Gandhi

Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbander in the state of what is now Gujarat on 2 October 1869. He had his schooling in nearby Rajkot, where his father served as the adviser to the local ruler. Though India was then under British rule, many states were allowed self-rule in domestic and internal affairs. Rajkot was one such state. At this time, British imperialism had invaded India. Their bustle of society and their loss of individual connection to culture and values, changed the minds of many Indians, making Indians controllable and useful to the British.

In 1888 Gandhi set sail for England, where he had decided to pursue a degree in law. In London, Gandhi showed determination and single-minded pursuit of his purpose, and accomplished his objective of finishing his degree from the Inner Temple. After one year of a successful law practice, Gandhi decided to accept an offer from an Indian businessman in South Africa, Dada Abdulla, to join him as a legal adviser. The awareness of European racism, and the fact that Indians were far from begins considered as human begins finally confronted Gandhi himself, when he was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment car, though he held a first-class ticket, at Pietermaritzburg. This humiliation inspired change, and from this awakening Gandhi began to emerge as the leader of the Indian community.

Gandhi conceived of his own life as a series of experiments to forge the use of satyagraha in such a manner as to make the oppressor and the oppressed alike recognize their common bonding and humanity: as he recognized, freedom is only freedom when it is indivisible.

In South Africa, he created the term satyagraha, the non-cooperation with the British, to signify his practice of non-violent resistance. Gandhi often described himself as a seeker of satya (truth), attained only through ahimsa (non-violence, love). Gandhi believed that Ð''non-violence and willingly accepted suffering in search of truth would succeed where violent methods might not'. This method, became the path to ending India's struggles from independence, a battle of love and truth against hate and the lie Many were freed, not only form the foreign rule, but also from inner feelings of ignorance, fear, greed and violence.

However, the minds of the British thought otherwise. They judged him like any other man, as if he had committed a crime. Though, it seemed that British had the upper hand in this fight for India's freedom, many times Gandhi proved this was not always the case. On March 12, 1930 with seventy-eight of his followers and disciples, he set out on the 241-mile march to Dandi on the sea, to remove the salt tax currently imposed. When they arrived on April 6th, he picked up some salt and said, "With this salt, I resist the might of the British Empire, join me in the struggle against might." Following this, he and others were beaten down by the British, but continued to walk peacefully. This stung the British conscience and appealed to their Christian values. Through this the British realized their evils and the cruelty that lay in their oppression.

While giving the British the benefit of the doubt, Gandhi made sure to let the British know when he meant business. For example, after the massacre by General Dyer in the Jallianwalla Bagh, Gandhi immediately adopted the non-co-operation policy. With this, all British goods were boycotted, and almost all British operations were shut down. The British immediately responded by reconciliation, and Gandhi called off the policy. Gandhi still believed that the