CHILDHOOD

MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India, which was then one of the many tiny states in Kathiawar. His father Karamchand was the Dewan or Prime Minister of Porbandar and Putlibai, Mohandas's mother, was a saintly character, gentle and devout, and left a deep impress on him. He was seven when his family moved to Rajkot, another state in Kathiawar. There he attended a primary school and later joined a high school. Though conscientious he was a "mediocre student" and was excessively shy and timid.

While his school record gave no indication of his future greatness, there was one incident, which was significant. A British school inspector came to examine the boys and set a spelling test. Mohandas made a mistake, which the class teacher noticed. The latter motioned to him to copy the correct spelling from his neighbor?s slate. Mohandas refused to take the hint and was later chided for his "stupidity".
While he was still in high school, he was married, at the age of thirteen, to Kasturbai who was also of the same age.

After matriculating from the high school, Mohandas joined the Samaldas College in Bhavnagar, where he found the studies difficult and the atmosphere uncongenial, Meanwhile, his father had died in 1885. A friend of the family suggested that if the young Gandhi hoped to take his father's place in the state service he had better become a barrister, which he could do in England in three years. Gandhi went to Bombay to take the boat for England. On September 4, 1888, he sailed for Southampton-aged eighteen.
During the early period of his stay in England Gandhi went through a phase, which he has described as aping the English gentleman. Towards the end of his second year in London, he came across two theosophist brothers who introduced him to Sir Edwin Arnold's translation in English verse of the Gita-The Song Celestial priceless worth. He was deeply impressed.

About the same time a Christian friend whom he had met in a vegetarian boarding house introduced him to the Bible. He found it difficult to wade through the Old Testament, which put him to sleep, but he fell in love with the New Testament and especially with the Sermon on the Mount. He also read Sir Edwin Arnold's rendering of Buddha's life-The light of Asia-as well as the chapter on the Prophet of Islam in Carlyle's Heroes and Hero Worship. The attitude of respect for all religions and the desire to understand the best in each one of them were thus planted in his mind early in life. Having passed his examinations Gandhi was called to the Bar on June10, 1891, and sailed for India two days later.

After spending some time in Rajkot, he decided to set up in legal practice in Bombay. He stayed in Bombay for a few months. Having failed to establish himself in Bombay, Gandhi returned to Rajkot where he started again. In this predicament came an offer from Dada Abdulla & Co. to proceed to South Africa on their behalf to instruct their counsel in a lawsuit. It was a godsend. Gandhi jumped at it and sailed for South Africa in April 1893. Gandhi landed in Durban where his client Abdulla Sheth received him. Almost the first thing he sensed on arrival was the oppressive atmosphere of racial snobbishness.
After about a week's stay in Durban Gandhi left for Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. His client purchased a first class ticket for him. When the train reached Maritzburg, the capital of Natal, at about 9 p.m. a white passenger who boarded the train objected to the presence of a "colored" man in the compartment and Gandhi was ordered by a railway official to shift to a third class. When he refused to do so, a constable pushed him out and the railway authorities took his luggage away. It was winter and bitterly cold. Gandhi sat and shivered the whole night in the waiting room, thinking: 'Should I fight for my rights or go back to India?' He decided that it was cowardice to run away without fulfilling his obligations.
Having completed his work in Pretoria, Gandhi returned to Durban and prepared to sail home. But at a farewell dinner given in his honour some one showed him a news item in Natal Mercury that the Natal Government proposed to introduce a bill to disfranchise Indians. They pleaded their helplessness without him and begged him to stay on for another month. Gandhi insisted that if he had to extend his stay in South Africa he would accept no remuneration for his public services and since he still thought it necessary to live as befitted a barrister he needed about ?300 to meet his expenses. He therefore enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Natal.

He took six months' leave to visit India and bring his family back. When plague broke out in Rajkot, Gandhi volunteered his services and visited every locality, including the quarters of the untouchables, to inspect the latrines and teach the residents better methods of sanitation. During this visit, he made the acquaintance of veteran leaders like Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjee and the great savant and patriot, Tilak. He met the wise and noble-hearted Gokhale and was greatly attracted to him.
He had to cut short his stay and sail for Durban with his wife and children in November 1896. It was during this second period in South Africa that Gandhi's mode of living underwent a change, albeit gradual. In 1901, Gandhi felt that he must now return to India. He reached India in time to attend the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress and had the satisfaction of seeing his resolution on South Africa pass with acclamation. He was however disappointed with the congress. He felt that Indian politicians talked too much but do little. After staying for a few days in Calcutta as Gokhale's Guest, when he went out on a tour of India, traveling third class in order to study for himself the habits and difficulties of the poor.
He had read Tolstoy and Thoreau's use of the term "civil disobedience" did not seem to express Gandhi's own concept of ahimsa as a positive force of love, nor did he like the use of the phrase "passive resistance". The concept was now clearly formulated in his mind but the word to describe it was wanting. His cousin Maganlal Gandhi suggested sadagraha, meaning holding fast to truth or firmness in a righteous cause. Gandhi liked the term and changed to satyagraha. Thus was evolved and formulated Gandhi's most original idea in political action.
In April 1893, Gandhi had sailed for South Africa, a young and inexperienced barrister in search of fortune. In January 1915 he finally returned to India, a Mahatma, with no possessions and with only one ambition - to serve his people.

