Author: Anil Nauriya
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788187458135
Category : Statesmen
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian nationalist and statesman.
African Element In Gandhi
Author: Anil Nauriya
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788187458135
Category : Statesmen
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian nationalist and statesman.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788187458135
Category : Statesmen
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian nationalist and statesman.
The South African Gandhi
Author: Ashwin Desai
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804797226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442
Book Description
A biography detailing Gandhi’s twenty-year stay in South Africa and his attitudes and behavior in the nation’s political context. In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and influence extend far beyond India and are nowhere more significant than in South Africa. “India gave us a Mohandas, we gave them a Mahatma,” goes a popular South African refrain. Contemporary South African leaders, including Mandela, have consistently lauded him as being part of the epic battle to defeat the racist white regime. The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi’s first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi’s racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history. The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals. Praise for The South African Gandhi “In this impressively researched study, two South African scholars of Indian background bravely challenge political myth-making on both sides of the Indian Ocean that has sought to canonize Gandhi as a founding father of the struggle for equality there. They show that the Mahatma-to-be carefully refrained from calling on his followers to throw in their lot with the black majority. The mass struggle he finally led remained an Indian struggle.” —Joseph Lelyveld, author of Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India “This is a wonderful demonstration of meticulously researched, evocative, clear-eyed and fearless history writing. It uncovers a story, some might even call it a scandal, that has remained hidden in plain sight for far too long. The South African Gandhi is a big book. It is a serious challenge to the way we have been taught to think about Gandhi.” —Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804797226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 442
Book Description
A biography detailing Gandhi’s twenty-year stay in South Africa and his attitudes and behavior in the nation’s political context. In the pantheon of freedom fighters, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. His fame and influence extend far beyond India and are nowhere more significant than in South Africa. “India gave us a Mohandas, we gave them a Mahatma,” goes a popular South African refrain. Contemporary South African leaders, including Mandela, have consistently lauded him as being part of the epic battle to defeat the racist white regime. The South African Gandhi focuses on Gandhi’s first leadership experiences and the complicated man they reveal—a man who actually supported the British Empire. Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed unveil a man who, throughout his stay on African soil, stayed true to Empire while showing a disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bonded by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African. Gandhi’s racism was matched by his class prejudice towards the Indian indentured. He persistently claimed that they were ignorant and needed his leadership, and he wrote their resistances and compromises in surviving a brutal labor regime out of history. The South African Gandhi writes the indentured and working class back into history. The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to show his loyalty to Empire, with a particular penchant for war as a means to do so. He served as an Empire stretcher-bearer in the Boer War while the British occupied South Africa, he demanded guns in the aftermath of the Bhambatha Rebellion, and he toured the villages of India during the First World War as recruiter for the Imperial army. This meticulously researched book punctures the dominant narrative of Gandhi and uncovers an ambiguous figure whose time on African soil was marked by a desire to seek the integration of Indians, minus many basic rights, into the white body politic while simultaneously excluding Africans from his moral compass and political ideals. Praise for The South African Gandhi “In this impressively researched study, two South African scholars of Indian background bravely challenge political myth-making on both sides of the Indian Ocean that has sought to canonize Gandhi as a founding father of the struggle for equality there. They show that the Mahatma-to-be carefully refrained from calling on his followers to throw in their lot with the black majority. The mass struggle he finally led remained an Indian struggle.” —Joseph Lelyveld, author of Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India “This is a wonderful demonstration of meticulously researched, evocative, clear-eyed and fearless history writing. It uncovers a story, some might even call it a scandal, that has remained hidden in plain sight for far too long. The South African Gandhi is a big book. It is a serious challenge to the way we have been taught to think about Gandhi.” —Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things
Great Soul
Author: Joseph Lelyveld
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307389952
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 450
Book Description
