Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is known in the world as Mahatma Gandhi. The biography of this person is known to every Indian. He founded the movement that led to the independence of India. His life is a feat. He showed through his ministry how only one person can integrate a multi-faith, caste-waged, rival nation within its framework, numbering about a billion people (Buddhist India and Muslim Pakistan were then united).
That was exactly Mahatma Gandhi, whose life story has one pronounced dominant - the implementation of the philosophy of non-violence accepted by all castes. He obeyed the will of only one tyrant - "a low voice of conscience."
Childhood, youth
Mahatma Gandhi, born 02.10.1869, belonged to the caste of merchants. His biography in childhood refers to the strict religious order and vegetarianism of the family of his parents. His father held the highest position in the civil service in the coastal city of Porbandar, Gujarat, and his mother was distinguished by rare religiosity.
At the age of 13, the young man, according to the Hindu tradition, married a peer named Kasturba. Six years later, the firstborn was born to the spouses, and then three more sons. Subsequently, the elder, leading an unrighteous life, Mahatma Gandhi refused. The remaining three became the support of his father in his teachings. Moreover, the youngest of them, Devdas, married a wife from the highest caste - the Brahmin Varna, which for India is an incredible miracle.
Studying in Britain
Nineteen-year-old Gandhi went to London, where he received a law degree. Returning to India, he worked as a lawyer in Bombay for two years. Then, for eleven years, Mohandas Karamchand served as legal adviser to an Indian trading company in South Africa. On the African continent, Mahatma Gandhi first engaged in political activities. The biography of the philosopher and politician testifies that it was there that he applied practically his philosophical views of non-violence.
Mahatma's worldview was formed as a result of his rethinking of the Bhagavad Gita, as well as his acceptance of the views of the Irish fighter for autonomy, Michael Devitt, the American thinker Henry Thoreau, and the Russian classic Leo Tolstoy.
Gandhi in South Africa
At that time, immigrants from India rushed to earn money in South Africa. Around that time, the city of Kimberley, standing by the Orange River, was known as the diamond capital of the world. Hard labor at diamond mines required labor. Unfortunately, people recruited to mines and mines were terrible. It was there that the lawyer Gandhi felt rare opportunities in himself - to resist evil and violence by the power of the goodness of his soul. He was given a rare gift: to defeat aggression by word and conviction given to few people.
Mohandas felt within himself the potential claimed by his modern world - to change it for the better, destroying the unfair foundations that cripple people morally.
Mahatma Gandhi began to fulfill his views, starting with himself. He once and for all refused European clothing in favor of the national, began to strictly maintain fasting, religious rites. He and his supporters succeeded in changing the laws of South Africa against the Indians.
He was expected in India
In 1905, Mohandas Karamchand returned to India. In absentia, while in South Africa, he won the glory of a national public figure in his homeland . The national bourgeoisie of India at that time perfectly understood that there could be no question of any rule of the country, and even more so of a development strategy, without the consolidation of all castes of society. She herself could not do this. She needed Mohandas.
Gandhi introduced the whole country to none other than the Nobel laureate in the field of literature, Rabindranath Tagore, for the first time calling him Mahatma. By the way, the pious politician himself did not accept this title, considering himself unworthy.
Global, revolutionary goals were pursued by the struggle of Mahatma Gandhi. However, the philosopher was not going to go to them over corpses. He returned to the impoverished, plundered and plundered country.
At that time, 175 foreign corporations worked in India, earning profits three times the national income. The exploitation of the people has reached unprecedented proportions: an insignificant income per capita fell from 1.5 to 0.75 pence per person per day. Most peasants lost ownership of land. The population suffered from hunger and epidemics. Only in 1904 did more than a million Indians die from the plague.
Gandhi's teachings
Mohandas Karamchand sees the reason for all this and organizes a movement for national independence. Grains of truth fell on fertile ground, colonial India had long awaited such a sermon. Mahatma Gandhi chose the name "satyagraha" for him, consisting of two nouns: "truth" (sat) and "firmness" (agraha). The politician considered civilian disobedience to be the inherent right of every citizen ; the philosopher considered it one of the fundamental for any truly free person.
The fight against injustice, according to Gandhi, should be based on two principles:
- civil disobedience;
- nonviolent resistance.
