FREE WHO WAS GANDHI? PDF

Dana Meachen Rau | 112 pages | 24 Nov 2014 | Grosset and Dunlap | 9780448482354 | English | New York, United States | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts | Britannica

Gandhi took his studies seriously and tried to brush up on his English and Latin by taking the University of London matriculation examination. But, during the three years he Who Was Gandhi? in England, his main preoccupation was with personal and moral issues rather Who Was Gandhi? with academic ambitions. The transition from the half-rural atmosphere of Rajkot to the cosmopolitan life of London was not easy for him. As he struggled painfully to adapt himself to Western food, dress, and etiquette, he felt awkward. His became a continual source of embarrassment to him; his friends warned him that it would wreck Who Was Gandhi? studies as well as his health. Fortunately for him he came across a vegetarian restaurant as well as a book providing a reasoned defense of vegetarianism, which henceforth became a matter of conviction for him, not merely a legacy of his Vaishnava background. The missionary zeal he developed for vegetarianism helped to draw the Who Was Gandhi? shy youth out of his shell and gave him a new poise. He became a member of the executive committee of the London , attending its conferences and contributing articles to its journal. In the boardinghouses and vegetarian restaurants of England, Gandhi met not only food faddists but some earnest men and women to whom he owed his introduction to the Bible and, more important, the Bhagavadgitawhich he read for the first time in its English translation by Sir Edwin Arnold. The Bhagavadgita commonly known as the Gita is part of the great epic the Mahabharata and, in the form of a philosophical poem, is the most-popular expression of Hinduism. Who Was Gandhi? English vegetarians were a motley crowd. Most of them were idealists; quite a few were rebels who rejected the prevailing values of the late-Victorian establishment, denounced the evils of the capitalist and industrial societypreached the cult of the simple life, and stressed the superiority of moral over material values and of cooperation over conflict. Painful surprises were in store for Gandhi when he returned to India in July The legal profession was already beginning to be overcrowded, and Gandhi was much too diffident to elbow his way into it. In the very first brief he argued in a court in Bombay now Mumbaihe cut a sorry figure. Turned down even for the part-time job of a teacher in a Bombay high schoolhe returned to Rajkot to make a modest living by drafting petitions for litigants. Even that employment was closed to him when he Who Was Gandhi? the displeasure of a local British officer. Africa was to present to Gandhi challenges and opportunities that he could hardly have conceived. In the end he would spend more than two decades there, returning to India only briefly in — The youngest two of his four children were born there. Gandhi was quickly exposed to the racial discrimination practiced in Who Was Gandhi? Africa. In a Durban court he was asked by the European magistrate to take off his Who Was Gandhi? he refused and left the courtroom. A few days later, while traveling to Pretoriahe was unceremoniously thrown out of a first-class railway compartment and left shivering and brooding at the rail station in Who Was Gandhi?. He had so far not been conspicuous for self-assertion or aggressiveness. But something happened to him as he smarted under the insults heaped upon him. In retrospect the journey from Durban to Pretoria struck him as one of the most-creative experiences of his life; it was his moment of truth. Henceforth he would not accept injustice as part of the natural or unnatural order in South Africa; he would defend his dignity as an Indian and as a man. While in Pretoria, Gandhi studied the conditions in which his fellow South Asians in South Africa lived and tried to educate them on their rights and duties, but he had no intention of staying on in South Africa. At a farewell party given in his honour, he happened to glance through Who Was Gandhi? Natal Mercury and learned that the Natal Legislative Assembly was considering a bill to deprive Indians of the right to vote. They professed their inability to oppose the bill, and indeed their ignorance of the politics of Who Was Gandhi? colony, and begged him to take up Who Was Gandhi? fight on their behalf. Until the age of 18, Who Was Gandhi? had hardly ever read a newspaper. Neither as a student in England nor as a budding barrister in India had he evinced much interest in politics. Indeed, he was overcome by a terrifying stage fright whenever he stood up to read a speech at a social gathering or to defend a client in court. Nevertheless, in July Who Was Gandhi?, when he was barely 25, he blossomed almost overnight into a proficient Who Was Gandhi? campaigner. He drafted petitions to the Natal legislature and the British government and had them signed by hundreds of his compatriots. He was persuaded to settle down in Durban to practice law and to organize the Indian community. In he founded the Natal Indian Congress, of which he himself became the indefatigable secretary. Through that common political organization, he infused a spirit of solidarity in the heterogeneous Indian community. He flooded the government, the legislature, and Who Was