The Philosopher
Mahatma Gandhi
The face
The background
- Nationality:
- Indian
- Branchs:
- Law, Political ethics
- Period:
- Modern
The synopsis
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world. Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi was trained in the law at the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar at the age of 22. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for the next 21 years. Here, Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India and soon set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against discrimination and excessive land tax. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and, above all, achieving swaraj or self-rule. Gandhi adopted the short dhoti woven with hand-spun yarn as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. He began to live in a self-sufficient residential community, to eat simple food, and undertake long fasts as a means of both introspection and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930 and in calling for the British to quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned many times and for many years in both South Africa and India. Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a Muslim nationalism which demanded a separate homeland for Muslims within British India. In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in Punjab and Bengal. Abstaining from the official celebration of independence, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to alleviate distress. In the months following, he undertook several hunger strikes to stop the religious violence. The last of these was begun in Delhi on 12 January 1948, when Gandhi was 78. The belief that Gandhi had been too resolute in his defence of both Pakistan and Indian Muslims spread among some Hindus in India. Among these was Nathuram Godse, a militant Hindu nationalist from Pune, western India, who assassinated Gandhi by firing three bullets into his chest at an interfaith prayer meeting in Delhi on 30 January 1948. Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Gandhi is considered to be the Father of the Nation in post-colonial India. During India's nationalist movement and in several decades immediately after, he was also commonly called Bapu, an endearment roughly meaning "father."
The works
Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule
Young India
The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Satyagraha in South Africa
Songs from Prison
The quotes
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?
A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Where there is love there is life.
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.
Poverty is the worst form of violence.
Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like him.
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
Action expresses priorities.
If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.
Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.
My life is my message.