Mohandas K. Gandhi was the leader of the Indian National Congress and one of the most well-known Indians in history.
He was one of the architects of the movement for Indian
independence and one of the most well-known Indians in history.
Gandhi was born in Gujarat, where his father served as a
minister to a local ruler.
The British deposed the reigning prince for mismanagement
shortly after Gandhi's father died, and the Gandhi family lost their status.
Gandhi was sent to London to study law, and it was at this
time that he encountered a range of new ideas that would have a significant
impact on his destiny.
Ironically, the Bhagavad Gita, an important Hindu holy work
from which he derived continued inspiration later in life, was one of these
inspirations.
Gandhi returned to India in 1891 and failed to establish a
legal practice in Bombay, so he returned to Gujarat.
Gandhi went to South Africa in 1894 to work for a Muslim
commercial company.
He meant to remain in South Africa for just a few months,
but he ended up staying for twenty years.
He discovered his actual calling, political involvement, at
this period.
This was triggered by his personal racial persecution, which
included being pushed out of a train car designated for "whites
only," and fuelled by the social, political, and legal disadvantages faced
by South Africa's 40,000 Indians, the most of whom were illiterate farm
labourers.
Gandhi developed and polished his core techniques in South
Africa, including mass noncooperation, peaceful resistance, willingness to risk
jail, and deft use of the print media to sway public opinion.
In 1914, he went to India, where he quickly rose to
prominence as a key actor in the fight against the British, first for home rule
and then for complete independence.
Gandhi's whole career was guided by his sincerely held moral
principles.
He considered political involvement as a method of
altruistic action for the good of the world, rather than a means of personal
success.
This emphasis on unselfish behavior was significantly influenced
by the Bhagavad Gita, in which the deity Krishna advises his companion and
follower (bhakta), Arjuna, to follow a similar path.
Gandhi stayed devoted to nonviolence throughout his life.
Gandhi believed that the manner by which a goal was achieved
had a significant impact on its character.
Truth was another of his fundamental values, as seen by his
determination that evil and injustice had to be fought, even if it meant
resorting to violence after all other options had failed.
Self-control was a third key concept, which he saw as a
precondition for leading others.
His devotion to his ideals gave him the courage to face
imprisonment, injuries, and more than thirty years of conflict with the British
government; it also inspired him to crusade against many other injustices,
including the concept of untouchability.
The partition of British India into India and Pakistan,
motivated in part by Muslim anxieties about their minority position in an
independent Hindu India, marred the arrival of freedom in 1947.
A major migration occurred as a result of the split, with
fifteen million people migrating from one nation to the other.
It also caused unimaginable community strife, resulting in
the deaths of an estimated one million people.
Gandhi was unable to avert division or establish good
relations between the two nations despite his best efforts.
Gandhi was killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic who
thought Gandhi was being too mild on Pakistan, only six months after India
gained independence.
Throughout his life, Gandhi had detractors and opponents,
many of whom believed he did not merit the sainthood bestowed upon him.
B.R.Ambedkar was one of Gandhi's detractors, believing that Gandhi had exploited the untouchables as pawns in discussions with the British because he opposed their separation from the broader political body.
Subhash Chandra Bose, who called for an armed fight against
the British, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a Hindu nationalist who was Godse's
inspiration, were among his detractors.
See Mohandas K.Gandhi, An Autobiography, 1993; Louis Fischer, Gandhi, 1954; Mark Juergensmeyer, "Saint Gandhi," in John Stratton Hawley (ed.), Saints and Virtues, 1987; and Sudhir Kakar, "Gandhi and Women," in Intimate Relations, 1990 for further information.
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