Mahatma Gandhi,the Great Soul of the Nation
Mohandas Gandhi, the father of modern India was born in Gujarat
in 1869. He underwent a childhood marriage at 13 and was later
sent by his family to study law in London. Once he had graduated
from the Inner Temple he moved to South Africa where he remained
until 1915. It was during his stay in South Africa, where he was
practicing law, that he became painfully aware of the plight of
he immigrant Indian community who were frequently persecuted and
discriminated against due to the strict racial laws then in
force in South Africa. It was his involvement in this field that
shaped his political destiny"and helped him develop his
creed of passive resistance against injustice known as
satyagraha.
Once whilst traveling in a third class train compartment he lost
his shoe whilst transferring from one carriage to another.
Instead of getting upset or disturbed by the incident, he
surprised his companion by throwing the other shoe after the
first saying: "One shoe is no good to me, but it might profit
somebody else!"
On returning to India he quickly entered the Movement striving
for independence form British colonial rule. There was
frequently tension which escalated into violence, not only
between the native Indian population and the British authorities
but also between rival Hindu and Muslim factions that was later
to lead to partition. Gandhi's answer to the turbulence was to
fast until the protagonists stopped their battles!
When independence came two years after the end of the Second
World War, it was not due to military might but as a triumph of
the human will and the fact that Britain, depleted by the
ravages of its fight with Germany could no longer sustain an
Empire. After independence the country was divided into India
and Pakistan on religious grounds. This led to a lot of
bloodshed and "the Mahatma" spent the last two months of his
life trying to quell this rising tide of blood by non-violent
means. He was forced to fast until the brink of death before his
efforts had any effect!
Ironically, Gandhi's life was ended by an assassin's bullet as
he attended evening prayer in New Delhi in January 1948. He was
79 years old. It was tragic to think that a man who had been so
passionately devoted to achieving his ends by peaceful means
should himself have died violently, at the end of a pistol.
Interested in this subject? Try this link for more of the same