Following them, the Indians should, in the opinion of the Mahatma, give up any support for the institutions of the British colonial infrastructure and greedy colonial corporations, that is, withstand the principle of “three not”:
- Do not buy British goods;
- not serve the colonial system in government agencies, the police, the army;
- not to receive from British officials promotions, titles, honors.
1919 - a turning point in the struggle for independence
In 1919, the Indian National Congress, under the influence of the ideas of Gandhi, instead of the previous liberal-opposition position, switched to the struggle for independence. Why exactly at this time? Let's turn to the history. It was then that the House of Commons of the British Parliament was forced, for the first time in history, to consider the case of the punishment of the colonial commander, Brigadier General Dyer, authorizing the shooting of a peaceful protest in the city of Amritsar, which led to the killing of more than a thousand sepoys. It was this act of flagrant racial discrimination that marked the beginning of the collapse of the British colonial system created by the iron and blood .
In 1919, Mahatma Gandhi called on compatriots to demonstrate peacefully under the slogans of gaining independence. Multimillion-dollar demonstrations on a working day swept the largest cities in the country. Unfortunately, there was a clash with the police and, accordingly, victims. The policy of Mahatma Gandhi, of course, did not provide for this in any way. However, the British arrested him and sentenced him to six years as the instigator of the riots. In prison, he developed his teaching, wrote works enlightening the people.
Sage in the ashram
At the end of his sentence, Mohandas Karamchand did not return to his family. Like a hermit monk, he established a shelter for the needy (ashram) in the wasteland of the city of Ahmedabad. A man who was not afraid of anything ... Every day the masses of people came to listen to the sage preaching to them.
His views became much wider than those expressed by the Indian National Congress, and Gandhi came out of it.
The philosophy based on the religion of Buddhism was simple and understandable for Indians, touching hearts. National elites began to listen to him. “The world should begin to change from oneself,” said Mahatma Gandhi. Quotes from his speeches inspired the audience, instilled in them faith in the new India.
The struggle for the socialization of the untouchables
The problem that violated the integrity of Indian society was the presence of untouchables, that is, people discriminated against for thousands of years, starting with a slave society. By the way, their share in the population of India is about 16%. Untouchables until the 20th century closed their paths to education, to prestigious professions. They were forbidden to enter public temples. In teahouses they were given separate dishes. For their equality, Mahatma Gandhi was the first to raise his voice. People wrote down quotes from his speeches at rallies, words from them inspired the disenfranchised compatriots, instilled faith in them: “At first they don’t notice you, then they laugh at you, then they fight with you. And yet you win. ”
Gandhi refused to attend temples where untouchables were forbidden. To the crowds gathered at the doors of these temples, the "father of India" broadcasted: "There is no God." And soon all the churches of the country stopped such a humiliating tradition.
Gandhi called untouchable children of God (Harijans). He tirelessly preached that Hinduism denies all discrimination. Thanks to his efforts, laws were passed in India that prevented the professional and social oppression of the lower castes.
"Father of the nation" subtly felt the identity of the society of his country. When the radical leader of the untouchables, Dr. Ambedkar began to achieve complete equality, Mahatma Gandhi made it clear that this should not be done, otherwise a split would arise in the country. When his opponent continued to persist in his delusion, Mahatma expressed his protest on a hunger strike. Gandhi was really ready to die for the truth, the "father of the nation" convinced Ambedkar.
Gandhi's role in the peaceful division of the country into India and Pakistan
Also, his merit was the peaceful separation of Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan after their independence from Britain in 1948. When a seemingly terrible bloodshed was inevitable, Mahatma Gandhi, who enjoys great authority in both faiths, went on a second hunger strike. And it had an effect.
Mohandas Karamchand also did a lot for Indian women to gain civil rights. He reasonably criticized the practice of early marriages, prematurely exhausting them, and called for participation in women's public associations, for an active role in society.
Miscellaneous from the life of the Mahatma
Follow the laws of virtue, and not talk about them, encouraged Mahatma Gandhi. Interesting facts from his life can be a curiosity to people far from Indian culture:
- The surname Gandhi in Indian means "shopkeeper". The father and grandfather of an outstanding politician were prime ministers of the Indian principalities. He himself always called himself by the name of Mohandas and never by the name of Mahatma.
