Mahatma Gandhi

"Gandhi" redirects here. For other uses, see Gandhi (disambiguation).

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (M K Gandhi) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी; Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી; October 2 1869 – January 30, 1948) was a spiritual and political leader of India who led the movement for Indian independence from the British Empire. Throughout his life, he rejected any form of terrorism or violence as a means of achieving his goals. His philosophy of nonviolence, for which he coined the term satyagraha (Sanskrit: quest, or struggle for the truth; literally, truth grasped firmly), has influenced nonviolent resistance movements to this day, across the globe.

From the time he took charge of the freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress in 1918, he became a national icon and was lovingly revered as The Mahatma, or Great Soul by millions of Indians. Although he was much averse to honorary forms of address, Gandhi is still today commonly referred to as Mahatma Gandhi. Apart from being considered one of the greatest leaders of all time, he was revered by Subhas Bose and later by many in India as the "Father of the Nation" or Bapu (Hindi: Father). His birthday on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, is a national holiday in India.

By means of nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi helped bring about India's independence from British rule, ultimately dismantling the British Empire. This form of pacifist resistance has inspired other colonial nations to work towards their own independence. Gandhi's principle of satyagraha, has inspired other freedom activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, Lech Wałęsa, Stephen Biko, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Nelson Mandela. However, not all these leaders kept to Gandhi's strict principle of nonviolence and nonresistance.

Gandhi often stated that his principles were simple and drawn from traditional Hindu beliefs: truth (satya) and nonviolence (ahimsa). He said, "I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills".

Early Life

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (called mahatma meaning "spiritual one; soulful one; man of soul") was born into a Hindu Modh family in Porbandar, Gujarat, India in 1869. He was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the diwan (Chief Minister) of Porbandar, and Putlibai, Karamchand's fourth wife, a Hindu of the Vaishnava sect. Growing up with a devout Vaishnava mother and surrounded by the Jain influences of Gujarat, Gandhi learned from an early age the tenets of non-injury to living beings, vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance between members of various creeds and sects. He was born into the vaishya, or business, caste. In May 1882, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents' arrangement to Kasturba Makharji ((also spelled "Kasturbai" or known as "bai"), who was the same age as he. They had four sons: Harilal Gandhi, born in 1888; Manilal Gandhi, born in 1892; Ramdas Gandhi, born in 1897; and Devdas Gandhi, born in 1900. Gandhi was a mediocre student in his youth at Porbandar and later Rajkot. He barely passed the matriculation exam for the University of Bombay in 1887, where he joined Samaldas College in Bhavnagar. He did not stay there long, however, as his family wished for him to become a barrister. Unhappy at Samaldas College, he leapt at the opportunity to study in England, which he viewed as "a land of philosophers and poets, the very centre of civilization."

At the age of 19, Gandhi went to University College London to train as a barrister. His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in the presence of a Jain monk Becharji, upon leaving India to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity. Although Gandhi experimented with becoming "English", taking dancing lessons for example, he could not stomach his landlady's mutton and cabbage. She pointed him towards one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Rather than simply go along with his mother's wishes, he read about, and intellectually converted to vegetarianism. He joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its Executive Committee, and founded a local chapter. He later credited this with giving him valuable experience in organising and running institutions. Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky to further universal brotherhood. The Theosophists were devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu Brahmanistic literature. They encouraged Gandhi to read the Bhagavad Gita. Although he had not shown a particular interest in religion before, he began to read works of and about Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and other religions. He returned to India after being admitted to the British bar. Trying to establish a law practice in Bombay, he had limited success. By this time, the legal profession was overcrowded in India, and Gandhi was not a dynamic figure in the courtroom. He applied for a part-time job as a teacher at a Bombay high school but was turned down. He ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants but was forced to close down that business as well when he ran afoul of a British officer. In his autobiography, he describes this incident as a kind of unsuccessful lobbying attempt on behalf of his older brother. It was in this climate that (in 1893) he accepted a yearlong contract from an Indian firm to a post in Natal, South Africa.

Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893–1914)

At this point in his life, Gandhi was a mild-mannered, diffident and politically indifferent individual. He had read his first newspaper at the age of 18, and was prone to horrible stage fright while speaking in court. South Africa changed him dramatically, as he faced the discrimination that was commonly directed at blacks and Indians in that country. One day in court in the city of Durban, the magistrate asked him to remove his turban. Gandhi refused to do so, and stormed out of the courtroom. In another incident, he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg, after refusing to move from the first class coach to a third class compartment, normally used by coloured peoples, while holding a valid first class ticket. Later, travelling further on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the footboard to make room for an European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from many hotels on account of his race. This incident has often been acknowledged by several biographers as a turning point in his life that would serve as the catalyst for his activism later in life. This experience led him to more closely examine the hardships his people suffered in South Africa during his time in Pretoria.

File:Gandhisouthafrica.jpg

Gandhi in South Africa (1895)

It was through witnessing first-hand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status, and his own place in society. During the Second Anglo-Boer War, Gandhi organized the Indian Ambulance Corps, one of the few medical units to serve wounded black South Africans.

