Susan Walker, age 11, of Lynn, Mass., for her question:
WHO WAS MOHANDAS GANDHI?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is called the father of modern India. He helped free India from British control by a unique method of nonviolent resistance and he also promoted economic and social reforms.
People in India called Gandhi the Mahatma, which means Great Soul. His entire life was guided by a search for truth. He believed that truth could be known only through tolerance and concern for his fellow man, and that finding a truthful way to solutions required constant testing. Gandhi overcame fear in himself and taught others to master fear.
Gandhi believed in nonviolence, but he also held that violence is better than cowardice. He lived a simple life and thought it was wrong to kill animals for food or to even use their hides.
Born in India in 1869, Gandhi was assassinated at the age of 78 in 1948 by an Indian who feared his program of tolerance for all creeds and religions.
Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based on principles of courage, nonviolence and truth, which he called satyagraha. In this method, the way a person behaves is more important than what he achieves. Satyagraha was used to fight for India's independence and to bring about social change.
Gandhi belonged to the Vaisya or merchant caste of Hindus. In accordance with custom, his parents arranged for his marriage when he was 13 years old. He married a girl the same age.
He studied law in London and practiced in India with not too much success. He then spent 21 years in South Africa, working for Indian rights against discrimination and editing a weekly newspaper called "Indian Opinion."
In 1915 Gandhi returned to India and within five years, he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. He was there when Great Britain granted India freedom in 1947.
Gandhi started a program of hand spinning and weaving about 1920. He believed the program helped the fight for independence because it aided economic freedom by making India self sufficient in cloth, it promoted social freedom though the dignity of labor and it also advanced political freedom by challenging the British textile industry and by preparing Indians for self government.
Through the years, Gandhi was arrested many times by the British and sent to jail.
In 1930. Gandhi led hundreds of followers on a 200 mile march to the sea, where they made salt from seawater. This was a protest against the Salt Acts., which made it a crime to possess salt not bought from the government.
During World War II, Gandhi continued his struggle for India's freedom through nonviolent disobedience to British rule. He was jailed for the last time in 1942.
Altogether, Gandhi spent seven years in prison for political activity. He believed that it is honorable to go to jail for a good cause.