The Biography of Satyanand Stokes

Asha SharmaThe Biography of Satyanand Stokes

An American in Gandhi’s India

An American in Gandhi’s India

Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr., son of a prominent Philadelphia family of Quaker heritage, was just 21 years old when he arrived in India in 1904 to work in a home for lepers. He soon be-came disillusioned with the foreign missionary community and began a new spiritual quest, adopting Indian dress, forgoing the privileges of a Westerner in colonial India, and found-ing a mendicant religious brotherhood. Later he married a Rajput Christian girl, converted to Hinduism, and adopted a new name. Stokes became a leader in Gandhi’s independence movement in the 1920s, and was the only American jailed by the British for this cause. He is most oft en remembered in India, how-ever, as the man who introduced American Delicious apples to the Himalayas. An Ameri-can in Gandhi’s India draws on oral history and interviews as well as Stokes’s books, journals, and letters. Asha Sharma’s fascinating account off ers a rare glimpse into a century of interac-tion between India and the United States.

ASHA SHARMA is a granddaughter of Sa-tyanand Stokes. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, she has been a fellow of the Indian Council of Historical Re-search New Delhi and a Research Associate at the University of California at Berkeley.

ll interested in the America-India relationship,

including the growing ranks of Indian-Americans, will profi t

from this fascinating account of an ‘American Indian,’ a Pennsyl-vania Quaker who made the hills of northern India his home, and who played a memorable role in

India’s freedom movement.” —Rajmohan Gandhi, author of

Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire

“A fascinating and comprehen-sive look at a remarkable life.” —Shashi Tharoor, author of India: From

Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond

“Sharma has written a lively and philosophical book, refl ecting

closely Stokes’s mixed personal-ity and steely commitment.”

—Time Asia

ll interested in tmerica-IIIIIIIIIIIIIndia relationshding the growing ranksian-Americans, will pro

A

SHARMA

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

BIOGRAPHY / INDIA

INDIANA

INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis

http://iupress.indiana.edu1-800-842-6796

$21.95

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Th is book is a publication of

Indiana University Press601 North Morton StreetBloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA

http://iupress.indiana.edu

Telephone orders 800-842-6796Fax orders 812-855-7931Orders by e- mail iuporder@indiana.edu

First published by Penguin Books India 1999 as An American in Khadi: Th e Defi nitive Biography of Satyanand Stokes, copyright © Asha Sharma 1999

Copyright © 2008 Asha SharmaAll rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and re-cording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Th e Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only ex-ception to this prohibition.

Th e paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data

Sharma, Asha. An American in Gandhi’s India : the biography of Satyanand Stokes /Asha Sharma with Nandini Sharma ; foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. p. cm. First published: New Delhi : Penguin Books India ; New York, NY : Penguin Putnam, 1999, with title An American in khadi : the defi nitive biography of Satyanand Stokes. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35158-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-21990-9 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Stokes, Samuel, 1882–1946. 2. India— Politics and government—1919–1947. 3. Americans— India— Biography. 4. Missionaries— India— Biography. 5. Apple growers— India— Himachal Pradesh— Biography. 6. Social workers— India— Biography. 7. Po-litical activists— India— Biography. 8. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869–1948—Friends and associates. 9. Hindu converts from Christianity— India— Biography. 10. India— History—20th century— Biography. I. Sharma, Nandini. II. Sharma, Asha. American in khadi. III. Title. DS480.45.S4674 2008 954.03′5092—dc22 [B] 2008003026

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C O N T E N T S

Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama ix

Preface xi

Note on Th is Edition xv

Prologue 1

1. A Journey of No Return 3

2. Th e Quest Begins 14

3. Th e Ascetic 26

4. Visit Home 38

5. Th e Brotherhood in India 51

6. Alternate Path 59

7. An Inner Struggle 65

8. Home at Last— a Family Man 77

9. War on Two Fronts 92

10. For the Rights of Men— Begar 103

11. Joining the Freedom Struggle 114

12. Th e Fight Continues 123

13. In Khadi 132

14. Following the National Trail 139

15. Arrest and Trial 146

16. Guest of the British Empire 156

17. Debates with Gandhi—Test of Friendship 187

18. Johnny Appleseed of the Himalayas 198

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19. A School in My Garden 206

