MAHATMA GANDHI
1869-1948
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October
1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India. His father,
Karamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), who belonged to the Hindu Modh community, was
the diwan (Prime Minister) of Porbander state, a small princely state in
the Kathiawar Agency of British India.
Social
Position
Gandhi was born into the second highest caste in
Hindu society – the Ruler-Warrior Caste.
As a youth (about 15-years-old)
He had his schooling in nearby Rajkot, where his
father served as the adviser or prime minister to the local ruler. In May 1883,
the 13-year old Mohandas was married to 14-year old Kasturbai Makhanji in an
arranged child marriage, as was the custom in the region. In 1885, when Gandhi
was 15, the couple's first child was born, but survived only a few days;
Later Teen Years
On 4 September 1888, less than a month shy of his
19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University
College London and to train as a barrister. His time in London, the Imperial
capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in the presence of
the Jain monk Becharji, upon leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of
abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity.
The London Years 1888-1891
Although Gandhi experimented with adopting
"English" customs—taking dancing lessons for example—he could not
stomach the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and he was always
hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by
Salt's book, he joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its executive
committee[10], and started a local Bayswater chapter.[4]
Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which
had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was
devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi
to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as
in the original.[10] Not having shown a particular interest in
religion before, he became interested in religious thought and began to read
both Hindu as well as Christian scriptures.
Attempting to
Establish a Career in India: 1891-1893
His attempts at establishing a law practice in
Mumbai failed. Later, after failing to secure a part-time job as a high school
teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting
petitions for litigants, a business he was forced to close when he ran afoul of
a British officer. In his autobiography, he refers to this incident as an
unsuccessful attempt to lobby on behalf of his older brother. It was in this
climate that, in April 1893, he accepted a year-long contract from Dada Abdulla
& Co., an Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, then
part of the British Empire
Gandhi in South Africa: 1893- 1914
In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination
directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after
refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a
valid first class ticket. Traveling farther on by stagecoach he was beaten by a
driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European
passenger. These events were a turning point in his life, awakening
him to social injustice and influencing his subsequent social activism.
