The Story of My Experiments with Truth - Quiz
  • 1. What was the name of the pamphlet Gandhi published in India in 1896 regarding the plight of Indians in South Africa?
A) South African Gazette
B) Indian Reform Pamphlet
C) White Paper
D) Green Pamphlet
  • 2. Who helped escort Gandhi to safety when he arrived at Port Natal in 1896?
A) Local Indian laborers
B) The British Army
C) The police superintendent and his wife
D) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
  • 3. Which conflict did Gandhi assist in during his time in South Africa to show loyalty to the British Empire?
A) Indian Rebellion of 1857
B) Zulu Rebellion
C) First World War
D) Second Boer War
  • 4. What organization did Gandhi lead during the Boer War?
A) Indian Medical Corps
B) Natal Relief Association
C) Indian Infantry Battalion
D) Volunteer Ambulance Brigade
  • 5. In which important battle did the Boers defeat the British in January 1900?
A) Battle of Spion Kop
B) Battle of Mafeking
C) Battle of Ladysmith
D) Battle of Pretoria
  • 6. Who helped found the Indian National Congress in 1885?
A) Jan Christian Smuts
B) Joseph Chamberlain
C) John Ruskin
D) Allan Octavian Hume
  • 7. With whom did Gandhi stay for a month while attending the 1901 Indian National Congress?
A) Gopal Krishna Gokhale
B) Joseph Chamberlain
C) Allan Octavian Hume
D) Jan Christian Smuts
  • 8. Who was the Secretary of State for the Colonies that rebuffed Gandhi's petition regarding discriminatory policies?
A) Lord Curzon
B) Joseph Chamberlain
C) Allan Octavian Hume
D) Jan Christian Smuts
  • 9. What was the name of the magazine Gandhi started to advocate for political liberty in South Africa?
A) The Natal Herald
B) The Truth Seeker
C) Indian Opinion
D) Satyagraha Gazette
  • 10. Which book did Gandhi read that influenced him to adopt a life of manual labor?
A) The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
B) The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
C) Civil Disobedience by Henry Thoreau
D) Unto This Last by John Ruskin
  • 11. What was the name of the Transvaal farm where Gandhi moved his family and staff?
A) Phoenix
B) Sabarmati
C) Tolstoy Farm
D) Natal Settlement
  • 12. What is the term for Gandhi's voluntary abstention from sexual relations?
A) Ahimsa
B) Swadeshi
C) Satyagraha
D) Brahmacharya
  • 13. What is the literal meaning of the word 'Satyagraha' in Sanskrit?
A) Truth-force
B) Non-violence
C) Soul-power
D) Will-to-act
  • 14. What was the specific government action in 1906 that prompted Gandhi to call for a vow of disobedience?
A) Forced relocation to shantytowns
B) Imposition of a poll tax
C) Ban on Indian marriages
D) Registration of every Indian child over the age of eight
  • 15. Who was the South African General who promised to eliminate the registration law but broke his word?
A) Joseph Chamberlain
B) Lord Milner
C) Allan Octavian Hume
D) Jan Christian Smuts
  • 16. What was the discriminatory rule passed by the Cape Colony that made all non-Christian marriages illegal?
A) It rendered all Indian children born out of wedlock
B) It forced families to pay a marriage tax
C) It deported the spouses of Indian immigrants
D) It banned all Indian migration to the Cape
  • 17. What significant event led to the 1913 settlement between Gandhi and Smuts?
A) A large-scale strike by five thousand Indian coal miners
B) A violent uprising in the Transvaal
C) The intervention of the British Crown
D) Pressure from the Indian National Congress
  • 18. In what year did Gandhi sail for Britain after the success of his satyagraha in South Africa?
A) 1912
B) 1914
C) 1916
D) 1910
  • 19. Which group of settlers established the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic?
A) Boers
B) Indians
C) Zulus
D) British
  • 20. Where did the famous train incident involving Gandhi occur?
A) Durban
B) Maritzburg
C) Johannesburg
D) Cape Town
  • 21. Which Russian author's work influenced Gandhi's understanding of peace and justice?
A) Tolstoy
B) Pushkin
C) Chekhov
D) Dostoevsky
  • 22. What religious text inspired Gandhi to view his work as a higher form of self-fulfillment?
A) Vedas
B) Upanishads
C) Quran
D) Bhagavad Gita
  • 23. Who was the educated and spiritual Jain from Bombay that Gandhi corresponded with?
