ADDRESS TO THE TAMIL COMMUNITY
On the 15th July, 1914, at the West-End Bioscope Hall, Johannesburg, Mr. Gandhi addressed a meeting of the Tamil Community, including many ladies.
Mr. Gandhi said that he felt, in coming to meet the Tamil brothers and sisters, as if he came to meet blood relations. That was a sentiment which he had cherished now for many years, and the reason was quite simple. Of all the different sections of the Indian community, he thought that the Tamil had borne the brunt of the struggle. The largest number of deaths that Passive Resistance had taken had been from the Tamil community. They had that morning gone to the cemetery to perform the unveiling ceremony in connection with the two memorials to a dear sister and brother. Both of these had been Tamils. There was Narayansarny whose bones lay at Delagoa Bay. He had been a Tamil. The deportees had been Tamils. The last to fight and come out of gaol had been Tamils Those who were ruined hawkers were all Tamils. The majority of the Passive Resistors at Tolstoy Farm had been Tamils. On every side, Tamils had shown themselves to be most typical of the best traditions of India. and by saying that he was not exaggerating in the slightest degree. The faith, the abundant faith in God, in Truth, that the Tamils had shown, had been one of the most sustaining forces throughout those long-drawn years. The majority of women to go to gaol were Tamils. The sisters who defied the authorities to arrest them and had gone from door to door, from barracks to barracks at Newcastle, to ask the men to lay down their tools and
