Appendix 3: India’s Fortune – Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), leader of the Indian nationalist movement, died at the age of 79. He advocated a philosophy of nonviolence, influencing nationalist movements worldwide striving for peaceful change. His successful independence movement inspired other colonies, leading to the disintegration of the British Empire and its replacement by the Commonwealth. Gandhi’s “truth of nonviolence” also inspired Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Gandhi means “food merchant.” His father was the prime minister of a princely state. Gandhi married at the age of 13 and had four sons; his wife was also 13. In 1888, at the age of 19, Gandhi went to England to study law, became a vegetarian, and joined a vegetarian society. He studied Hinduism and Buddhism in a university fraternity, obtained his lawyer’s license, and returned to Bombay to practice law.

South African Civil Rights Movement

In 1893, his company sent him to South Africa to participate in the South African civil rights movement. In South Africa, he bought a first-class ticket but refused to sit in third class and was kicked off the train because of his dark skin. In 1913, Gandhi led a demonstration by Indian miners in South Africa and was arrested.

During his years in South Africa, Gandhi drew inspiration from Buddhist scriptures and the works of Tolstoy, who became a Christian anarchist in the 1880s. Gandhi translated Tolstoy’s *Letters to the Indians* (written in 1908 to radical Indian nationalists) and corresponded with him until Tolstoy’s death in 1910, during which Tolstoy quoted famous Indian philosophical sayings.

Gandhi also admired the American writer Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) and was inspired by his work *On Civil Disobedience*. Gandhi’s ideas of disobedience and nonviolent resistance began to take shape.

In 1915, Gandhi returned to India, becoming the leader of the Indian National Congress. He boycotted British goods, promoted rural industry, and advocated nonviolent resistance. He attacked the British government but declared his respect for the British.

He traveled throughout the countryside wearing a loincloth, giving speeches and encouraging the use of spinning wheels to reduce dependence on textile factories. He called on Indians to join the British Indian Army in World War I, demonstrating their loyalty to Britain and attempting to persuade Britain to agree to Indian self-government, but this failed.

The Indian Independence Movement

After World War I, he gained international attention through a hunger strike of “non-cooperation.” He was arrested multiple times by the British. He rejected British goods and urged Indians to wear homespun cloth. He also encouraged Indian women, regardless of wealth, to weave daily, thus involving women in the movement. Gandhi also boycotted British schools, resigned from government jobs, refused to pay taxes, and relinquished British titles and honors.

In 1922, violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi halted his “non-violent non-cooperation movement” for the first time, establishing “monastic retreats” and advocating for equal rights for the “untouchables” in newspapers. That same year, Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison but only served two.

In 1929, Gandhi returned to public life and resumed the “non-violent non-cooperation” movement, leading a protest against the salt monopoly. Thousands of people marched 400 kilometers from the capital to the coast to collect salt. Gandhi was imprisoned again in 1930.

In 1933, Gandhi launched his third “Civilized Disobedience Movement,” opposing violence, fascism, and demanding independence. Weekly publications were shut down, and 30,000 people were arrested. That same year, Gandhi went on a 21-day hunger strike, resulting in his third imprisonment. He went on his third hunger strike in 1934. In 1939, Gandhi went on a hunger strike in Bombay to protest the dictatorship. In 1942, Gandhi was imprisoned for the fourth time, where he went on a hunger strike.

During World War II

In 1942, the Japanese invaded Burma. Gandhi drafted the Indian independence bill, was arrested and imprisoned, and was released in 1944. During this period, strikes and riots broke out across India. In 1942 alone, 250 railway stations were destroyed, 500 post offices were attacked, and 150 police stations were attacked.

In 1944, Britain recognized that the Congress Party was beneficial to stabilizing the situation and released Gandhi. Gandhi declared Britain’s “Withdrawal from India” null and void.

The Partition of India and Pakistan and His Assassination

Gandhi had a significant influence on both Hindus and Muslims in India. On one occasion, his presence quelled conflict between Hindus and Muslims. He advocated social reform, personal moral improvement, and spiritual influence.

