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Mahatma Gandhi

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Political People

              Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
   2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948
   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
     Alternate name:    Mahatma Gandhi
     Place of birth:    Porbandar, Gujarat, India
     Place of death:    New Delhi, India
        Movement:       Indian Independence Movement
   Major organizations: Indian National Congress

   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, Hindi:
   मोहनदास करमचंद गांधी, IAST: mohandās karamcand gāndhī, IPA:
   [moːhənd̪aːs kərəmtʃənd̪ gaːnd̪ʱiː]) ( October 2, 1869 – January 30,
   1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of the Indian
   independence movement. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha — resistance
   through mass civil disobedience strongly founded upon ahimsa (
   non-violence) becoming one of the strongest philosophies of freedom
   struggles worldwide. Gandhi is commonly known and spoken of worldwide
   as Mahatma Gandhi ( Hindi: महात्मा, məhatma ; from Sanskrit, mahātmā:
   Great Soul) and is fondly called Bapu (in Gujarati, Father).

   Gandhi first employed his ideas of civil disobedience in the Indian
   struggle for civil rights in South Africa. Upon his return to India,
   Gandhi helped lead poor farmers and labourers to protest oppressive
   taxation and widespread discrimination.

   Leading the Indian National Congress, Gandhi worked for the alleviation
   of poverty, the liberation of women, brotherhood, end to untouchability
   and caste discrimination and for the economic self-sufficiency of the
   nation. However, Gandhi's work focused upon the goal of Swaraj —
   self-rule for India. Gandhi famously led Indians in the disobedience of
   the salt tax through the 400 kilometre (248 miles) Dandi March, and in
   an open call for the British to Quit India in 1942. However his goal,
   freedom, came at a heavy cost: tens of thousands died in all of his
   movements as they clashed with the British.

   Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most
   extreme situations. Gandhi was a student of Hindu philosophy and lived
   simply, organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. He
   made his own clothes and lived on a simple vegetarian diet. He used
   rigorous fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest. All
   this was mainly done to raise the status of India's depressed classes
   and draw them into the freedom struggle.

   Gandhi's teachings have inspired civil rights leaders such as Dr.
   Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu
   Kyi. Gandhi is honoured as the Father of the Nation in India. His
   birthday on October 2nd is annually commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a
   national holiday.

Early life

   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into the Hindu Modh family in
   Porbandar, Gujarat, India, in 1869. He was the son of Karamchand
   Gandhi, the diwan (Prime Minister) of Porbandar, and Putlibai,
   Karamchand's fourth wife, a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order.
   Karamchand's first two wives, who each bore him a daughter, died from
   unknown reasons (rumored to be in childbirth). His third wife was
   deemed incapacitated and gave her permission to Karamchand for him to
   marry again. Growing up with a devout mother and surrounded by the Jain
   influences of Gujarat, Gandhi learned from an early age the tenets of
   non-injury to living beings, vegetarianism, fasting for
   self-purification, and mutual tolerance between members of various
   creeds and sects. He was born into the vaishya, or business, caste.
   Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)
   Enlarge
   Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)

   In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents'
   arrangement to Kasturba Makhanji (also spelled "Kasturbai" or known as
   "Ba"), who was his age. They had four sons: Harilal Gandhi, born in
   1888; Manilal Gandhi, born in 1892; Ramdas Gandhi, born in 1897; and
   Devdas Gandhi, born in 1900. Gandhi was a mediocre student in his youth
   at Porbandar and later Rajkot. He barely passed the matriculation exam
   for Samaldas College at Bhavanagar, Gujarat. He was also unhappy at the
   college, because his family wanted him to become a barrister.

   At the age of 18 on September 4, 1888, Gandhi went to University
   College London to train as a barrister. His time in London, the
   Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in
   the presence of a Jain monk Becharji, upon leaving India, to observe
   the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity.
   Although Gandhi experimented with adopting "English" customs – taking
   dancing lessons for example – he could not stomach his landlady's
   mutton and cabbage. She pointed him towards one of London's few
   vegetarian restaurants. Rather than simply go along with his mother's
   wishes, he read about, and intellectually embraced vegetarianism. He
   joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its executive committee,
   and founded a local chapter. He later credited this with giving him
   valuable experience in organizing institutions. Some of the vegetarians
   he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded
   in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and devoted to the study of
   Buddhist and Hindu Brahmanistic literature. They encouraged Gandhi to
   read the Bhagavad Gita. Not having shown a particular interest in
   religion before, he read works of and about Hinduism, Christianity,
   Buddhism, Islam and other religions. He returned to India after being
   admitted to the bar of England and Wales, but had limited success
   establishing a law practice in Bombay, later applying and being turned
   down for a part-time job as a high school teacher. He ended up
   returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for
   litigants, but was forced to close down that business as well when he
   ran afoul of a British officer. In his autobiography, he describes this
   incident as a kind of unsuccessful lobbying attempt on behalf of his
   older brother. It was in this climate that (in 1893) he accepted a
   year-long contract from an Indian firm to a post in Natal, South
   Africa.