A highly original, stirring book on Mahatma Gandhi that deepens our sense of his achievements and disappointments—his success in seizing India’s imagination and shaping its independence struggle as a mass movement, his recognition late in life that few of his followers paid more than lip service to his ambitious goals of social justice for the country’s minorities, outcasts, and rural poor. “A revelation. . . . Lelyveld has restored human depth to the Mahatma.”—Hari Kunzru, The New York Times Pulitzer Prize–winner Joseph Lelyveld shows in vivid, unmatched detail how Gandhi’s sense of mission, social values, and philosophy of nonviolent resistance were shaped on another subcontinent—during two decades in South Africa—and then tested by an India that quickly learned to revere him as a Mahatma, or “Great Soul,” while following him only a small part of the way to the social transformation he envisioned. The man himself emerges as one of history’s most remarkable self-creations, a prosperous lawyer who became an ascetic in a loincloth wholly dedicated to political and social action. Lelyveld leads us step-by-step through the heroic—and tragic—last months of this selfless leader’s long campaign when his nonviolent efforts culminated in the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan, and a bloodbath of ethnic cleansing that ended only with his own assassination. India and its politicians were ready to place Gandhi on a pedestal as “Father of the Nation” but were less inclined to embrace his teachings. Muslim support, crucial in his rise to leadership, soon waned, and the oppressed untouchables—for whom Gandhi spoke to Hindus as a whole—produced their own leaders. Here is a vital, brilliant reconsideration of Gandhi’s extraordinary struggles on two continents, of his fierce but, finally, unfulfilled hopes, and of his ever-evolving legacy, which more than six decades after his death still ensures his place as India’s social conscience—and not just India’s.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307389952
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 450
Book Description
A highly original, stirring book on Mahatma Gandhi that deepens our sense of his achievements and disappointments—his success in seizing India’s imagination and shaping its independence struggle as a mass movement, his recognition late in life that few of his followers paid more than lip service to his ambitious goals of social justice for the country’s minorities, outcasts, and rural poor. “A revelation. . . . Lelyveld has restored human depth to the Mahatma.”—Hari Kunzru, The New York Times Pulitzer Prize–winner Joseph Lelyveld shows in vivid, unmatched detail how Gandhi’s sense of mission, social values, and philosophy of nonviolent resistance were shaped on another subcontinent—during two decades in South Africa—and then tested by an India that quickly learned to revere him as a Mahatma, or “Great Soul,” while following him only a small part of the way to the social transformation he envisioned. The man himself emerges as one of history’s most remarkable self-creations, a prosperous lawyer who became an ascetic in a loincloth wholly dedicated to political and social action. Lelyveld leads us step-by-step through the heroic—and tragic—last months of this selfless leader’s long campaign when his nonviolent efforts culminated in the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan, and a bloodbath of ethnic cleansing that ended only with his own assassination. India and its politicians were ready to place Gandhi on a pedestal as “Father of the Nation” but were less inclined to embrace his teachings. Muslim support, crucial in his rise to leadership, soon waned, and the oppressed untouchables—for whom Gandhi spoke to Hindus as a whole—produced their own leaders. Here is a vital, brilliant reconsideration of Gandhi’s extraordinary struggles on two continents, of his fierce but, finally, unfulfilled hopes, and of his ever-evolving legacy, which more than six decades after his death still ensures his place as India’s social conscience—and not just India’s.
Non-Violent Resistance
Author: M. K. Gandhi
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486121909
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 418
Book Description
DIVFine explanation of civil disobedience shows how great pacifist used non-violent philosophy to lead India to independence. Self-discipline, fasting, social boycotts, strikes, other techniques. /div
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486121909
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 418
Book Description
DIVFine explanation of civil disobedience shows how great pacifist used non-violent philosophy to lead India to independence. Self-discipline, fasting, social boycotts, strikes, other techniques. /div
Gandhi's Spinning Wheel and the Making of India
Author: Rebecca Brown
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136978496
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was one of the most significant unifying elements of the nationalist movement in India. Spinning was seen as an economic and political activity that could bring together the diverse population of South Asia, and allow the formerly elite nationalist movement to connect to the broader Indian population. This book looks at the politics of spinning both as a visual symbol and as a symbolic practice. It traces the genealogy of spinning from its early colonial manifestations in Company painting to its appropriation by the anti-colonial movement. This complex of visual imagery and performative ritual had the potential to overcome labour, gender, and religious divisions and thereby produce an accessible and effective symbol for the Gandhian anti-colonial movement. By thoroughly examining all aspects of this symbol’s deployment, this book unpacks the politics of the spinning wheel and provides a model for the analysis of political symbols elsewhere. It also probes the successes of India’s particular anti-colonial movement, making an invaluable contribution to studies in social and cultural history, as well as South Asian Studies.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136978496
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
Gandhi’s use of the spinning wheel was one of the most significant unifying elements of the nationalist movement in India. Spinning was seen as an economic and political activity that could bring together the diverse population of South Asia, and allow the formerly elite nationalist movement to connect to the broader Indian population. This book looks at the politics of spinning both as a visual symbol and as a symbolic practice. It traces the genealogy of spinning from its early colonial manifestations in Company painting to its appropriation by the anti-colonial movement. This complex of visual imagery and performative ritual had the potential to overcome labour, gender, and religious divisions and thereby produce an accessible and effective symbol for the Gandhian anti-colonial movement. By thoroughly examining all aspects of this symbol’s deployment, this book unpacks the politics of the spinning wheel and provides a model for the analysis of political symbols elsewhere. It also probes the successes of India’s particular anti-colonial movement, making an invaluable contribution to studies in social and cultural history, as well as South Asian Studies.