At the end of his contract, Gandhi prepared to return to India. However, at a farewell party in his honour in Durban, he happened to glance at a newspaper and learned that a bill was being considered by the Natal Legislative Assembly to deny the right to vote to Indians. When he brought this up with his hosts, they lamented that they did not have the expertise necessary to oppose the bill, and implored Gandhi to stay and help them. He circulated several petitions to both the Natal Legislature and the British Government in opposition to the bill. Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. Supporters convinced him to remain in Durban to continue fighting against the injustices levied against Indians in South Africa. He founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, with himself as the Secretary. Through this organization, he melded the Indian community of South Africa into a heterogeneous political force, inundating government and press alike with statements of Indian grievances and evidence of British discrimination in South Africa. Gandhi returned briefly to India in 1896 to bring his wife and children to live with him in South Africa. When he returned in January 1897, a white mob attacked and tried to lynch him. In an early indication of the personal values that would shape his later campaigns, he refused to press charges on any member of the mob, stating it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a personal wrong in a court of law.

At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship, organising a volunteer ambulance corps of 300 free Indians and 800 indentured labourers. He himself was a stretcher-bearer at the Battle of Spion Kop, and was decorated. At the conclusion of the war, however, the situation for the Indians did not improve, but continued to deteriorate.

In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian population. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg that September, Gandhi adopted his platform of satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or non-violent protest, for the first time, calling on his fellow Indians to defy the new law and suffer the punishments for doing so, rather than resist through violent means. This plan was adopted, leading to a seven-year struggle in which thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi himself on many occasions), flogged, or even shot, for striking, refusing to register, burning their registration cards, or engaging in other forms of non-violent resistance. While the government was successful in repressing the Indian protesters, the public outcry stemming from the harsh methods employed by the South African government in the face of peaceful Indian protesters finally forced South African General Jan Christian Smuts to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi.

Inspirations

During his years in South Africa, Gandhi drew inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita and the writings of Leo Tolstoy (especially The Kingdom of God is Within You [1]), who in the 1880s had undergone a profound conversion to a personal form of Christian anarchism. Gandhi translated Tolstoy's A Letter to a Hindu (available at wikisource), written in 1908. The two corresponded until Tolstoy's death in 1910. The letter by Tolstoy applies Hindu philosophy from the Vedas and the sayings of Krishna to the growing Indian nationalism. Gandhi was also inspired by the American writer Henry David Thoreau's famous essay Civil Disobedience. Gandhi's years in South Africa as a socio-political activist developed his concepts and techniques of civil disobedience and non-violent resistance. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Gandhi again led the Indian Ambulance Corps to serve in the United Kingdom and the Western front, but his services were sidelined by the British authorities and Gandhi's poor health.

Personal Life

Gandhi returned to India in 1915, and about this time began transforming his habits, lifestyle and mannerisms to more traditional Indian ways. When he sought to make a living by beginning a newspaper and practicing law, he was dissuaded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who asked him to involve himself more deeply in important national issues.

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba would travel all over the country, and live in a series of ashrams in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the homes of colleagues and sympathizers. When visiting Delhi, they would reside at Birla House, provided for by Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, a close friend. For a while in Delhi, Gandhi lived in the Bhangi Colony, the center of his work against untouchability.

Gandhi was an avid writer of letters, and would continually experiment with his diet, fine-tuning his understanding of religion and philosophy, but primarily pondering over political events. He would direct the ashram work and guide fellow activists on personal issues.

Movement for India's Independence (1916–1945)

See also: Indian Independence Movement

As he had done in the South African War, Gandhi urged support of the British war effort and was active in encouraging Indians to join the army. His rationale, opposed by many others, was that if he desired the full citizenship, freedoms and rights in the Empire, it would be wrong not to help in its defense. He spoke at the conventions of the Indian National Congress, but was primarily introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, at the time the most respected leader of the Congress Party.

Champaran and Kheda

Main article: Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha

Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the Champaran agitation and Kheda Satyagraha, although in the latter he was involved at par with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who acted as his right-hand and leader of the rebels. In Champaran, a district in the state of Bihar, he organized civil resistance on the part of tens of thousands of landless farmers and serfs, and poor farmers with small lands, who were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary for their survival. Suppressed by the militias of the landlords (mostly British), they were given measly compensation, leaving them mired in extreme poverty. The villages were kept extremely dirty and unhygienic, and alcoholism, untouchability and purdah were rampant. Now in the throes of a devastating famine, the British levied an oppressive tax which they insisted on increasing in rate. The situation was desperate. In Kheda in Gujarat, the problem was the same. Gandhi established an ashram there, organizing scores of his veteran supporters and fresh volunteers from the region. He organized a detailed study and survey of the villages, accounting the atrocities and terrible episodes of suffering, including the general state of degenerate living. Building on the confidence of villagers, he began leading the clean-up of villages, building of schools and hospitals and encouraging the village leadership to undo purdah, untouchability and the suppression of women.

But his main assault came as he was arrested by police on the charge of creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province. Hundreds of thousands of people protested and rallied outside the jail, police stations and courts demanding his release, which the court unwillingly did. Gandhi led organized protests and strikes against the landlords, who with the guidance of the British government, signed an agreement granting more compensation and control over farming for the poor farmers of the region, and cancellation of revenue hikes and collection until the famine ended. It was during this agitation, that Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu (Father) and Mahatma (Great Soul). In Kheda, Patel represented the farmers in negotiations with the British, who suspended revenue collection and granted relief. All prisoners were released. Gandhi's resulting fame spread all over the nation.