Civil Rights Movement in South Africa (1893—1914)

   Gandhi in South Africa (1895)
   Enlarge
   Gandhi in South Africa (1895)

   Gandhi read his first newspaper at the age of 18, and was prone to
   stage fright while speaking in court. South Africa changed him
   dramatically, as he faced the discrimination commonly directed at
   blacks and Indians. One day in court at Durban, the magistrate asked
   him to remove his turban. Gandhi refused and stormed out of the
   courtroom. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg, after
   refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while
   holding a valid first class ticket. Traveling further on by stagecoach,
   he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to
   make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the
   journey as well, including being barred from many hotels. These
   incidents have been acknowledged by several biographers as a turning
   point in his life, for his activism later. It was through witnessing
   firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South
   Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status, and his own
   place in society. However, these events by no means explain why he
   inculcated non-violence instead of aggressive revolution.
   Gandhi in the uniform of a sergeant of the Indian Ambulance Corps. He
   served during the Boer War (1899).
   Enlarge
   Gandhi in the uniform of a sergeant of the Indian Ambulance Corps. He
   served during the Boer War (1899).

   At the end of his contract, Gandhi prepared to return to India.
   However, at a farewell party in his honour in Durban, he happened to
   glance at a newspaper and learned that a bill was being considered by
   the Natal Legislative Assembly to deny the right to vote to Indians.
   When he brought this up with his hosts, they lamented that they did not
   have the expertise necessary to oppose the bill, and implored Gandhi to
   stay and help them. He circulated several petitions to both the Natal
   Legislature and the British Government in opposition to the bill.
   Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful
   in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa.
   Supporters convinced him to remain in Durban to continue fighting
   against the injustices levied against Indians in South Africa. He
   founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, with himself as the
   Secretary. Through this organization, he molded the Indian community of
   South Africa into a homogeneous political force, publishing documents
   detailing Indian grievances and evidence of British discrimination in
   South Africa. Gandhi returned briefly to India in 1896 to bring his
   wife and children to live with him in South Africa. When he returned in
   January 1897, a white mob attacked and tried to lynch him. In an early
   indication of the personal values that would shape his later campaigns,
   he refused to press charges on any member of the mob, stating it was
   one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a
   court of law.

   At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must
   support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full
   citizenship, organizing a volunteer ambulance corps of 300 free Indians
   and 800 indentured labourers called the Indian Ambulance Corps, one of
   the few medical units to serve wounded black South Africans. He himself
   was a stretcher-bearer at the Battle of Spion Kop, and was decorated.
   At the conclusion of the war, however, the situation for the Indians
   did not improve, but continued to deteriorate. In 1906, the Transvaal
   government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the
   colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in
   Johannesburg on September 11th that year, Gandhi adopted his
   methodology of satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent
   protest, for the first time, calling on his fellow Indians to defy the
   new law and suffer the punishments for doing so, rather than resist
   through violent means. This plan was adopted, leading to a seven-year
   struggle in which thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi
   himself on many occasions), flogged, or even shot, for striking,
   refusing to register, burning their registration cards, or engaging in
   other forms of non-violent resistance. While the government was
   successful in repressing the Indian protesters, the public outcry
   stemming from the harsh methods employed by the South African
   government in the face of peaceful Indian protesters finally forced
   South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts to negotiate a compromise
   with Gandhi.

   In May 1915, Gandhi founded an ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad,
   India and called it Satyagrah Ashram (also known as Sabarmati Ashram).
   There lodged twenty five men and women who took vows of truth,
   celibacy, ahimsa, nonpossession, control of the palate, and service of
   the Indian people.

Fighting for Indian Independence (1916–1945)

   As he had done in the South African War, Gandhi urged support of the
   British in World War I and was active in encouraging Indians to join
   the army. His rationale, opposed by many others, was that if he desired
   the full citizenship, freedoms and rights in the Empire, it would be
   wrong not to help in its defence. He spoke at the conventions of the
   Indian National Congress, but was primarily introduced to Indian
   issues, politics and the Indian people by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, at the
   time one of the most respected leaders of the Congress Party.

Champaran and Kheda

   Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran satyagrahas.
   Enlarge
   Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran satyagrahas.

   Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran
   agitation and Kheda Satyagraha, although in the latter it was indigo
   and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for their
   survival. Suppressed by the militias of the landlords (mostly British),
   they were given measly compensation, leaving them mired in extreme
   poverty. The villages were kept extremely dirty and unhygienic; and
   alcoholism, untouchability and purdah were rampant. Now in the throes
   of a devastating famine, the British levied an oppressive tax which
   they insisted on increasing in rate. The situation was desperate. In
   Kheda in Gujarat, the problem was the same. Gandhi established an
   ashram there, organizing scores of his veteran supporters and fresh
   volunteers from the region. He organized a detailed study and survey of
   the villages, accounting the atrocities and terrible episodes of
   suffering, including the general state of degenerate living. Building
   on the confidence of villagers, he began leading the clean-up of
   villages, building of schools and hospitals and encouraging the village
   leadership to undo and condemn many social evils, as accounted above.

   But his main assault came as he was arrested by police on the charge of
   creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province. Hundreds of
   thousands of people protested and rallied outside the jail, police
   stations and courts demanding his release, which the court unwillingly
   granted. Gandhi led organized protests and strikes against the
   landlords, who with the guidance of the British government, signed an
   agreement granting more compensation and control over farming for the
   poor farmers of the region, and cancellation of revenue hikes and
   collection until the famine ended. It was during this agitation, that
   Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu (Father) and Mahatma (Great
   Soul). In Kheda, Patel represented the farmers in negotiations with the
   British, who suspended revenue collection and granted relief. All of
   the prisoners were released. Gandhi's resulting fame spread all over
   the nation.

Non-cooperation

   In Punjab, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians by British troops
   caused deep trauma to the nation, and increased public anger and acts
   of violence. Gandhi criticized both the actions of the British, and the
   retaliatory violence of Indians. He authored the resolution offering
   condolences to British civilian victims and condemning the riots, which
   after initial opposition in the party, was accepted after Gandhi made
   an emotional speech pushing forth his principle that all violence was
   evil and could not be justified. But it was after the massacre and
   violence that Gandhi's mind focused upon obtaining complete
   self-government and control of all Indian government institutions,
   maturing soon into Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual, political
   independence. Gandhi was invested with executive authority on behalf of
   the Indian National Congress in December 1921. Under Gandhi's
   leadership, the Congress was reorganized with a new constitution, with
   the goal of Swaraj. Membership in the party was opened to anyone
   prepared to pay a token fee. A hierarchy of committees was set up to
   improve discipline, transforming the party from an elite organization
   to one of mass national appeal. Gandhi expanded his non-violence
   platform to include the swadeshi policy – the boycott of foreign-made
   goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that
   khadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made
   textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend
   time each day spinning khadi in support of the independence movement.
   This was a strategy to inculcate discipline and dedication to weed out
   the unwilling and ambitious, and include women in the movement at a
   time when many thought that such activities were not "respectable" for
   women. In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged the
   people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, to
   resign from government employment, and to forsake British titles and
   honours.

   "Non-cooperation" enjoyed wide-spread appeal and success, increasing
   excitement and participation from all strata of Indian society, yet
   just as the movement reached its apex, it ended abruptly as a result of
   a violent clash in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, in
   February 1922. Fearing that the movement was about to take a turn
   towards violence, and convinced that this would be the undoing of all
   his work, Gandhi called off the campaign of mass civil disobedience.
   Gandhi was arrested on March 10, 1922, tried for sedition, and
   sentenced to six years. Beginning on March 18, 1922, he only served
   about two years of the sentence, being released in February 1924 after
   an operation for appendicitis. Without Gandhi's uniting personality,
   the Indian National Congress began to splinter during his years in
   prison, splitting into two factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and
   Motilal Nehru favouring party participation in the legislatures, and
   the other led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai
   Patel, opposing this move. Furthermore, cooperation among Hindus and
   Muslims, which had been strong at the height of the nonviolence
   campaign, was breaking down. Gandhi attempted to bridge these
   differences through many means, including a three-week fast in the
   autumn of 1924, but with limited success.

Swaraj and the Salt Satyagraha

   Gandhi at a public rally during the Salt Satyagraha.
   Enlarge
   Gandhi at a public rally during the Salt Satyagraha.

   Gandhi stayed out of the limelight for most of the 1920s, preferring to
   resolve the wedge between the Swaraj Party and the Indian National
   Congress, and expanding initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism,
   ignorance and poverty. He returned to the fore in 1928. The year
   before, the British government had appointed a new constitutional
   reform commission under Sir John Simon, numbering not a single Indian
   in its ranks. The result was a boycott of the commission by Indian
   political parties. Gandhi pushed through a resolution at the Calcutta
   Congress in December 1928 calling on the British government to grant
   India dominion status or face a new campaign of non-violence with
   complete independence for the country as its goal. Gandhi had moderated
   the views of younger men like Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru,
   who sought a demand for immediate independence, but also modified his
   own call to a one year wait, instead of two. The British did not
   respond. On December 31, 1929, the flag of India was unfurled in
   Lahore. January 26, 1930 was celebrated by the Indian National
   Congress, meeting in Lahore, as India's Independence Day. This day was
   commemorated by almost every other Indian organization. Making good on
   his word in March 1930, he launched a new satyagraha against the tax on
   salt, highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from March 12 to
   April 6, 1930, marching 400 kilometres (248 miles) from Ahmedabad to
   Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself. Thousands of Indians joined him on
   this march to the sea. This campaign was one of his most successful,
   resulting in the imprisonment of over 60,000 people.

