Biography of Mohandas Gandhi

and

Concepts Gandhi gave us

2015

Biography
Mohandas Gandhi

Early Life / Background

Born in Porbandar, India
Born on October 2, 1869
Father was Diwan (Prime

Minister) of Porbander
Porbander was a small state
in the Kathiawar Agency of
British India

Early Life / Background Continued

Mother was Putlibai
Grew up with the Jain
traditions
Jainism has ancient
traditions - vegetarianism,
religious tolerance,

fasting, and compassion

Life As a Teenager
Married Kasturbai
Makhanji at 13 years
old
This was an arranged
child marriage
Had 4 sons with
Kasturbai Makhanji

Education
Average student in school

Went to England in 1888 to

study law at Univ. of London,
became a barrister
Barristers are special kinds of
lawyers that have more direct

contact with clients.

Journey to South Africa

Traveled to South Africa
in 1893
Treated very unfairly by
European people
Thrown off train and

beaten by driver
Gandhi began to
question Indian status in
the British Empire

South Africa
Stayed in Africa longer to

assist Indians in opposing

a bill that did not let them
vote
Helped found Natal Indian
Congress in 1894

This was a political force

South Africa
Adopted satyagraha
This means devotion to the
truth
Told Indians to defy the law
and suffer through
punishments instead of
resisting
Satyagraha began to mature

Accusations of Racism
In one report, Gandhi said

that Kaffirs are dirty and

troublesome
He also said the white race
should be the predominant
race in South Africa

This lead people to the idea

that he was racist

The Zulu War of 1906

Britain declared war on the
Zulus in 1906
Zulus killed two British officers
after introduction of poll tax

Gandhi encouraged Britain to

allow Indians to be recruited
Indians allowed to treat
wounded soldiers

Role in World War I

Invited by Viceroy to War
Conference in Delhi in
1918
Invited to show support to
Empire and to recruit
Indians for war
Attempted to recruit
combatants
Appeal for Enlistment in
1918
Gandhi told Viceroys
secretary that he will not
hurt anybody

Role in World War I

To

bring about such a state

of things we should have the
ability to defend ourselves,
that is, the ability to bear
arms and to use themIf
we want to learn the use of
arms with the greatest
possible dispatch, it is our
duty to enlist ourselves in
the army. (Gandhi: Appeal
for Enlistment)

Kheda
Gandhi began to
clean up villages in
Kheda
Villages were dirty
and full of crime and
alcoholism
Built schools and
hospitals and
encouraged people to
work together to stop
conflicts and crimes

Kheda Continued
Arrested by police on
charges of creating
unrest
People protested outside
jail until Gandhis release
Led protests against
landlords signed an
agreement
It granted farmers more
control over their farming
and cancelled collections
until they were more
wealthy
Gandhi named Father
of the nation

Resistance Against Britain

Used non-cooperation
and non-violence
against Britain
Spoke about how
violence was evil and
was not the solution to
anything
Sought to complete self
government and control
Indian government
institutions
Turned into Swaraj, or
individual and spiritual
political independence

Resistance Against Britain

Urged Indians to
wear khadi instead of
British clothes
Urged people to
boycott education
and law
Also urged people to
forsake British titles
and honors
These ideas achieved
widespread success
and increased
peoples will to resist

Resistance Against Britain

Gandhi called off
campaign in 1922 out
of fear of violence
erupting
Gandhi was arrested
on March 10, 1922 and
tried for sedition
Sentenced to six years
in jail
Released for an
appendicitis operation
after 2 years

Resistance Against Britain

Indian National
Congress split into two
factions without Gandhi
One faction favored
participation in the
legislatures
Other faction opposed
this
Hindu and Muslim
cooperation for nonviolence breaking down

The Salt March

Spent a lot of time trying
to resolve the conflicts
between the Swaraj and
Indian National
Congress
British boycotted
commission by Indian
political parties
Gandhi threatened
British with another noncooperation campaign