Gandhi? press with closely reasoned statements of Indian grievances. Finally, he exposed to the view of the outside world the skeleton in the imperial cupboard, the discrimination practiced against the Indian subjects of Queen Victoria in one of her own colonies in Africa. In Gandhi went to India to fetch his wife, Kasturba or Who Was Gandhi?and their two oldest children and to canvass support for the Indians overseas. Unfortunately for him, garbled versions of his activities and utterances reached Natal and inflamed its European population. On landing at Durban in Januaryhe was assaulted and nearly lynched by a Who Was Gandhi? mob. Joseph Chamberlainthe colonial secretary in the British Cabinet, cabled the government of Natal to bring the guilty men to book, but Gandhi refused to prosecute his assailants. It was, he said, a principle with him Who Was Gandhi? to seek redress of a personal wrong in a court of law. Article Contents. Load Previous Page. Sojourn in England and return to Who Was Gandhi? Gandhi took his studies seriously and tried to brush up on his English and Latin by taking the University of London matriculation examination. Years in South Africa Africa was to present to Gandhi challenges and opportunities that he could hardly have conceived. Emergence as a political and social activist Gandhi was quickly exposed to the racial discrimination practiced in South Africa. Load Next Page. Mahatma Gandhi - Sojourn in England and return to India | Britannica

Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujaratwestern IndiaGandhi trained in law at the Inner TempleLondon, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family, and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. Inaged 45, he returned to India. He set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of Who Was Gandhi? Indian National Congress inGandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchabilityand above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. The same year Gandhi adopted the Indian loincloth, or short dhoti and, in the winter, a shawl, both woven with yarn hand-spun on a traditional Indian spinning wheel, or charkha Who Was Gandhi?, as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. Thereafter, he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential communityate simple vegetarian food, and undertook long fasts as a means of self- purification and political protest. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a Who Was Gandhi? Muslim homeland carved out of India. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several Who Was Gandhi? unto death to stop religious violence. The Who Was Gandhi? of these, undertaken on 12 January when he was 78, [12] also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Who Was Gandhi? Jayantia national holidayand worldwide as the International Day of . Gandhi is commonly, though not formally, considered the Father of the Nation in India, [14] [15] and was commonly called Bapu [16] Gujarati : endearment for father[17] papa [17] [18]. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [19] was born on 2 October [20] into an Gujarati Modh Bania family of the Vaishya varna [21] in Porbandar also known as Sudamapuria coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula and then part of the small princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawar Agency of the Indian Empire. His father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi —served as the diwan chief minister of Porbandar state. Although he only had an elementary education Who Was Gandhi? had previously been a clerk in the state administration, Karamchand proved a capable chief minister. His first two Who Was Gandhi? died young, after each had given birth to a daughter, and his third marriage was childless. InWho Was Gandhi? sought his third wife's permission to remarry; that year, he married Putlibai —who also came from Junagadh, [23] Who Was Gandhi? was from a Pranami Vaishnava family. On 2 OctoberPutlibai gave birth to her last child, Mohandas, in a dark, windowless ground-floor room of the Gandhi family residence in Porbandar city. As a child, Gandhi was described by his sister Raliat as "restless as mercury, either playing or roaming about. One of his favourite pastimes was twisting dogs' ears. In his autobiography, he admits that they left an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without number. The family's religious background was eclectic. To keep two or three consecutive fasts was nothing to her. InGandhi's father Karamchand left Porbandar for the smaller state of Rajkotwhere he became a counsellor to its ruler, the Thakur Sahib; though Rajkot was a less prestigious state than Porbandar, the British regional political agency was located there, which gave the state's diwan a measure of security. His family then rejoined him in Rajkot. At age 9, Gandhi entered the local school in Rajkotnear his home. There Who Was Gandhi? studied the rudiments of arithmetic, history, the Gujarati language and geography. In Maythe year-old Mohandas was Who Was Gandhi? to year-old Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and Who Was Gandhi? to "Ba" in an arranged marriageaccording to the custom of the region at that time. Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As we didn't know Who Was Gandhi? about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives. Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, "even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me. In lateGandhi's father Karamchand died. The two deaths anguished Gandhi. In Novemberthe year-old Gandhi graduated from high school in Ahmedabad. But he dropped out and returned to his family in Porbandar. Gandhi came from a poor family, and he had dropped out of the Who Was Gandhi? college he could afford. Gandhi's uncle Tulsidas also tried to dissuade Who Was Gandhi? nephew. Gandhi wanted to go. To persuade his wife and mother, Gandhi made a vow in front of his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol and women. Gandhi's brother Laxmidas, who was already a lawyer, cheered Gandhi's London studies plan and offered to support him. Putlibai gave Gandhi her permission and blessing. Upon arrival, he stayed with the local Modh Bania community whose elders warned him that England would tempt him to compromise his religion, and eat and drink in Western ways. Despite Gandhi informing them of his promise to his mother and her blessings, he was excommunicated from his caste. Gandhi ignored this, and on 4 September, he sailed from Bombay to London, with his brother seeing him off. At UCL, he studied law and jurisprudence and was invited to enroll at Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister. His childhood shyness and self withdrawal had continued through his teens, and he remained so when he arrived in London, but he joined a public speaking practice group and overcame this handicap to practise law. Gandhi's time in London was influenced by the vow he had made to his mother. He tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. However, he could not appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was frequently Who Was Gandhi? until he found one of London's few vegetarian Who Was Gandhi?. Influenced by Henry Salt's writing, Who Was Gandhi? joined the London Vegetarian Society and was Who Was Gandhi? to its executive committee [56] under the aegis of Who Was Gandhi? president and benefactor . An achievement while on the committee was the establishment of a Bayswater chapter. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original. Gandhi had a friendly and productive relationship with Hills, but the two men took a different view on the continued LVS membership of fellow committee member Dr . Their disagreement is the first known example of Gandhi challenging authority, despite his shyness and temperamental disinclination towards confrontation. Allinson had been promoting newly available birth control methodsbut Hills disapproved of these, believing they undermined public morality. He believed vegetarianism to be a moral movement and that Allinson should therefore no longer remain a member of the LVS. Gandhi shared Hills views on the dangers of birth control, but defended Allinson's right to differ. He was also a highly accomplished sportsman who would go on to found the football club West Ham United. The question deeply interested me I had a high regard for Mr. Hills and his generosity. But I thought it was quite improper to exclude a man from a vegetarian society simply because he refused to regard puritan morals as one of the objects of the society [57]. A Who Was Gandhi? to remove Allinson was raised, and was debated and voted on by the committee. Gandhi's shyness was an obstacle to his defence of Allinson at the committee meeting. He wrote his views down on paper but shyness prevented him from reading out his arguments, so Hills, the President, asked another committee member to read them out for him. Although some other members Who Was Gandhi? the Who Was Gandhi? agreed with Gandhi, the vote was lost and Allinson excluded. There were no hard feelings, with Hills proposing the toast at the LVS farewell dinner in honour of Gandhi's return to India. Gandhi, at age 22, was called to the bar in Who Was Gandhi? and then left London for India, where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept the news from him. He Who Was Gandhi? to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but he was forced to stop when he ran Who Was Gandhi? of a Who Was Gandhi? officer Sam Sunny. Abdullah owned a large successful shipping business in South Who Was Gandhi?. His distant cousin in Johannesburg needed a lawyer, and they preferred someone with Kathiawari heritage. Gandhi inquired about his pay for the work. He accepted it, knowing Who Was Gandhi? it would be at least a one-year commitment in the Colony of NatalSouth Who Was Gandhi?, also a part of the British Empire. Immediately upon arriving in South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination because of his skin colour and heritage, like all people of colour. Gandhi was kicked by a police officer out of the footpath onto the street without warning. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, according to Herman, he thought of himself as "a Briton first, Who Was Gandhi? an Who Was Gandhi? second". He found Who Was Gandhi? humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices. The Abdullah case that had brought him to South Africa concluded in Mayand the Indian community organised a farewell party for Gandhi as he prepared to return to India. He planned to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to votea right then proposed to be an exclusive European right. He asked Joseph Chamberlainthe British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress Who Was Gandhi?