   The government, represented by Lord Edward Irwin, decided to negotiate
   with Gandhi. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931. In it, the
   British Government agreed to set all political prisoners free in return
   for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement. Furthermore,
   Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table Conference in London as
   the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference
   was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists, as it focused on
   the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than the transfer of
   power. Furthermore, Lord Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdon, embarked
   on a new campaign of repression against the nationalists. Gandhi was
   again arrested, and the government attempted to destroy his influence
   by completely isolating him from his followers. This tactic was not
   successful. In 1932, through the campaigning of the Dalit leader B. R.
   Ambedkar, the government granted untouchables separate electorates
   under the new constitution. In protest, Gandhi embarked on a six-day
   fast in September 1932, successfully forcing the government to adopt a
   more equitable arrangement via negotiations mediated by the Dalit
   cricketer turned political leader Palwankar Baloo. This began a new
   campaign by Gandhi to improve the lives of the untouchables, whom he
   named Harijans, the children of God. On May 8, 1933 Gandhi began a
   21-day fast of self-purification to help the Harijan movement. In the
   summer of 1934, three unsuccessful attempts were made on his life.

   When the Congress Party chose to contest elections and accept power
   under the Federation scheme, Gandhi decided to resign from party
   membership. He did not at all disagree with the party's move, but felt
   that if he resigned, his popularity with Indians would cease to stifle
   the party's membership, that actually varied from communists,
   socialists, trade unionists, students, religious conservatives, to
   those with pro-business convictions. Gandhi also did not want to prove
   a target for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily
   accepted political accommodation with the Raj. Gandhi returned to the
   head in 1936, with the Nehru presidency and the Lucknow session of the
   Congress. Although Gandhi desired a total focus on the task of winning
   independence and not speculation about India's future, he did not
   restrain the Congress from adopting socialism as its goal. Gandhi had a
   clash with Subhas Bose, who had been elected to the presidency in 1938.
   Gandhi's main issues with Bose were his lack of commitment to
   democracy, and lack of faith in non-violence. Bose won his second term
   despite Gandhi's criticism, but left the Congress when the All-India
   leaders resigned en masse in protest of his abandonment of principles
   introduced by Gandhi.

World War II and Quit India

   Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhi from the viceroy at
   Birla House, Mumbai, April 7, 1939.
   Enlarge
   Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhi from the viceroy at
   Birla House, Mumbai, April 7, 1939.

   World War II broke out in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
   Initially, Gandhi had favored offering "non-violent moral support" to
   the British effort, but other Congress leaders were offended by the
   unilateral inclusion of India into the war, without consultation of the
   people's representatives. All Congressmen elected to office resigned en
   masse. After lengthy deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could
   not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom,
   while that freedom was denied in India herself. As the war progressed,
   Gandhi increased his demands for independence, drafting a resolution
   calling for the British to Quit India. This was Gandhi's and the
   Congress Party's most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British
   exit from Indian shores.
   Jawaharlal Nehru sitting next to Gandhi at the AICC General Session,
   1942
   Enlarge
   Jawaharlal Nehru sitting next to Gandhi at the AICC General Session,
   1942

   Gandhi was criticized by some Congressmen and other Indian political
   groups, both pro-British and anti-British. Some felt that opposing
   Britain in its life-death struggle was immoral, and others felt that
   Gandhi wasn't doing enough. Quit India became the most forceful
   movement in the history of the struggle, with mass arrests and violence
   on an unprecedented scale. Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or
   injured by police gunfire, and hundreds of thousands were arrested.
   Gandhi and his supporters made it clear they would not support the war
   effort unless India was granted immediate independence. He even
   clarified that this time the movement would not be stopped if
   individual acts of violence were committed, saying that the "ordered
   anarchy" around him was "worse than real anarchy". He called on all
   Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline in ahimsa, and Karo Ya
   Maro (Do or Die) in the cause of ultimate freedom. Gandhi and the
   entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in Bombay by the
   British on August 9, 1942. Gandhi was held for two years in the Aga
   Khan Palace in Pune. It was here that Gandhi suffered two terrible
   blows in his personal life — his 42 year old secretary Mahadev Desai
   died of a heart attack 6 days later, then his wife Kasturba died after
   18 months imprisonment in February 1944 (six weeks later Gandhi
   suffered a severe malaria attack). He was released before the end of
   the war on May 6, 1944 because of his failing health and necessary
   surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the
   nation. Although Quit India somewhat succeeded in its objective, the
   ruthless suppression of the movement brought order to India by the end
   of 1943. At the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that
   power would be transferred to Indian hands, and Gandhi called off the
   struggle, and the Congress leadership and around 100,000 political
   prisoners were released.