Non-Cooperation Movement

Main article: Non-Cooperation Movement

The Rowlatt Act of 1919, which empowered the government to imprison those accused of sedition without trial, was passed. In Punjab, the Amritsar massacre of 379 civilians by British troops caused deep trauma to the nation, and increased public anger and acts of violence. Gandhi criticized both the actions of the British, and the retaliatory violence of Indians. He famously authored the resolution offering condolences to British civilian victims and condemning the riots, which after initial opposition in the party, was accepted after Gandhi made an emotional speech pushing forth his principle that all violence was evil and could not be justified. Indians should not become guilty of the racial hate carried by the British, and should not punish innocent British civilians. But it was after the massacre and violence that Gandhi finally decided not only were Indians unprepared for mass scale resistance but the British rule in India was evil and inherently oppressive. Gandhi's mind focused upon obtaining complete self-government and control of all Indian government institutions, maturing soon into Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual, political independence.

In April 1920, Gandhi was elected president of the All India Home Rule League. He was invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian National Congress in December 1921. Under Gandhi's leadership, the Congress was reorganized and given a new constitution, with the goal of swaraj (independence). Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee. A hierarchy of committees was set up to improve discipline and control over a hitherto amorphous and diffuse movement, transforming the party from an elite organization to one of mass national appeal. Gandhi expanded his non-violence platform to include the swadeshi policy – the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that khadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day spinning khadi in support of the independence movement. This was a strategy to inculcate discipline and dedication to weed out the unwilling and ambitious, and include women in the movement at a time when many thought that such activities were not 'respectable' for women. In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged the people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, to resign from government employment, to refuse to pay taxes, and to forsake British titles and honours. This new program enjoyed wide-spread appeal and success, empowering the Indian people as never before, yet just as the movement reached its apex, it ended abruptly as a result of a violent clash in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, in February 1922. Fearing that the movement was about to take a turn towards violence, and convinced that this would be the undoing of all his work, Gandhi called off the campaign of mass civil disobedience.

Gandhi was arrested on March 10, 1922, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years. This was not the first time he had been jailed, but it was to be his longest term of imprisonment. Beginning on March 18, 1922, he only served about two years of the sentence, being released in February 1924 after an operation for appendicitis. Without Gandhi's uniting personality, the Indian National Congress began to splinter during his years in prison, splitting into two factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru favouring party participation in the legislatures, and the other led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, opposing this move. Furthermore, cooperation among Hindus and Muslims, which had been strong at the height of the nonviolence campaign, was breaking down. Gandhi attempted to bridge these differences through many means, including a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924, but with limited success.

Swaraj and Salt Satyagraha

Main Articles: Simon Commission, Nehru Report, Salt Satyagraha

Gandhi during the Salt March (1930)

Gandhi stayed out of the limelight for most of the 1920s, preferring to resolve the wedge between the Swaraj Party and the Indian National Congress, and expanding initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance and poverty. He returned to the fore in 1928. The year before, the British government appointed a new constitutional reform commission under Sir John Simon numbering not a single Indian in its ranks. The result was a boycott of the commission by Indian political parties. Gandhi pushed through a resolution at the Calcutta Congress in December 1928 calling on the British government to grant India dominion status within a year or face a new campaign of non-violence with complete independence for the country as its goal. Younger Congressmen like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose had asked for an immediate demand for complete independence, but Gandhi moderated their views.

January 26, 1930 was celebrated by the Indian National Congress, meeting in Lahore as India's Independence Day. This day was commemorated by almost every other Indian political organization which strived for the country's independence or the socio-political empowerment of different peoples. Making good on his word in March 1930, he launched a new satyagraha against the tax on salt, highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from March 21 to April 6 1930, marching 400 kilometres (248 miles) from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make his own salt. Thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea. This campaign was one of his most successful, resulting in the imprisonment of over 60,000 people. The government, represented by Lord Irwin, decided to negotiate with Gandhi. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931. In it, the British Government agreed to set all political prisoners free in return for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement. Furthermore, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the nationalists as it focused on the Indian princes and Indian minorities rather than the transfer of power. Furthermore, Lord Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdon, embarked on a new campaign of repression against the nationalists.

Gandhi was again arrested, and the government attempted to destroy his influence by completely isolating him from his followers. This tactic was not successful. In 1932, through the campaigning of the Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar, the government granted untouchables separate electorates under the new constitution. In protest, Gandhi embarked on a six-day fast in September 1932, successfully forcing the government to adopt a more equitable arrangement via negotiations mediated by the Dalit cricketer turned political leader Palwankar Baloo. This began a new campaign by Gandhi to improve the lives of the untouchables, whom he named Harijans, the children of God. On May 8, 1933 Gandhi began a 21-day fast to protest British oppression in India. In the summer of 1934, three unsuccessful attempts were made on his life.

