Life of Mohandas Gandhi

8/14/2019 Life of Mohandas Gandhi

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Mohandas Gandhi was born

in the western part of British-ruled India on October 2,1869. A timid child, he wasmarried at thirteen to a girl ofthe same age, Kasturba.

Following the death of hisfather, Gandhi's family sent

him to England in 1888 tostudy law.

There, he became interestedin the philosophy of nonviolence, as expressed inthe Bhagavad-Gita, Hindusacred scripture, and in Jesus

Christ's Sermon on the Mountin the Christian Bible.

Young Gandhi, (1886)


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He returned to India in 1891,

having passed the bar, butfound little success in hisattempts to practice law.Seeking a change of scenery,he accepted a position inSouth Africa for a year, wherehe assisted on a lawsuit.

In South Africa, he becameinvolved in efforts to enddiscrimination against theIndian minority there, whowere oppressed both by theBritish and by the Boers,descendants of the original

Dutch settlers of the region. Gandhi in South Africa (1895)


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Having intended to stay a

year, he ended upremaining until 1914 (hiswife and children had joined him, meanwhile, in1896).

He founded the Natal

Indian Congress, whichworked to further Indianinterests, and commandedan Indian medical corpsthat fought on the Britishside in the Boer War(1899-1901), in which the

British conquered the lastindependent Boer republics.

Gandhi while serving in the

Ambulance Corps during the

Boer War


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After the war, Gandhi'sreputation as a leader grew.

He became even moreadamant in his personalprinciples, practicing sexual

abstinence, renouncingmodern technology, anddeveloping satyagrahaliterally, "soul- force."

Satyagraha was a method ofnon-violent resistance, oftencalled "non-cooperation," that

he and his allies used to greateffect against the whitegovernments in South Africa.

Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba,

(1902)


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Their willingness to

endure punishment and jail earned theadmiration of people inGandhi's native India,and eventually wonconcessions from the

Boer and British rulers. By 1914, when Gandhi

left South Africa andreturned to India, he wasknown as a holy man:people called him a"Mahatma", or "greatsoul."

Gandhi in 1918, at the time of theKheda and the

ChamparanSatyagrahas.


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At this point, he was still loyal to

the British Empire, but when theBritish cracked down on Indiancivil liberties after World War I,Gandhi began to organizenonviolent protests.

The Amritsar Massacre, in whichBritish troops gunned downpeaceful Indian protestors,

convinced Gandhi and India ofthe need for self-rule.

In the early '20s, Gandhiorganized large-scale campaignsof non-cooperation that paralyzedthe subcontinent'sadministrationand led to hisimprisonment, from 1922 to

1924. Mahatma Gandhi


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After his release, he withdrew

from politics for a time,preferring to travel India,working among the peasantry.

But in 1930, he wrote theDeclaration of Independenceof India, and then led the SaltMarch in protest against the

British monopoly on salt. This touched off acts of civil

disobedience across India,and the British were forced toinvite Gandhi to London for aRound-Table Conference.

Ghandi at the end of the SaltMarch (April 5, 1930)


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Although Gandhi received a

warm welcome in England,the Conference foundered onthe issue of how anindependent India would dealwith its Muslim minority, andGandhi withdrew from publiclife again.

But independence could notbe long delayed.

The Government of India Act(1935) surrendered significantamounts of power to Indians,and the Indian NationalCongress clamored for more.

Mahadev Desai reading out a letter

to Gandhi from the viceroy at Birla

House, Bombay. (April 7, 1939)


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When World War II broke out,India erupted into violence, andmany nationalist leaders,including Gandhi, went to prison.

After the war, the new Britishgovernment wanted to get Indiaoff its hands quickly.

But Muhammed Ali Jinnah, thehead of the Muslim League,

demanded that a separate statebe created for India's Muslims,and to Gandhi's great distress,the Congress leaders and theharried British agreed.

August of 1947 saw India'sattainment of independenceaswell as its partition into two

countries, India and Pakistan.

Jawaharlal Nerhu sitting next to

Ghandi at AICC General Session,

(1942).


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However, neither measure

served to solve India'sproblems, and the countryimmediately fell apart:Hindus and Muslims killedeach other in alarmingnumbers while refugeesfled toward the borders.

Heartbroken, Gandhi triedto calm the country, but tono avail.

He was assassinated by aHindu nationalist in Delhion January 30, 1948, andIndia mourned the loss ofits greatest hero.

HERE REST THE ASHES OF

MAHATMA GANDHI

Aga Khan Palace (Pune, India)

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Life of Mohandas Gandhi