- In his youth, Gandhi did not go far barefoot. On the contrary, he was like a dandy. While in London, the young man took private lessons in dance and etiquette. He was also secretary of the London Society of Vegetarians.
- Gandhi personally collected untouchables. Many sacrificed gold jewelry to him, but the Mahatma always remained disinterested, dressed in rags. He drove around the country in the most unpretentious cars, that is, belonging to the third class. Once he was asked: “Why in the third?” The philosopher answered this: “Because the fourth car does not exist!”
- People ignorant believe that Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi are father and daughter. However, such an opinion is far from the truth. They are not even relatives. Politicians of the Indira clan took the surname “Gandhi” as a political banner, as a clan alias, testifying to the continuity of the goals that Mahatma was trying to achieve.
- Gandhi was arrested so often that he often provided his home address with the address of Yeravda Prison. In 1931, he arrived straight from there in underpants and a hadi jacket for an audience with the Queen of Britain.
Literary activity
Although the sage’s life was a continuous series of thoughts, insights, and sermons, he was hardly the writer of the “soul of India,” Mahatma Gandhi. Most of his books are ordered speeches and letters. The man of ideas and action, Mohandas Karamchand, took up the pen not for entertainment.
Perhaps the only book, and not a collection, is his fundamental work “My Faith,” in which the philosopher outlined a harmonious interpretation of his understanding of Buddhism. He was able to show in it how the principles of faith can be introduced into the economy, social sphere, and politics. His doctrine of spiritual life inspired the masses of the people who were morally oppressed by the colonialists and was able to instill in them faith in the future of independent India. “My faith” can help anyone with the right spirituality to understand the basics of nonviolent, but active struggle with Evil.
Another important work of Mohandas Karamchand was not created as a single book. In fact, this is a collection of letters written by him during a 6-year prison sentence. After all, Mahatma Gandhi usually wrote on the topic of the day. Books for the politician were not an end in themselves. He always worked on the topic of the day, sensitively hearing the need for preaching articles by society.
Once the Mahatma was given the request of a person from the untouchable caste - to explain to him the position of the Bhagavad Gita. The peasant complained that he did not understand its provisions. The philosopher, realizing the global nature of this problem for the self-awareness of the nation, wrote a series of letters, each of which was an author's interpretation of one of the chapters of the great book. Subsequently, the letters were published under the general name - “True Kuruksetra”. It is useful for everyone to understand the essence of Buddhism.
Other famous books of Mahatma: “Revolution without violence”, “The path to God”, “About prayer” are collections of his speeches in different years.
Conclusion
Was Mahatma Gandhi really a saint? The biography of his life in recent years mentions that he expected a violent death, not at all afraid of it. In particular, he told his granddaughter that she would call him Mahatma only when he was killed and he died without moaning, with prayer on his lips. This was not a pose; the philosopher knew what he was talking about. He managed to rise above the castes of his fatherland, to integrate the society of his country, previously deliberately divided by the colonialists, who ruled on the principle of “divide and conquer”.
His main merit to the people of India is that Mahatma, who came to his homeland during the pre-revolutionary situation of 1905, initiating change, did not allow the country to slide into the abyss of the class struggle, like the nihilized tsarism of Russia. His teachings and political struggle not only involved the proletarians and peasants in political activity, Mahatma Gandhi introduced the idea of social responsibility into the minds of the national elite.
However, in India there were revolutionary movements of the untouchables, who, like Bulgakov’s Sharikov, wanted to “take everything away and separate it.” They hated Gandhi for the fact that his teaching, accepted by the whole nation, did not give them a single chance to rock the situation in the country. The philosopher was able to oppose the spirituality of society to the temptation to establish a dictatorship. Therefore, it can certainly be argued that losers who want to add blood to politics have vehemently hated the “father of the nation”. During his lifetime, their intentions to “pry out the eye of the bourgeoisie” could not even be heard by the people, not even perceived.
Gandhi was killed on January 30, 1948 by a revolutionary fanatic near his home when a crowd of admirers rushed to him. The philosopher always talked with people in an open friendly conversation, without resorting to security services. He died at 78 years old, as Mahatma should: without a moan, with prayer, forgiving his killer, becoming the banner of the Indian nation.