story of My Experiments with Truth; Part I; Introduction; Birth and Parentage; Childhood; Child Marrriage; Playing the Husband; At the High School; A Tragedy; A Tragedy Continued; Stealing and Atonement; My Father's Death and My Double Shame; Glimpses of Religion; Preparation for England; Outcaste; In London at Last; My Choice; Playing the English Gentleman; Changes; Experiments in Dietetics; Shyness My Shield; The Canker of Untruth; Acquaintance with Religions; 'Nirbal Ke Bala Rama'; Narayan Hemchandra; The Great Exhibition; 'Called', but then?; My Helplessness.
Part IIRaychandbhai; How I Began Life; The First Case; The First Shock; Preparing for South Africa; Arrival in Natal; Some Experiences; On the Way to Pretoria; More Hardships; First Day in Pretoria; Christian Contacts; Seeking Touch with Indians; What it is to be a 'Coolie'; Preparation for the Case; Religious Ferment; Man Proposes, God Disposesment; Settled in Natal; Colour Bar; Natal Indian Congress; Balasundaram; The £3 Tax; Comparative Study of Religions; As a Householder; Homeward; In India; Two Passions; The Bombay Meeting; Poona and Madras; 'Return Soon'; Part III.
Rumblings of the StormThe Storm; The Test; The Calm After the Storm; Education of Children; Spirit of Service; Brahmacharya I; Brahmacharya II; Simple Life; The Boer War; Sanitary Reform and Famine Relief; Return to India; In India Again; Clerk and Bearer; In the Congress; Lord Curzon's Darbar; A Month with Gokhale I; A Month with Gokhale II; A Month with Gokhale III; In Benares; Settled in Bombay?; Faith on Its Trial; To South Africa Again; Part IV; 'Love's Labour's Lost'?; Autocrats from Asia; Pocketed the Insult; Quickened Spirit of Sacrifice; Result of Introspection.
A Sacrifice to VegetarianismExperiments in Earth and Water Treatment; A Warning; A Tussle with Power; A Sacred Recollection and Penance; Intimate European Contacts; European Contacts (Continued); Indian Opinion; Coolie Locations or Ghettoes?; The Black Plague I; The Black Plague II; Location in Flames; The Magic Spell of a Book; The Phoenix Settlement; The First Night; Polak Takes the Plunge; Whom God Protects; A Peep into the Household; The Zulu 'Rebellion'; Heart Searchings; The Birth of Satyagraha; More Experiments in Dietetics; Kasturbai's Courage; Domestic Satyagraha.
Towards Self-RestraintFasting; As Schoolmaster; Literary Training; Training of the Spirit; Tares Among the Wheat; Fasting as Penance; To Meet Gokhale; My Part in the War; A Spiritual Dilemma; Miniature Satyagraha; Gokhale's Charity; Treatment of Pleurisy; Homeward; Some Reminiscences of the Bar; Sharp Practice?; Clients Turned Co-Workers; How a Client was Saved; Part V; The First Experience; With Gokhale in Poona; Was it a Threat?; Shantiniketan; Woes of Third Class Passengers; Wooing; Kumbha Mela; Lakshman Jhula; Founding of the Ashram; On the Anvil; Abolition of Indentured Emigration.