Mahatma Gandhi: Biography of the Hindu Peace Leader

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; is the name of one of the most recognized spiritual leaders and influential in recent times, which actively participated in the achievement of the independence from India and that his belief in peaceful resistance and nonviolence. Better known as Mahatma Gandhi, the figure of this spiritual leader is still revered by many today.

Next we will give a brief review of the life of this reference of non-violent political action, which has changed the way of thinking of a good part of the planet's inhabitants.

To understand who Mahatma Gandhi was, it is first important to understand how his ideas developed. Let's start with his early years, which serve to understand the context in which he was educated.

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Origins of Gandhi's biography

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in the city of Porbandar, in northwestern India. His father was Karamchand Gandhi, the city's prime minister and a member of the merchant caste. His mother was Putlibai Gandhi, a deeply religious woman who transmitted to him respect for different beliefs and ways of life and that it came from the pranami, a religious tradition that mixed the precepts of Hinduism and the Islam.

In his childhood and adolescence Gandhi was a withdrawn young man who did not stand out academically. At the age of thirteen, he married a woman of the same age named Kasturbai, in an arranged marriage. Mohandas would fall in love with her.

Later Gandhi he moved to London to study law at University College. There he would finish his career and, in addition, he would be able to read various classics of both Western and Eastern literature. (highlighting books such as Bhagavad Gita and reading the works of Tolstoy) and to contemplate the Western point of view regarding the land of him.

Regarding the spiritual and religious facet he would be influenced by a large number of different religions and beliefs: in addition to Hinduism he would be influenced by Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism (The latter advocated non-violence and respect for both living beings and the different elements, this being an aspect that he would use as a basis in his political struggle). For Gandhi all these beliefs had in common the idea of ​​renunciation.

After completing his law degree, he returned to his country of origin, shortly after the death of his mother, where would you start practicing as a lawyer. However, his first professional experiences were extremely negative, and he did not enjoy great successes. He was offered a contract in South Africa, which led to her moving with his family to the country in 1893.

Stay in South Africa

Once in the African country, Gandhi he observed the high degree of discrimination against Hindus, himself suffering numerous humiliations and humiliations. After fulfilling his contract, he learned of the creation of a new law that proposed to withdraw the suffrage of the Indian population. This fact would cause him to decide to postpone his return to his native country, which did not occur until more than two decades later.

After making various petitions to the colonialist government that were not heard, he decided to help the Indian community of the country through various means: opening law firms, founding newspapers and organizing the Indian Party of the Congress of Native. All of it it would help to make visible the abuses committed against its people by the British.

At this time he would read Western authors and thinkers who influenced his thinking, ending with forge their ideals regarding respect for all creatures regardless of their opinion, religion or condition social and the usefulness of the struggle through non-violence.

Later, after the deterioration of the situation of the Hindu population and the development of a law that forced Indians to register, he would begin to employ and encourage nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. Despite being imprisoned on several occasions and the protests were harshly repressed by the government (including torture and shootings), the country received severe pressure from abroad that would end up causing a solution to be negotiated with Gandhi in 1913, the pact Smuts-Gandhi. Thus, the peaceful resistance and the different organized marches would end up being successful,

It was at this time also that he decided to become celibate.This fact was facilitated in part by the feeling of guilt that caused her that during his youth his father had died while he had relations with his wife.

Return to India: the pacifist struggle continues

In 1914 Gandhi and his family would return to India, traveling throughout the country dedicating themselves to different causes, such as the fight for free cultivation or the reduction of taxes. Mohandas he would begin to be called Mahatma (whose meaning in Sanskrit is "great soul") at that time, being this nickname thought by the poet Tagore.

Thus, Gandhi he began to fight to eliminate the existing caste system until then, using methods such as the hunger strike to reach agreements such as the cessation of separate suffrages for outcasts and the rest of the Hindu population.

Also he would begin to be interested in achieving the independence of his country. The arrival of the First World War in 1914 caused Gandhi to consider it necessary to support the British in their struggle, believing in the need for the people of India to have representation in the conflict.

However, the approval of Rowlatt's law according to which any act that could be considered sedition through The arrest without a warrant of any suspect would generate great controversy and concern and generated various protests in the population, what were harshly repressed in the Amritsar massacre.

All this would cause Gandhi to decide in 1919 to participate actively in the search for the country's independence and to make use of peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. Among other actions, he helped organize the congress and would host different marches, like the so-called salt march of 1930, originated due to the high taxes around this matter. Mohandas would enter prison numerous times throughout this period.

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Mahatma Gandhi and the Second World War

The advent of World War II in 1939 also sparked a greater quest for independence on the part of Gandhi and in General of India, being included in the conflict unilaterally by the British without counting on the opinion of the town. It generated a deep resistance movement and the desire for an end to British rule about the country.

As a result, there were a high number of arrests, including that of Gandhi, and the death of a large number of protesters. During his stay in Kasturbai prison, his wife passed away. Gandhi was released before the end of the war because he was weak and ill. After the end of the war, Great Britain would definitively decide to withdraw from India.

The arrival of independence and the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus

In 1947 India was finally declared independent. Gandhi and many others wanted to achieve a united India, but part of the Muslim sector of the country would refuse this fact as they are a minority, requesting separation from Pakistan. This would end up unleashing different armed conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. In response, the government decided to divide the territory into two countries, India and Pakistan.

Gandhi he carried out various marches in order to stop the bloodshed and restore peace, despite the fact that both sides tried to make an attempt on his life on various occasions. Later he would start a hunger strike for this purpose. After five days of said strike, the leaders of the different parties agreed to cease hostilities.

Death and funeral

Mahatma Gandhi he was assassinated in 1948, in Delhihours after being shot several times while on his way to pray. The perpetrator of the crime was Nathuram Godse, a member of an extremist Hindu organization that opposed the freedom of belief and considered Gandhi a traitor because of his defense of peace between Hindus and Muslims.

After the death of the spiritual leader, the government would decree thirteen days of mourning. His body was cremated and his ashes distributed in numerous urns that would be distributed throughout India, many of them scattered by the rivers of their land.

Bibliographic references:

• Gandhi, M.K. (1993). An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth. Boston: Beacon Press.

• Wolpert, S. (2001). Gandhi’s Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. Oxford University Press.