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Biography : |
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1. Mahatma Gandhi : |
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a prominent political leader of India and its struggle for independence from the British Empire. He was the pioneer and perfector of Satyagraha - the resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience strongly founded upon ahimsa (total non-violence) - which led India to independence, and has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known and addressed in India and across the world as Mahatma Gandhi (from Sanskrit, Mahatma:Great Soul) and as Bapu (in many Indian languages, Father).
Beginning as an unobtrusive lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi organised the Indian community there in protests and demonstrations against oppressive laws and racial discrimination without any resort to violence. Successful in repealing the oppressive laws, Gandhi again employed the technique in organizing poor farmers in India to protest oppressive taxation and extensive discrimination, and carried it forward on the national stage to protest oppressive laws made by a foreign government. Becoming the leader of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led a nationwide campaign for the alleviation of the poor, liberation of Indian women, for brotherhood amongst communities of differing religions and ethnicity, and for an end to untouchability and caste discrimination, but above all for Swaraj - the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led Indians in the disobedience of the salt tax through the 400 kilometer (248 miles) Dandi Salt March in 1931, and in an open call for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in South Africa and India.
Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most extreme situations. Gandhi was a student of Hindu philosophy and lived simply, organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. He made his own clothes - the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with a charkha and lived on a simple vegetarian diet. He used rigorous fasts - abstaining from food and water for long periods - for self-purification as well as a means for protest. Gandhi's life and teachings inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Biko and Aung San Suu Kyi and respectively the American civil rights movement and the freedom struggles in South Africa and Myanmar. In India, Gandhi was recognized as the Father of the Nation by Subhas Bose, and later by the whole nation. October 2nd, his birthday is each year commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, and is a national holiday.
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