Revisiting Gandhi: Legacies For World Peace And National Integration
Author: Swaran Singh
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811240108
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 309
Book Description
This book interrogates several strands of Gandhian design, articulations, methods and ideals, through five sections. These include Theoretical Perspectives, Peace and World Order, Revolutionary Experiments, National Integration and Gandhi in Chinese Discourses. The authors seek to provide answers to questions as: Were Gandhian ideas utopian? What is the contemporary relevance of Gandhi? Do his ideas share convergence with theory in world politics and international relations? What was his role in forging national integration? How did his ideologies and experiments with truth resonate with countries as China?The writings also underline that being averse to individualism, for Gandhi it was the realm of societal interests which were significant, encompassing the good of humanity, dignity of labor and village-centric development. Development paradigms and health related challenges are articulated in the book to underline the significance of Gandhi's vision of 'Leave no one behind' to create an egalitarian society with respect and tolerance. The book presents the essential humility and simplicity of Gandhi.This book is a must read for those who seek to understand Gandhi in a way that is candid and inclusive. It's a book that conceals nothing and does not shy away from presenting debates on Gandhi. Moreover, it is a factual account, with contributors having relied extensively on archival materials, essays and an extensive review of literature. Hence, the book is replete with pertinent documentation and scholarship and makes a significant value-addition in the literature on Gandhi.
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811240108
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 309
Book Description
This book interrogates several strands of Gandhian design, articulations, methods and ideals, through five sections. These include Theoretical Perspectives, Peace and World Order, Revolutionary Experiments, National Integration and Gandhi in Chinese Discourses. The authors seek to provide answers to questions as: Were Gandhian ideas utopian? What is the contemporary relevance of Gandhi? Do his ideas share convergence with theory in world politics and international relations? What was his role in forging national integration? How did his ideologies and experiments with truth resonate with countries as China?The writings also underline that being averse to individualism, for Gandhi it was the realm of societal interests which were significant, encompassing the good of humanity, dignity of labor and village-centric development. Development paradigms and health related challenges are articulated in the book to underline the significance of Gandhi's vision of 'Leave no one behind' to create an egalitarian society with respect and tolerance. The book presents the essential humility and simplicity of Gandhi.This book is a must read for those who seek to understand Gandhi in a way that is candid and inclusive. It's a book that conceals nothing and does not shy away from presenting debates on Gandhi. Moreover, it is a factual account, with contributors having relied extensively on archival materials, essays and an extensive review of literature. Hence, the book is replete with pertinent documentation and scholarship and makes a significant value-addition in the literature on Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi
Author: Dennis Dalton
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231530390
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
Dennis Dalton's classic account of Gandhi's political and intellectual development focuses on the leader's two signal triumphs: the civil disobedience movement (or salt satyagraha) of 1930 and the Calcutta fast of 1947. Dalton clearly demonstrates how Gandhi's lifelong career in national politics gave him the opportunity to develop and refine his ideals. He then concludes with a comparison of Gandhi's methods and the strategies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, drawing a fascinating juxtaposition that enriches the biography of all three figures and asserts Gandhi's relevance to the study of race and political leadership in America. Dalton situates Gandhi within the "clash of civilizations" debate, identifying the implications of his work on continuing nonviolent protests. He also extensively reviews Gandhian studies and adds a detailed chronology of events in Gandhi's life.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231530390
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
Dennis Dalton's classic account of Gandhi's political and intellectual development focuses on the leader's two signal triumphs: the civil disobedience movement (or salt satyagraha) of 1930 and the Calcutta fast of 1947. Dalton clearly demonstrates how Gandhi's lifelong career in national politics gave him the opportunity to develop and refine his ideals. He then concludes with a comparison of Gandhi's methods and the strategies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, drawing a fascinating juxtaposition that enriches the biography of all three figures and asserts Gandhi's relevance to the study of race and political leadership in America. Dalton situates Gandhi within the "clash of civilizations" debate, identifying the implications of his work on continuing nonviolent protests. He also extensively reviews Gandhian studies and adds a detailed chronology of events in Gandhi's life.