1930s: Accepting Power, Conflict with Bose

File:Nehru-gandhi.jpg

Jawaharlal Nehru (left) with Gandhi

When the Congress Party chose to contest elections and accept power under the Federation scheme, Gandhi decided to resign from party membership. He did not at all disagree with the party's move, but felt that if he resigned, his iconic status to common Indians would cease to stifle the party's membership, that actually varied from communists, socialists, trade unionists, students, religious conservatives, pro-business and property rights. Gandhi also did not want to prove a target for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily accepted political accommodation with the Raj. Gandhi returned to the head in 1936, with the Nehru presidency and the Lucknow session of the Congress. Although Gandhi desired a total focus on the task of winning independence and not speculation about India's future, he did not restrain the Congress from adopting socialism as its goal.

Gandhi also criticized Subhas Chandra Bose and his rise to the presidency in 1938. While some historians suggest this was a power struggle between two iconic leaders, Gandhi basically objected to Bose's lack of commitment to non-violence and democracy, which Gandhi felt were fundamental to the struggle. Bose's desire to launch a widespread revolt against the British did not include the provision that all rebels use non-violent means, and Bose focused his first year of presidency on bringing in close supporters into leadership. Bose won his second term despite Gandhi's criticism, but left the Congress when the All-India leaders resigned en masse in protest of his abandonment of principles introduced by Gandhi. Gandhi continued his fight against untouchability, promoted handspinning and other cottage industries, and attempted to create a new system of education suited to the rural areas. He underwent another fast at the end of the decade in Bombay on March 3, 1939.

Do or Die: World War II and Quit India

Main article: Quit India Movement

Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhiji from the viceroy at Birla House, Mumbai, April 7, 1939.

World War II broke out in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. After lengthy deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom, while that freedom was denied in India herself. He said he would support the British if they could show him how the war's aims would be implemented in India after the war. The British government's response was not as positive as Gandhi would have hoped for. As the war progressed, Gandhi increased his demands for independence, drafting a resolution calling for the British to Quit India. In 1939, all elected memebers of the INC resigned their offices in protest of the unilateral inclusion of India into World War II without consultation of elected representatives. This was Gandhi's and the Congress Party's most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from Indian shores. Gandhi was criticized by some Congressmen and other Indian political groups, both pro-British and anti-British. Some felt that opposing Britain in its life-death struggle was immoral, and others felt that Gandhi wasn't doing enough.

Quit India became the most forceful movement in the history of the independence movement, with mass arrests and violence on an unprecedented scale. Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or injured in police firing, and hundreds of thousands were arrested. Gandhi and his supporters made it clear they would not support the war effort unless India were granted immediate independence. He even clarified that this time the movement would not be stopped if individual acts of violence were committed, saying that the "ordered anarchy" around him was "worse than real anarchy". He called on all Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline in ahimsa, and Karo Ya Maro (Do or Die) in the cause of ultimate freedom. Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in Mumbai by the British on August 9, 1942. Gandhi was held for two years in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. It was here that Gandhi suffered two terrible blows in his personal life - his wife Kasturba passed away, just a few months after Mahadev Desai, his 42-year old secretary died of a heart attack. He was released before the end of the war because of his failing health and necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage the entire nation beyond control. Although the ruthless suppression of the movement by British forces brought relative order to India by the end of 1943, Quit India succeeded in its objective. At the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indian hands, and Gandhi called off the struggle, and the Congress leadership and around 100,000 political prisoners were released.

Freedom and partition of India (1945–1947)

Main article: Partition of India

Gandhi advised the Congress to reject the proposals of the British Cabinet Mission Plan offered in 1946, as he was deeply suspicious of power-sharing with the Muslim League and the divisions and minimization of central power involved. Gandhi warned against the grouping proposed for Muslim-majority states. However, this became one of the few times the Congress broke from Gandhi's advice (not his leadership though), as not only did Congress leaders want to create a government which would take over from the British as quickly as possible, but the aim was to prevent Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the League from obtaining political parity to the more national, secular Congress Party. Between 1946 and 1947, over 5,000 people were killed in violence. The League enjoyed popularity in the Muslim majority Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan. The partition plan was approved by the Congress leadership as the only way to prevent a wide-scale Hindu-Muslim civil war. Senior Congress leaders knew that although Gandhi would viscerally oppose partition, it was doubly impossible for the Congress to go ahead without his agreement, for Gandhi's support in the party and throughout India was wide and deep. Gandhi's closest colleagues had accepted partition as the best way out, and Sardar Patel endeavored to convince Gandhi that it was the only way to avoid civil war. Gandhi gave his assent and endorsed the move.

Gandhi had great influence among the Hindu and Muslim communities of India. It is said that he ended riots through his mere presence. He was vehemently opposed to any plan that partitioned India into two separate countries. The Muslim League argued that the Muslim minority would be systematically oppressed by the Hindu majority in a united India, and that a separate Muslims homeland was the only just solution. However, many Muslims in the Indian heartland lived side by side with Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians, and Jews, and were in favour with a united India. But Jinnah commanded widespread support in Western Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Eastern Bengal, all that form today's Pakistan and Bangladesh. This new Muslim homeland was created from areas on the east and west of India. It was originally called West and East Pakistan, which now correspond to Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively. On the day of the transfer of power, Gandhi did not celebrate independence with the rest of India, but was alone in Kolkata, mourning the partition and working to end the violence.

