E.2. Facts About Gandhi
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Date and Place of Birth |
Oct. 2, 1869 and Porbandar, Gujarat. Note: His birthday, 2 October is commemorated in India as ‘Gandhi Jayanti’, a national holiday, and worldwide as the ‘International Day of Non-Violence’ (Antarrashtriya Ahimsa Diwas) according to the declaration of UNO. |
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Father |
Karamachand Gandhi |
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Mother |
Putali Bai |
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Spiritual Guru |
Raichand Bhai |
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Political Guru |
Gopal Krishna Gokhale |
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Private Secretary |
Mahadev Desai (1917-42), Pyarelal Nayyar (1942-48) |
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Literary Influences on Gandhi |
Henry Salt’s ‘Plea for Vegetarianism’, John Ruskin’s Unto This Last, Emerson, Thoreau’s ‘On the Duty of Civil Disobedience’, Leo Tolstoy’s ‘The Kingdom of God is within You’, the Bible and the Gita. |
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Literary Works |
‘Guide to London’ in English (Written in 1893 but published posthumously), Sarvoday (1908)— translation of ‘Unto this last’ in Gujarati, Hind Swaraj in Gujarati (January 1910, English translation of Hind Swaraj-‘Indian Home Rule’, March 1910), Satyana Prayogo Athawa Atmakatha-inGujarati(1929,English Translation by Mahadev Desai-My Experiments with Truth or Autobiography, 1929; Hindi Translation-Satya ke Prayog Athawa Atmakatha, 1929)-reveals events of Gandhi’s life upto 1921. Songs from Prison (1934, translation of Indian lyrics made in jail). |
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As an Editor: Indian Opinion |
1903-15 (in English and Gujarati for a short period in Hindi and Tamil), Harijan : 1919-31 (in English, Gujarati and Hindi), Young India : 1933-42 (in English and Gujarati-name Navjeevan) |
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Other Names |
Mahan Mahatma (Great Saint)-by Pranjivan Mehta, 1909; Mahatma (high-souled, Saint)-by Rabindranath Tagore, 1917; Malang Baba/Nanga Fakir (Naked Saint)-by Kabailis of North-West Frontier, 1930; Half-naked Sain t (Ardha Nanga Fakir)/ Indian Fakir / Traitor Fair-by Winston Churchill, 1931; Rashtrapita (the Father of the Nation-by Subhash Chandra Bose, 1944. He is also called ‘Bapu’ (Gujarati: term of endearment for ‘father’) and ‘Gandhiji’. |
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Biography of Gandhi |
‘M.K. Gandhi: An Indian Patriot in South Africa’-Joseph J. Doke (Published in 1909, The First Biography of Mahatma Gandhi), ‘The Life of Mahatma Gandhi’-Louis Fischer (Published in 1950, The First Full Biography of Mahatma Gandhi); Gandhi Before India (2013) & Gandhi the years that changed the world (2018)-Ramchandra Guha. |