Gandhi for Kids
Author: Ellen Mahoney
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613731256
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
With his wire-rimmed glasses, homespun cloths, and walking stick, Mohandas Gandhi is an international symbol of nonviolence, freedom, simplicity, and peace. Tracing Gandhi's evolution from a shy boy in India to a courageous, world-traveling spiritual and political leader who worked tirelessly to help India achieve independence from England, Gandhi for Kids will inspire young readers to make connections between his ideas and contemporary issues such as bullying and conflict resolution, healthful eating from local sources, civil rights and diversity, the "reduce, reuse, recycle" movement, and more. Kids learn about Gandhi's important impact on the lives and work of Martin Luther King Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Malala Yousafzai, and other modern heroes, yet come to understand that he was also a complex man who struggled with personal conflicts, disappointments, and idiosyncracies. Packed with historic images, informative sidebars, a time line, glossary, resource section, and 21 creative activities that illuminate Gandhi's life, ideas, and environment, Gandhi for Kids is an indispensable resource for a new generation of change makers. Kids can: make a traditional Indian lamp called a diya; practice anti-consumerism or vegetarianism for a day; create a henna hand design; learn some basic yoga poses; and much more.
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613731256
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
With his wire-rimmed glasses, homespun cloths, and walking stick, Mohandas Gandhi is an international symbol of nonviolence, freedom, simplicity, and peace. Tracing Gandhi's evolution from a shy boy in India to a courageous, world-traveling spiritual and political leader who worked tirelessly to help India achieve independence from England, Gandhi for Kids will inspire young readers to make connections between his ideas and contemporary issues such as bullying and conflict resolution, healthful eating from local sources, civil rights and diversity, the "reduce, reuse, recycle" movement, and more. Kids learn about Gandhi's important impact on the lives and work of Martin Luther King Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Malala Yousafzai, and other modern heroes, yet come to understand that he was also a complex man who struggled with personal conflicts, disappointments, and idiosyncracies. Packed with historic images, informative sidebars, a time line, glossary, resource section, and 21 creative activities that illuminate Gandhi's life, ideas, and environment, Gandhi for Kids is an indispensable resource for a new generation of change makers. Kids can: make a traditional Indian lamp called a diya; practice anti-consumerism or vegetarianism for a day; create a henna hand design; learn some basic yoga poses; and much more.
Prejudice, Discrimination and Racism against Africans and Siddhis in India
Author: Ibrahima Diallo
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527549151
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149
Book Description
Africa and India have a long history of people-to-people contact, as well as cultural, educational and economic exchanges based on mutual interests. They also share imperial and post-imperial experiences. The longstanding relations between the two continents experienced a new twist and a giant leap forward following the Africa-India summit in 2008. However, recently a series of violent incidents against the growing sub-Saharan African communities in India has taken centre stage and made global news headlines: the Indian and international media have portrayed violent and deadly assaults on sub-Saharan Africans in India as prejudice, discrimination, and racism. This book provides a collection of studies that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Blackness in India with a special focus on the lived experiences of sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis (Afro-Indians). In addition, the topics in this volume cover ideological, cultural, and linguistic affinities between Africa and India. The volume is divided into four parts of two chapters each: the first two chapters introduce the focus of the book on sub-Saharan Africans living in India. These are followed by two contributions that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Africans and Siddhis. Two further essays theorise prejudice and racism in India and the ways they are experienced by sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis. The final two chapters of the book explore ideological, linguistic, and cultural affinities between India and Africa. The volume also features contributions by two prominent Africanists. The Foreword is written by Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, the Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. Professor Diagne was awarded the Edouard Glissant Prize for his work in 2011 and the Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The Afterword is authored by Professor Aparajita Biswas, the former Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai and the current President of the African Studies Association of India. Professor Biswas is one of India’s most respected Africanists with an extensive publication record on African topics and numerous teaching, research and fellowship positions in universities across the world.
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527549151
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149
Book Description
Africa and India have a long history of people-to-people contact, as well as cultural, educational and economic exchanges based on mutual interests. They also share imperial and post-imperial experiences. The longstanding relations between the two continents experienced a new twist and a giant leap forward following the Africa-India summit in 2008. However, recently a series of violent incidents against the growing sub-Saharan African communities in India has taken centre stage and made global news headlines: the Indian and international media have portrayed violent and deadly assaults on sub-Saharan Africans in India as prejudice, discrimination, and racism. This book provides a collection of studies that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Blackness in India with a special focus on the lived experiences of sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis (Afro-Indians). In addition, the topics in this volume cover ideological, cultural, and linguistic affinities between Africa and India. The volume is divided into four parts of two chapters each: the first two chapters introduce the focus of the book on sub-Saharan Africans living in India. These are followed by two contributions that examine prejudice, discrimination, and racism towards Africans and Siddhis. Two further essays theorise prejudice and racism in India and the ways they are experienced by sub-Saharan Africans and Siddhis. The final two chapters of the book explore ideological, linguistic, and cultural affinities between India and Africa. The volume also features contributions by two prominent Africanists. The Foreword is written by Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, the Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. Professor Diagne was awarded the Edouard Glissant Prize for his work in 2011 and the Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. The Afterword is authored by Professor Aparajita Biswas, the former Director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai and the current President of the African Studies Association of India. Professor Biswas is one of India’s most respected Africanists with an extensive publication record on African topics and numerous teaching, research and fellowship positions in universities across the world.
