Mahatma Gandhi
Indian situation
Ghandi
- Occupation: Civil Rights Leader
- Born: October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India
- Died: January 30, 1948 in New Delhi, India
- Best known for: Non-violent Protests
Biography
His parents wanted him to become a barrister, which is a type of lawyer. As a result, when he was 19 years old he went to London, England to attend the University College London in order to study law. Three years later he returned to India and tried to start his own law practice. He wasn't successful so he took a job with an Indian Law firm and moved to South Africa to work out of the South African law office. It was in South Africa where Gandhi would experience racial prejudice against Indians and would begin his work in civil rights.
what did he do?
Once back in India, Gandhi led the fight for Indian independence from the British Empire. He organized non-violent civil disobedience campaigns. This was where large groups of the Indian population would do things like refusing to work, sitting in the streets, boycotting the courts, and more. Each of these protests are small by themselves, but when most of the population does them at once, it can shut down the country.
Gandhi was put in prison several times for organizing these protests. He would often fast (not eat) while he was in prison. The British government would eventually have to release him because the Indian people had grown to love Gandhi. The British were scared what would happen if they let him die.
One of Gandhi's most successful protests was called the Salt March. When Britain put a tax on salt, Gandhi decided to walk 241 miles to the sea in Dandi to make his own salt. Thousands of Indians joined him in his march.
Gandhi also fought for civil rights and liberties among Indian people.
Fun Facts about Mohandas Gandhi
- The 1982 movie Gandhi won the Academy Award for best motion picture.
- His birthday is a national holiday in India.
- He was the 1930 Time Magazine Man of the Year. It is also the International Day of Non-Violence.
- Gandhi wrote a lot. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi have 50,000 pages!
- He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times.
Gandhi quotes
-There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.
-There is more to life than increasing its speed.
-The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Gandhi`s family
Gandhis family
Gandhi's father's name was Karamchand Gandhi. His mother's name was Putlibai. His wife's name was Kasturba (also written as Kasturbai).
With regard to the Gandhi family's socio-economic status: the Gandhis were of the Vaisya caste, 'below' the Brahmin and Kshatriya caste and 'above' the Sudra caste. However, Gandhi's grandfather and father had been prime minister of a small state in the Kathiawar peninsula, western India. Authoritative Gandhi biograher Louis Fischer describes Gandhi's home life as cultured and the family as well-to-do by Indian standards. There were books in the house, chiefly about religion and mythology. At one stage Gandhi's father Karamchand owned three houses. Gandhi's elder brother Laxmidas practised law and became a government treasury official. He owned two houses. Gandhi's other brother, Karsandas, was a sub-inspector of police. Before Gandhi became the figure he was to become, he graduated as a barrister-at-law. He studied at the Inner Temple in London. Fischer recounts an opinion that the Inner Temple was considered by Indians the most aristocratic of the four Inns of Court in London.