Freedom and partition of India

   Gandhi advised the Congress to reject the proposals the British Cabinet
   Mission offered in 1946, as he was deeply suspicious of the grouping
   proposed for Muslim-majority states — Gandhi viewed this as a precursor
   to partition. However, this became one of the few times the Congress
   broke from Gandhi's advice (though not his leadership), as Nehru and
   Patel knew that if the Congress did not approve the plan, the control
   of government would pass to the Muslim League. Between 1946 and 1947,
   over 5,000 people were killed in violence. Gandhi was vehemently
   opposed to any plan that partitioned India into two separate countries.
   An overwhelming majority of Muslims living in India, side by side with
   Hindus and Sikhs, were in favour of Partition. Additionally Muhammad
   Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, commanded widespread
   support in West Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and East Bengal. The partition plan
   was approved by the Congress leadership as the only way to prevent a
   wide-scale Hindu-Muslim civil war. Congress leaders knew that Gandhi
   would viscerally oppose partition, and it was impossible for the
   Congress to go ahead without his agreement, for Gandhi's support in the
   party and throughout India was strong. Gandhi's closest colleagues had
   accepted partition as the best way out, and Sardar Patel endeavoured to
   convince Gandhi that it was the only way to avoid civil war. A
   devastated Gandhi gave his assent.

   On the day of the transfer of power, Gandhi did not celebrate
   independence with the rest of India, but was alone in Calcutta,
   mourning the partition and working to end the violence. After India's
   independence, Gandhi focused on Hindu-Muslim peace and unity. He
   conducted extensive dialogue with Muslim and Hindu community leaders,
   working to cool passions in northern India, as well as in Bengal.
   Despite the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, he was troubled when the
   Government decided to deny Pakistan the Rs. 55 crores due as per
   agreements made by the Partition Council. Leaders like Sardar Patel
   feared that Pakistan would use the money to bankroll the war against
   India. Gandhi was also devastated when demands resurged for all Muslims
   to be deported to Pakistan, and when Muslim and Hindu leaders expressed
   frustration and an inability to come to terms with one another. He
   launched his last fast-unto-death in Delhi, asking that all communal
   violence be ended once and for all, and that the payment of Rs. 55
   crores be made to Pakistan. Gandhi feared that instability and
   insecurity in Pakistan would increase their anger against India, and
   violence would spread across the borders. He further feared that Hindus
   and Muslims would renew their enmity and precipitate into an open civil
   war. After emotional debates with his life-long colleagues, Gandhi
   refused to budge, and the Government rescinded its policy and made the
   payment to Pakistan. Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community leaders,
   including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha assured
   him that they would renounce violence and call for peace. Gandhi thus
   broke his fast by sipping orange juice.

Assassination

   Raj Ghat: Gandhi's Memorial in Delhi.
   Enlarge
   Raj Ghat: Gandhi's Memorial in Delhi.

   On January 30, 1948, on his way to a prayer meeting, Gandhi was shot
   dead in Birla House, New Delhi, by Nathuram Godse. Godse was a Hindu
   radical with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi
   responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to
   Pakistan. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried
   and convicted, and on 15 November 1949, were executed. Gandhi's
   memorial (or Samādhi) at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph, (
   Devanagiri: हे ! राम or, Hé Rām), which may be translated as "Oh God".
   These are widely believed to be Gandhi's last words after he was shot,
   though the veracity of this statement has been disputed by many.
   Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation through radio:

                "Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our
                lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not
                quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved
                leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation,
                is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless,
                we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these
                many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek
                solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for
                me, but for millions and millions in this country."

   According to his wish, The majority of Gandhi's ashes were immersed in
   all the major rivers of the world such as The Nile, Volga, Thames, etc.
   Also, a small portion was sent to Paramahansa Yogananda from Dr. V.M.
   Nawle, (a publisher and journalist from Poona, India) encased in a
   brass & silver coffer. The ashes were then enshrined at the Mahatma
   Gandhi World Peace Memorial in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake
   Shrine within a thousand-year-old stone sarcophagus from China.

Gandhi's principles

          "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to
          live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi

Truth

   Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth, or
   Satya. He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and
   conducting experiments on himself. He called his autobiography The
   Story of My Experiments with Truth.

   Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming
   his own demons, fears, and insecurities. Gandhi summarized his beliefs
   first when he said "God is Truth." He would later change this statement
   to "Truth is God." Thus, Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's philosophy is "God".