After India's independence, Gandhi ceased all his political roles and focused on Hindu-Muslim peace and unity. He conducted extensive dialogue with Muslim religious and community leaders, and leaders of Hindu and Sikh communities, working to cool passions in northern India, as well as in Bengal. After Kashmir acceded to India and following the war against Pakistani invasion, he was troubled when the Government decided to deny Pakistan the Rs. 55 crores (550 million Rupees) it was due as per agreements made by the Partition Council. Leaders like Sardar Patel feared that Pakistan would use the money to bankroll the war against India. However Pakistan relied upon the payment for financial solvency of its institutions. Patel and others only criticized Pakistan's willingness to wage war over Kashmir even as its own government was unable to function properly.

Gandhi was also devastated when demands resurged for all Muslims to be deported to Pakistan, and when Muslim and Hindu leaders expressed frustration and an inability to come to terms with one another. He launched his last fast-unto-death in Delhi, asking that all communal violence be ended once and for all, and that the payment of Rs. 55 crores be made to Pakistan. Gandhi feared that instability and insecurity in Pakistan would increase their anger against India, and violence would spread across the borders. He further feared that Hindus and Muslims would renew their enmity and precipitate into an open civil war. Gandhi was criticized then and in contemporary times for appeasing Muslims and making a major blunder by giving money to a nation making war against India. After emotional debates with his life-long colleagues, Gandhi refused to budge, and the Government rescinded its policy and made the payment to Pakistan. The religious and community leaders of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, including leaders of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha assured him that they would renounce violence and call for peace. Gandhi thus broke his fast by sipping orange juice.

Assassination

See also: Attempts to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi

Raj Ghat: Gandhi's Memorial in Delhi.

On January 30, 1948, on his way to a prayer meeting, Gandhi was shot dead in Birla House, New Delhi, by Nathuram Godse. Godse was a Hindu radical with alleged links to right-wing Hindu organisations, like the Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan. It was widely believed that, due to Gandhi, India remained the home of Muslims who were sympathetic to Pakistan. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted, and on 15 November, 1949, were executed. A prominent revolutionary and Hindu extremist, the president of the Mahasabha, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was accused of being the architect of the plot, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Gandhi's memorial (or Samādhi) at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph, (Devanagiri: हे ! राम or, Hé! Rāma), which may be translated as "O! God". These are widely believed to be Gandhi's last words after he was shot at, though the veracity of this statement has been disputed by many [2]. Jawaharlal Nehru announced Gandhi's death with the words:

"Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not for me only, but for millions and millions in this country."

January 30 is commemorated in India and the United Kingdom as National Gandhi Rememberance Day.

Gandhi's Vision and Principles

See also: Gandhism

Vision for India

Mohandas Gandhi had wanted a united India, absolutely free in every possible sense of the word. He wanted Muslims and Hindus to live in absolute freedom with respect and friendship. He wanted each to be free to express themselves, worship and enjoy their heritage and culture, especially with each other. Gandhi wanted women to be equal to men, live with dignity, security and enjoy opportunities of personal progress. Gandhi wanted untouchability, casteism in Hindu society to be absolutely eliminated, and all Hindus to be equal and united, proud of their faith and heritage. Gandhi wanted the people to help themselves: for the rich to help the poor, respect each other as brother and sister. He inspired the Sarvodaya movement launched by Gandhians like Vinoba Bhave, seeking land reform and re-distribution by encouraging amity and a sense of community between landlords and landless farmers. He had fought and led millions of Indians with a vision of individual freedom, and genuine cultural and religious respect and harmony, not merely "tolerance." He wanted the people to develop the spirit of love and brotherhood. This is exemplified by his adoption of the Khilafat cause as his own, and encouraging Hindus to express support and fight alongside Indian Muslims for a cause which they were not directly concerned with.

The adoption of Satyagraha to fight social, economic and political evils, Gandhi felt, would bind the nation together in a new discipline, culture of ahimsa, brotherhood, self-sufficiency and pride. Re-inventing with satyagraha would create an India self-sufficient in fulfilling the needs of the people, including providing opportunity and hope for a better future. In the book Patel: A Life, author Rajmohan Gandhi supplies a quote that Gandhi was considering launching a popular, mass struggle against the partition schemes, but lacked a second tier of leadership and support within the Congress. The partition of India altered Gandhi's vision as he desperately worked to make sure that war may not break out between the two nations. Gandhi feared war, and also the possibility that an open war could degenerate into a civil war between Hindus and Muslims across India and Pakistan.

Nonviolence

The concept of nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance has a long history in Indian religious thought and has had many revivals in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian contexts. Gandhi explains his philosophy and way of life in his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. He was quoted with saying:

"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 and democracy?"

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for".

In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk from taking them to their most logical extremes. In 1940, when invasion of the British Isles by Nazi Germany looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following advice to the British people (Non-Violence in Peace and War):

"I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions.... If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them".

Satya

The embracing of nonviolence was part of Gandhi's wider mission to seek truth (The Story of My Experiments with Truth). He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself.

He found that uncovering the truth was not always popular as many people were resistant to change, preferring instead to maintain the existing status quo because of either inertia, self-interest or misguided beliefs. However he also discovered that once the truth was on the march nothing could stop it. All it took was time to achieve traction and gain momentum. As Gandhi said:

"The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction".

He said that the most important battle to fight was in overcoming his own demons, fears and insecurities. He thought it was all too easy to blame people, governing powers or enemies for his personal actions and well-being. He noted the solution to problems could normally be found just by looking in the mirror.