At the end of his year's wanderings, Gandhi settled down on the bank of the river Sabarmati, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, where he founded an ashram in May 1915. He called it the Satyagraha Ashram. The inmates about twenty-five men and women, took the vows of truth, ahimsa, celibacy, non-stealing, non-possession and control of the palate, and dedicated themselves to the service of the people.

Gandhi's first public address in India was on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Banaras Hindu University in February 1916. His first satyagraha in India was in Champaran, in Bihar, where he went in 1917 at the request of poor peasants to inquire into the grievances of the much -exploited peasants of that district. He educated the peasants in the principles of satyagraha and taught them that the first condition of freedom was freedom from fear.

It was the ROWLATT BILL with its denial of civil liberties, which finally brought Gandhi into active Indian politics. From 1919 to his death in 1948, he occupied the centre of the Indian stage and was the hero of the great historical drama, which culminated in the independence of his country. He changed the entire character of the political scene in India. When Gandhi who was now in demand everywhere left for Delhi and Amritsar, he was served with a notice at Palwal station forbidding him to cross into the Punjab. On his refusal to obey the order, he was arrested and brought back to Bombay.

When Gandhi came to Ahmedabad and found that a police officer had been killed by the mob, he was horrified and felt that "a rapier run through my body could hardly have pained me more". He suspended the satyagraha movement and undertook a fast for three days as penance for the violence committed by people. On the very day, April 13, 1919, when Gandhi announced his three-day fast in Ahmedabad, the British General Dyer ordered the massacre of unarmed and peaceful citizens attending a meeting in Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar.

It was at a Muslim Conference held in Delhi in November 1919 that he first advocated non-cooperation with the British Government. In 1920, he dominated the political scene. In fact, he re-created the Congress and turned talking politicians into active revolutions and anglicized leaders of society into servants of the people who henceforth wore white homespun.

In speech after speech, article after article in his two weeklies, Young India and Navjivan, Gandhi poured forth his passionate utterances, which electrified the people. In February 1922, an outbreak of mob violence in Chauri Chaura so shocked and pained Gandhi that he refused to continue the campaign and undertook a fast for five days. However, the British Government arrested him and the judge sentenced him to six years' simple imprisonment.
Prison was for Gandhi more a luxury than a punishment. He could devote more time to prayer, study and spinning than he could outside. For the next five years Gandhi seemingly retired from active agitation politics and devoted himself to the propagation of what he regarded as the basic national needs, namely, Hindu-Muslim unity, removal of untouchability, equality of women, popularization of hand-spinning and the reconstruction of village economy in general. On January 26, 1930, which day has been celebrated as Independence as the goal of Congress policy, it was obvious that he was again ready to lead the nation in an open challenge to British rule. He drew up a pledge of "Purna Swaraj" or complete independence which was taken by millions throughout the country on January 26, 1930, which day has been celebrated as Independence Day ever since.

On March 12, 1930, after having duly informed the Viceroy, Gandhi, followed by seventy-eight members of his ashram, both men and women, began his historic 24-day march to the sea beach at Dandi to break the law which had deprived the poor man of his right to make his own salt. This seemed a small issue, but the dramatic manner in which he announced and executed the plan, the march on foot of this unarmed man of God for 241 miles, with villagers flocking from miles around to kneel by the roadside, set the imagination of the nation aflame and roused enthusiasm such as no one had anticipated. Early in the morning of April 6, after prayers, he went to the beach and picked up a little lump of salt left by the waves. This simple act was immediately followed by a nation-wide defiance of the law.

ON MARCH 5 was signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and on August 29 Gandhi sailed for London to attend the Second Round Table Conference as the delegate of the Congress. On his way back he visited Romain Rolland in Switzerland. It was at a meeting of the pacifists at Lausanne that he explained why rather than say, god is Truth, he would say, Truth is God.

With the outbreak of the war in 1939, Gandhi was dragged back into the political arena. There were many patriots in India who felt that this was the hour to strike, since Britain's difficulty was India's opportunity. But Gandhi refused to countenance such an attitude. In the meanwhile, the situation rapidly deteriorated. The British were unable to stem the Japanese advance to the Indian border. The people were becoming increasingly restive and impatient, and Gandhi feared that if this excitement were not given an organized non-violent expression, it would break out in sporadic disorder and violence. Since the British did not seem able at that time to ensure India's defence and were not willing to let India defend her, Gandhi called upon them to "Quit India" and prepared to organize satyagraha. Gandhi was interned in the Aga Khan Palace near Poona. He was greatly perturbed by the terror reigning in the country and at the British Government's charge that he was responsible for violence. Six days after his arrest, Mahadev Desai, his secretary and companion for twenty-four years, died suddenly of heart failure. In December 1943, Kasturbai fell ill and in February of the following year she, too, died.

