There's a lot to be learnt from Gandhiji. Check back daily for a new quote!
Here
is a man who is known throughout the world.
He
has been famous for almost a century.
He
has influenced people in countries as distant from each other as the
He is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
What is special about his life?
AS A CHILD TIMELINE FAMILY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL
LIFE
FAMILY VALUES INFLUENCES IN HIS LIFE
HIS GOALS AS AN ADULT INDIA DURING
GANDHI'S TIME
What can we learn from Gandhiji's life?
In
In
the West this is often pronounced as Gand-he.
He
is often called Mahatma, which means great soul
He
is also called Gandhiji. "Ji" is
added to a name to make it respectful.
He
was also called Bapu which means Father. He was considered
to be the father of the Nation of
What is so
special about his life?
He
was a successful lawyer, a politician without any position and a saintly person
He
was a writer, a speaker and had a great sense of humor
He
was equally accessible to commoners and kings
With
his words and actions, he could inspire thousands of people to lay down their
lives for the cause of the freedom of
He
stood for all the people of
He
did something that no one had done before him.
Without
using any weapon that can kill or hurt, he managed to get the most powerful
empire of the world- the
This
is called the "revolutionary revolution" because it was so unusual.
No one could have believed this would be successful. But after him, his
techniques have been used by Martin Luther King Jr. in the
What
was Gandhi like, as a child?
Could
anyone have known what he would become when he grew up?
How
did he become such a force to reckon with?
Probably not. Look at the paradoxes in his
life.
|
He was shy, small, scrawny and bad at studies |
Yet as an adult he met the King of |
|
He was a vegetarian, who never liked to fight or
even to make friends. |
But by the time he died, he made friends with
people in many countries; and picked up the most intense fight with the
British who ruled his country. |
|
He was not very good at sports |
Yet he led thousands of people into a long march
called the Dandi March |
|
|
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born in the
seaside town of Porbandar, in the state of Gujarat
in India |
|
1874-1876 5-7 years old |
Attended elementary school in Porbander |
|
1876-
7 years old |
Three landmarks:
|
|
1883-
13 years old |
Married to Kasturba Makanji,
a beautiful girl who was also 13. She was patient, strong and courageous. A
marriage arranged by their parents, the couple met for the first time just
before their wedding. This was not unusual at that time. |
His father was a diwan
or prime minister in the court of the prince. Mohandas' grandfather had also
held the same position. His mother was a
devout woman who taught her children about their religion.
They were an upper middle-class family, with a three-storey
limestone home that gleamed a bright white when the
sun shone. There was an open courtyard in the center where relatives of every
age could often be found.
It was what is called a "joint family";
i.e., several families of relatives living together. So his father's brothers
lived in the same house, with their wives and children.
In 1858, eleven years before Mohandas was born,
His father's job was to mediate between the
British and Indians, so that there would be no fights and misunderstandings.
It was only when they moved to
Mohan was small-built, frail and shy. He had brown
eyes and large ears!
He had 3 brothers and 1 sister, and was the
youngest, cherished by all.
He often broke his mother's rule of playing only
in the courtyard. One day he joined a parade passing by his house and followed
it for the whole day. When he was hungry, he ate flowers. His real punishment
was that he had a stomach ache! His worried family then made sure he had a nursemaid
who would follow him around.
His nurse felt that "Mohandas" was too
big for a small boy; so she called him Mohan.
One day, when he was 13 years old, he found lots
of activity in the household. He and his brother got new clothes, there was
food fit for a feast, lots of music and merriment. This is how he realized that
the two of them were about to get married!
He was shy, afraid of many things like ghosts,
serpents and the dark. He used to sleep with his light on, which made his wife
laugh! They were so young, that they were more like friends than husband and
wife. Maybe she was his first best friend!
Mohan started school in Porbander at the age of
five. This was a small dhooli shala: dust
school. Instead of a blackboard and paper, the teacher and kids wrote and drew
on the dust!
When he was seven, Mohan started elementary school
in
He didn't like to fight, and would always try to
reach a compromise.
When he was a little older, his family moved to
the larger town of
After two years of elementary school, he was
promoted to
His brilliant mind was first noticed when he
started high school. He would meditate intensely on problems that interested
him. He was also very honest. Once when a teacher encouraged him to cheat to
impress a visiting school inspector, he refused to do so.
Mohan didn't want to do gymnastics and play
cricket with the other boys. He preferred to play the Indian game of gulli danda: like street hockey, it is a game of hitting a
wooden peg with a stick; but a small stick.
Pray, be disciplined, honest, and have few
possessions.
KARMA Mohan grew up believing in karma: the idea that one should live in awareness
of the fact that one's actions influence one's life.
NON-VIOLENCE Harm no one
His mother,
Putalibai was probably the greatest
influence on his life. He was very impressed by her.
She was a devout and devoted person, and Mohandas
was devoted to her. He learnt from her to be a religious person, but
broadminded about different religions. He also learnt that fasting can purify
the body and is good for spiritual growth. One year, you would find Mohandas
racing outside in the monsoon season to catch a glimpse of the sun. That is
because his mother had vowed to eat only after seeing the sun. Much to the
children's distress, many times she missed a meal as the sun was not visible
through the dark monsoon clouds.
Mohandas knew that his mother was illiterate. Yet
she had strong views and could talk about many topics. She also had a lot of
common sense. She was by no means a "downtrodden" person.
The father,
Karamchand, had been married before, and had
daughters from other marriages. He was quite old by the time Mohan was born.
So, although the boy loved and respected his father, he was not as close to him
as to his mother.
From his father, Mohan learnt to be impartial and
skillful at settling disputes among others.
As a teenager, Mohan had a friend who was a bad influence on him. He
got him into bad habits like smoking and disobeying his parents' rules. For a
while, Mohan followed his friend's example; but his inner sense of right and
wrong would cause him to suffer terribly. One day he confessed his deeds to his
father in a letter. He expected his father to yell, as he was a short-tempered
man.
Guess what his father did? He did not say
anything; but silent tears poured down his cheeks. This caused Mohan to feel
even more repentant; and that is the real goal of punishment.
More than any punishment of his father, it was
this action of his influenced him. His love and respect for his father
increased. Even more, he realized that non-violence could influence people who
did wrong as even more than violence could.
Once his father took them to see
a play called Raja
Harishchandra. This is about a king
who would tell the truth and keep his word even though he lost his kingdom
because of that. The play influenced him deeply and he could think of little
else in the days that followed. Perhaps that is why, as an adult, he proclaimed:
satyamev jayate Truth alone Triumphs
He also learnt from his wife, Kasturba, whom he lovingly called "Ba". Though she too was illiterate
like his mother, she was strong-willed. When they got married, Mohan tried to
control her movements. He forbade her to go out without his permission. But she
resisted. Without fighting she would do whatever she thought was right. Finally
he had to give in.
This is how, early in his life, he realized that
non-violent resistance can convince people that they are wrong.
To unite Hindus and Muslims, two major religious
groups of
To make
References:
Hunter, Nigel, Gandhi [Great Lives] The Bookwright
Press
Faber, Doris & Faber, Harold, Mahatma Gandhi Julian Messner
Cheny, Glenn Alan, Mohandas Gandhi
[An Impact Biography] Franklin Watts
Bush, Catherine, Gandhi [World Leaders Past and Present] Chelsea House Publishers
Bains, Rae, Gandhi
: Peaceful Warrior, Troll Associates
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