One of the greatest contributions of Mahatma Gandhi was in the realm of ontology and its association with truth. For Gandhi, "to be" did not mean to exist within the realm of time, as it has in the past with the Greek philosophers. But rather, "to exist" meant to exist within the realm of truth, or to use the term Gandhi did, satya. Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God is Truth," but as typical of Gandhi, he evolved, later to correct himself and state that "Truth is God." The first statement seemed insufficient to Gandhi, as the mistake could be made that Gandhi was using Truth as a description of God, rather than the summative definition of the entire essence of God. Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's philosophy IS God. It shares all the characteristics of the Hindu concept of God, or Brahman. It lives within us, that little voice that tells us what to do, but also guides the universe.

Vegetarianism

Although he experimented with eating meat in India when he was very young, he later became a strict vegetarian. He wrote books on the subject while in London, having met vegetarian campaigner Henry Stephens Salt at gatherings of the Vegetarian Society. The idea of vegetarianism is deeply ingrained in Hindu and Jain traditions in India, and, in his native land of Gujarat, most Hindus were vegetarian. He experimented with various diets and concluded that a vegetarian diet would satisfy the requirements of the body. However he was flexible for his time and had little reservations on eating table eggs as seen in his 1948 article Key to Health [3]. He abstained from eating for long periods, using fasting as a political weapon. He refused to eat until his death or his demands were met.

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Margaret Bourke-White's photograph of Gandhi; spinning wheel in foreground

Celibacy

Gandhi gave up sexual intercourse at the age of 36, becoming totally celibate while still married. This decision was deeply influenced by the Hindu idea of brahmacharya—spiritual and practical purity—largely associated with celibacy and asceticism. Gandhi did not however believe that this was something that everyone should take up. In his autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. He felt it his personal obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather than lust.

Silence

Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace. This influence was drawn from the Hindu principles of mouna (silence) and shanti (harmony). On such days he communicated with others by writing on paper. For three and a half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read newspapers, claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused him more confusion than his own inner unrest.

Simple living

Returning to India from South Africa, where he had enjoyed a successful legal practice, he gave up wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with wealth and success. He dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi) and a simple living lifestyle. Gandhi and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. While Indian workers were often idle due to unemployment, they had often bought their clothing from industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. It was Gandhi's view that if Indians made their own clothes, it would deal an economic blow to the British establishment in India. Consequently, the spinning wheel was later incorporated into the flag of the Indian National Congress.

Religion

Gandhi was born a Hindu and was a practising Hindu all his life, deriving most of his principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to a different faith. He was an excellent theologist and read extensively about all major religions. He had the following to say about Hinduism.

"Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being ... When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita".

Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was Truth and Love (compassion, nonviolence and the Golden Rule). He also questioned hypocrisy, malpractices and dogma in all religions and was a tireless social reformer. Some of his comments on various religions are:

"As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side".

"Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or the greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism being such. Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If untouchability could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an excrescence. I could not understand the raison d'etre of a multitude of sects and castes. What was the meaning of saying that the Vedas were the inspired Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also the Bible and the Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to convert me, so were Muslim friends. Abdullah Sheth had kept on inducing me to study Islam, and of course he had always something to say regarding its beauty". (source: his autobiography)

"The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for Muslims but for all of mankind". The concept of Islamic jihad can also be taken to mean a nonviolent struggle or satyagraha, in the way Gandhi practiced it.

Later in his life when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he replied:

"Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew".

Faith

In spite of their deep reverence to each other, Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore got involved in protracted debates more than once. These debates exemplify the philosophical differences between the two most famous Indians at the time. On January 15, 1934, an earthquake hit Bihar and caused extensive damage and loss of life. Gandhi maintained this was because of the sin committed by upper caste Hindus by not letting untouchables in their temples (Gandhi was committed to the cause of improving the fate of untouchables, referring to them as Harijans, people of Krishna). Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's stance, maintaining that an earthquake can only be caused by natural forces, not moral reasons, however repugnant the practice of untouchability may be.

The Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

Main article: The Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

The article explores Satyagraha, the making of a nation, Gandhi's leadership of Hindu society, his mentors and proteges, modern criticism of Gandhi, and his special relationship with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, together the most important Indian leadership during the freedom struggle.

Criticism

Gandhi believed that the mind of an oppressor or a bigot could be changed by love and non-violent rejection of wrong actions, while accepting full responsibility for the consequences of the actions.

Penn and Teller, in an episode of their Showtime program Bullshit! ("Holier than Thou"), attacked Gandhi for, amongst other things, hypocrisy for perceived inconsistent stands on nonviolence, alleged inappropriate behaviour with women and apparent racist statements against Africans. The last allegation is based on an incident in Bombay in 1896. On addressing a public meeting in Bombay on September 26, 1896 (cf. Collected Works Volume II, page 74) following his return from South Africa, Gandhi said:

Ours is one continued struggle against degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the European, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness.

His policy has been critized by three major groups.

