Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) led a revolution that led to Indian independence through nonviolent protest. As a result of his impeccable political ethics and his ideology of peace, his figure inspired movements around the world advocating for civil rights and freedom. Mahatma Gandhi’s biography will introduce you to the story of a man whose fight for human well-being led him to use civil disobedience.

A brief biography of Mahatma Gandhi

The index

  • Student of law

  • Racism and Mahatma Gandhi

  • South Africa’s victory

  • The peaceful protests of Mahatma Gandhi

  • Salt march

  • The return of Mahatma Gandhi

  • Goodness has its downsides

Student of law

On October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on the Kathiawar Peninsula in India. As the fourth child of Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai, a highly religious woman, he was a political leader at the time. The youngest of his sons was raised in Porbandar, a coastal city where the boy excelled in school. Gandhi had to stand firm against temptations such as cigarettes and alcohol during his adolescence.

Please take note

Mahatma Gandhi’s parents arranged his marriage to Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia, a young Indian woman, when he was 13 years old. Five children were born to the couple before Kasturbai died in 1944.

Mahatma Gandhi traveled to London to study law when he was 18 years old using the savings of his family. The young man completed his degree in three years thanks to his excellent academic abilities and returned to India in 1891. Upon returning, he learned that his mother had passed away a few weeks earlier. As a lawyer, he struggled with shyness in his first few cases.

Racism and Mahatma Gandhi

In spite of his poor professional results in India, Mahatma Gandhi obtained a contract to work as a lawyer in South Africa. In April 1893, he set out for Natal province without hesitation. During his years in South Africa, Gandhi studied world religions despite being raised under the Hindu doctrine of Jainism. Fasting, celibacy, and rejection of material goods constituted his austere lifestyle as he immersed himself in sacred Hindu texts.

Mahatma Gandhi was in complete disagreement with the Afrikaner and British authorities’ level of discrimination and racial segregation in South Africa. In June 1893, a policeman demanded Gandhi move to the back of a train because a white man was irritated by his presence. When the Indian refused to comply, he was thrown from the vehicle.

Mahatma Gandhi’s act of civil disobedience and subsequent removal from the train motivated him to eliminate racial discrimination forever. In 1894, he formed the Natal Indian Congress in order to end what he considered a disease. Gandhi’s contract stipulated that he must return to India, but his colleagues convinced him to stay in South Africa to fight. In favor of equality.

The South African victory

Mahatma Gandhi launched his first campaign of civil disobedience in 1906. In South Africa, Indians protested new restrictions imposed on them by the government, known as satyagraha (‘firm truth’). Citizens who spoke out against laws that sought to segregate immigrants and clearly limited their civil liberties were jailed for several years afterward.

Mahatma Gandhi’s protests were nonviolent and nondestructive, which led many British and mixed-race citizens to sympathize with their cause. Following popular pressure, the South African government began negotiations with Gandhi. Indians were no longer subject to excise taxes after these meetings, and the invalidity laws were removed.

The peaceful protests of Mahatma Gandhi

In 1914, Mahatma Gandhi returned home after achieving positive political results in South Africa. The next few years he spent in India were spent reconnecting with his more religious roots. As the world went through the First World War, Gandhi preached words of peace in various cities of his country, earning him popularity as a social activist. In recognition of these acts, he was given the name Mahatma (‘great soul’).

To prevent a rebellion in India after World War I, the British authorities intensified security measures. Mahatma Gandhi was outraged once again when the government authorized the imprisonment of suspected rebels without trial. In a similar manner to what he had done in South Africa, he organized a new satyagraha. In 1919, British officers massacred 400 Protestants as a result of the protest.

Some citizens and officials opposed the British government due to the unnecessarily violent response of the English authorities. Mahatma Gandhi called for protests and urged Indians to stop paying taxes and buying goods made in England. Gandhi was appointed leader of the Indian National Congress in 1922 as a result of the thrust of his rebellion. The same year, he was imprisoned for his rebellious acts.

Salt march

The authorities feared that the death of Mahatma Gandhi would spark a new rebellion when he fell ill with appendicitis. In 1924, the government released him so that he could recover. Gandhi discovered that disputes were occurring between Hindu and Muslim citizens throughout the country after he was released from prison. His intention was to recover and raise his spiritual status from him by staying away from public life for several years.

After the government prohibited Indians from selling or collecting salt in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi returned to politics. The prohibitions regarding salt severely affected the poorest citizens, since it is an essential part of their diet and is a major source of commerce in the country. The Salt March, a protest that gathered thousands of Indians at the Arabian Sea shores, was Gandhi’s response.

FACTS TO KNOW

Gandhi ordered Indian citizens to form medical aid squads for British soldiers during the second Boer War. For Indians to enjoy the same benefits as the English, they had to assume the same responsibilities.

The salt march reached its destination with over 50,000 Indians at the back of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the demonstration. In response to the event, protests erupted throughout the country, which only worsened when the leader was jailed again. In 1933, the British government agreed to release Gandhi and remove certain segregation laws along with thousands of other political prisoners. As a result of these events, Gandhi set out on a journey through the most impoverished areas of India.

Mahatma Gandhi is back

Mahatma Gandhi’s travels to India led him to understand the need for his country to become independent, according to his writings. This new journey led him to become enormously popular with the Indian people, despite being already a tremendous political and spiritual leader. Gandhi was petitioned by the Indian National Congress and citizens in 1942, as British rule was faltering during World War II.

Following the customs of their leader, Mahatma Gandhi’s wave of independence protests were peaceful. Churchill, the Prime Minister of England at the time, refused to relinquish control of the territory. Although Gandhi was once again arrested by the British government, less conservative sections of England began to sympathize with his peaceful protests. Upon his release in 1944, Gandhi met with English political leaders who called for India’s liberation.

The Labor Party began negotiations with Congress after the Conservative Party lost the 1945 election in England. Gandhi, however, was devastated to learn that his dream of a unified country would not be able to come true. The negotiation determined that the territory would be divided into two independent countries, India and Pakistan, because of ideological differences between Hindus and Muslims.

Being good has its downsides

After India gained independence in 1947, territorial disputes sparked renewed fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Through meetings with both sides and hunger strikes, Mahatma Gandhi sought reconciliation over the next few months. The more extreme Hindus saw Gandhi’s negotiations as a betrayal of their faith.

In times of despair, I remember all the times when good has triumphed in history. Despite the invincibility of murderers and tyrants at times, good always triumphs. Mahatma Gandhi.

Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist who opposed Gandhi’s encounters with Muslims, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948. As the spiritual leader addressed a collective prayer, Godse shot him three times. Gandhi’s commitment to peace inspired major nonviolent protests throughout the 20th century. A few of the figures whose lives were changed by his fight are Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

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