Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
In 1757, Great Britain extended its empire into India. This occupation would not fully end until 1947. In the time between, there were many movements by the Indian people to gain independence from the British. The movement that finally succeeded in winning India’s independence was led by one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi’s methods for fighting against the occupation of the British were very different from those of any of the freedom movements before. And that was why it worked. Gandhi did not agree with the general reasoning of the time: that conflicts could be solved through negotiation and forceful resistance.1 Rather, his faith led him to go against what most Indian nationalists considered reason, and use his methods of non-violent civil disobedience in the struggle for independence from Britain.
The beginnings of Gandhi’s faith can be traced back to his Hindu upbringing. He grew up the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the chief minister of a small state in India called Porbandar.2 Hymn-singing, daily temple worship, and fasting were routine in his family.3 Mohandas’ early feelings towards Hinduism were not good, but his parents did instill in him several ideals that stemmed from their religion. He was extremely concerned with being a moral person, which required that he serve others.4
In 1888, Gandhi left India to study law at London University. His decision to go to England was a costly one. He was forced to defy the tribunal of the caste to which he belonged by leaving, which led to his excommunication from the caste.5 When he returned to India years later as barrister, he was forced to deal with this excommunication. Cle...
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... 21. Parekh, 6.
22. Parekh, 7.
23. Gandhi, 494-496.
24. Parekh, 7.
25. Parekh, 9.
26. Parekh, 11-12.
27. Nanda, 122.
28. Nanda, 124-127.
29. Nanda, 131.
30. Nanda, 132.
31. Nanda, 131.
32. Nanda, 163-164.
33. Dennis Dalton, Mahatma Gandhi: Selected Political Writings (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company, 1996), 157.
34. Nanda, 175.
35. Dalton, 157.
36. Nanda, 176-180.
37. Nanda, 183-184.
38. Nanda, 189-191.
39. Dalton, 157.
40. Nanda, 194-196.
41. Parekh, 21.
42. Nanda, 230.
43. Nanda, 235-236.
44. Dalton, 157.
45. Dalton, 157.
46. Parekh 23.
47. Dalton, 158.
Mohandas Gandhi was born into a Hindu family of the Vaisya caste. This was the third ranking caste in the class structure of Hinduism. This class was for farmers and merchants. The whole system was so complex that in Gandhi’s lifetime it had begun to disintegrate. Gandhi’s father and grandfather were not farmers or merchants. They were prime ministers of the tiny principality of Porbandar in Gujarat. Mohandas was extremely shy. He rushed to and from school, too nervous to talk to any of his classmates. Then a pretty and strong-willed girl was married to him by an arranged marriage at the age of 13. Her name was Kasturbai. A marriage at this age was typical in Hindu custom. He was a strict husband and kept control over actions. Kasturbai disliked this. They didn’t spend more than the first five years of their marriage together, since it was typical for the girl to visit her family. At this point in his life, he was very depressed. He was little and suffered fears that didn’t bother his wife. An athletic and older boy who was Muslim fascinated him. He told Mohandas to eat meat if he wanted to become bigger and stronger. He said the Indians were weak and small people, because they didn’t eat meat, and this is why the British, who did, had the strength to rule over them. This was against his religion, but he tried anyway. He ate the meat in secrecy, but after a few meals he stopped. He didn’t like the taste of meat and fe...
India gained independence from British rule in 1947. The Gandhian strategy is mainly comprised with: Satyagraha, Truth, Nonviolence, non-cooperation and peace and love. Satyagraha, a holistic approach toward life based on the ideals of truth and moral courage. Truth, the most powerful weapon. Gandhi believed "the truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction. Non-violence, was seen by Gandhi as "everlasting". Gandhi was influenced Jainism and Buddhism, both preached non-violence. Non-cooperation, aimed to resist British rule in India. Non-cooperation included the boycott of councils, courts and schools set up by British and of all foreign cloth. Peace and love, Gandhi stated " peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between
Not only did the inequality and separation of the Indian society frustrate the citizens of India, but the imperialism Britain had upon them as well. In the early 20th century, Indian nationalists wanted to take a stand against the British rule and make India independent. The British created unfair laws that created a nationalist movement in India to regain their freedom. He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth.
Gandhi was not born poor or untouchable but to a respectful merchant class family (Bush 23). He did a lot of self-searching as a young man before becoming the “Mahatma” Indians respected and followed. Prior to achieving his status as an honored
Next, let’s talk about his education and where he went to get his education. Gandhi went to an all boy school Rajkot when he was seven (“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi” pg3 ).once he finished elementary school he then went to high school because they didn’t have a middle school, and that’s when he started to think about his career (“Mohandas Gandhi”).Later when Gandhi finished high school he went to the university college in London to study law (“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi”pg3). Even though he went to London he had good and bad experiences with it.