Hindu Criticism

Gandhi, in his quest for a united nation and to avoid partition of India, went as far as proposing that Jinnah become prime minister of the united country. He also went on a fast-unto-death for repressing the violent Hindu reprisals against the Bengal Hindu massacre initiated by Jinnah as part of his Affirmative Action Plan. Even during Indian independence, Gandhi was quelling partition related Hindu-Muslim riots in Noakhali in Bengal, and shielded Suhyawardy, mastermind of Jinnah's Affirmative Action Plan, when he came to him for protection. When Pakistan was formed, he went on a fast to ensure that Pakistan be paid money for its formation and was later planning on a padayatra to reunite India & Pakistan. Some sections of Hindus construed this as muslim appeasement, and eventually led to his assassination by Nathuram Godse.

Pakistani Criticism

Pakistan was formed by Jinnah on the basis of Muslim insecurity in a Hindu-majority nation on the premise of the Two-Nation Theory. Gandhi, on the other hand, tirelessly worked for Hindu-Muslim unity, and had a significant number of Muslim followers. Supporters of Jinnah reject Gandhi's attempts at unity and love, and criticize Gandhi as a politician.

Jewish Criticism

Gandhi, when once asked about Hitler and the Holocaust, said that even Hitler can be reformed by the love of the Jewish people (love your hater to reform his philosophy). When asked about the loss of life at the hands of the Nazis, he quipped that losses will be encountered both in a violent as well as in a non-violent struggle, but the latter can reform an evil mind. As a result, some historians and commentators have criticized Gandhi for his attitudes regarding Hitler and Nazism [4] [5].

Recognition

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Rs. 1000 currency of the Mahatma Gandhi series

Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, though he was nominated for it five times between 1937 and 1948. Decades later however, the Nobel Committee publicly declared its regret for the omission, and admitted to deeply divided nationalistic opinion denying the award to Gandhi. The Prize was not awarded in 1948, the year of Gandhi's death, on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year, and when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi" [6].

Albert Einstein once said of Gandhi: Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.

Time Magazine named Gandhi as the runner-up to Albert Einstein as "Person of the Century" at the end of 1999, and named The Dalai Lama, Lech Wałęsa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi, Benigno Aquino Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela as Children of Gandhi and his spiritual heirs to the tradition of non-violence. The Government of India awards the annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to distinguished social workers, world leaders and citizens. Nelson Mandela, the leader of South Africa's struggle to eradicate racial discrimination and segregation, is a prominent non-Indian recipient of this honour. In 1996, the Government of India introduced the Mahatma Gandhi series of currency notes in Rupees 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 denomination.

Mahatma

The word Mahatma, while often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma meaning Soul. The title "Mahatma" was first accorded to Gandhi on January 21, 1915 by his pioneer supporter Nautamlal Bhagavanji Mehta at the Kamribai School in Jetpur, Gujarat, India (in the erstwhile princely state of Kathiawad). In his autobiography, Gandhi nevertheless explains that he never felt worthy of the honor. [7]. According to the manpatra, the name Mahatma was given in response to Gandhi's admirable sacrifice in manifesting justice and truth [8].

The wide acceptance of this title outside India may in part reflect the complexities of the relationship between India and Britain during Gandhi's lifetime. Such acceptance is consistent with the widespread perception of his deeply held religious beliefs and commitment to non-violence.

Artistic depictions

The best-known artistic depiction of his life is the film Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough, and starring Ben Kingsley (himself of Gujarati parentage from his father's side) in the title role. However, the film has since been criticised by some post-colonial scholars, who argue that it depicts Gandhi as single-handedly bringing India to independence, and ignores other prominent figures (both elite and subaltern) in the anti-colonial struggle.

The Making of the Mahatma, directed by Shyam Benegal, and starring Rajat Kapur, is a film about Gandhi's 21 years of life in South Africa. Gandhi's character, played by veteran actor Anu Kapoor, is also prominently depicted in the film Sardar (1993) about the life of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

The 1998 film Hey Ram, made by Kamal Hasan portrays a would-be assassin of Gandhi and the dilemma faced by the would be assassins in the turmoil of post-partition India. Gandhi's character is played by veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah.

There are several works explorative of different aspects of Gandhi's life and his controversial actions: the play Mahatma vs. Gandhi explores his troubled relationship with his eldest son Harilal Gandhi, and Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy (Marathi: This is Nathuram Godsé speaking) explores the rationale and circumstances in which Gandhi's murder was plotted and carried out. The opera Satyāgraha , composed by Philip Glass (in 1980), with a libretto by himself and Constance De Jong is based on the life of Gandhi.

Commemorations Beyond India

The centennial commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the center of downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

In the United Kingdom, there are several prominent statues of Gandhi, most notably in Tavistock Square, London (near University College London), where he studied law.

In the United States, there are statues of Gandhi outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco, Hermann Park, Houston Garden Center in Houston, Union Square Park in New York City, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, outside the Honolulu Zoo in Kapiolani Park, Hawaii, in the village of Skokie (a suburb of Chicago)[9], in front of the Milwaukee County Courthouse in Milwaukee, WI and near the Indian Embassy in the Dupont Circle neighbourhood of Washington, DC. There is also a bronze statue of Gandhi at Sherborn, Massachusetts, belonging to The Peace Abbey [10].