The Salt March

The British did not respond
to the threat
January 26, 1930 was
celebrated as Indias
Independence Day
Gandhi started new
Satyagraha against the tax
on salt in 1930
Marched with thousands of
other Indians for 241 miles
from Ahmedabad to Dandi
to make salt himself

The Salt March

Britain responded by
imprisoning over 60,000
people
Gandhi-Irwin Pact was
signed in 1931
This freed all prisoners in
return for suspension of
civil disobedience
movement
Gandhi invited to attend
Round Table Conference in
London to represent Indian
National Congress

After the Salt March

Gandhi arrested and British
failed to isolate him from his
followers
Government granted
untouchables separate
electorates under constitution
Gandhi protested and forced
government to come up with a
better arrangement
Gandhi started a new
campaign to help the
untouchables lead better lives

After the Salt March Continued

In 1934, Gandhi was
almost assassinated
three times
Gandhi resigned from
party membership
because his popularity
would stifle the
membership
Also, this helped Gandhi
avoid being a target for
Raj propaganda

Return to Politics in 1936

Wanted a total focus on winning
independence
Allowed Congress to adopt socialism

Had an argument with President

Subhas Bose
Bose did not commit to democracy

and had little faith in non-violence

Bose left Congress after Gandhi
announced of Boses abandonment

of his principals to the All-India

leaders

World War II

Gandhi declared that

India could not be a
party to a war fought
for democratic
freedom when India
had none
Gandhi started to
write a resolution
called Quit India for
Britain
Many people
believed not helping
Britain was unethical
Gandhi would not
support the war
unless India was
granted
independence

Arrest During World War II

Arrested in Bombay on
August 9, 1942
Suffered two painful
losses in prison
His secretary, Mahadev
Desai died of a heart
attack
Wife, Kasturba died after
being imprisoned for 18
months
Gandhi released at the
end of the war for failing
health due to a malaria
attack
Britain indicated that India
would be given power

Indias Freedom and Partition

Gandhi was opposed to
partition
This opposition caused
Hindus and Muslims to
criticize Gandhi
Gandhi was condemned
for undermining Muslim
rights
He was accused of turning
a blind eye to atrocities
against Hindus and for the
creation of Pakistan
Some people even said he
caused India to divide

Freedom and Partition Continued

Gandhi opposed any
partition that planned to
divide India
Congress approved the
partition plan to prevent
a Hindu-Muslim war
Gandhi was eventually
forced to let the partition
be approved to avoid
war

Struggle and Pakistan

Worked with Hindus and
Muslims to keep peace
Gandhi saddened when
Muslims voted for Pakistan
and Muslims and Hindus
could not agree with each
other
Gandhi protested that
money should be donated to
restore homes in Pakistan
After much debate, the
Government agreed to pay
Pakistan since Gandhi
refused to change his mind

Assassination

Gandhi was shot by

Nathuram Godse on
January 30, 1948 during
his nightly walk
Godse and his
conspirator were
convicted and executed
on November 15, 1949
Gandhis ashes were
poured into urns and
sent across India for
memorial services
Gandhis memorial is
located at Raj Ghat in
Pune, India

Literary Works
Edited newspapers including
the Harijan, Hindi, Indian
Opinion, and Young India
Wrote autobiography: An
Autobiography of My
Experiments With Truth
A political pamphlet: Hind
Swaraj or Indian Home
Rule
Also paraphrased John
Ruskins Unto This Last
Gandhis complete works
were published in the 1960s
and revised in 2000

Concepts Gandhi gave us

SATYA AHIMSA SARVODAYA

Concepts Gandhi gave us

SWARAJ
SWADESHI
SATYA
SATYAGRAHA
SARVODAYA

M. K. Gandhi - 1909
The only motive is to serve my country, to
find out the Truth, and to follow it. If,
therefore my views are proved to be wrong, I
shall have no hesitation in rejecting them.
If they are proved to be right, I would
naturally wish, for the sake of the
Motherland, that others should adopt them.

Hind Swaraj- A foundational text

In Hind Swaraj Gandhi combined rejection of the
liberative contribution of modernity with an attempt
to integrate these positive elements with a

liberating re-interpretation of tradition.