20. Came to Teach and Stayed to Learn 221

21. Satyakamvadi 237

22. Th e Burdens Increase 254

23. Marketing the Fruits of Labor 266

24. World War II and After 275

25. Th e Vedantist 283

26. Eventide 294

Epilogue 304

Acknowledgments 315

Appendix 1. Folk Song Composed on the Occasion of Stokes’ Marriage 319

Appendix 2. Stokes’ Written Statement 321

Appendix 3. Verses Written in Jail 328

Glossary 331

Notes 335

Bibliography 359

Index 365

Photographs are on pp. 171–186.

viii CONTENTS

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F O R E W O R D

Th is story is a wonderful example of the natural give and take of good human re-lations. Samuel, later Satyanand, Stokes originally came to India from America, more than a century ago, with the intention of helping in a leprosy mission. He served there for a time and later worked hard to provide relief after the Kangra earthquake. But when he fell ill, he was sent to the hills to recuperate, as was customary. I can easily understand how, once circumstances had brought him here, Stokes chose to settle in this attractive part of India. Like him, I too have had the privilege of regarding the green hills of Himachal Pradesh as my adopted home— for the last forty- seven years. It is a delightful place to be, the air is clean and full of birdsong, and the climate is pleasant, although I suspect that Stokes did not see in Kotgarh the kind of heavy monsoon rainfall we experience here in Dharamsala. What’s more the people are friendly, straightforward, and wel-coming. Gradually Stokes began to realize that India, which is perhaps the one country whose civilization and culture have survived intact from their fi rst beginnings, had a lot to teach him. Because India and her people have, from ancient times, cherished a rich and sophisticated philosophy of nonviolence at the core of their hearts, it has developed into a kind of natural refl ex. Accordingly Stokes began to adopt a more Indian lifestyle, married a local woman, and settled down at Kotgarh in the hills beyond Shimla. Of course, Stokes did not stay just because he was comfortable, but because he felt there was work for him to do. His stand against indentured labor and his joining the Indian freedom struggle are a tribute to his natural compassion and his urge to work against injustice. While I share with Stokes an unfl inching admiration for Mahatma Gandhi, he had the good fortune not only to be infl uenced by his ideas, but also to know the great man personally. Th eir correspondence about tackling contemporary issues seems to have been of great value to them both. Mahatma Gandhi had taken up the ancient and powerful idea of ahimsa or nonviolence and eventu-ally made it familiar throughout the world. I believe that, following him, Stokes understood that nonviolence does not mean the mere absence of violence. It is something more positive, more meaningful than that. Th e true expression of

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nonviolence is compassion. Some people seem to think that compassion is just a passive emotional response instead of a rational stimulus to action. But to ex-perience genuine compassion is to develop a feeling of closeness to others com-bined with a sense of responsibility for their welfare. Th is book makes clear that this is how Stokes felt about the people around him. Finally, there are the apples that are his long- lasting bequest to the people of this region. Stokes is said to have been single- handedly responsible for intro-ducing the Red Delicious strain to this region. Could there be a more commend-able tribute to a man’s life than that even fi fty years after he passed away, wher-ever people bite into this sweet and juicy fruit, he is ultimately responsible for the pleasure they enjoy?

THE DALAI LAMAAUGUST 29, 2007

x FORE WORD

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P R E F A C E

I do not remember my grandfather Satyanand Stokes. He died when I was very young. But I have very fond recollections of frequent visits with my mother to his house in Barobagh, Kotgarh in the Simla Hills. It was situated on a hilltop with a magnifi cent view of the snow- capped Himalayas and the river Sutlej. Th e river was many miles down in the valley but we could see it clearly and hear the roar of its waters. Th e house was full of his memories. His chupta, a long traditional coat he wore, still hung on a peg behind the stairs in the small living room, and the little attic he used as his bedroom remained undisturbed. As I grew older and heard snippets about his life from family and conversa-tions with local villagers I became curious to know more about him. I started discussing the subject with my mother and reading whatever material came my way. Th en, during a visit to Barobagh, my grandmother gave me a beautiful book to read, bound in red leather and with the title Harmony Hall Letters embossed on it in gold. It contained extracts of Stokes’ weekly letters written from India to his mother in Philadelphia, which he had compiled for his wife and children. Th e letters covered a period of twenty- fi ve years and refl ected the close relation-ship between a mother and son. Th ey not only narrated the extraordinary story of Stokes’ life but also his evolving worldview and philosophy. Th ese letters left a lasting impression on my mind. His was truly a remarkable life, noteworthy for its fearless intellectual hon-esty, the strength of his convictions, and his sense of justice, equality, and fair play, and also for his immense contribution to the social and economic develop-ment of the hills. He was born and brought up in America but India became his true home. He fought for India’s independence alongside Mahatma Gandhi and other national-ist leaders, and was the only American who went to jail for India’s cause. A legend in Kotgarh, Stokes was responsible for bringing about a sea change in the lives of people in the Simla Hills. He fought for and earned them freedom from the age- old tyranny of begaar or impressed labor. He transformed the economy of the region by importing apple saplings from America, distributing the saplings for free to the local farmers, and helping them plant and nurture them. It is ironic that until a few years ago little was known about Stokes outside of his home state of Himachal, and there it was largely his gift of apples to the

