Gandhian Era of National Movement

Gandhian Era

• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 into a well to do family in Porbandar, Gujarat. 
• Father – Kaba Gandhi was the Diwan of Porbandar and later became the Diwan of Rajkot.
• Mother – Putlibai, a devout Vaishanavite, influenced the young Gandhi.
• Gandhi sailed to England in 1888 to study law.
• After becoming a barrister in June 1891 Gandhi returned to India and his attempt to practice in Bombay failed.
• It was during this time that a Gujarati firm in South Africa, sought the services of Gandhi for assistance in a law-suit. Gandhi accepted the offer and left for South Africa in April 1893. 
• Gandhi faced racial discrimination for the first time in South Africa. On his journey from Durban to Pretoria, at the Pietermaritzburg railway station, he was physically thrown out of the first class compartment.

Satyagraha as a Strategy in South Africa

• Gandhi was introduced to the works of Tolstoy and John Ruskin. 

He was deeply influenced by 

1. Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You
2. Ruskin’s Unto this Last
3. Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience 

• Gandhi’s ideas were formed due to a blend of Indian and Western thought. Despite being deeply influenced by Western thinkers he was highly critical of Western civilisation and industrialisation. 

Inspired by Ruskin, Gandhi established 

1. Phoenix Settlement (1905) 
2. The Tolstoy Farm (1910). 

• Equality, community living and dignity of labour were inculcated in these settlements. They were training grounds for the Satyagrahis.
• Gandhi developed Satyagraha (devotion to the truth, truth-force) as a strategy, in which campaigners went on peaceful marches and presented themselves for arrest in protest against unjust laws.
• Indians in the Transvaal had to pay a poll tax of £ 3, could not own land except in areas marked for them, and could not move outdoors after 9 p.m. without a permit. He launched a struggle against such unjust laws.
• Indians, mostly indentured labourers turned hawkers continued the struggle despite police brutality. 
• Finally, by the Smuts-Gandhi Agreement the poll tax on indentured labourers was abolished.
• After the outbreak of the First World War, Gandhi returned to India on 9th January, 1915.

• Impressed by activities and ideas of Gopala Krishna Gokhale, he acknowledged him as his political Guru.
• On his return to India, following Gokhale’s advice, Gandhi, spent a year travelling all over the country acquainting himself with the situation.
• He established his Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad but did not take active part in political movements including the Home Rule movement.