Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction

• Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbander, Gujarat.

• His father, Karamchand Gandhi, was the Prime Minister (chief minister) of the Kathiawar district.

• Gandhi was the youngest child of his father’s fourth wife, Putlibai.

• He was married at the age of 13 to Kasturba.

• After his father’s death, his family sent him to England in 1888 to study law.

• He promised his mother to remain vegetarian, abstain from alcohol, and stay loyal to his faith.

• In 1914, Gandhi returned to India after successfully leading the cause of Indians in South Africa.

• After returning, Gandhi did not participate in political activity for almost a year to acquaint himself with national issues.

• He abstained from active politics until 1919, after which he became an active leader in India’s national movement.

• Gandhi’s political criteria were unusual, guided by his own moral and religious principles.

• He did not compromise on his principles and measured success by moral and religious standards.

• Gandhi was a man of morals whose morality was reflected in all his public actions.

• When he started the Non-Cooperation Movement for India’s independence, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1922.

• In 1930, Gandhi started the Civil Disobedience Movement to break the harsh Salt Law imposed by the British Government.

• Many Indians followed Gandhi and broke the salt restrictions.

• The Civil Disobedience Movement taught Indians how to gain freedom without using violence.

• It embedded the principle of non-violence in the Indian social structure.

• Despite caste differences, the method of non-violence united the Indian masses.

• Without non-violence, Indian social groups might have torn each other apart.

• Gandhi’s role in Indian society shows he was a man of virtue who followed the path of non-violence to pursue his ideal goals throughout his life.

Society and Man

• Gandhiji wanted to create a new society free from exploitation and tyranny.

• He established Sarvodaya Samaj and Soshan Bihin Samaj to protect people from exploitation.

• According to Gandhi, every human being—high or low, rich or poor—should have equal opportunity for development.

• The idea of the greatest good for the greatest number did not satisfy him; he wanted development and prosperity for all sections of society.

• Gandhi believed that the Swaraj of the people is the sum total of the Swaraj of the individual, meaning society and individual are interdependent.

• An individual attains prosperity only through freedom and peace in society.

• Though individual freedom is important, Gandhi stressed that human beings are social animals and must adjust individualism to the needs of social progress.

• Gandhi realized that poverty leads to demoralization and frustration.

• He emphasized that development’s sole aim should not be purely materialistic.

• Material prosperity beyond limits causes evils.

• Gandhi’s ideal was that civilization, culture, and Swaraj depend on restricting wants (self-denial), not multiplying them (self-indulgence).

• One objective of change should be the re-emergence of the individual.

• In modern times, it is beneath human dignity to lose individuality and become a mere cog in the machine.

• Gandhi wanted every individual to become a full-blooded, fully developed member of society.

• He remarked: “If the individual ceases to count, what is left of society?”

• Individual freedom allows a person to voluntarily serve society; if forced, the individual becomes an automaton, and society is ruined.

• No society can be built on the denial of individual freedom.

• Development of the human personality and respect for individual self does not mean separation from society.

• A person must develop as an integral part of society, contributing to both individual and social development simultaneously.

Status of Women

• The status of women in India varied across classes, religions, ethnic groups, and eras.

• Before independence, women faced exploitation both inside and outside the home.

• The pre- and post-Gandhian periods saw social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Dayanand Saraswati emphasize women’s issues and work to improve their conditions.

• Gandhi viewed women not as “objects of reform” but as “self-conscious entities”, integrating them naturally with the common masses.

• Indian women’s participation in national and local mass movements made them an important part of Indian society.

• Their participation at both national and domestic levels changed their overall status in India.

• Mahatma Gandhi called for women’s participation in the freedom struggle and encouraged them to take active roles.

• Gandhi considered women’s participation in Satyagraha and social reconstruction more important than that of men.

• He believed that the desired goal of the political struggle would be achieved only when all sections of people, regardless of caste, color, creed, or gender, work together in a constant and organized manner.

• Gandhi sought women’s support in almost all his political movements.

• The role of educated women in social and political sectors could enhance and spread Gandhian philosophy among the masses and society.

• Women could become inamates in ashrams and contribute to Khadi and other social constructive programmes.

• Despite physical differences, Gandhi believed men and women are equal and have equal mental capacities.

• Gandhi endorsed the participation of girls in socio-political and economic sectors, emphasizing girls are creative people with a unique role in innovation, not mere playthings.

• He highlighted that girls spend half their age performing household duties like wife and mother.

• To enhance women’s role and rights, Gandhi emphasized that women should not be confined within the four walls of the house but should actively participate in social, political, and economic spheres.

• Gandhi aspired for women to have independent thinking and to take part in politics.

• He supported the enrollment of women in education, emphasizing practical education across different subjects.

• Gandhi vigorously opposed evil customs such as infanticide, homicide, forced labour, child marriage, and other inhuman traditional practices that hinder social progress.

• Gandhi’s long struggle to establish women’s rights bore excellent fruits in post-independence India.