As a child, Mahatma Gandhi (October 2nd, 1869 – January 30th, 1948) he was a shy, quiet boy and considered an average student. He did not show any exceptional qualities, but that made the world that much more intrigued when he became the one of the world's most respected religious figures. Like the rest of us, Gandhi wasn't perfect. He experimented with smoking, stealing and eating foods such as meat that were frowned upon in his religious upbringing. By the age of 13, he married his wife Kasturba and later on had 4 children. He eventually moved to England to study law, and he had to promise his mother he would stay away from women, meat and wine. In London, Gandhi met many theosophists, vegetarians and others who had the legacy of...show more content...
He learned more about the grievances faced by other Indians, studied law organized petitions and wrote letters to the officials, all in the process of fighting against injustice (Rosenberg, 2009).
In 1896, the Bubonic plague outbreak occurred in South Africa, this is when Gandhi offered to inspect the lives of the rich and poor since the disease was associated with poor hygiene. This shows how much he truly cared for those who may have not been heard or even paid attention to.
In 1915, he returned to India and within the next 15 years, he became the leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement. He continued to use Satyagraha to lead Indians in independence from Britain campaigns. While fighting for justice, Gandhi was arrested on numerous occasions by the British colonists in South Africa as well as India. (Fischer, 1983) He believed that going to jail for a just caused was an honor, even when being sentenced to 7 years for inciting people against the British. He also participated in a 21 day fast in his cell when a Muslim–Hindu was broke out. This shows how hard he worked to preserve the Hindu–Muslim relation. (Easwaran, 1997)
Gandhi spent his life fighting for the rights of the poor, and for the removal of the British colonialists from India. His way of fighting for justice using nonviolent tactics were also inherited and used by other activists such as Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. His accomplishments were respected by many and changed
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A wise man once said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." This man is Mahatma Gandhi. How does this apply to discovering yourself? Well, let me tell you a little bit about his life and my own experiences. Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India; it was part of the British Empire. His native language was Gujarah. His parents were Karamchand Gandhi, a chief minister, and Putlibai, who was deeply religious, the fourth wife and nursed the family. He had an arranged marriage with Kasturba, at 13. His father and his first baby died when he was 16. At 18, after having 4 living sons, he sailed for London, England to study law for three years for his father's wishes. He joined the...show more content... He settled in Durban to practice law and founded the Natal Indian Congress, in 1894. This flooded the government, legislative, and press with statements of indian grievances, exposing the discrimination in Queen Victoria in her own colonies in Africa. All this had reached even The Times of London, The Statements, and Englishman commenting on Natal Indian grievances. In 1896, he went to India to get his wife and children, get support overseas, and persuade leaders. Landing in Durban, in 1897, he was assaulted and was almost lynched by a white mob, but he refused for them to be prosecuted. The outbreak of the South African (Boer) War, Gandhi raised an ambulance corporation of 1,100 and for them to instill in them a spirit of service, whom they thought of as oppressors. Though the Boers and Britons made a partnership, they were not included and their efforts did not impress them. In 1906, the Transvaal Government made a humiliating ordinance for the registration of its indian population. Under Gandhi, they held a mass protest at Johannesburg and born was satyagraha. For seven more years, 1913, hundreds of indians were put in jail and thousands of indian workers struck work faced imprisonment, flogging, and even shot. There were lots of lost, but this had exposed the South African Government. Under the pressure of the governments of Britain and India, they accepted a compromise
Mahatma Gandhi Introduction Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism and the prophet of nonviolence in the 20th century, was born, the youngest child of his father's fourth wife, on Oct. 2, 1869, at Porbandar, the capital of a small principality in Gujarat in western India under British suzerainty. His father, Karamchand Gandhi, who was the dewan (chief minister) of Porbandar, did not have much in the way of a formal education but was an able administrator who knew how to steer his way between the capricious princes, their long–suffering subjects, and the headstrong British political officers in power. Gandhi's mother, Putlibai, was completely absorbed in religion, did not care much for finery and jewelry,...show more content...
His adolescence was probably no stormier than that of most children of his age and class. What was extraordinary was the way his youthful transgressions ended. "Never again" was his promise to himself after each escapade. And he kept his promise. Beneath an unprepossessing exterior, he concealed a burning passion for self–improvement that led him to take even the heroes of Hindu mythology, such as Prahlada and Harishcandra legendary embodiments of truthfulness and sacrifice as living models. In 1887 Mohandas scraped through the matriculation examination of the University of Bombay and joined Samaldas College in Bhavnagar (Bhaunagar). As he had suddenly to switch from his native language Gujarati to English, he found it rather difficult to follow the lectures. Meanwhile, his family was debating his future. Left to himself, he would have liked to be a doctor. But, besides the Vaishnava prejudice against vivisection, it was clear that, if he was to keep up the family tradition of holding high office in one of the states in Gujarat, he would have to qualify as a barrister. This meant a visit to England, and Mohandas, who was not too happy at Samaldas College, jumped at the proposal. His youthful imagination conceived England as "a land of philosophers and poets, the very centre of civilization." But there were several hurdles to be crossed before the visit to England could be realized. His father had left little
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Gandhi perceives imperialism as a creation of Industrial development, which perpetuates greed, and the desire to increase profit at the expense of the body and society. Gandhi states. "Those who are intoxicated by modern civilization are not likely to write against it. Their care will be to find out facts and arguments in support of it, and this they do unconsciously" (Gandhi, chp 6). Gandhi's presumes that civilization, like an incurable disease, and new–civilized creations are a limitation to the body and society. Thus,India's helplessness is in conjunction with its British association. Moreover, a 'disarmed India has no control of resistance of 'western–civilization' so then what is civilized justice? According to Gandhi, civil justice...show more content...
