India has produced many outstanding personalities who have left behind a legacy of greatness, noble life and sublime ideals. Among these men, Mahatma Gandhi stands in the forefront. Today he is considered as the greatest, the noblest and the finest Indian ever born in our land. He was the brightest star ever raised on the horizon of India.
Mahatma Gandhi was born on Oct. 2, 1869 at Porbandar, in Gujarat, in a noble Hindu family. His full name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. After passing his matriculation examination, he was sent to England to study law. In 1890, he returned from England as a lawyer.
Soon after his arrival in India, he was called to help the Indians who were facing numerous hardships under the British rule in South Africa. Gandhi started the Satyagraha movement against the unjust treatment meted out to the Indians there by the British. As a result of his great efforts the British were forced to give more freedom to the Indians residing there.
In 1914, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India and immediately put himself in the forefront of freedom struggle movement that had just begun. Within a few years he became the undisputed leader of the national movement for freedom.
In order to free India from the foreign yoke, Gandhiji started three mass movements, namely Non-cooperation movement in 1920, Civil Disobedience movement in 1930 and Quit India movement in 1942. These three movements shook the very foundation of British rule in India and brought millions of Indians into the freedom struggle movement.
Gandhiji advocated non-violence and Satyagraha as his chief weapons to achieve freedom. Many times he was arrested and put in jail. But nothing could deter his quest for national freedom.
The British realized that they could no longer stay in India and was forced to grant independence to our country on Aug. 15, 1947. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30th January 1948 by Nathuram Godse.
Vocabulary
Outstanding—extraordinary
Numerous—several
