Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whom the world called Mahatma was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandhar - a small town on the western coast of India. Both his father and grandfather, though not very highly educated, rose to become the Dewans of small area in Kathiawar. His father Karamchand Gandhi, who had a formal education and was a truthful, courageous, intelligent person with stern characters. His mother Putlibai, was a deeply religious, calm devoted in nature and implacable in her observance of the prescribed rituals of fast and prayer. She left a deep amaze on the mind of her son who almost worshiped her. As an strongly religious person and she left a lasting intuition on Gandhi's mind. The boy was named Mohan and his mother affectionately called him "Moniya".

Mohan went to an elementary school in Porbandhar where he found it difficult to master the multiplication tables. He was a Average Student, very shy, nervous and averse to games. He came in connection with Sheikh Mahtab whose sporty build and physique exercised a attraction on Mohan who himself was of a moderately slight build and was afraid of ghosts, thieves and snakes. The develops of Mahtab radiate a spell over Mohan. Mehtab influenced Mohan that the strong Englishmen were able to rule over the weak Indian because those Englishmen derived their strength from animal flesh. Mohan, who came from an conventional vegetarian family, tasted cooked meat surreptitiously. This was his first experiment in patriotism. But it proved too weighty a burden on his scruples. There was also adventure like: smoking, a visit to prostitute's house and stealing gold from his brother's armlet and selling it to clear Mehtab's debt. All these weighed heavily on him. At the age of 13, while still at studying, Mohan was married to Kasturba who was of the same age.

After matriculating, at the age of eighteen he went England where he studied for three years. The glamour of English life was robust on him during the early period of his stay. He was initiated to the theosophical thought of Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant. It opened for him, a new view of life. After three years and having been called to the bar enrolment in High Court on June 11, 1891 the young Barrister sailed home.

In India he came to know that his mother had passed away in his absence. Since there was a little capacity for making a fortune from legal practice at Rajkot, he came to Mumbai to practice law. At Mumbai, he was occupied to protect a petty suit in a small cause court. As he rose to cross-examine the plaintiff' witness, he became panicky. He sat down in loss of nerve and returned the fees to the client's agent. He never went to court again. After a jinxed trial of six months in Mumbai, Gandhi wound up his small institution and returned to Rajkot where he was able to earn a simple income by drafting petitions and memorials.

At this point in time, a Muslim firm of Kathiawar, which had a large business interests in South Africa, offered to send him there for one year for instructing and assisting their counsel in a big law suit. Gandhi readily acknowledged the offer and sailed for Durban in April 1893. There he found that though, the 'whites' -British and Dutch - were overall a small minority in Natal, but they treated both native Africans and Indians as less than human.

Gandhi came across the first embarrassing experience in South Africa when the Magistrate asked him to take off his turban. Gandhi took it as his national insult. He had to suffer, like other Indians, many humiliations, one of which marked turning point in his life. An European guard pushed him out of a railway compartment although he had a first-class ticket. As a result, Gandhi had to spend the night in a cold, dark, waiting room. "There was a white man in the room, I was afraid of him", he wrote later. "What was my duty, I asked myself. Should I go back to India or should I go forward, with God as my helper, and face whatever was in store for me? I decided to stay and suffer. My active non-violence began from that date."

How it was started Mahatma Gandhi's political career. And he prepared to call it moral activity. He established the National Indian Congress to fight for the rights of the Indian society. But as there was no place for hostility in his non-violence, he helped the British Government in the Boer War and the Zulu rebellion by organizing an Ambulance corps. The British Government gave him honors and awards, but their handling of the Indians in general worsened. It was made obligatory for the Indians to register their finger-prints and Gandhi refused to accept it with Sathyagraha which he defined as the force born of truth, love and non-violence. The campaigning continued for 8 years, during which 2000 person court arrested. Ultimately, his non-violent Satyagraha won and that obnoxious rule was withdrawn!