THE BRITISH WERE unable to control the situation in India, which was steadily becoming worse. On August 12, 1946, the Viceroy invited Jawaharlal Nehru to form an interim government. Jinnah declared a "Direct Action Day" in Bengal, which resulted in an orgy of bloodshed. Gandhiji thought the freedom to which he had brought India so near was not the freedom he had dream of.

In May 1947, he was called to Delhi where the new Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten had succeeded in persuading the Congress leaders to accept Jinnah's insistent demand for the partition of India as a condition precedent for British withdrawal. Gandhi was against partition at any cost but he was unable to convince the Congress leaders of the wisdom of his stand.
On August 15, 1947, India was partitioned and became free. Gandhi declined to attend the celebrations in the capital and went to Calcutta where communal riots were still raging. And then on the day of independence a miracle happened. A year-old riot stopped as if by magic and Hindus and Muslims began to fraternize with one another. Gandhi spent a day in fast and prayer.

On January 18, after a week of painful suspense and anxiety, representatives of various communities and organizations in Delhi including the militant Hindu organization known as R.S.S., came to Birla house where Gandhi lay on a cot, weak but cheerful, and gave him a written pledge that "we shall protect the life, property and faith of the Muslims and that the incidents which have taken place in Delhi will not happen again". Gandhi then broke the fast amid the chanting of passages from the various scriptures of the world.
On the second day after the fast while Gandhi was at his usual evening prayers, a bomb was thrown at him. Fortunately it missed the mark. Gandhi sat unmoved and continued his discourse. It had been practice for many years to pray with the crowd. Every evening, wherever he was, he held his prayers in an open ground, facing a large congregation. No orthodox ritual was followed at these prayers. Verses from the scriptures of various religions were recited and hymns sung. At the end Gandhi would address a few words in Hindi to the congregation, not necessary on a religious theme but on any topic of the day. Men of all faiths and of all political persuasions were free to come. There was no restriction.
Violent passions had been aroused. Hatred was in the air. Hindu fanatics were impatient with his doctrine of love and looked upon him as the main stumbling block to their lust for vengeance against Muslim atrocities in Pakistan. The police were nervous. But Gandhi refused any kind of police protection.

On January 30, 1948, ten days after the bomb incident, Gandhi hurriedly went up the few steps of the prayer ground in the large park of the Birla House. Many came forward wanting to touch his feet. They were not allowed to do so, as Gandhi was already late. But a young Hindu from Poona forced his way forward and while seeming to do obeisance fired three point-blank shots from a small automatic pistol aimed at the heart. Gandhi fell, his lips uttering the name of God (He Ram). Before medical aid could arrive the heart had ceased to beat-the heart that had beat only love of man.

Prime Minister Nehru best expressed the nation?s feeling when with a trembling voice and a heart full of grief he gave the news to the people on the radio: "THE LIGHT HAS GONE OUT OF OUR LIVES AND THERE IS DARKNESS EVERYWHERE AND I DO NOT QUITE KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU AND HOW TO SAY IT. OUR BELOVED LEADER, BAPU AS WE CALL HIM, THE FATHER OF OUR NATION, IS NO MORE. THE LIGHT HAS GONE OUT, I SAID, AND YET I WAS WRONG. FOR THE LIGHT THAT SHONE IN THIS COUNTRY WAS NO ORDINARY LIGHT. THE LIGHT THAT HAS ILLUMINED THIS COUNTRY FOR THESE MANY YEARS, AND THE WORLD WILL SEE IT AND IT WILL GIVE SOLACE TO INNUMERABLE HEARTS. FOR THAT LIGHT REPRESENTED THE LIVING TRUTH, AND THE ETERNAL MAN WAS WITH US WITH HIS ETERNAL TRUTH REMINDING US OF THE RIGHT PATH, DRAWING US FROM ERROR, TAKING THIS ANCIENT COUNTRY TO FREEDOM . . . "

Such men cannot die, for they live in their achievements. His were many, each one of which, judged by the greatness of its execution or in its results for human welfare, would have made his name immortal anywhere in the world.
He freed millions of human beings from the shackles of caste tyranny and social indignity. His martyrdom shamed his people out of communal hysteria and helped to establish the secular and democratic character of the Indian State. The moral influence of his personality and of his gospel and technique of non-violence cannot be weighed in any material scale. Nor is its value limited to any particular country or generation. It is his imperishable gift to humanity.