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Research Paper on
Gandhi
by K. Karthik
Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian by Nationality.
He was born on 2nd October 1869 in Porbandar, India. Mahatma Gandhi’s
original name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born to Karamchand
Gandhi and Putlibai. He came from a Hindu household. His father was the
Dewan or the minister of the province of Porbandar. His mother was a very
religious Housewife. His family followed strict rules of Hinduism, which
included practice of non-violence, a lot of spiritual fasting, vegetarianism,
and tolerance for other religion (Norf). His early years of life were
a lot of turmoil. His father got very ill suddenly, which made him go
through a lot of stress. Since his mother asked him to help her look after
his sick father, Gandhi relieved his stress by taking long walks. But
he eventually turned to smoking, shoplifting and even eating meat (Norf).
He was good at studies. Although he did not think of himself as a very
promising student he was surprised to receive awards and scholarships
at school. (Moon, Page14).
In1887, he started his college at the University
of Bombay. He decided to go to England to become a barrister and then
return for a job like his father's. His mother was slightly hesitant to
send him there, so he had to vow not to touch women, wine, or meat while
he was away (Moon, p.17). With help from his brother, he was able to raise
the money necessary and set off for England (Moon, p.17). Ten days after
arrival, he joined the University College in London. He had a painful
time switching from east to western cultures, and one of the most difficult
obstacles he had to overcome was the fact that he was vegetarian (Norf).
After this, he returned to India for a short period and then went back
to South Africa because he was not able to get job in India. After a lot
of struggle he finally got an offer from a firm in Natal, South Africa.
In South Africa the Indians weren't welcome by the white people (Norf).
One day Gandhi got pushed out of the train
when he refused to leave his seat for a white person, it was then that
he decided never to be pushed down again and to fight for the rights of
minorities. He started to lead the Indian workers in South Africa and
fought for their rights. At this moment he made a rule to himself which
made him popular: never to use violence in his fights, even if others
would use violence against him (Norf). And so he started to fight for
the rights of Indian workers in South Africa and he had great success.
This was a major turning point in his life where he transformed from a
shy timid boy to grown outspoken man (Norf). He returned to India in 1914
where he did not involve in much of politics (Norf). He was very friendly
with the British Empire but he became very upset on the passing of the
Rowlatt Act that stated those who suspected of sedition could be imprisoned
without trial. He immediately called a Satyagraha (“firmness in truth",
civil disobedience) struggle against Great Britain. By 1920, Gandhi was
extremely influential among Indians (Norf). He called a huge boycott of
British goods and services, including schools. With a leader like Gandhi,
the Indian people were no longer afraid of their foreign rulers and began
protesting (Norf). When police arrived, they lined up to be arrested,
hoping to clog the system and stop the British. Thousands were arrested
and the movement was mostly a success, but a few violent outbreaks like
in the previous protest caused the INC and their president (Gandhi) to
call the protest off and admit it’s mistake. Gandhi himself was arrested
shortly after in 1922 and sentenced to six years.
Perhaps his most amazing feat was the Satyagraha
against the salt tax in 1930. Gandhi and many followers made the famous
Dandi March to the Arabian Sea where they produced their own salt by evaporating
seawater. As a result, over 60,000 people were jailed (Norf). A year later,
Gandhi met with Lord Irwin and the two agreed to allow Gandhi to act as
a representative at conference in London, but the conference failed to
help them. He was soon jailed after his return to India. While in jail,
he found out that the new constitution would discriminate against the
"untouchable" caste by placing them in a different electorate. Gandhi
immediately started fasting for change. The government knew they had to
change this portion of the constitution quickly, for if Gandhi died, then
revolution would be imminent (Norf). When World War II started, the Gandhi
and INC supported Britain on the condition that they withdraw completely
from India. When the war ended, India became independent shortly afterward,
in 1947. But it split, as it became independent, forming Pakistan and
India. Gandhi was upset that Indian freedom did not come with Indian unity,
but nonetheless plunged himself into helping repair the riot ravaged areas
and fasting for peace in those places where the fighting continued over
religion (Norf). In that way, he performed two great feats by stopping
the riots in Calcutta in September of 1947 as well as causing a truce
in Delhi in January of 1948 (Norf).
The British Empire ruled the country of India
for about 200 years. During its reign the British Empire popularly known
as the “East India Company” made full use of its power. It exploited
the resources of the country. It even took away land from the poor people
in order to grow indigo which was the main ingredient of the dye industry
in Britain. Lot of injustices was done to people. The British Empire created
difference among the people by telling that they were of different religions.
The worst thing that they did was to use the policy of Divide and Rule.
An example of this is that the state of Bengal was divided into East and
West Bengal on the basis of religion. They used different methods to create
disunity among the Indian people. This lead to many revolts and violent
outbreaks between peoples. Mostly these violent outbreaks were as a result
of disunity among the Hindus and Muslims. What the British Empire created
among the Indian people can still be seen. They divided the whole country
into two parts based on Religion. The result of this was two different
Nations rising out of a single Nation: Pakistan and India. The envy between
these two still persists as a result of the disunity created by the British
Empire. Most of the Gandhi’s actions were a great success. The reason
was that the British Empire didn’t know how to act against an enemy
who doesn’t use violence (Loepa Berlin).
Gandhi’s contributions to the people
of India were innumerable. He gave the people of both India and the World
a way to fight for their rights. He gave the people different ways to
fight for their rights like Satyagraha. He fought all his life with humanity,
tolerance, ideas and without violence (Loepa Berlin). Still today many
people follow his philosophy to change the world. One of the examples
will be fight against wars. Usually people who fight against a war try
to fight without violence. They march through cities and try to convince
people not to go to the war. "Greenpeace" is one such group of people
who fight for saving the nature and their most important weapon is the
public. They don't use violence but they use the press. An example for
not using violence even if others use it against them was when they went
very close to where the French wanted to test their nuclear weapons and
the French soldiers entered their boat and destroyed lots of things and
hit the Greenpeace activists (Loepa Berlin).
Also Martin Luther King didn’t use violence
in his fight for the rights of the black people in America. Gandhi showed
the whole world how easy it is to fight for rights and how successful
it can be if there are many people fighting for the same cause together
(Loepa Berlin). Another example is the fights for the blacks in North
America. Especially Martin Luther King who fought under the influence
of things Gandhi had said (Loepa Berlin). Most important contribution
of Gandhi was that he gave freedom to the people of the India from the
clutches of the British Empire through a new policy: Non-violence. People
from different parts of the world learned from his philosophy. He followed
the policy of truth that made his work mostly successful. Gandhi has been
a role model for a lot of people.
Copyright,
sources and comments The
mark the author got for his research paper was 97. The teacher´s
comment: "Very well done - a fascinating and thoughtful paper on a brilliant
and noble man." the
Gandi Text Collection |
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This page was updated March/21/2004 [diese Seite in deutsch] |