Machinery is viewed as the destruction of Indian society, and conclusive to the obstruction of ancient civilization's body and society. Industrial capitalism is subservient to Gandhi's society, and Industrial capitalism perpetuates colonial imperialism. It is a chief representation of western civilization, as Gandhi sates, "Now thousands of workmen meet together and for the sake of maintenance work in factories or mines. Their condition is worse than that of beasts. They are obliged to work, for the sake of millionaires, but by reproducing Manchester in India, our moral being will be sapped, and I call in support of my statement the very mill–bands as witnesses" (Gandhi, chp 19). It is inherent, that Gandhi's perception of society is one without industrial capitalism.
He saw machinery and materialism as greater representations of manipulation. The British had, like any imperialist civilization, a perpetuating greed to control natural resources for profit. Ultimately, in Gandhi's eyes the British wanted to have complete sovereignty over political bodies in their colonial parts. Village life was on the verge of distinction, thus Gandhi's ideology gave light to India's grim vision of being truly independent. Gandhi, as Metcalf sates, "believed in true independence, he envisioned it in Hind Swaraj (1909) it was not a simple matter of Indians replacing Britain's in the seat of government. It involved a wholesale
Mahatma Gandhi was a man of faith and great conviction. Mohandas Gandhi, Whom most people know as Mahatma, meaning "Great Soul", dedicated most of his life to free his motherland by using peace and love to a vast extent rather than war and destruction. Gandhi founded Satyagraha, a new peaceful way to raise his voice. Gandhi was very well educated and helped the oppressed Indian community of South Africa. He came up with a policy of non–violent resistance called Satyagraha or 'devotion to truth'. He introduced a program known as swadeshi meaning "one's own country" to boycott British goods. Gandhi began a synchronized protest march against an unfair tax on salt, which was imposed on the Indians by the British government. This march shook...show more content...
This shows how Gandhi chose to help his country without being asked to do so. He gave up his job and risked his family's' and his own life.
In 1919, India was in confusion, as a result of the Rowlett Acts which gave draconian powers for search and seize without warrant and confinement without trial. Some 25,000 people gathered, mostly for a political meeting, some to celebrate Baisakhi, Sikh New Year. General Reginald Dyer got to know about this and immediately ordered to block the entrances of the park where the meeting took place and to fire. Thousands of people lost their lives (Bose 55–56). When Mahatma Gandhi saw the amount of bloodshed, he again turned to non–violent protest and went on a hunger strike. Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress and his program of peaceful non–cooperation with the British, and announced boycott of British goods and institutions, leading to arrests of thousands. In 1922, Gandhi himself was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He was released after two years and left politics, to devote himself to improve Hindu–Muslim relations (Mohandas Gandhi). Gandhi took a great step against the British government without forgetting non–violence, which also led to the increase in number of his followers. In 1930, Gandhi announced a new movement of civil disobedience in protest against a tax on salt, leading thousands on a march to the sea to symbolically make their own salt from seawater. He bravely went to the sea and took a
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Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in the small western Indian state of Porbandar under the name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ("Ghandi 's Life") . When Gandhi was finished with high school, he entered a small Indian college, the Samaldas College at the University of Bombay ("Mahatma"). After beginning his education here, however, he decided he disliked and traveled to the University College London, leaving his wife and infant son ("Ghandi 's Life"). It was while attending school in London that he initially became exposed to the diversity of the world; he pursued the study of religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism ("Mahatma"). After being admitted to the English Bar, Gandhi returned to India. He, however, had a difficult time...show more content...
By 1921, he was the leader of the Indian National Congress and was responsible for reorganizing the party's constitution around the concept of "Swaraj," political independence from the British ("Mahatma"). He also led a boycott of all British goods and institutions ("Mahatma"). On March 10th, 1922 Gandhi was arrested and served 2 years of a 6 year prison sentence for sedition ("Mahatma"). While Gandhi was serving his time in jail, the Indian National Congress lost its publicity and momentum ("Mahatma"). In fact it did not return to the public eye until 1928 when it campaigned for Britain to grant India "dominion status," which gave a state the ability to self–govern its people, while still remaining under control of the British monarchy (Alcock). In 1930, Britain introduced a tax on salt and Gandhi responded by leading a 250 mile march to the sea in order to collect his own salt ("Mahatma"). Because of Gandhi's social prominence, the government reluctantly negotiated issues with Gandhi, which led to alleviating poverty, empowering women, and eventually giving India political independence from Britain ("Mahatma"). Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, son of an Austrian customs official and a young peasant–worker (Wistrich). In October 1097, Hitler left home for Vienna, with dreams of becoming a painter (Wistrich). His plans changed when he was rejected admission from the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of