With his critique from within the tradition, Gandhi
becomes the great synthesiser of contraries within
and across traditions.

Ancient-Indian vs Modern-West
For Gandhi civilisation was by definition a moral
enterprise: "Civilisation is that mode of conduct
which points out to man the path of duty

Unacceptable were the two points - might is right

and the survival of the fittest.
Also, colonial imperialism, industrial capitalism,
and rationalist materialism.

Swaraj
Swaraj as self rule and as self-government
The first as self-control, rule over oneself,
was the foundation for the second, selfgovernment. In this second sense, local
self ~government was what Gandhi really
had in mind.
Gandhi very decidedly gives priority to selfrule over self-government, and to both over
political independence, swatantrata.

Indian cultural Values

Gandhis Hind Swaraj presents us with an
idealised version of Indian culture that is
completely counterpunctal to the Modern West.
Here we pick out three seminal themes:
Swaraj (Self rule),
Swadeshi (Self governance) and

Satya (Truth).

Swaraj is not mere replacing of the

English
Essential to both meanings swaraj, was a sense of
self-respect that is precisely Gandhis answer to
colonial rule.
For Gandhi freedom in its most fundamental sense
had to mean freedom for self-realisation. But it
had to be a freedom for all, for the toiling masses,

and the privileged classes, and most importantly

for the least and last Indian.

 For Gandhi real rights are legitimated by duties they flow

from, for both are founded on satya and dharma.

The modern theory of rights reverses this priority and

founds rights on the dignity and freedom of the
individual.
But comprehensive morality can never be adequately
articulated or correctly grasped in terms of rights alone.

Swadeshi: as a means for swaraj

It is this commitment of the individual to his
desh that was Gandhis Indian alternative
to western nationalism.
The village Gandhi idealised was not just a
geographic place, or a statistic, or a social
class.
It was an event, a dream, a happening, a
culture.
As he used "the term village implied not
an entity, but a set of values"

Satya
SATYA: Truthfulness, honesty,
transparency, accountability, expanding
conscience, awareness and responsibility;
justice with compassion; taking
responsibility for past mistakes; pluralism;
understanding of the multiplicity of truth;
humility and respect for others truths;
holding on to relative truth but continuing
quest for further truth; attempting to arrive
at a consensus on key issues; quest for
truth.

Sarvodaya
Sarvodaya is upliftment or welfare of all.
Gandhi first encountered this noble notion in the book
titled Unto This Last by John Ruskin, in 1904.
The impact of this reading was powerful that it proved

to be a life changing experience for Gandhi.

He was determined to change his life in accordance
with the ideals of the book.

Ruskins ideology was based on three fundamental

tenets;
That the good of the individual is contained in the
good of all.
That a lawyers work has the same value as the
barber's in as much as all have the same right of
earning their livelihood from their work.
That a life of labor, i.e., the life of the tiller of the

soil and the handicraftsman is the life worth living

Sarvodaya was a social ideology in its fundamental

form. Emancipation of disparity between social
classes was its objective. and it could be best
implemented by political will and state machinery.
It would affect in letter and spirit the singular
objective of Sarvodaya; inclusive growth and
progress. For Gandhi and for India, this meant

grassroot level uplift which began from the villages

and from the most deprived classes.

Sarvodaya requires
Purity of means and ends; welfare of all

and welfare of last first.

Peaceful resolution of conflicts,

constructive work to build up a nonviolent

world order,

Relief and rehabilitation work; removing

structural (indirect) violence.

Satyagraha and Passive Resistance

Satyagraha was a combination of reason,
morality and politics.

Gandhi defined passive resistance as he

called it then as "a method of securing rights
by personal suffering.
It appealed to the opponents head, heart
and interests.

Nonviolent struggle for freedom

Gandhi was the first leader to bring non-violence
to centre stage in the struggle for freedom with the
British.
He was well aware that adopting "methods of
violence to drive out the English" would be a
"suicidal policy".

