Question

Write a short biography of Mahatma Gandhi under the following headings:
(i) His parentage and education
(ii) His contribution in India's freedom struggle
(iii) Mahatma Gandhi as a social reformer [Intermediate]

Answer 1

Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi OR Bapu, as he was lovingly addressed by all, was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula. Mohandas Gandhi was the last child of his father (Karamchand Gandhi) and his father's fourth wife (Putlibai). Karamchand Gandhi (1822-1885), served as the diwan (chief minister) of Porbander state. His mother, Putlibai, was from a Pranami Vaishnava family. Mohandas has his schooling in nearby Rajkot. During his youth, Mohandas Gandhi was shy, soft-spoken, and only a mediocre student at school. His father died before Gandhi could finish his schooling.
In 1888 Gandhi set sail for England, where he had decided to pursue a degree in law. Though his elders objected, Gandhi could not be prevented from leaving. In London he studied law at University College London, where he studied Indian law and jurisprudence and trained as a barrister at the Inner Temple. His time in London was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother upon leaving India, in the presence of a Jain monk, to observe the precepts of abstinence from meat and alcohol as well as of promiscuity.
When in 1915 Gandhi returned to India after his stint in South Africa he brought an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and organizer. He joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Mohandas Gandhi is considered the father of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi spent twenty years in South Africa working to fight discrimination. It was there that he created his concept of satyagraha, a non-violent way of protesting against injustices. While in India, Gandhi's obvious virtue, simplistic lifestyle, and minimal dress endeared him to the people. He spent his remaining years working diligently to both remove British rule from India as well as to better the lives of India's poorest classes.
Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran and Kheda agitations of Bihar and Gujarat. Pursuing a strategy of non-violent protest, Gandhi took the administration by surprise and won concessions from the authorities. He had a firm belief in and asked his followers to employ non-co-operation, non-violence and peaceful resistance as their "weapons" in the struggle against the British Raj. His wide popularity among both Hindus and Muslims made his leadership possible; he even convinced the extreme faction of Muslims to support peaceful non-co-operation.
He also fought for the rights of the untouchables and gave them the name 'Harijans'. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest.
Gandhi is commonly, though not officially, considered the Father of the Nation in India. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of Non-Violence.