Mahatma Gandhi - the Father of India

"Truth, purity, self-control, firmness, fearlessness, humility, unity, peace, and renunciation-These are the inherent qualities of a civil resister."

Mahatma Gandhi was a Spiritual/Political Leader and Humanitarian. He is one of the most famous Indians ever to have walked the planet. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, famously known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in Porbandar in the present day state of Gujarat in India on October 2, 1869. The Indian people called Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul.

Education: Mohandas went to an elementary school in Porbandar, where he found it difficult to master the multiplication tables. He was seven when his family moved to Rajkot, another state in Kathiawar, where his father became Dewan. There he attended a primary school and later joined a high school. Though conscientious he was a "mediocre student" and was excessively shy and timid.

After passing 10th from the high school, Mohandas joined the Samaldas College in Bhavnagar, where he found the studies difficult and the atmosphere unfriendly. Gandhi went to London to study law and of this time he said "I would continually think of my home and country. . . Everything was strange-the people, their ways and even their dwellings. I was a complete novice in the matter of English etiquette, and continually had to be on my guard. There was the additional inconvenience of the vegetarian vow. Even the dishes that I could eat were tasteless and insipid."

He was educated in law at University College, London. In 1891, after having been admitted to the British bar, Gandhi returned to India and attempted to establish a law practice in Bombay, without much success. Two years later an Indian firm with interests in South Africa retained him as legal adviser in its office in Durban. Arriving in Durban, Gandhi found himself treated as a member of an inferior race. He was appalled at the widespread denial of civil liberties and political rights to Indian immigrants to South Africa. He threw himself into the struggle for elementary rights for Indians.

Marriage: While he was still in high school, he was married, at the age of thirteen, to Kasturbai who was also of the same age. For a boy of that age marriage meant only a round of feasts, new clothes to wear and someone to play with. Gandhis had four sons: Harilal and Manilal, born in India, and Ramdas and Devdas born in South Africa. While Gandhi displayed loving kindness to everyone else, he was quite demanding and severe with his wife and sons.

Gandhi's Great work: Gandhi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by his people as the father of the Indian Nation. At the time the British controlled South Africa. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people.

Satyagraha: He developed a method of action based upon the principles of courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. In 1915 Gandhi returned to India. Within 15 years he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement.

• Gandhi was arrested many times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India. He believed it was honorable to go to jail for a just cause. Altogether he spent seven years in prison for his political activities.
• In 1924, he was forced to call an end to the campaign of non-cooperation due to rising levels of violence from India towards Britain. Ironically, the opposite of what he preached was starting to take place. Six years later he began another campaign against the payment of tax, and many of his followers joined him on a demonstration march to the sea.
• In 1934, he formally resigned from politics, having been imprisoned several more times. When imprisoned, Gandhi would begin fasting in protest. The British hated this, because they knew that if he died whilst being wrongly imprisoned the repercussions from the Indian people would be catastrophic.
• In 1947 India gained independence, something that Gandhi had worked towards for a long time. He was against partition though, wishing that those of Moslem and Hindu faith could live peacefully side-by-side. He was also very critical of the caste system, whereby some Indians of high social standing were deemed ‘untouchable'.

On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed in the riot between hindu and muslim. After 5 days the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religion.

Connection between Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi :  

Relationship between Gandhi and Indira is still a myth and yet not proved whether Gandhi adopted Indira's husband Feroze khan or not. However the story goes like Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 to Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She was named Indira Priyadarshini Nehru. She fell in love and decided to marry Feroze Khan, a family friend. Feroze Khan's father, Nawab Khan, was a Muslim, and mother was a Persian Muslim. If Indira Nehru were to marry a Muslim she would loose the possibility of becoming the heir to the future Nehru dynasty. At this juncture, Mahatma Gandhi intervened and adopted Feroze Khan, gave him his last name (family name/caste name) and got the name of Feroz Khan changed to Feroz Gandhi by an affidavit in England. Thus, Feroze Khan became Feroze Gandhi. Though Mahatma belonged to Bania/Gandhi caste (a business tribe) the proposal was acceptable to Nehru for political reasons. Indira Nehru married Feroze (Khan) Gandhi in 1942 and became Indira Gandhi, which helped her politically as daughter of Nehru (the first Prime Minister of the Indian Union) and daughter-in-law of Gandhi (the father of the nation) securing her place in the future Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. However this topic is still contradictory as many people says Feroze already had a surname "gandhi" as he was a parsi.

If he had wanted, Gandhi could have lived a very comfortable life as a lawyer. Instead he devoted it to prayer, fasting and meditation. He wore basic clothes and lived off fruit, vegetables and milk. He gave up his personal comfort to bring well-being to millions of others.

"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood."

(Sources: kamat.com, lucidcafe.com, indianchild.com, essortment.com)