Along with his legal practice and political activities, Gandhi dedicated himself to the study of religious and philosophical books. He studied the Upanishads, the Holy Quran and the Bible and memorized the Gita. Ruskin's book 'unto this last' left a deep notion on him and encouraged his first experiment in community living at the Phoenix settlement in South Africa. The aim of this colony, as well as of the Tolstoy farm which followed a few years later, was to build up among young workers the spirit of self-sufficiency, self-reliance and service. The inmates had to work as their own scavengers, cobblers, farmers etc. Gandhi's goal, as distinct in Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule (Published in 1909) was to achieve for the Indians "an exploitation free society in which the ordinary individual can claim and protect his rights." This book was highly praised by the Russian author Leo-Tolstoy. Once when an English barber refused to cut his hair he did not take offence but started cutting his hair himself. Thus self-help became the basic plank of his social philosophy. This was a step towards inborn humanism and a necessary discipline in his fruition as the Mahatma-the Great Soul.

In 1915, when he was about 45, Gandhi returned to India. His repute had already gone before him. Poet Rabindranath Tagore had the apparition to recognize Gandhi's intrinsic greatness and at once hailed him as "Mahatma"

When he returned to India, he was a changed personality. Gone was the bashful and shy boy afraid of voicing his own feelings. He now came out as a man with an iron will. Mahatma Gandhi's first task was to set up an Ashram near Ahamadabad were he settled down with 25 others, who like him, took the vow of truth, non-violence, celibacy, fearlessness, self control, removal of untouchables, education through mother tongue and use Khadi (hand made) and other Swadeshi (Indian make) products. Later most of these values were accepted by the Indian National Congress. By this time, Gokhale, Tilak and other famous leaders had created a beginning among the masses of India. Mahatma Gandhi distinguished the boiling discontent of the Indian masses against the British rule.

In April 1917, he went to Champaran in Bihar (state of India) to enquire into the complaints of the Indian laborer serving on the Indigo plantations owned by Europeans. He was straight away ordered by the Government to leave Champaran. He declined to do so and was arrested, but was later related when the Bihar Governor himself arbitrated. The Government selected a committee with Gandhi as a member to enquire into the objections of the labors. Its proposals were accepted by the Government and respite provided to the Indigo plantation workers.

When the British Indian Government accepted the Rowlatt Act (1919), its recommendation worried Gandhi, as he was respected by then, and he formed a 'Satyagraha Saba' with the help of Vallabh Bhai Pattel, Sarojini Naidu and others. A peaceful meeting, held at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritser, to objection against the Rowlatt Act, was fired upon mercilessly, without any warning, on the orders of General Dyer. Hundreds of innocent persons were killed and many more injured. Even the Children and Women were not secure. In 1920, Gandhi also participated in Khilafat movement. Shocked by the events that took place after the passage of Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh butchery, Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Hindus and Muslims were competed each other in surrendering their titles and honors, and boycotting Schools, Colleges, Law Courts and Councils. The General development and interest not only continued but was further provoked by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar. To found direct contact with masses, Gandhi started two weeklies, Young India and English and Nawajivan in Gujarati.

During this period, Mahatma Gandhi also professed the urgency of revitalizing the rural economy and planned that every Indian should take to spinning on the Charkha, and thus made the Charkha a symbol of the freedom movement. When the British Government understood that the reforms of 1919 had not satisfied the Indian people, a commission was appointed under the chairmanship of John Simon. Since it was an "all white" commission, it was boycotted on it arrival in India. Mahatma Gandhi spear headed the movement. On April 6,, 1930, Gandhi started his Civil Disobedience Movement with his historic march to Dandi to break the Salt Law forced by the British Indian Government. The movement, aiming at strikes, boycott of British goods and general approach of Civil Disobedience towards authority spread to all parts of the country.