The city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, home to the infamous 1893 incident, when Gandhi was ejected from a first-class train, now hosts a commemorative statue of the Indian independence figure, installed a century after the incident. There are statues in honour of Gandhi in other cities around the world, including Moscow, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Canberra, Santiago de Chile and San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. The Government of India donated a statue to the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to signify their support for the future Canadian Museum for Human Rights [11]. There is also a large bust of Gandhi in front of the library at Laurentian University [12] in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. A bust of Gandhi can also be found outside the Stanley Milner Library in Edmonton, Alberta. A bust honouring Gandhi has been placed in front of the International Institute, St. Louis, Missouri [13]. There are wax statues of Gandhi at the Madame Tussaud's wax museums in New York and London.

References

• An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth (available at wikisource) [14] (1929) ISBN 0807059099
• Gandhi: A Photo biography by Peter Rühe ISBN 0714892793
• The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas by Louis Fischer ISBN 1400030501
• Gandhi: A Life by Yogesh Chadha ISBN 0471350621
• Gandhi and India: A Century in Focus by Sofri, Gianni (1995) ISBN 1900624125
• The Kingdom of God is Within You [15] by Leo Tolstoy (1894) ISBN 0803294042
• An Autobiography, or the Story of My Experiments with Truth M.K. Gandhi (1929)
• Patel: A Life by Rajmohan Gandhi
• Exploring Jo'burg with Gandhi, Lucille Davie
• Restored fairview fire tower reopened, Mahatma Gandhi's Troyeville Johannesburg residence. See above link for images

External links

Institutions

• M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
• The Official Mahatma Gandhi eArchive & Reference Library
• mkgandhi.org
• The Gandhi Foundation
• Gandhi Information Center
• GandhiServe Foundation Mahatma Gandhi Research and Media Service
• Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya Gandhi Museum & Library Mani Bhavan is the place where Gandhi stayed whenever he was in Mumbai between 1917 and 1934. It was from here that Gandhi initiated his Civil Disobedience, Swadeshi, Khadi and Khilafat movements.

Resources

• Films and Footage of Mahatma Gandhi at Video Google
• Mahatma Gandhi News Digest and News Library Daily news about Mahatma Gandhi and India's Independence Movement
• Works by Mahatma Gandhi at Project Gutenberg
• Photo Library of Mahatma Gandhi Over 10,000 images of Gandhi and India’s independence movement – partly digitized
• The Official Mahatma Gandhi Picture Site The Top 100 photographs of Mahatma Gandhi
• Film Footage of Mahatma Gandhi List of 300 film clips – over 10 hours - on Gandhi and India’s independence movement
• Films on Mahatma Gandhi List of over 100 hours of films on Gandhi and India’s independence movement
• Documentary film MAHATMA – Life of Gandhi Online Watch the 5+ hours documentary film on Gandhi’s life and works!
• Mahatma Gandhi’s Voice Online Listen to over 50 hours of Gandhi’s speeches in English and Hindi
• Music Online on Mahatma Gandhi Listen to Gandhi’s favourite songs as well as to music on Gandhi
• Online Audio Library on Mahatma Gandhi Listen to records, audio tapes, radio programmes, events and speeches on Mahatma Gandhi
• Audio Testimonials on Mahatma Gandhi Statements by associates and celebrities on Gandhi
• Albert Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi An audio statement, correspondence with Gandhi and a text document by Einstein
• Writings Online on and by Mahatma Gandhi Read over 200 books and articles on and by Gandhi
• Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Online Read over 50,000 pages of Gandhi’s letters, speeches, articles and books
• Books on Mahatma Gandhi List of over 8,800 library and current books in German and English on Gandhi and related subjects
• Mahatma Gandhi’s Correspondence List of 35,000 letters - largely - to and from Mahatma Gandhi, incl. a summary of each letter
• Journals on Mahatma Gandhi List of publishers of journals on Gandhi
• Chronologies of Mahatma Gandhi’s Life A brief and a detailed day-to-day chronology of Gandhi’s life
• Stamps, coins, medals, banknotes and cindrella on Mahatma Gandhi from all over the world
• Lick Service to the Mahatma The Story of Gandhi's Life and Legacy told through Philately
• Genealogy of Mahatma Gandhi Genealogical tables on Gandhi and his family with over 1,600 entries
• Oral History on Gandhi on Video Online Watch interviews with freedom fighters of India’s independence movement
• Oral History on Gandhi on Audio Online Listen to interviews with associates of the Mahatma
• Quiz with Mahatma Gandhi Play, enjoy, and learn more about Gandhi
• The Story of My Experiments with Truth Gandhi auto-bio; free download in English or 6 South-Asian languages
• An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Free e-text
• Better World Links on Gandhi
• Contextualizing Gandhi in Twenty-First Century World
• Mahatma Gandhi - An Average Man - Nadesan Satyendra
• Mahatma Gandhi and the Corea Family of Chilaw Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Ceylon in 1927
• The Gandhi Nobody Knows Critical Review of the movie 'Gandhi', which eventually became a biography of the Indian leader.
• Hey Ram: The Politics of Gandhi's Last Words: Critical review of Hey Ram – whether Gandhi really said those words or not.
• Gandhi on Education (National Centre for Teacher Education, New Delhi 1998)
• Gandhi Biography
• Gandhi's Seven Deadly Sins
• Big Picture TV Free video clip of Ela Gandhi talking about her grandfather
• Gandhi at IMDb
• Gandhi or Moses? chabad.org