Mahatma Gandhi

Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi was better known as Mahatma Gandhi. He was born on 2nd October 1869 in Porbandar into the middle class Vaishya family. He was a son of Karamchand and Putlibai. He studied at the elementary school in porbandar till the age of seven and later at Rajkot. He was married to Kasturba at the age of thirteen while still in high school.During his school days he did not show any extraordinary trait, was a bit shy. He matriculated and went to England in 1888 for the study of law. Though his mother opposed this trip but the opposition was overcome by Gandhi's strict vow of not touching women, wine and meat in the foreign land. He passed his examination in 1891 and on 12th June 1891 sailed back to India. He remained in India for almost two years but could not establish himself as a successful lawyer. In 1893 he went to South Africa to fight a lawsuit on behalf of Dada Abdullah & Company. It was the place, which changed the course of Gandhi's life and the history of India. While traveling in a first class rail compartment, Gandhi was thrown out by railway officials just because a white man objected to his presence in the first class compartment. This and some other such incidents made Gandhi feel that being quiet will not do any good.

 He stood up for the cause of all the Indians residing there who were suffering humiliation daily. After fighting for the cause of the Indian people in South Africa. He returned to India in 1915. But he was not the same man who left India. He was much transformed - now he had nothing but one resolve - to serve the masses of his country. He was in the battlefield to fight for the independence of his own country, but his ways were totally different. He did not ever use any weapon. 'Satyagraha', 'Asahyog Andolan' and 'Savinay Avagya Andolan' were his weapons. His first Satyagraha was in Champaran, Bihar in 1917 for the cause of peasants of Champaran. The harsh Rowlatt Act introduced by the British government brought him actively into Indian politics and he remained at its centerstage till his death in 1948. With his Non Cooperation Movement, the struggle for independence became the struggle of the masses. He got enormous support in his campaign. He was arrested by the British government and was sentenced to six years of imprisonment. On his release, he undertook the famous 'Dandi March' in 1930, to break the salt law of the British and he was again arrested but later released unconditionally. On 29th August 1931 he sailed to England for the second round table conference as a delegate of the Congress but returned empty handed. In 1942 he organized Quit India Movement and gave the slogan of 'Do or Die'. He prepared to organize a Satyagraha but along with other freedom fighters was arrested. 

History remembers Mahatma Gandhi as a great political and spiritual leader of India. Renowned for his non-violent campaigns of civil disobedience, people all across the world were impressed by his charisma, courage and the ability to influence people's conscience. Albert Einstein's comment on Gandhi: "I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil."

The emergence of Gandhi played a pivotal role in the history of Indian Nationalism. The development of Indian Nationalism occurred in three separate phases. It was the third phase of Indian Nationalism that witnessed the rise of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, as the man who took the country by storm with his novel political ideologies centered on the cardinal principles of ahimsa and satyagraha. 

Armed with these ideological tools Gandhi shouldered critical responsibilities in the momentous events that finally led Indian to the path of freedom. The emergence of Gandhi, on the Indian political scenario was not the mere instance of another emerging new leader, but it was the rise of a whole new philosophy that permeated into every sphere of the Indian psyche.