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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was a major
political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. In
India, he is recognized as the Father of the Nation. October 2nd, his birthday, is
commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, and is a national holiday. He was the
pioneer of Satyagraha — the resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience,
firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence — which led India to independence
and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is
commonly known in India and across the world as Mahatma Gandhi.
As a British-educated lawyer, Gandhi first employed his ideas of peaceful civil
disobedience in the Indian community's struggle for civil rights in South Africa.
Upon his return to India, he organized poor farmers and labourers to protest
against oppressive taxation and widespread discrimination. Assuming leadership of
the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for the alleviation
of poverty, for the liberation of women, for brotherhood amongst differing
religions and ethnicities, for an end to untouchability and caste discrimination,
and for the economic self-sufficiency of the nation, but above all for Swaraj — the
independence of India from foreign domination.
Gandhi famously led Indians in the disobedience of the salt tax on the 400
kilometre (248 miles) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and in an open call for the British
to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in
both South Africa and India.
Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in
the most extreme situations. A student of Hindu philosophy, he lived simply,
organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. Making his own clothes
— the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl woven with a charkha, he lived on a simple
vegetarian diet. He used rigorous fasts, for long periods, for both
self-purification and protest.
Gandhi's life and teachings inspired Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., Steve Biko and Aung San Suu Kyi and through them the American civil
rights movement and the freedom struggles in South Africa and Myanmar
respectively.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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