The Encyclopedia of World Religions

170 S Gandhi, Mohandas K.

because he had bought a first-class ticket. Gandhi remained in South Africa until 1914. During his stay he developed his fundamental notions of non violent resistance, experimented with communal living and diet, and took a vow of brahmacarya (sexual celibacy). After he returned to India, Gandhi eventually joined the Indian National Congress, a group agi tating for India’s liberation from British rule. He became the acknowledged spiritual leader of the movement, revered as the “Mahatma” and loved as “Bapu” (father). Because Gandhi’s tactics involved the public violation of laws, he spent much time in jail. India finally gained its independence in 1947 but at a severe price: British India was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan, despite Gandhi’s vigorous opposition, and much violence erupted between Hindu and Muslim communities. On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a member of a Hindu group that felt he had been too accommodating to Muslims. TEACHINGS Gandhi’s campaign against the British took many forms, such as the insistence on buying Indian goods and the spinning of one’s own cloth by hand. Gandhi also advocated Hindu-Muslim amity and the elimination of religiously rooted distinctions of caste, especially restrictions on the so-called untouchables, whom Gandhi called Harijans, or “children of G OD .” Underlying all of Gandhi’s actions, however, was a profound religious vision. Gandhi thought of his goal not in the narrow terms of political independence but in the broader terms of self rule. Because self-rule was necessary before one deserved political independence, Gandhi urged his followers to train their senses and desires through fasting and brahmacarya or sexual abstinence. In keeping with this emphasis, Gandhi rejected “body force” (violence) in favor of satyagraha (the force of truth). His basic tactics were to identify the injustice in a law, publicly refuse to obey it, and suffer the consequences. Gandhi felt that in this manner the injustice of the law would eventu

Mohandas Gandhi, seated and writing with a fountain pen (Library of Congress)

LIFE Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in the region of Gujarat in western India into a family whose members had held high-ranking government posts. He also claimed to have been heavily influenced by the profound piety of his mother. In order to study law, Gandhi went to England in 1888, after vowing to his mother to avoid eat ing meat, drinking alcohol, and engaging in sexual relations with English women. He kept these three vows, but in other respects he tried very hard to assimilate to British ways. The most visible sign was his European dress. In 1893, Gandhi was sent by his law firm in India to South Africa on a case. There he experi enced the severity of restrictions imposed on Indi ans as on other non-European peoples. In one well known incident, he was thrown off a train when he insisted on traveling in a first-class compartment