Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an important political and ideological leader during the Indian independence movement during the first half of the 20th century. He was born in 1869 and died in 1948.Gandhi is often referred to as Mahatma, which is an honorific meaning “Great Soul”. In India he is also known as Bapu which means father, and he is officially honored as Father of the Nation.
The term satyagraha was conceived and developed by Gandhi, and can be loosely translated into English as “soul force” or “truth force”. It is a practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance. Gandhi is most famous for using and advocating satyagraha in the Indian independence movement, but he also used it while still living in South Africa. Satyagraha is based on ahimsa – the avoidance of violence. Ahimsa is an important tenet of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Background
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the coastal town of Porbandar in western Indian. His father belonged to the Hindu Modh community and was a high official (diwan) in a small princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of British India. Gandhi's mother came from the Hindu Pranami Vaishnava community.
The region where young Mohandas Gandhi grew up was rich in Jain traditions, such as vegetarianism, compassion for sentient beings, fasting for self-purification, and tolerance of different creeds. Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings and emphasizes the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness. Jains have had a large impact on ethical and political spheres in India, partly because they have an ancient tradition of scholarship and have the highest degree of literacy among the religious communities of the nation.
Politics
After working as a lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in 1915 and began organizing peasants and urban laborers in protesting discrimination and the large land-tax. By 1921 he assumed leadership of the Indian National Congress and led nationwide campaigns for reduced poverty, expansion of women's rights, religious and ethic amity, ending the practice of untouchability, increased economic self-reliance for India and – above all – the end of British rule.
In 1930 Gandhi led a 400 km long protest march against the British-imposed salt tax. The Dandi March became the starting point for the Salt Satyagraha, a campaign of nonviolent protests against the British salt monopoly. The Salt Satyagraha in turn was an important stepping stone for the wider Civil Disobedience Movement and struggle against British colonialism.
Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested by the British in 1942 and Gandhi was held prisoner in the Aga Khan Palace for two years. His wife Kasturba Gandhi and his long-time aide Mahadev Desai were also imprisoned here and died. When Gandhi was released on 6 may 1944 it was because his health was so poor that the British feared that he too would die in prison and that this would lead to riots in India.
In 1947, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the The Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo 6 c. 30), and when it received the royal assent on 18 July 1947 British India was turned into the two independent dominions of Indian and Pakistan. Formally, the two new countries came into being on August 15, 1947.
Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhis' birthday, 2 October, is a national holiday in India, and it is also celebrated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day of Non-Violence. In India, the name of the day is Gandhi Jayanti and the holiday is observed in all Indian states and union territories.