Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India on October 2, 1869. He was raised in a fortunate household. When he was young his father, Karamchand became a diwan (prime minister) of the Rajkot State. Karamchand’s father and brother were both also Diwans, and Gandhi’s family hoped that he would too become a diwan one day. From his father’s previous marriages, he had two daughters, and a daughter and three sons with Putiba, Gandhi’s mother. From Putiba, Gandhi had learned that keeping one’s vow was very important.

When he was seven, his father was called to serve in the local prince’s court in the city of Rajkot. He attended primary school there, and it was a rather painful experience for Gandhi. He ran to and from school in the mornings and afternoons hoping he would not be seen. He was constantly fearful of being teased for how he looked. He was very small for his age and very skinny that his ears had stuck out awkwardly. When he was twelve he attended high school in which he mastered the languages of Hindi, Gujarati, Sanskrit and English. At age thirteen, Gandhi had gotten married to Kasturba through an arranged marriage. At age sixteen, Gandhi was still in high school and was expecting his first child with Kasturba. Gandhi was devoted to his father when he was very sick. Although he was not there the day, his father had passed, and he never forgave himself for being absent from his father’s final moments.

In the 20th century, he was a small, unassuming man that had become the heart and soul of India. Even as a young boy he feared telling lies because truth was all important to him. Late in life, the same love for truth and his stubborn fondness for it, he led millions of Indians in a fight for independence. It was a fight with no weapons because Gandhi’s truth was stronger than swords. Many other civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. used the non-violent protest as a model for their own life struggles.