GHANDI

1869.-1948.

EARLY LIFE

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on

2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a
coastal town in present-day
Gujarat, India
His father, Karamchand Gandhi,
was the diwan(Prime Minister)
He studied law at the University
College London to become a
barrister

RETURNING TO INDIA

When he returned to India,he wanted to

establish his own law practice in Bombay,but
he failed.
Later, after failing to secure a part-time job
as a high school teacher, he ended up
returning to Rajkot to make a modest living
drafting petitions for litigants, a business he
was forced to close when he ran afoul of a
British officer.

GHANDI IN SOUTH AFRICA

Two years later, an Indian firm retained him

as a legal adviser in its office in Durban.
In South Africa he faced
discrimination against Indians.
He first experienced that when
he was thrown of a train in
Pietermaritzburg.

GHANDI IN SOUTH AFRICA

These events were a turning point

in his life, awakening him to social
injustice and influencing his
subsequent social activism.
He decided to draw attention to
this injustice and became an activist.
Gandhi remained in South Africa for 20 years,
where he was imprisoned many times.

GHANDI IN SOUTH AFRICA

Gandhi served in and lead an Ambulance
Corps Unit in both the Boer War
1899-1892 and the Zulu War of 1906.
He supported the British government so
he could gain full citizenship for Indians
in South Africa,but hedindt achieve that
goal.

PICTURES OF GHANDI

Ghandi and his wife

Kasturba

FIGHT FOR THE INDEPENDENCE OF

INDIA

In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to

live in India.
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, a
respected leader of the Congress Party at the
time.

SATYAGRAHA

He developed a new non-violent way to make

things right, by getting lots of people to
disobey unfair laws, and to be uncooperative with rulers who were treating them
badly.

Ghandi takes a leadership

role

SATYAGRAHA

After seeing thousands of people

being opressed and farmers forced
to grow indigo and other cash
crops instead of food crops neccesary
for survival,he introduced satyagraha,
a non-violent way to resist and disobey the
authorities.

There are many causes that I am prepared to

die for, but no causes that I am prepared to kill
for.

ROWLATT ACTS

In 1919, Parliament passed the Rowlatt Acts,

which gave the Indian colonial authorities
emergency powers to deal with revolutionary
activities.
Activities against the Rowlatt Acts resulted in
a massacre of Indians at Amritsar by British
soldiers.
There were 1,516 casualties.

TRIP TO LONDON
Gandhi became internationally
known, so the British government
could not afford to have him harmed
or have him die while under arrest
(this included dying from a hunger
strike too). He became a respected
world figure without ever doing
anything violent.
The British couldnt ignore him; they had to talk
with him.

IMPRISONMENT
Gandhi was arrested on
10 March 1922, and sentenced
to six years' imprisonment. He
was released in February 1924

The consequences were that the Indian

National Congress began to splinter and
cooperation between Hindus and Muslims
was breaking down

THE INDEPENDENCE DELAY

WWII was interrupting the independence

plan. Gandhi declared that India could not be
party to a war being fought for democratic
freedom, while that freedom was denied to
India itself.
Ghandi was persistent for the independence
and demanded the British to leave India.

PLANNING THE INDEPENDENCE

Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were working

on the plan

THE BIG EVENT

By 1944, the British government has agreed

to independence if the two religious groups
resolve their differences.
India divided on India and Pakistan after the
British agreed to independence in 1947.

GANDHIS DEATH

Gandhi responded to threats by refusing additional

security, and no one could defy his wish to be allowed to
move around unhindered.
30 January 1948, Gandhi met with India's Deputy Prime
Minister and his close associate in the freedom struggle,
Vallabhai Patel, and then proceeded to his prayers
Gandhi commenced his walk towards the garden where
the prayer meeting was held. As he was about to mount
the steps of the podium, Gandhi folded his hands and
greeted his audience with a namaskar; at that moment, a
young man came up to him and roughly pushed aside
Manu. Nathuram Godse (a Hindu fanatic) bent down in
the gesture of an obeisance, took a revolver out of his
pocket, and shot Gandhi three times in his chest.

HIS INFLUENCE

He was very respected by his followers that

he was called The Father of the Nation,and
named him Mahatma which translates into
Great Soul.
Gandhis birthday, October 2nd, is a public
holiday in India.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GANDHI

He hated cinema. He doesnt think cinema is a

medium to propagate his ideals. But in his last
years, he started using radio
He hated photographers and taking photos. But the
fact is, at that time, he was the only person hugely
photographed.
During the Salt March of 1930, at the age of 60, he
walked 241 miles.
Gandhi lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer,
fasting and meditation.
He wore the clothes of the lowliest Indian.

THE END!
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