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people that was remembered. Th ough his portrait hung alongside other stal-warts of India’s independence movement in the Nehru Memorial Library in New Delhi, his role as a freedom fi ghter was not well known. Th e present biography, fi rst published by Penguin Books India in 1999 under the title An American in Khadi: Th e Defi nitive Biography of Satyanand Stokes, helps to correct this injus-tice to Stokes and all that he stood for. Th ere was an amazing response to the book— very warm and personal. Since the publication of the book, recognition of Stokes’ life and work has come in diff erent ways. September 16, 2000, was a special day both for Indians and Americans in this country, when a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., by Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of President Clinton. For Indians it marked the fruition of ef-forts that had begun fi fty- one years earlier to establish a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi in the nation’s capital. For Americans it was a reminder of the long re-lationship that Gandhi had with this country and its people, and honored the man who inspired the civil rights movement in the United States. While the great American philosopher Henry David Th oreau was one of Gandhi’s inspirations in “the science of civil disobedience,” Gandhi was the guid-ing light of Martin Luther King Jr., who said: “Th e Christian doctrine of love, operating through the Gandhian method of non- violence, was for me the most potent weapon available to the oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” Speaking about Gandhi’s infl uence on ordinary Americans, Vajpayee singled out the life of Samuel Evans Stokes who, the prime minister said, became a “sol-dier in the Mahatma’s army of Satyagraha in India . . . and had the rare honor of being the only American to become a member of the All India Congress Com-mittee. . . . His recent widely acclaimed biography, ‘American in Khadi,’ shows how there has always been a natural affi nity between India and America.” I had always wished that there should be an American edition of the book for the simple reason that Stokes was an American by birth and heritage and, despite his being so Indian, he never forgot his American roots. I felt it was only right that the subject should be known here and that many Americans would be keen to know about the remarkable life of one of their countrymen in a foreign land. I also believed the large Indo- American community in this country would take pride in the life of an American who, more than a hundred years ago, believed in India— its past, present, and future— as few Westerners did and who made an immense contribution to the development of the country. Th roughout his life Stokes worked toward building a more equitable world order. Upholding the democratic principles of his American heritage, he fought for similar rights for the Indian people. I have chosen to call the present edition An American in Gandhi’s India, because Stokes was a true Gandhian. He found

xii PREFACE

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in Mahatma Gandhi someone he could admire and follow. “Gradually, as I grope my way from old conventional modes of thought towards the meaning and sig-nifi cance of his conceptions and methods,” Stokes wrote in 1921 during Gandhi’s non- cooperation campaign, “I become more and more convinced that the move-ment which he has initiated calls us to the deepest and noblest in our nature. It is that old call to victory by the path of utter self- renunciation, to purifi cation by the path of self sacrifi ce.” Gandhi in turn supported Stokes’ campaign to elimi-nate begar— forced labor— in Himachal Pradesh, his home place. “You should continue with your struggle under the guidance of Stokes and suspend all . . . begar. . . . It is much better for you to undergo hardships and be ready to fi ll the jails for the sake of your faith . . . than to give begar to any offi cial. . . . In your eff orts I am with you with all my heart and soul.” Musing over his writings toward the end of his life, Stokes acknowledged that they were, in a sense, “a testament” and that he had “kept the faith” with his Quaker ancestors. “Th e struggle for right and fair play in the relations of men is a fi ght worth fi ghting. I shall never regret such part I have been able to play in it,” he wrote. He sometimes felt that few of his dreams of service had come to full fruition. “Very few of them have had more than the most imperfect realization,” he ad-mitted, “yet the dreams were something. . . . they were not ignoble, no matter how imperfectly they found fulfi llment.” A remarkable odyssey, Stokes’ life foreshadows a world prepared to learn from and embrace diff erence.

PREFACE xiii

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