Hind Swaraj was precisely intended to stymie such

a soul-destroying venture.

Gandhis Hinduism.

Thus one remarkable re- interpretations

of Hinduism that Gandhi effected was
that of the Gita.
This text intended to persuade a
reluctant warrior on the legitimacy and
even the necessity of joining the battle.
Gandhi reworks its nishkama karma to
become the basis of his ahimsa and
satyagraha!

Gandhi as a global thinker

An ecological understanding now requires a
new and deep realisation of our
interdependence. We have only one earth,
we must learn to share and care.
Thus, with regard to the economy and polity,
Gandhi would have the village as his world.
With regard to culture and religion, it was
the world that was his village! Surely, here
we have a viable example of thinking
globally and acting locally.

Gandhi : Faith & Reason

For Gandhi, "individuality" must be "oriented
to self-realisation through self-knowledge... in
a network of interdependence and harmony
informed by ahimsa
Nor was this to be an interdependence of
dominant-subservient relationships so
prevalent in our local communities and global
societies.
His Swadeshi envisaged a more personalised
and communitarian society on a human
scale.

Gandhi would have asked us to

believe in
Dignity of manual labor; Attention to Sanitation.
The good of the individual is contained in the good
of all.

Each can and should serve society by his own

labor and profession in the field of his choice.
There is no colonialism today, it is for us bear
responsibility for improving our village, city and
India.

Gandhi wanted education to help India move

away from the Western concept of progress,

towards a different form of development

more suited to its needs and more viable, for

the world as a whole. True education is that

which trains all the three abilities, spiritual,

intellectual, and economic, simultaneously.

Gandhian strategy for confronting terrorism

Stop an act of violence in its tracks. The
effort to do so should be nonviolent but
forceful.
Address the issues; Maintain the moral high
ground.
Gandhi insisted on means that are
consistent with the moral goals of those
engaged in the conflict.
A violent posture adopted by public
authorities could lead to a civil order based
on coercion.

Thus a nonviolent response to terrorism is already

an element of political discourse. It is not a new
idea, but rather a strand of public thinking that
deserves attention and, Gandhi might argue,
one that warrants respect. As a pragmatic idealist,
Gandhi would be pleased to know that nonviolent
approaches to terrorism were taken seriously not

only because invariably they were the right thing to

do, but also because they have worked.

People Influenced by Gandhi

Martin Luther King, Jr.
and James Lawson were
influenced by Gandhi
Albert Einstein
exchanged written letters
with Gandhi in 1931
Former vice-president Al
Gore was influenced by
Gandhi
Also, current president
Barack Obama says
Gandhi is a major
influence on his life

Holidays and Awards

Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated
every October 2 in India
On January 30, schools and
many countries celebrate the
School Day of Non-violence
and Peace
Man of the Year in 1930
Runner-up to Einstein as
person of the century
Mahatma Gandhi Peace
Prize awarded to
distinguished social workers
Nominated five times for
Nobel Peace Prize

Gandhi in Modern Culture

Gandhi was a film in 1982
Gandhi is the main theme in
the 2006 Bollywood film,
Lage Raho Munna Bhai
The 2007 film, Gandhi, My
Father tells about the
relationship between Gandhi
and Harilal
The 1996 film, The Making
of the Mahatma documents
Gandhis twenty-one years in
South Africa

Thanks to Matt Evans

Movie Clip/Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi
http://www.mkgandhi.org/

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LS9FUwupaPM/SDKAY2LAfI/AAAAAAAAAHo/SOFvwfvZv38/s320/john_0911_gandhi1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://photonparadise.blogspot.com/2008/05/mohandas-karamchand-gandhi-18691948.html&usg=__Ct9EyGKqO2GMf9E2lUlvW2cSck=&h=320&w=115&sz=9&hl=en&start=11&itbs=1&tbnid=LKzXAwRWZabVM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=42&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGandhi%2BZulu%2Bwar%26hl%3Den%26sa%
3DX%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Gandhi/gan
dhi.html
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/mkgandhi.html
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wel0wt9lSLM&feature=
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