Mohandas Gandhi ( 1869 – 1948 )

 

- in India: “Father of the Nation”

- a worldwide icon of non-violent political resistance

- was born in India and studied law in England, then spent 20 years defending the rights of immigrants in South Africa

- promoter of simple living

- returned to India in 1914

- became the leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920 -> At this time: India part of the British Empire, and Gandhi urged non-violence and civil disobedience as a means to independence; his belief: non-violence always gains advantage over violence

- 1930: his appeal to a salt marsh (protest against the British salt monopoly/ against the salt taxes the Indians had to pay)

- was in jail many times (altogether nearly 8 years) because of his public acts of defiance

- 1947:  he participated in the postwar negotiations with Britain that led to Indian independence.

- 1948:  shot to death by a Hindu fanatic

 

Some other facts about his life:

  • - Gandhi is often called Mahatma — the Hindu term for “great soul”
  • - He married Kasturba Makhanji in 1883, in an arranged marriage; he was 13 at the time.
  • - they had five children and remained married for nearly 61 years, until her death in 1944
  • - Among his many famous quotes is the saying, “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”
  • - his birthday, October 2nd, is a national holiday in India.

 

His main principles:

  

Truth:

-  in his life, Gandhi tried to discover truth / Satya. He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and perfomring experiments on himself.

-For him, the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities.

Nonviolence:

- Gandhi was the first who adapt the principle of non-violence to politics on a huge scale

- he envisioned a world where even the government, police an the army are non-violent