Mohandas Ghandi

Satyagraha.   Meaning "force or firmness of truth, Mohandas Gandhi worked and lived by this word.   By peaceful, non-violent demonstrations he little by little took hold of the people of India's love and honor and freed them from British rule.   This is his story:


    On October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India, a region of Queen Victoria, Mohandas Gandhi was born to Kaba Gandhi and his wife. Although his father, Kaba, was the chief Minister for the Maharaja of Porbandar, he and his family lived in a small house and belonged to a Hindu caste of merchants called "banjas."   As he grew, Mohandas became a small, shy and skinny boy, afraid of others' opinions.   He never spoke out, but although he was never a clever child, others were


surprised by his gentleness.   At the age of thirteen, he was married to Kastaurbai, a pretty yet strongwilled girl of the same caste.   He would now live with his wife,


instead of his mother and father whom he had cared for for so long.   Before this, Mohandas had told lies, had smoked, and had eaten meat, which was strictly forbidden of Hindus. Now, suddenly, he felt guilty and that he had hurt himself and in some ways those who he cared for.   So, in desperation, he told his father, and they cried together.   One year later Kaba Gandhi died.   Mohandas was sixteen.


    At eighteen he traveled to England to study law and secretly to


see for himself what made the English so powerful.   He enrolled in a


college of law but quit after one term.   He felt that he didn't fit


in, so he studied the " Standard Elocutionist" for use and knowledge


of proper ettiquitte.   After a while he quit this also because he saw


no use anymore.   Quitting became a popular theme in his early life.


Sometimes he quit because he was bored with something and just grew


out of it, or sometimes when he just couldn't accomplish anything.


For example, he took English dancing and violin lessons to become...