[26] [66] and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In Januarywhen Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him [72] and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. However, he refused to press charges against any member of the mob. According to Arthur Herman, Gandhi wanted to disprove the imperial British stereotype that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and exertion, unlike the Muslim " martial Who Was Gandhi? ". They were trained and medically certified Who Was Gandhi? serve on the front lines. They were auxiliaries at the Battle of Colenso to a White volunteer ambulance corps. At the battle of Spion Kop Gandhi and his bearers moved to the front line and had to carry wounded soldiers for miles to a field hospital because the terrain was too rough for the ambulances. Inthe Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian and Chinese populations. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha devotion to the truthor nonviolent protest, for the first time. Gandhi's ideas of protests, persuasion skills and public relations had emerged. He took these back to India in Gandhi focused his attention on Indians while in South Africa. He initially was not interested in politics. This changed, however, Who Was Gandhi? he was discriminated against and bullied, such as by being thrown out of a train coach because of his skin colour by a white train official. After several such incidents with Whites in South AfricaGandhi's thinking and focus changed, and he felt he must resist Who Was Gandhi? and fight for rights. Biography of Mohandas Gandhi, Indian Freedom Leader

Born in Porbandar, India, Gandhi studied law and organized boycotts against British institutions in peaceful forms of civil disobedience. He was killed by a fanatic in Gandhi Who Was Gandhi? the Salt March in protest against the government monopoly on salt production. His mother, Putlibai, Who Was Gandhi? a Who Was Gandhi? religious woman who fasted regularly. Young Gandhi was a shy, unremarkable student who was so timid that he slept with the lights on even as a teenager. In the ensuing years, the teenager rebelled by smoking, eating meat and stealing change from household servants. Although Gandhi was interested in becoming a doctor, his father hoped he would also become a government minister and steered him to enter the legal profession. Inyear-old Gandhi sailed for London, England, to study law. The young Indian struggled with the transition to Western Who Was Gandhi?. Upon returning to India in Who Was Gandhi?, Gandhi learned that his mother had died just weeks earlier. He struggled to gain his footing as a lawyer. Who Was Gandhi? his first courtroom case, a nervous Gandhi blanked when the time came to cross-examine a witness. He immediately fled the courtroom after reimbursing his client for his legal fees. Gandhi grew up worshiping the Hindu god Vishnu and following , Who Was Gandhi? morally rigorous ancient Indian religion that espoused non-violence, , meditation and vegetarianism. Living in South Africa, Gandhi continued to study world religions. He immersed himself in sacred Hindu spiritual texts and adopted a life of simplicity, austerity, fasting and celibacy that was free of material goods. After struggling to find work as a lawyer in Who Was Gandhi?, Gandhi obtained a one-year contract to perform legal services in South Africa. When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, he was quickly appalled by the discrimination and racial segregation faced by Indian immigrants at the hands of white British and Boer authorities. Upon his first appearance in a Durban courtroom, Gandhi was asked to remove his turban. He refused and left the court instead. Refusing to move to the back of the train, Gandhi was forcibly removed and thrown off the train at a station in Pietermaritzburg. From Who Was Gandhi? night forward, the small, unassuming man would grow into a Who Was Gandhi? force for civil rights. Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in to fight discrimination. Gandhi prepared to return to India at the end of his year-long contract until he learned, at his farewell party, of a bill before the Natal Legislative Assembly that would deprive Indians of the right to vote. Fellow immigrants convinced Gandhi to stay and lead the fight against the legislation. After a brief trip to India in late and earlyGandhi returned to South Africa with his wife and children. Gandhi ran a thriving legal practice, and at the outbreak of the Boer War, he raised an all-Indian ambulance corps of 1, volunteers to support the British cause, arguing that if Indians expected to have full rights of citizenship in the British Empire, they also needed to shoulder their responsibilities. After years of protests, the government imprisoned hundreds of Indians inWho Was Gandhi? Gandhi. Under pressure, the South African government accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi and General Who Was Gandhi? Christian Smuts that included recognition of Hindu marriages and the abolition of a poll tax for Indians. In Gandhi founded an ashram in Ahmedabad, India, that was open to all castes. Wearing a simple loincloth and shawl, Gandhi lived an austere life devoted to prayer, fasting and meditation. In Who Was