A) Raychandra
B) Nehru
C) Tilak
D) Gokhale
  • 24. What derogatory term did white South Africans use for Indians?
A) Foreigners
B) Coolies
C) Outcasts
D) Settlers
  • 25. How long did Gandhi end up working in South Africa?
A) Ten years
B) One year
C) Five years
D) About twenty years
  • 26. What restriction did Indians face in the Cape Colony regarding walking?
A) They were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk
B) They were not allowed to walk in groups
C) They were not allowed to walk during the day
D) They were not allowed to walk in parks
  • 27. What did Gandhi refuse to accept for his work on behalf of the Indian population?
A) Public recognition
B) Payment
C) Legal counsel
D) Financial donations
  • 28. What did Gandhi and Tolstoy both consider themselves followers of?
A) The Ten Commandments
B) The Sermon on the Mount
C) The Four Noble Truths
D) The Torah
  • 29. What were the Indian migrants in South Africa primarily working as?
A) Manual laborers on plantations
B) Government officials
C) Medical doctors
D) Industrial engineers
  • 30. Who translated 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' from Gujarati to English?
A) Mahadev Desai
B) Karamchand Gandhi
C) Jeramdas
D) Pyarelal Nayyar
  • 31. What was the original price of the Gujarati version of the book?
A) 5 rupees
B) 2 rupees
C) 10 rupees
D) 1 rupee
  • 32. How many copies of the Gujarati version had been sold by the time of the translator's preface?
A) 50,000
B) 100,000
C) 5,000
D) 10,000
  • 33. Who translated Chapters XXIX–XLIII of Part V?
A) Mahadev Desai
B) Pyarelal Nayyar
C) Karamchand Gandhi
D) Jeramdas
  • 34. Where was Gandhi when he resumed writing his autobiography?
A) Yerwada Central Jail
B) His home in Porbandar
C) A ship to London
D) Sabarmati Ashram
  • 35. Who insisted that Gandhi resume writing his autobiography?
A) Mahadev Desai
B) Karamchand Gandhi
C) Pyarelal Nayyar
D) Jeramdas
  • 36. What did Gandhi consider writing an autobiography to be?
A) A Western practice
B) A sacred Indian tradition
C) A political necessity
D) A waste of time
  • 37. Which play did Gandhi read in childhood that haunted him and made him act out the protagonist?
A) Harishchandra
B) Shravana Pitrabhakti Nataka
C) Ramayana
D) Mahabharata
  • 38. At what age was Gandhi married?
A) 18
B) 11
C) 13
D) 15
  • 39. What was the name of Gandhi's father?
A) Karamchand Gandhi
B) Mahadev Gandhi
C) Pyarelal Gandhi
D) Jeramdas Gandhi
  • 40. Which school subject did Gandhi express disdain for in Part I?
A) Geography
B) Mathematics
C) Gymnastics
D) History
  • 41. What was the main reason cited for the lack of English edition purchases by Indians?
A) Indians preferred Gujarati
B) The English was too difficult
C) The book was banned
D) The book was too expensive
  • 42. In which language was 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' originally written?
A) Gujarati
B) Hindi
C) Malayalam
D) English
  • 43. In which journal did the autobiography first appear in weekly installments?
A) Unity
B) Young India
C) Navjivan
D) Indian Opinion
  • 44. Who was the person whose insistence led Gandhi to write his autobiography?
A) Mahadev Desai
B) Jawaharlal Nehru
C) K. Madhavanar
D) Swami Anand
  • 45. What is the English translation of the Gujarati title 'satyanā prayogo'?
A) Journey to Freedom
B) My Life and Mission
C) The Story of a Soul
D) Experiments with Truth
  • 46. In what year was the book designated as one of the '100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century'?
A) 1929
B) 1998
C) 1948
D) 1925
  • 47. At what age did Gandhi begin writing his autobiography?
A) 50
B) 60
C) 56
D) 45
  • 48. In which journal were the English translations printed?
A) Young India
B) Unity
C) Mathrubhumi Weekly
D) Navjivan
  • 49. How many installments was the autobiography serialized in?
A) 56
B) 100
C) 166
D) 200
  • 50. When was the book first published in the United States?
A) 1929
B) 1922
C) 1998
D) 1948
  • 51. Who translated the book into Malayalam in 1928?
A) K. Madhavanar
B) Gandhi
C) Swami Anand
D) Mahadev Desai
  • 52. How many volumes did the original English edition consist of?
