Table of Contents
Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, and he can described as an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist. He is known to have used nonviolent resistance to spearhead the campaign for India’s independence from the British. He had his law training at the Inner Temple, London.
He was just 22 years old when he was called to the bar in June 1891. Mahatma Gandhi was unable to have a successful law practice in India for about two years and so in 1893, he moved to South Africa to work on a case for an Indian merchant. Subsequently, he lived in South Africa for about 21 years and raised a family there.
When Mahatma Gandhi was 45 years old, he returned to India. While in India, he brought peasants, farmers and laborers together to protest against excessive land tax and discrimination. He became the head and leader of the Indian National Congress in 1921 and he was the brain behind nationwide campaigns against poverty, improving women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity and most importantly achieving self-rule.
Mahatma Gandhi lived his life in a self-sufficient residence, ate simple foods and also did fasting as a form of political protest and an avenue for introspection. He challenged the British-imposed salt tax with a 400km Dandi Salt March in 1930 and made a call for the British to leave India.
It must be noted that Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned many times in India and South Africa. He had the vision of having an independent India based on religious pluralism but his vision was challenged.
In the early 1940s, a Muslim nationalism demanded a separate Homeland for Muslims with British India. Britain granted India independence in August 1947. However, the British Indian Empire was divided into two sectors; a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.
It was Nathuran Godse who fired three bullets into the chest of Mahatma Gandhi. This was after an interfaith prayer session in Delhi on January 30, 1848. It must be noted that the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, October 2 is celebrated by Indian as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday and worldwide, his birthday is marked as the International Day of Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the Father of the Nation of India post-colonial era.
Early Life
Mahatma Gandhi was born into Gujarati Hindu Modh Bania in Porbandar. Even though Mahatma Gandhi only served as a clerk in the state administration with only elementary education to his credit, he proved himself as a capable chief minister.
Marriage
Mahatma Gandhi married four times. It must be noted that his first two wives died young. Each of them gave birth to a daughter. He did not have any son or daughter from his third marriage.
After seeking permission from his third wife in 1857 to marry, he married Putlibai.
Mahatma Gandhi and Putlibai had three children over a decade.
The children were Laxmidas born in 1860, Raliatbehn born in 1862 and Karsandas born in 1866. Putlibai again gave birth on October 2, 1969, to her last child, Mohandas.
Death
Mahatma Gandhi was on January 30, 1948, with his grandnieces in the Garden of Birla House. It was 5:17 pm when he was on his way to a prayer meeting when Nathuram Godse fired three bullets into the chest of Mahatma Gandhi.
According to some accounts, Mahatma Gandhi died immediately but others also claim that Mahatma Gandhi was carried into the Birla House. He died about 30 minutes.
