About Mahatma Gandhi
On October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, an Indian lawyer, anti-colonialist, and political ethicist, was born. His estimated net worth is $10,000. Through non-violent protest and nonviolent demonstration, (Mahatma) Gandhi was successful in seeing the emancipation of India. In Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869, Mohandas Gandhi was born. Gandhi’s parents encouraged him to pursue a legal education despite his lackluster academic performance, so in 1888 he moved to London and enrolled at University College London to become a barrister.
He joined The Vegetarian Society in London after moving there, and after learning about the Bhagavad Gita, he developed an interest in religious philosophy that had never existed before.
Gandhi tried unsuccessfully to start a law business upon his return to India in 1891, and in 1893 he agreed to a one-year contract with a company in South Africa. Gandhi first saw racial prejudice in Africa, which made him aware of the social and legal injustices Indians experienced under the British Empire.
Gandhi Engages in the Indian Rights Movement
Gandhi continued in South Africa when his contract was up to assist establish the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, which eventually helped the Indian community become a political power.
The Black Act, a new regulation mandating all Indians to have their fingerprints taken and carry registration documents with them at all times, was enacted by Britain in 1907. During this period, Gandhi started to plan and carry out Satyagraha, a nonviolent protest strategy in which Indians engaged in nonviolent resistance by refusing to have their fingerprints taken, setting registration documents on fire, and picketing government buildings.
Public indignation over the severe treatment of demonstrators was sparked by the fact that many of them, including Gandhi, were battered and arrested. In 1914, the government finally overturned the law, demonstrating the effectiveness of Gandhi’s nonviolent strategies. Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress shortly after his return to India in 1915, and by 1920 he had assumed leadership, promoting non-cooperation and nonviolent resistance in the quest for independence from Britain.
Ghandi Reacts Against the Salt Tax
In order to break their dependence on foreign nations, notably Britain, Gandhi pushed Indians to boycott goods created abroad in 1921. Gandhi was detained for sedition in 1922 and given a 6-year prison term, but he was released after having surgery for an appendicitis two years later.
Gandhi staged a protest against the British salt tax in 1931, leading thousands of Indians on a 240-mile march to the coast, where he gave a speech advocating for others to break the law by picking up a bit of salt. In response, the British locked up 60,000 people, including Gandhi. Gandhi left Congress after his release in 1934 and devoted himself to the independence of India and her people.
WWII and Gandhi
Gandhi opposed the British invasion of Germany in 1939 and wanted India’s independence through the “Quit India” campaign. He said that India could not take part in a war for democracy if it was not allowed to exercise its own democratic freedom. In response, the British put Gandhi and the rest of Congress in prison in 1942.
Indian Independence and Ghandi
Gandhi was released two years after suffering a severe malaria attack, only to discover his nation in the midst of a political and religious upheaval. On August 15, 1947, Britain eventually gave India its independence out of fear of a civil war, carving apart the new Muslim nation of Pakistan in India’s northwest in the process. Millions of Hindu and Muslim immigrants were then relocated to their respective countries, causing riots, disease, exposure, and dehydration, which resulted in over 500,000 deaths.
Gandhi, who had previously used fasting as a form of protest, stated he would refrain from eating until he saw concrete preparations to put an end to the carnage. Gandhi was revered by Muslims and Hindus alike in all of India, and all sides cooperated to bring about peace, breaking Gandhi’s fast in just five days.
Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, while en route to a prayer meeting. Mahatma Gandhi’s wealth was $10,000 at the time of his passing in 1948.
His ashes were reportedly dispersed near the Sangam in Allabahad, India, in accordance with Hindu tradition.