Under British rule in India, the British were harshly oppressive and only interested in exploiting products from India for their own use, causing many Indians to become extremely poor. They became so oppressed they were on the verge of violent civil disobedience, when Gandhi appeared to negotiate with the British threw non-violent tactics such as sit-ins and hunger strikes. The people were supportive on Gandhi and were set to become violent if anything happened to him. Things were resolved without violence.
Gandhi, famous for his peaceful ways of protesting, led India to independence by defying the British legislation. Despite being arrested and beaten, Gandhi never gave up and used the setbacks to fuel his determination to fight for independence. The three major events in the fight against the British rule included the massacre at the Golden Temple, the homespun movement, and the salt march. Each event brought India closer to being a free country. Led by Gandhi, India struggled to gain independence from Britain in a nonviolent approach, but remained peaceful in their protests even with the British mercilessly obstructing their fight for freedom.
Lastly, Gandhi continued to struggle with the satyagraha belief and was willing to devote his time on demanding the British to “quit India.” However, despite being imprisoned for this campaign, Gandhi aroused upheaval from the Indians who insisted the British to remove Gandhi from captivity. After the execution of the Salt March, the events that followed supported Gandhi’s philosophy on the satyagraha movement and further brought India closer to its independence from the British colonization. Works Cited Furbee, Mary and Mike Furbee. The Importance of Mohanda Gandhi.
All throughout history, there have been several events in which people were forced to take a stand for something they believed in. There have been wars, civil rights movements, protests, and certainly fights for independence. As a result, groups of people or individuals begin to arise and essentially become leaders of a movement in the direction of better opportunities. One of these leaders, Mohandas Gandhi or sometimes referred to as Mahatma Gandhi, was an anti war activist and civil rights leader. Today, he remains one of the most influential leaders in history. He took a stand that was both peaceful and effective and essentially earned India its independence.
Whilst the growth of Indian nationalism put considerable pressure on the Raj, historians offer many interpretations as to the fundamental cause of Independence. Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and subsequent campaigns meant that nationalism began to appeal to the masses and helped establish a broad based movement for Independence. However, the British were always able to supress the nationalist movements, through reform or by using force, up to the Quit India movement of 1942. British involvement in the Great War and particularly the Second World War placed them in a weaker position economically, whilst the social and political expectations of the Indian people were changing, which strengthened nationalism and discontent.
Gandhi then took the British apart with Satyagraha (non-violent non-cooperation) and was imprisoned for two years in1922. When he got out he took a brake from his politicalnes and traveled around India working various jobs among the peasants. Then in 1930 he was at it again writing the declaration of independence for India and making salt in protest of the British monopoly on salt. This act of treason inspired many more across the country rendering the British helpless once again forcing tem to invite Gandhi to London for meeting on how India’s independence would work with a Muslim minority and a Hindu majority.
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.
India has not been a free independent country for a long time. It had been under British rule from 1858-1947. India finally became independent on August 15, 1947 (Trueman). Many people credit India’s independence to Mahatma Gandhi because of the great role he played in helping India in its freedom struggle. Along with Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammed Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru assisted in making India an independent country. Gandhi’s main principle in India’s freedom struggle was based on non violence, which he called satyagraha, which means holding onto the truth, truth force, or soul force (Bondurant). Along with nonviolence Gandhi believe in passive resistance and swaraj or self rule. Gandhi thought that being violent would only get a bad response from the British, however passive resistance pushed the British to do something which would make them look bad To accomplish swaraj or self rule (Bondurant), Gandhi believed India needed 3 vital ingredients. The first thing India needed was to unify Indians with different religions, especially Hindus and Muslims. Second, India needed to remove its...
Gandhi spent two of the six-year prison sentence in jail, after pleading guilty to three rebellions. After his release, he stayed away from politics for a little while, until the end of the 20s, where he arrived back in full swing, protesting Britain’s Salt Acts, which banned Indians from buying, collecting or selling salt which was a big part of the diet, but it created a giant tax on the country, particular the poorest
Despite numerous conflicts with the British and with the Muslims, India fought for its rights by doing what they felt was right. India under the British rule had some benefits as the new school system and outlawing sati but they did manage to trouble the Indians with taxation and other laws. Gandhi who was an outstanding, important figure in India’s way for independence who taught to fight with nonviolence.