Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi wed Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia in an arranged marriage in May 1883. He was 13 years old and Kasturbai was 14 years old at the time of their marriage. The marriage produced five children of whom four survived to adulthood. The names of his children were: Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas His wife too became a social activist in her own right later on.

Gandhi was a prolific writer and penned several books including the autobiographies ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’, ‘Satyagraha in South Africa’, and ‘Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule’.

He was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a militant Hindu nationalist activist who shot three bullets into Gandhi’s chest at point-blank range at the Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti) in New Delhi. Prior to his assassination, there had been five unsuccessful attempts to kill him.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 to a Hindu Modh Baniya family in Porbandar, then part of Kathiawar Agency, in British Indian Empire. His father Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi worked as the diwan (chief minister) of Porbandar state. His mother Putlibai was Karamchand’s fourth wife. Mohandas had two elder half-sisters and three elder siblings.

His mother was an extremely religious lady who had a great influence on the young Mohandas. However as he grew up, he developed a rebellious streak and defied many of his family norms. He started drinking alcohol and eating meat which were activities strictly prohibited in his traditional Hindu family.

He was a mediocre student in school though he occasionally won prizes and scholarships. He passed the matriculation examination of the University of Bombay in 1887 and enrolled at the Samaldas College in Bhavnagar.

In 1888, he received the opportunity to study law at the Inner Temple in London. Thus he left the Samaldas College and sailed to England in August. There he studied law and jurisprudence with the intention of becoming a barrister.

While in England he was once again drawn towards his childhood values which he had renounced as a teenager. He became involved with the vegetarian movement and met members of the Theosophical Society who kindled his interest in religion.

He struggled professionally for the next two years before accepting a contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, a part of the British Empire, in 1893.

The years spent in South Africa proved to be a profound spiritual and political experience for Gandhi. There he witnessed situations he had no idea about previously. He, along with all the other colored people were subjected to rampant discrimination.

Once he was asked to move from the first-class in a train in spite of having a valid ticket solely on the basis of his color, and another time he was asked to remove his turban. He refused both the times.

These incidents angered him and kindled in him the spirit to fight for social justice. Even though his original job contract with Dada Abdulla & Co. was just for one year, he extended his stay in the country in order to fight for the rights of people of Indian descent. He spent over 20 years in the country during which he helped found the Natal Indian Congress which aimed at molding the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force.

Mohandas Gandhi had gained a reputation as a fearless civil rights activist while In South Africa. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, asked Gandhi to return to India and join the others in India’s struggle for freedom.

Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He joined the Indian National Congress and by 1920 established himself as a dominant figure in the Indian political scenario. He was a strict adherent to the principle of non-violence and believed that non-violent civil disobedience measures were the best means to protest against the British rule.

He called for all the Indians to unite as one irrespective of the divisions of religion, caste and creed in the country’s fight for independence. He advocated non co-operation with British rule, which included a boycott of British goods in favor of Indian made products. He also called for the boycott of British educational institutions and prompted Indians to resign from government employment.

The non co-operation movement gained widespread mass appeal all over India which greatly agitated the British. Gandhi was arrested, tried for sedition, and imprisoned for two years (1922-24).