Gandhi Before India
Author: Ramachandra Guha
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 038553230X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 544
Book Description
Here is the first volume of a magisterial biography of Mohandas Gandhi that gives us the most illuminating portrait we have had of the life, the work and the historical context of one of the most abidingly influential—and controversial—men in modern history. Ramachandra Guha—hailed by Time as “Indian democracy’s preeminent chronicler”—takes us from Gandhi’s birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi’s contemporaries and co-workers; contemporary newspapers and court documents; the writings of Gandhi’s children; and secret files kept by British Empire functionaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: “Great Soul.” And, more clearly than ever before, he elucidates how Gandhi’s work in South Africa—far from being a mere prelude to his accomplishments in India—was profoundly influential in his evolution as a family man, political thinker, social reformer and, ultimately, beloved leader. In 1893, when Gandhi set sail for South Africa, he was a twenty-three-year-old lawyer who had failed to establish himself in India. In this remarkable biography, the author makes clear the fundamental ways in which Gandhi’s ideas were shaped before his return to India in 1915. It was during his years in England and South Africa, Guha shows us, that Gandhi came to understand the nature of imperialism and racism; and in South Africa that he forged the philosophy and techniques that would undermine and eventually overthrow the British Raj. Gandhi Before India gives us equally vivid portraits of the man and the world he lived in: a world of sharp contrasts among the coastal culture of his birthplace, High Victorian London, and colonial South Africa. It explores in abundant detail Gandhi’s experiments with dissident cults such as the Tolstoyans; his friendships with radical Jews, heterodox Christians and devout Muslims; his enmities and rivalries; and his often overlooked failures as a husband and father. It tells the dramatic, profoundly moving story of how Gandhi inspired the devotion of thousands of followers in South Africa as he mobilized a cross-class and inter-religious coalition, pledged to non-violence in their battle against a brutally racist regime. Researched with unequaled depth and breadth, and written with extraordinary grace and clarity, Gandhi Before India is, on every level, fully commensurate with its subject. It will radically alter our understanding and appreciation of twentieth-century India’s greatest man.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 038553230X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 544
Book Description
Here is the first volume of a magisterial biography of Mohandas Gandhi that gives us the most illuminating portrait we have had of the life, the work and the historical context of one of the most abidingly influential—and controversial—men in modern history. Ramachandra Guha—hailed by Time as “Indian democracy’s preeminent chronicler”—takes us from Gandhi’s birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi’s contemporaries and co-workers; contemporary newspapers and court documents; the writings of Gandhi’s children; and secret files kept by British Empire functionaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: “Great Soul.” And, more clearly than ever before, he elucidates how Gandhi’s work in South Africa—far from being a mere prelude to his accomplishments in India—was profoundly influential in his evolution as a family man, political thinker, social reformer and, ultimately, beloved leader. In 1893, when Gandhi set sail for South Africa, he was a twenty-three-year-old lawyer who had failed to establish himself in India. In this remarkable biography, the author makes clear the fundamental ways in which Gandhi’s ideas were shaped before his return to India in 1915. It was during his years in England and South Africa, Guha shows us, that Gandhi came to understand the nature of imperialism and racism; and in South Africa that he forged the philosophy and techniques that would undermine and eventually overthrow the British Raj. Gandhi Before India gives us equally vivid portraits of the man and the world he lived in: a world of sharp contrasts among the coastal culture of his birthplace, High Victorian London, and colonial South Africa. It explores in abundant detail Gandhi’s experiments with dissident cults such as the Tolstoyans; his friendships with radical Jews, heterodox Christians and devout Muslims; his enmities and rivalries; and his often overlooked failures as a husband and father. It tells the dramatic, profoundly moving story of how Gandhi inspired the devotion of thousands of followers in South Africa as he mobilized a cross-class and inter-religious coalition, pledged to non-violence in their battle against a brutally racist regime. Researched with unequaled depth and breadth, and written with extraordinary grace and clarity, Gandhi Before India is, on every level, fully commensurate with its subject. It will radically alter our understanding and appreciation of twentieth-century India’s greatest man.