Mohandas Gandhi

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Who can be wise, amaz’d, temperate, and furious, loyal and neutral in a moment?
~William Shakespeare




On October 2, 1869 in the town of Porbandar, in what is now the Gujarat province of India, a son was born to the local prime minister and his wife. That child was named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known to millions of Indians as the father of their nation.
He lived an ordinary boyhood in the seaport town and attended school in nearby Rajkot. As a boy he attended temple near his home and readings were taken alternatively from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and the Moslem Koran.(Gold) Since his city of birth was a seaport, looking out into the world, it hosted nearly 2 dozen religions. This would help greatly in developing a tolerance and acceptance for all religions.(Erikson)
As is custom in the Hindu religion he was married in an arranged ceremony at age 13, his wife was a mere 10 years of age. Despite the difficulties before them, they fell in love and became a source of strength unto each other. Their marriage lasted some 60 years. In 1888 when Mohandas left for England to pursue a law degree, he left his widowed mother, his wife, and his son Harilal who was only a few months old at the time. Although leaving home was difficult, Mohandas was greatly determined to obtain his degree.
Once in London he felt very uncomfortable. (Gold) This and his Indian ethnicity pushed him to the fringes of English society. The people he soon began associating with were the vanguard of social thought in England at the time and their influence on him was strong. It was at this time that he was introduced to the Christian Bible, delved deeper into vegetarianism, and got his first glimpse of what it was to be Indian through Western eyes. Through hard work and strength of mind, on June 12, 1891 passed his examinations and was called to the bar. On June 11 he was enrolled to the High Court and the next day saile...