A) Three
B) Five
C) One
D) Two
  • 53. What title did Indians give to Gandhi upon his return to India?
A) Viceroy
B) Mahatma
C) Governor
D) Commander
  • 54. What does the word 'Mahatma' mean?
A) Pure Spirit
B) Truth Seeker
C) Great Soul
D) Holy Leader
  • 55. Where was the Satyagraha ashram established on 25 May 1915?
A) Near Ahmedabad
B) In Delhi
C) In Bombay
D) Near Johannesburg
  • 56. What specific topic did Gandhi focus on during his speech at the Hindu University in Benares?
A) Taxation
B) Sanitation
C) Industrialization
D) Military recruitment
  • 57. In which district did Gandhi first speak for the rights of indigo-cultivators?
A) Ahmedabad
B) Benares
C) Champaran
D) Punjab
  • 58. How did Gandhi respond when Ahmedabad mill workers became violent during a strike?
A) He fasted
B) He organized a march
C) He resigned from the Congress
D) He sought government intervention
  • 59. What illness did Gandhi suffer from after his long travels around India?
A) Influenza
B) Dysentery
C) Tuberculosis
D) Malaria
  • 60. What were the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee that the British government adopted?
A) Abolition of the caste system
B) Immediate independence for India
C) Wartime restrictions including curfews
D) Economic aid for the poor
  • 61. Who was the Brigadier-General responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre?
A) Lord Willington
B) Montagu-Chelmsford
C) Reginald Dyer
D) Lord Reading
  • 62. What medal did Gandhi return as a form of protest on 1 August 1920?
A) Freedom Medal
B) Order of the British Empire
C) Victoria Cross
D) Kasar-i-hind
  • 63. What position did Gandhi hold in the Home Rule League?
A) Legal Advisor
B) President
C) Treasurer
D) Secretary
  • 64. Why did Lord Reading finally order Gandhi's arrest in 1922?
A) Gandhi attacked a British official
B) Violence occurred in Chauri Chaura
C) Gandhi refused to pay taxes
D) Gandhi tried to escape the country
  • 65. What was the charge brought against Gandhi by the British authorities?
A) Treason
B) Theft
C) Inciting riots
D) Sedition
  • 66. Who was the judge presiding over Gandhi's trial?
A) Lord Irwin
B) C.F. Andrews
C) General Dyer
D) C.N. Broomfield
  • 67. What did Gandhi request regarding his sentence?
A) A trial by jury
B) A reduced sentence
C) The heaviest possible sentence
D) Immediate release
  • 68. What activity was Gandhi permitted to do while in prison?
A) Use a spinning wheel
B) Write letters to the Viceroy
C) Travel outside the prison
D) Hold public meetings
  • 69. What did Gandhi believe Indians needed to be before achieving independence?
A) Formally educated
B) Morally ready
C) Armed with weapons
D) Wealthy
  • 70. What does Gandhi claim is harder than the physical conquest of the world?
A) Achieving national unity
B) Winning Indian independence
C) Defeating the British Empire
D) Conquering subtle passions
  • 71. Which quality of Gandhi did George Orwell note in his essay 'Reflections on Gandhi'?
A) Great literary talent
B) Extreme political ambition
C) Natural physical courage
D) Strict religious dogmatism
  • 72. What did George Orwell believe Gandhi lacked?
A) Legal expertise
B) Suspiciousness
C) Administrative skill
D) Intellectual ability
  • 73. Besides Tolstoy and Ruskin, who was the third major modern influence on Gandhi?
A) Shrimad Rajchandra
B) George Orwell
C) Govardhanram Tripathi
D) Sissela Bok
  • 74. Which Gujarati writer considered this work one of the most important in Gujarat in the last 50 years?
A) John Ruskin
B) Leo Tolstoy
C) Harivallabh Bhayani
D) Govardhanram Tripathi
  • 75. What other book did Harivallabh Bhayani equate with Gandhi's autobiography in importance?
A) Saraswatichandra
B) The Kingdom of God Is Within You
C) Reflections on Gandhi
D) Unto This Last
  • 76. According to Orwell, what career path could Gandhi have chosen if he had not pursued his current path?
A) An artist
B) A professional soldier
C) A successful lawyer
D) A professional athlete
  • 77. Who provided the foreword for the authorized United States edition of the autobiography?
A) Harivallabh Bhayani
B) Sissela Bok
C) Leo Tolstoy
D) George Orwell
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