20 Intersting facts about Mahatma Gandhi
1. While he was traveling by train to Pretoria, Gandhi, despite carrying first-class ticket, was thrown out of the train by the authorities because a white man complained of an Indian sharing space with him
2. As a response, Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894. This organization led non-violent protests against the oppressive treatment of the white people towards the native Africans and Indians
3. In 1896, he came to India for a short time and gathered 800 Indians to serve along with him in South Africa. They were welcomed by an irate mob and Gandhi was injured in the attack
4. During the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi gathered around 1,100 Indians and organized the Indian Ambulance Corps for the British but the ethnic discrimination and torture continued on Indians
5. English artist John Ruskin’s book Unto This Last inspired Gandhi and he set up Phoenix Farm near Durban. Here, Gandhi would train his cadres on non-violent Satyagraha or peaceful restraint. Phoenix Farm is considered as the birthplace of Satyagraha. However, it was at the Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s second camp in South Africa, where Satyagraha was molded into a weapon of protest
6. In September 1906, Gandhi organized the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again in June 1907, he held Satyagraha against the Black Act
7. In 1908, he was sentenced to jail for organising the non-violent movements. But, after his meeting with General Smuts, a British Commonwealth statesman, he was released. However, he was later attacked for this and was again sentenced to jail against which he organised Satyagraha again
8. In 1909, he was sentenced to a three-month jail term in Volkshurst and Pretoria. After his release, Gandhi went to England to seek the assistance of the Indian community there
9. He also fought against the nullification of non-Christian marriages in 1913.
10. Gandhi organised another peaceful resistance campaign in Transvaal against the oppression that Indian minors were suffering from. He led around 2,000 Indians across the Transvaal border.
11. Gandhi always had a set of false teeth which he carried in a fold of his linen cloth. He used that set only when he wanted to eat. After meal he would again took the set of teeth out and put them back in his loin cloth.
12. He was educated at London University and became an attorney. But the first time while making a speech in court, he was nervous and his knees trembled. He was also so frightened that he sat down with confusion and defeat.
13. As a lawyer in London, he couldn’t succeed. He was a failure there. Years before when he came to England his Irish teacher made him copy the Sermon on the Mount, as an exercise in English. Hour after hour, Gandhi wrote “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth and these words left a deep impression on him.
14. Later, Gandhi went to South Africa to collect huge debts and there he tried to apply there the philosophy of the Sermon on the Mount. It worked and his clients found it useful to settle claims outside the court as it saved them money and time.
15. His income in South Africa touched fifteen thousand dollars in those days. It is quite a huge sum for most Indians.
16. Gandhi spoke English with an Irish accent as one of his first teachers was an Irishman.
17. Mahatma Gandhi often experimented with diets to see how cheap he could live and still be healthy. He started living mainly on fruit diet along with olive oil and goat’s milk.
18. During the freedom struggle, he always wore a loin cloth. But all the years he lived in London he wore Silk spats and hat and also carried a cane.
19. He never visited the US but had numerous fans and followers. One of his admirers was Henry Ford. Gandhi sent him an autographed spinning wheel through a journalist's emissary. During the miserable days of the Second World War, Ford would often spin the ‘Charka’, the spinning wheel that Gandhi had sent.
20. On seeing the condition of his countrymen, as one-tenth of the Indian people were living in the half-starved state, he pleaded to the Indians not to bring children to this painful world that is full of only misery.
Indians all over the world are celebrating Gandhi’s 146th birth anniversary today. October 2 is also observed as the International Day of Non-Violence.
1. While he was traveling by train to Pretoria, Gandhi, despite carrying first-class ticket, was thrown out of the train by the authorities because a white man complained of an Indian sharing space with him
2. As a response, Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894. This organization led non-violent protests against the oppressive treatment of the white people towards the native Africans and Indians
3. In 1896, he came to India for a short time and gathered 800 Indians to serve along with him in South Africa. They were welcomed by an irate mob and Gandhi was injured in the attack
4. During the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi gathered around 1,100 Indians and organized the Indian Ambulance Corps for the British but the ethnic discrimination and torture continued on Indians
5. English artist John Ruskin’s book Unto This Last inspired Gandhi and he set up Phoenix Farm near Durban. Here, Gandhi would train his cadres on non-violent Satyagraha or peaceful restraint. Phoenix Farm is considered as the birthplace of Satyagraha. However, it was at the Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s second camp in South Africa, where Satyagraha was molded into a weapon of protest
6. In September 1906, Gandhi organized the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again in June 1907, he held Satyagraha against the Black Act
7. In 1908, he was sentenced to jail for organising the non-violent movements. But, after his meeting with General Smuts, a British Commonwealth statesman, he was released. However, he was later attacked for this and was again sentenced to jail against which he organised Satyagraha again
8. In 1909, he was sentenced to a three-month jail term in Volkshurst and Pretoria. After his release, Gandhi went to England to seek the assistance of the Indian community there
9. He also fought against the nullification of non-Christian marriages in 1913.
10. Gandhi organised another peaceful resistance campaign in Transvaal against the oppression that Indian minors were suffering from. He led around 2,000 Indians across the Transvaal border.
11. Gandhi always had a set of false teeth which he carried in a fold of his linen cloth. He used that set only when he wanted to eat. After meal he would again took the set of teeth out and put them back in his loin cloth.
12. He was educated at London University and became an attorney. But the first time while making a speech in court, he was nervous and his knees trembled. He was also so frightened that he sat down with confusion and defeat.
13. As a lawyer in London, he couldn’t succeed. He was a failure there. Years before when he came to England his Irish teacher made him copy the Sermon on the Mount, as an exercise in English. Hour after hour, Gandhi wrote “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth and these words left a deep impression on him.
14. Later, Gandhi went to South Africa to collect huge debts and there he tried to apply there the philosophy of the Sermon on the Mount. It worked and his clients found it useful to settle claims outside the court as it saved them money and time.
15. His income in South Africa touched fifteen thousand dollars in those days. It is quite a huge sum for most Indians.
16. Gandhi spoke English with an Irish accent as one of his first teachers was an Irishman.
17. Mahatma Gandhi often experimented with diets to see how cheap he could live and still be healthy. He started living mainly on fruit diet along with olive oil and goat’s milk.
18. During the freedom struggle, he always wore a loin cloth. But all the years he lived in London he wore Silk spats and hat and also carried a cane.
19. He never visited the US but had numerous fans and followers. One of his admirers was Henry Ford. Gandhi sent him an autographed spinning wheel through a journalist's emissary. During the miserable days of the Second World War, Ford would often spin the ‘Charka’, the spinning wheel that Gandhi had sent.
20. On seeing the condition of his countrymen, as one-tenth of the Indian people were living in the half-starved state, he pleaded to the Indians not to bring children to this painful world that is full of only misery.
Indians all over the world are celebrating Gandhi’s 146th birth anniversary today. October 2 is also observed as the International Day of Non-Violence.
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