Mahatma Gandhi was a leader in India’s independence movement. He experienced discrimination in South Africa, leading him to develop the theory of satyagraha, nonviolent resistance. He spread this philosophy and helped rebuild the Indian National Congress. He called for India’s independence during WWII and was assassinated in 1948.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also widely known as Mahatma Gandhi) was a prominent leader in India during its independence movement, influencing people both spiritually and politically. He was born in 1869 at Porbandar in the Indian state of Gujarat and died in 1948. At the age of 13 he was married to Kasturbai.
After Mohandas Gandhi’s father died in 1885, he went to England to become a lawyer. He passed the bar exam in 1891 and returned to India, where he discovered that his mother had died while he was abroad. In 1893 he took a job that sent him to South Africa, where Gandhi realized for the first time the extent to which racism was present in the world.
He found himself subjected to discrimination as an Indian in South Africa, the best-known example of which was an incident where he used a first-class train ticket. A white passenger in first class complained about Gandhi’s presence, so a railway employee tried to persuade him to move to third class. Gandhi refused to do this and was kicked off the train. He then began organizing Indians in South Africa to protest discrimination, as well as working to raise awareness of British oppression of Indians in India.
Gandhi returned to India with his family in 1901 and toured the country to survey the conditions of the poor. They then returned to South Africa, during which time Gandhi established communes where people came to keep their lives as simple as possible. He also developed his own theory of satyagraha, which means nonviolently resisting oppression and discrimination through civil disobedience. Gandhi and his growing number of followers used satyagraha to formulate their resistance against discrimination, which meant that they resisted nonviolently even in the face of personal injury or death. They finally granted their requests in 1914, after which Gandhi and his family returned to India.
Once there, he spread the philosophy of satyagraha and acted as an intermediary in many disputes between the British and Indians. During this time, he gained worldwide fame as a leader. However, the fighting between the British and Indians worsened severely, and in the early 1920s Gandhi rebuilt the Indian National Congress, which then became a force for independence.
At the start of World War II, England was unable to fully protect India from advancing Japanese armies. Mohandas Gandhi called on England to “leave India” and let the country take care of itself. He and other Congress leaders were arrested, and Gandhi undertook another of his frequent long-term fasts. While he was imprisoned, both his wife and his close friend and secretary died.
After much struggle, India finally got its freedom from the British Empire in 1947. Unfortunately, in 1948 Gandhi was shot three times on his way to a meeting and died of his wounds. At the time of his death, he was loved by millions and widely known as Mahatma (great soul) and bapu (father).
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