Nonviolence

   The concept of nonviolence ( ahimsa) and nonresistance has a long
   history in Indian religious thought and has had many revivals in Hindu,
   Buddhist, Jain, Jewish and Christian contexts. Gandhi explains his
   philosophy and way of life in his autobiography The Story of My
   Experiments with Truth. He was quoted as saying:

          "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of
          truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and
          murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end,
          they always fall — think of it, always."

          "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
          homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name
          of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

          "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

          "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no
          causes that I am prepared to kill for."

   In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk from taking them to
   their most logical extremes. In 1940, when invasion of the British
   Isles by Nazi Germany looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following
   advice to the British people (Non-Violence in Peace and War):

          "I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless
          for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and
          Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you
          call your possessions.... If these gentlemen choose to occupy
          your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free
          passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child,
          to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to
          them." .

   However, Gandhi was aware that this level of nonviolence required
   incredible faith and courage, which he realized not everyone possessed.
   He therefore advised that everyone need not keep to nonviolence,
   especially if it was used as a cover for cowardice:

          "Gandhi guarded against attracting to his satyagraha movement
          those who feared to take up arms or felt themselves incapable of
          resistance. 'I do believe,' he wrote, 'that where there is only
          a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise
          violence.'"

          "At every meeting I repeated the warning that unless they felt
          that in non-violence they had come into possession of a force
          infinitely superior to the one they had and in the use of which
          they were adept, they should have nothing to do with
          non-violence and resume the arms they possessed before. It must
          never be said of the Khudai Khidmatgars that once so brave, they
          had become or been made cowards under Badshah Khan's influence.
          Their bravery consisted not in being good marksmen but in
          defying death and being ever ready to bare their breasts to the
          bullets."

Vegetarianism

   As a young child, Gandhi experimented in meat-eating. This was due
   partially to his inherent curiosity as well as his rather persuasive
   peer and friend Sheikh Mehtab. The idea of vegetarianism is deeply
   engrained in Hindu and Jain traditions in India, and, in his native
   land of Gujarat, many Hindus were vegetarian. The Gandhi family was no
   exception. Before leaving for his studies in London, Gandhi made a
   promise to his mother, Putlibai and his uncle, Becharji Swami that he
   would abstain from eating meat, taking alcohol, and engaging in
   promiscuity. He held fast to his promise and gained more than a diet,
   he gained a basis for his life-long philosophies. As Gandhi grew into
   adulthood, he became a strict vegetarian, though he was not against the
   consumption of eggs. He wrote articles on the subject, some of which
   were published in the London Vegetarian Society's publication: "The
   Vegetarian." Gandhi inspired many people around the world to become
   vegetarian. Gandhi, himself, became inspired by many great minds during
   this period and befriended a chairman of the London Vegetarian Society,
   Dr. Josiah Oldfield.

   Having also read and admired the work of Henry Stephens Salt, the young
   Mohandas met and often corresponded with the vegetarian campaigner.
   Gandhi spent much time advocating vegetarianism during and after his
   time in London. To Gandhi, a vegetarian diet would not only satisfy the
   requirements of the body, it would also serve an economic purpose as
   meat was, and still is, generally more expensive than grains,
   vegetables, and fruits. Also, many Indians of the time struggled with
   low income, thus vegetarianism was seen not only as a spiritual
   practice but also a practical one. He abstained from eating for long
   periods, using fasting as a form of political protest. He refused to
   eat until his death or his demands were met. It was noted in his
   autobiography that vegetarianism was the beginning of his deep
   commitment to Brahmacharya; without total control of the palate his
   success in Bramacharya would have been likely to falter.

Brahmacharya

   This decision was deeply influenced by the philosophy of
   Brahmacharya—spiritual and practical purity—largely associated with
   celibacy and asceticism. Gandhi saw brahmacharya as a means of going
   close to God and as a primary foundation for self realization. In his
   autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of
   jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. He felt it his personal
   obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather
   than lust. For Gandhi brahmacharya meant control of the senses in
   thought, word and deed.

Simplicity

   Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Union Square Park, New York City
   Enlarge
   Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Union Square Park, New York City

   Gandhi earnestly believed that a person involved in social service
   should lead a simple life which he thought could lead to Brahmacharya.
   His simplicity began by renouncing the western lifestyle he was leading
   in South Africa. He called it "reducing himself to zero", which
   entailed giving up unnecessary expenditure, embracing a simple
   lifestyle and washing his own clothes. On one occasion he returned the
   gifts bestowed to him from the natals for his diligent service to the
   community.

   Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that
   abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace. This influence was
   drawn from the Hindu principles of mouna (silence) and shanti (peace).
   On such days he communicated with others by writing on paper. For three
   and a half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read
   newspapers, claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused
   him more confusion than his own inner unrest. Returning to India from
   South Africa, where he had enjoyed a successful legal practice, he gave
   up wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with wealth and
   success. He dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India,
   advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). Gandhi and his followers
   adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they
   themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. While Indian workers
   were often idle due to unemployment, they had often bought their
   clothing from industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. It
   was Gandhi's view that if Indians made their own clothes, it would deal
   an economic blow to the British establishment in India. Consequently,
   the spinning wheel was later incorporated into the flag of the Indian
   National Congress. He would wear a dhoti all his life to show
   simplicity.

Faith

   Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised Hinduism all his life, deriving
   most of his principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed
   all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to a
   different faith. He was an avid theologian and read extensively about
   all major religions. He had the following to say about Hinduism:

          "Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my
          whole being ... When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare
          me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the
          horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to
          comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of
          overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if
          they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe
          it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita."

   Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was Truth and Love
   (compassion, nonviolence and the Golden Rule). He also questioned
   hypocrisy, malpractices and dogma in all religions and was a tireless
   social reformer. Some of his comments on various religions are:

          "Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or
          the greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism
          being such. Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If
          untouchability could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a
          rotten part or an excrescence. I could not understand the raison
          d'etre of a multitude of sects and castes. What was the meaning
          of saying that the Vedas were the inspired Word of God? If they
          were inspired, why not also the Bible and the Koran? As
          Christian friends were endeavouring to convert me, so were
          Muslim friends. Abdullah Sheth had kept on inducing me to study
          Islam, and of course he had always something to say regarding
          its beauty." (source: his autobiography)

          "As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious.
          There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man,
          for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and
          claim to have God on his side."

          "The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for
          Muslims but for all of mankind."

   Later in his life when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he replied:

          "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a
          Jew."

   In spite of their deep reverence to each other, Gandhi and Rabindranath
   Tagore got involved in protracted debates more than once. These debates
   exemplify the philosophical differences between the two most famous
   Indians at the time. On January 15, 1934, an earthquake hit Bihar and
   caused extensive damage and loss of life. Gandhi maintained this was
   because of the sin committed by upper caste Hindus by not letting
   untouchables in their temples (Gandhi was committed to the cause of
   improving the fate of untouchables, referring to them as Harijans,
   people of Krishna). Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's stance,
   maintaining that an earthquake can only be caused by natural forces,
   not moral reasons, however repugnant the practice of untouchability may
   be.

Legacy

   Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Tavistock Square Gardens, London.
   Enlarge
   Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Tavistock Square Gardens, London.

   Gandhi's birthday, 2 October is a national holiday, Gandhi Jayanti.

   The word Mahatma, while often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the
   West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma
   meaning Soul. Most sources, such as Dutta and Robinson's Rabindranath
   Tagore: An Anthology, state that Rabindranath Tagore first accorded the
   title of Mahatma to Gandhi. Other sources state that Nautamlal
   Bhagavanji Mehta accorded him this title on January 21, 1915. In his
   autobiography, Gandhi nevertheless explains that he never felt worthy
   of the honour. According to the manpatra, the name Mahatma was given in
   response to Gandhi's admirable sacrifice in manifesting justice and
   truth.

   Time Magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in 1930, the runner-up
   to Albert Einstein as "Person of the Century" at the end of 1999, and
   named The Dalai Lama, Lech Wałęsa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar
   Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi, Benigno Aquino Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Nelson
   Mandela as Children of Gandhi and his spiritual heirs to non-violence.
   The Government of India awards the annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to
   distinguished social workers, world leaders and citizens. Nelson
   Mandela, the leader of South Africa's struggle to eradicate racial
   discrimination and segregation, is a prominent non-Indian recipient. In
   1996, the Government of India introduced the Mahatma Gandhi series of
   currency notes in rupees 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 denomination.
   Today, all the currency notes in circulation in India contain a
   portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1969, the United Kingdom issued a series
   of stamps commemorating the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi.
   The centennial commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the center of
   downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
   Enlarge
   The centennial commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the centre of
   downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

   In the United Kingdom, there are several prominent statues of Gandhi,
   most notably in Tavistock Square, London (near University College
   London), where he studied law. January 30 is commemorated in the United
   Kingdom as the "National Gandhi Remembrance Day." In the United States,
   there are statues of Gandhi outside the Union Square Park in New York
   City and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta,
   and in Waikiki, Hawaii. The city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa,
   where Gandhi was ejected in 1893 from a first-class train, now hosts a
   commemorative statue. There are wax statues of Gandhi at the Madame
   Tussaud's wax museums in New York and London, and other cities around
   the world.

   Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, though he was nominated
   five times between 1937 and 1948. Decades later, the Nobel Committee
   publicly declared its regret for the omission, and admitted to deeply
   divided nationalistic opinion denying the award. Mahatma Gandhi was to
   receive the Prize in 1948, but his assassination prevented the award
   from coming to him. The war breaking out between the newly created
   states of India and Pakistan could have been a complicating factor for
   Mahatma Gandhi not being presented with the Prize in 1948. The Prize
   was not awarded in 1948, the year of Gandhi's death, on the grounds
   that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year, and when the
   Dalai Lama was awarded the Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee
   said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi".
   The Committee felt so terrible it had not conferred the prize on
   Mahatma Gandhi that it kept looking at "other Indians" over the years.
   Those considered over the years were Jawaharlal Nehru and Vinoba Bhave.

Gandhi in film, literature, plays, and popular culture

   Mahatma Gandhi has been portrayed in film, literature, and in the
   theatre. Ben Kingsley portrayed Gandhi in the 1982 award-winning film,
   Gandhi. Gandhi is also a central figure in the 2006 Bollywood film Lage
   Raho Munna Bhai. The philosophy of Gandhism is an important thematic
   component of both the 2005 film, Water and the novel by author Bapsi
   Sidhwa based on the film, also called Water (Gandhi also appears as a
   character in both). The Making of the Mahatma documents Gandhi's 21
   years in South Africa. The play Mahatma vs. Gandhi explores his
   troubled relationship with his eldest son Harilal Gandhi. A 2002 play
   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (play) gives the life story of Gandhi from
   the age of twelve until his death. The opera Satyāgraha, composed by
   Philip Glass (in 1980), with a libretto by himself and Constance De
   Jong is based on the life of Gandhi. The tamil film 'Hey Ram' deals
   with the theme of Gandhi's assassination and its precursors.

Criticism

   Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar condemned Gandhi's terming the untouchable
   community as Harijans. This term meant "God's Children"; it implied
   that Dalits were socially immature, and that privileged caste Indians
   played a paternalistic role. Ambedkar and his allies also felt Gandhi
   was undermining Dalit political rights. Gandhi, although born into the
   vaishya caste, insisted that he was able to speak on behalf of Dalits,
   despite the availability of Dalit activists such as Ambedkar.

   Muhammad Ali Jinnah and contemporary Pakistanis condemned Gandhi for
   undermining Muslim political rights. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his
   allies condemned Gandhi, accusing him of politically appeasing Muslims
   while turning a blind eye to their atrocities against Hindus, and for
   allowing the creation of Pakistan (despite having publically declared
   that "before partitioning India, my body will have to be cut into two
   pieces"). Savarkar himself was tried for conspiracy in the Gandhi
   Murder case, as he was the mentor of the assassin Nathuram Godse and an
   important Hindu Mahasabha leader. However, he was acquitted following
   lack of any evidence of his involvement. In contemporary times, Marxist
   academicians like Ayesha Jalal blame Gandhi and the Congress for being
   unwilling to share power with Muslims and thus hastening partition.
   Hindu political activists like Pravin Togadia and Narendra Modi have
   been known to criticize Gandhi's leadership and actions. Gandhi also
   came under some political fire for his intolerance to those who
   attempted to achieve independence through more violent means. His
   refusal to protest against the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Udham
   Singh and Rajguru were sources of condemnation throughout some parties
   within India. Economists, such as Jagdish Bhagwati, have criticized
   Gandhi's ideas of swadeshi.

   Gandhi also came under attack for his article, "Zionism and
   Anti-Semitism". He responded with three articles (see, Homer Jack, ed.,
   The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings.) According to
   Jack, Gandhi felt a kinship with the Jewish community, but was against
   the partition of Palestine into two countries (in the same way he was
   against the division of India into two countries): "Gandhi had some
   close Jewish friends, especially in South Africa. There three of his
   closest Western co-workers were of Jewish ancestry...with the rise of
   Hitler and anti-Semitism in Germany, Gandhi felt compelled to denounce
   this aspect of racism, which he felt was akin to the kind of religious
   and racial discrimination he had fought all his life. He did not,
   however, regard Zionism as the right answer to the Jewish problem. In
   his article, "Zionism and Anti-Semitism," Gandhi writes: "If I were a
   Jew and were born in Germany and earned my livelihood there, I would
   claim Germany as my home even as the tallest Gentile German might, and
   challenge him to shoot me or cast me in the dungeon; I would refuse to
   be expelled or to submit to discriminating treatment." Gandhi was
   criticized for this article and responded in the article "Questions on
   the Jews, "Friends have sent me two newspaper cuttings criticizing my
   appeal to the Jews. The two critics suggest that in presenting
   non-violence to the Jews as a remedy against the wrong done to them, I
   have suggested nothing new....what I have pleaded for is renunciation
   of violence of the heart and consequent active exercise of the force
   generated by the great renunciation." He discusses this issue further
   in "Reply to Jewish Friends" and "Jews and Palestine."

Trivia

     * Gandhi's favourite devotional song, Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram, is
       often sung in memory of him.

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