67.Mahatma Gandhi 's Early Life

Mahatma Gandhi was the Great Leader

NAME : Mahatma Gandhi

OCCUPATION : Anti-War Activist

BIRTH DATE : October 02, 1869

DEATH DATE : January 30, 1948

EDUCATION : Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat,
University College London

The word Mahatma means great soul. This name was not given Gandhi at birth by his parents, but many years later by the Indian people when they discovered they had a Mahatma in their midst. He was a greatest human being the 20th century has seen.

Early years

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India, a seacoast town in the Kathiawar Peninsula north of Bombay, India. His wealthy family was from one of the higher castes (Indian social classes). He was the fourth child of Karamchand Gandhi, prime minister to the raja (ruler) of three small city-states, and Purtlibai, his fourth wife. Gandhi described his mother as a deeply religious woman who attended temple (a place for religious worship) service daily. Mohandas was a small, quiet boy who disliked sports and was only an average student. At the age of thirteen he did not even know in advance that he was to marry Kasturbai, a girl his own age. The childhood ambition of Mohandas was to study medicine, but as this was considered beneath his caste, his father persuaded him to study law instead. After his marriage Mohandas finished high school and tutored his wife.

In September 1888 Gandhi went to England to study. Before leaving India, he promised his mother he would try not to eat meat. He was an even stricter vegetarian while away than he had been at home. In England he studied law but never completely adjusted to the English way of life. He became a lawyer in 1891 and sailed for Bombay. He attempted unsuccessfully to practice law in Rajkot and Bombay, then for a brief period served as lawyer for the prince of Porbandar.

1869 - October 2, Mohandas Gandhi was born in Porbandar,India

1876 - Gandhi moves with his family to Rajkot, India

1883 - Gandhi gets married at the age of thirteen to Kasturbaz Makanji

1888 - Gandhi sails to England so that he can study law

1891 - Gandhi returns to India and begins to practice law

1893 - Gandhi accepts a job in South Africa

1903 - Gandhi decides to open a law office in Johannesberg,South Africa

1906 - Gandhi organizes his first protest against anti-Indian laws in South Africa

1908 - Gandhi is imprisoned in South Africa

1915 - Gandhi returns to India

1922 - After a big trial, Gandhi is sentenced to six years in jail

1930 - Gandhi has to go to jail for breaking India's Salt Laws