-
¡The birth of Gandhi!
It was October 2, 1869 when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi came into the world, in the Indian city of Porbandar, the current state of Gujarat. His father was the prime minister of a small town and his mother a vigorous devotee of Vishnu, one of the Hindu gods.
In India, Hindu families are divided by castes, with specific social functions. Gandhi's family was of the Vaixás caste, that is, the merchants. -
¡Gandhi's marriage to Kasturba Gandhi!
As is common in Indian culture, when he was 13 years old, Gandhi married a woman only six months older, named Kasturba. It was in May 1883 when the family agreement was signed and they both remained married for 62 years, Kasturba actively participating in the political life undertaken by her husband years later. -
¡Gandhi goes to London to study law!
Mohandas' family decided that he should travel to London to study law. It was common for children from wealthier families to study abroad, in the capital of the metropolis, since the colony itself did not have a good educational structure. The boy entered the University College of London and, at the university, had contact with the philosophy of Henry Stephens Salt, and organized a vegetarian club that, among other things, debated theosophical subjects. -
¡Arrival in South Africa and Congress of India!
Upon arriving in the African country, Mohandas faced a racist and violent system. Blacks, Indians and Muslims were discriminated against in every possible way by the British and Dutch. It was for him an awakening of social conscience that culminated in the creation of a social and political organization led by him, which sought in the first instance, to prevent the government of the whites in the country from taking away basic rights from the indigenous, mainly Hindus. -
¡Gandhi receives a hero's welcome!
After 20 years of fighting for indigenous rights in South Africa, being arrested several times, and finally achieving the repeal of the law that discriminated against his people (called "black act"), Gandhi, now 45 years old, decided to return to the India. At that time he was already seen as a popular, political and spiritual leader. This is how he came to be treated as Mahatma, a nickname that means great soul. -
¡The March of Salt!
One of the prohibitions imposed by the British was that Indians, Hindus and Muslims could not produce their own salt, which was marketed with high taxes for the population. It was then that Gandhi had the idea of marching 200 km to protest against such abuse. He was accompanied by more than 5,000 people who came to the shores of the Indian Ocean to produce salt from seawater. After many arbitrary detentions, the salt law was repealed and they took another important step towards independence. -
¡The union of Muslims and Hindus by Gandhi's hunger strikes!
One of the ways in which Gandhi tried to force dialogue between religions was through fasting, which could have led to his death, had it not been for groups with different beliefs coming together in the name of his health.
Unfortunately, Gandhi's ambition to unite the Indian nation into one was by no means possible, culminating in the creation of Pakistan in 1948. -
¡The death of Mahatma Gandhi!
The political climate was not friendly and with the separation of India into two nations, one Muslim and the other Hindu, there were those who accused Gandhi of weakening the power of the Hindus with his protests for peace and unity. The first attempt on his life took place on January 20, 1948 by means of a bomb that was thrown at him, but which did not injure anyone. Ten days later, however, he was shot dead by a radical Hindu named Nathuram Godse.