Gandhi?, with India still under the firm control of the British, Gandhi had a political reawakening when the newly enacted Rowlatt Act authorized British authorities to imprison people suspected of sedition without trial. In response, Gandhi called for a Satyagraha campaign of peaceful protests and strikes. Violence broke out instead, which culminated on April 13,in the Massacre of Amritsar. Troops led by British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer fired machine guns into a crowd of Who Was Gandhi? demonstrators Who Was Gandhi? killed nearly people. Gandhi became a leading figure in the Indian home-rule movement. Calling for mass boycotts, he urged government officials to stop Who Was Gandhi? for the Crown, students to stop attending government schools, soldiers to leave their posts and citizens to stop paying taxes and purchasing British goods. Rather than buy British-manufactured clothes, he began to use a portable spinning wheel to Who Was Gandhi? his own cloth. The spinning wheel soon became a symbol of Indian independence and self-reliance. Gandhi assumed the leadership of the Indian National Congress and advocated a policy of non-violence and non-cooperation to achieve home rule. After British authorities arrested Gandhi inhe pleaded guilty to three counts of sedition. Although sentenced to a six-year imprisonment, Gandhi was released in February after appendicitis surgery. When violence between the two religious groups flared again, Gandhi began a three-week fast in the autumn of to urge unity. He remained away from active politics during much of the latter s. Wearing a homespun white shawl and sandals Who Was Gandhi? carrying a walking stick, Gandhi set out from his religious retreat in Sabarmati on March 12,with a few dozen followers. By the time he arrived 24 days later in the coastal town of Dandi, the ranks of the marchers swelled, and Gandhi broke the law by making salt from evaporated seawater. The Salt March sparked similar protests, and mass civil disobedience swept across India. Approximately 60, Indians were jailed for breaking the Salt Acts, including Gandhi, who Who Was Gandhi? imprisoned in May Still, the protests against the Salt Acts elevated Gandhi into a transcendent figure around the world. Gandhi was released from prison in Januaryand two months later he made an agreement with Lord Irwin to end the Salt Satyagraha in exchange for concessions that included the release of thousands of political prisoners. The agreement, however, largely kept the Salt Acts intact. But it did give those who lived on the coasts the right to harvest salt from the sea. Hoping that the agreement would be a stepping-stone to home rule, Gandhi attended the London Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform in August as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference, however, proved fruitless. The public outcry forced the British to amend the proposal. Gandhi played an active role in the negotiations, but he could not prevail in his hope for a unified India. Instead, the final plan called for the partition of the subcontinent along religious lines into two independent states—predominantly Hindu India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan. Violence between Hindus and Muslims flared even before independence took effect on August 15, Afterwards, the killings multiplied. Gandhi toured riot-torn areas in an appeal for peace and fasted in an attempt to end the bloodshed. Some Hindus, however, increasingly viewed Gandhi as a traitor for expressing sympathy toward Muslims. InGandhi endured the passing of his father and shortly after that the death of his young baby. A second son was born in India Kasturba gave birth to two more sons while living in South Africa, one in and one in Godse knelt before the Mahatma before pulling out a semiautomatic pistol and shooting him three times at point-blank range. The violent act took the life of a pacifist who spent his Who Was Gandhi? preaching nonviolence. Godse and a co-conspirator were executed by hanging in November Additional conspirators were sentenced to life in prison. Satyagraha remains one of the most potent philosophies in freedom struggles throughout the world today. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Indira Gandhi was India's third prime minister, serving from untilwhen her life ended in assassination. She Who Was Gandhi? the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. Martin Luther King Jr. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Akbar the Great, Muslim emperor of India, established a sprawling kingdom through military conquests but is known for his policy of religious tolerance. Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created Who Was Gandhi? spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. He started the Rancho Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the s. Abdul Kalam was an Indian scientist and politician who served his country as president from to Considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, Bhagat Singh gave his life for this cause. Who Was Gandhi? felt it was his responsibility to spread the message and power of non-violence, even appealing to the Nazi Dictator twice. Until Who Was Gandhi? was assassinated inhis life and teachings inspired activists including Martin Luther King Jr. By Rachel Chang. Martin Luther King. Winston Churchill.