In March 1931, the Gandhi Irwin Pact was signed and on August 29 Gandhi sailed for London to attend the Second Round Table conference as the sole delegate of the congress. The Mahatma or The Half Naked Fakir now become a legend, and fantastic stories- some kindly and some unkindly- spread about him. The London winter was braved by Gandhi clad only in dhoti and sadar. Some journalists asked him "Mr. Gandhi, don't you think you are somewhat under clad?" "Well" Gandhi said "the King had enough cloths on his person sufficient for both of us."

In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi resigned from the membership of the Congress and settled down in Sevagram. He concerted on organizing Khadi work. When the congress won the elections of 1937 Gandhi declared: "India is still a prison, but the Superintendent allows the prisoners to elect the officials who run the jail."

The second world war broke out in 1939. Among the Congress leaders, Gandhi alone was in favor of giving support to the allies unconditionally. This was because he thought that if the British people were true in saying that they were fighting for democracy, they would make India free. Actually, the Viceroy took the choice for India to enter the war without consulting the Indian people or their leaders. As a result the congress ministries resigned and Gandhi planned a crusade of individual Satyagraha. The struggle continued for the next two years. When the Japanese swept across Malaysia and Burma towards the Indian Border, the British Government released the Satyagrahis and sent to Cripps Mission. Gandhi did not have much hope in this mission and raised the slogan of "QUIT INDIA".

In August 1942, the congress working committee, under the president ship of Maulana Abul Khalam Azad, adopted the "Quit India" declaration. Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Nehru, Patel and all the big leaders of the congress were straight away arrested and massive subjugation was let lose. It was countered by an equally stiff popular confrontation which took the form of a revolution. This popular movement was put down by violent and high-handed measures. Congress leaders were released only in 1945 when the war ended. In 1946, a cabinet mission came to India to discover how self-government could be granted to Indians. For a time, it seemed that the cabinet mission would accept the Congress suggestion because it recommended a united India with a federal government to deal with foreign affairs, defense, and communication. It was with this hope that Jawaharlal Nehru formed the provisional Government.

In September 1947, Gandhi reached Delhi and settled down in the Bhangi Colony. He used to hold daily prayer meetings in which he appealed for Hindu-Muslim unity. On January 12, 1948 he again went on a fast because he felt that the Muslims in Delhi were not being treated properly. The fast was broken when a Peace Committee formed of representatives of all communities promised to protect the life and the property of the Muslims.

On January 20, 1948, a bomb was thrown at Gandhi's prayer meeting. Mahatma Gandhi was not disturbed and even appealed that misguided youth who threw the bomb should be treated with clemency. Ten days latter, on Jan 30, 1948, shortly after 5pm when Gandhi was going to address his daily prayer meeting, a Hindu fanatic, Naduram Gotse, rused forward and fired three shots at him. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Hey Ram", and died. For harmony and unity between Hindus and Muslims, he paid the highest price.

"...a glory has departed and the sun that warmed and brightened our lives has set and we shiver in the cold and dark...that man with the divine fire changed us also - and such as we are, we have been moulded by him during these years, and out of this divine fire,, many of us also took a small spark which strengthened and made us work to some extent on the lines that he fashioned," thus spoke Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the death of Father of India "Mahatma Gandhi"

Photo courtesy: Photobucket

The auction of Mahatma Gandhi's belongings to be held at Autiquorum Auctionears,New York next month for a private foreign collector has come under criticism from several vetaran Gandhians in India. They feel that the possissions should be kept in India.

Mahatma Gandhi had once said that whatever belongs to him, belongs to the Navajivan trust. Then why auction it abroad? Some of the Gandhians says "we think Gandhiji's possessions should be kept in India. It is surprising that the Government of failed to act even after so long. We think they should get in touch with the US Government and request them to stop the auction. It is a national treasure and should be treated as such."

Some other says "Gandhiji used to charge Rs.5 for his autograph which he used for the Harijan Samaj. We think people should follow Gandhian ideologies and not commercialise these things, which are of great sentimental value.