In 1946, the Indian Navy and Army staged a mutiny. In 1947, the Viceroy of India remarked that “India is like a ship loaded with gunpowder.” Gandhi and the Viceroy formulated a plan for independence and partition. On August 15, 1947, India gained independence, but Gandhi was saddened by the partition, and Nehru became Prime Minister.

Dissatisfied with the partition, Hindus and Muslims clashed and rioted again. Gandhi’s 14th hunger strike temporarily stabilized the situation. On January 30, 1948, while on his way to a prayer meeting, Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu fanatic.

Gandhi’s Life Tenets

Gandhi’s personal discipline included vegetarianism, celibacy, meditation, and abstinence. He observed one day a week of silence, abandoned Western-style clothing, wore homespun cloth, spun yarn, and participated in manual labor.

Non-violence stemmed from Hindu religion. He became a Hindu vegetarian. At 36, he announced his abstinence to his wife, observing one day of silence each week for inner peace, a concept derived from Hinduism’s “silence” and “peace.” He communicated through writing. For three and a half years after age 37, he didn’t read newspapers, finding the noise of the world unsettling. He abandoned luxurious Western-style clothing; the Congress flag features a spinning wheel.

Gandhi championed equality among religions. He had no specific religion and did not reject any faith. Gandhi said, “I am an Islamist, a Hindu, a Christian, and a Jew.” However, he still held a degree of disdain for the Dalits (untouchables).

Gandhi’s Personal Honors

His title, Mahatma, originally meant “great soul,” signifying saint and hero.

Gandhi in Artworks

The film “Gandhi” depicts his 21 years in South Africa.

Celebrity Comments

Churchill: “Gandhi, a master of incitement, disguised himself as an ascetic, half-naked, strode into the Governor’s Palace, boycotted the Emperor’s representatives, and continued to incite resistance.”

Einstein: “Gandhi was the most brilliant; he did not resort to violence, nor did he ally with evil.”

In 1999, Time magazine named Einstein, President Roosevelt, and Gandhi the top three figures of the 20th century. Gandhi, through his personal efforts, resisted tyranny, fought for civil rights, and became a symbol of freedom.

International Day of Nonviolence

In 2007, the United Nations adopted October 2nd, Gandhi’s birthday, as the International Day of Nonviolence. Gandhi said, “Nonviolence is more powerful than the strongest violence.”

Gandhi VS Mao Zedong (1920s-1930s)

While Gandhi launched the “nonviolent non-cooperation” movement, Mao Zedong launched the “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” movement. Stalin hoped for an “Eastern revolution,” keeping one eye on China and the other on India. Gandhi ignored Stalin, preventing Stalin from entering India, but he captured Mao Zedong.

Summary

Gandhi was arrested 14 times in his life, went on hunger strikes 14 times, and spent six years in prison. His asceticism and abstinence are beyond the reach of most. Whenever Gandhi held public rallies, 80% of the local population attended. His funeral procession stretched for 8 kilometers.

Many Nobel Peace Prize laureates acknowledge that their principles and methods originated from Gandhi; he is their spiritual source.

An ancient Chinese proverb states, “When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when food and clothing are sufficient, people know honor and shame.” Material poverty cannot support widespread high moral standards.

India’s Fortune

Gandhi studied in Britain and embraced the British path of peace. India’s avoidance of the violent revolution of Soviet Russia, thus avoiding the horrific communist catastrophe that claimed millions of lives like in China, is a blessing.

Stalin similarly placed his hopes on India, believing, like with China, that the two most populous countries in the East were his ideal centers of revolution.

The above are my reading notes on Gandhi from 2016 to 2018. In 1921, Lenin and Stalin simultaneously extended their clutches towards China and India. India had Gandhi to stem the tide, while China became entangled with Mao Zedong, unable to sever this connection for over a century. Why? The answer lies in their cultural genes. India possesses a strong religious sentiment and adopted the democratic parliamentary system of the British Empire; today, it is thriving and its influence is immense.

Zhong Wen
03/06/2024