Mahatma Ghandi

​Introduction

Mohandas Gandhi was a spiritual and political leader who led the movement for India’s independence in the early 1900s. He is most famous for his non-violent protests against the British occupation of India. Because of his efforts, he was given the title Mahatma, which means “great soul”

Early Life

Gandhi was born in Porbandar, in Western India, in 1869. He grew up in a religious family and learned about the religions of Hinduism and Jainism from an early age. In 1887, when he finished his studies in Bombay, which is now known as Mumbai, he moved to England to study law. When he returned in 1891, he started a career in law, but he wasn’t successful. He decided to move to South Africa to work as a lawyer. During his time there, he was shocked by the way the British treated Indian immigrants; because of this he went into politics to defend the rights of Indians. He organized peaceful protests and told Indians to not obey British laws if they felt they were wrong. His peaceful style of protesting became known as satyagraha, or “devotion to truth”

Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the goal to stand up against the unfair way the local Indians were treated by the British rulers and the independence of his country. At first, he wasn’t taken very seriously, and he was sent to jail in 1922. When he was released, he continued organizing protests and urged his followers to stop buying British goods and refuse to enter British courts and schools. Over the years, Gandhi was put in jail several times, but he never gave up on his mission. Finally, in 1947, Gandhi succeeded when the British granted India independence. Because of his actions, Gandhi is widely regarded as the ‘Father of India’.

However, after the British left India, the country was separated into two parts. One part was named Pakistan, which has a Muslim majority, and the other part continued as India. Soon after the two parts were divided, Hindus and Muslims started fighting. Once again, Gandhi started peaceful demonstrations and went on a hunger strike to make the people stop fighting. Soon after Gandhi’s hunger strike, the leaders of the Hindus and Muslims agreed to stop fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later, a Hindu man, who didn’t like Gandhi’s style of peace and harmony, killed him. It is a very sad story that such a peaceful man had such a violent death.