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Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to prove Mahatma Gandhi’s greatness, which exists in our life. His name will not disappear in the history of the twentieth century. I wanted to emphasise that history is about individuals as well as large groups of people. It is not a biography but of course there are few details from Gandhi’s life which are connected with his characterisation.

The process of his characterisation starts with my experiences in connection with a film about Gandhi and a survey, which was made among the students of the grammar school in Apáczai Nevelési Központ.

Then there is a short visual portrait of him, which is followed by his rich features. I defined basic Gandhian ideas like 'Satyagraha' and his row the 'Brahmacharya'. I touched on such topics, which played an important role in Gandhi’s life like God and Truth, religious questions and the concept of death.

The third part of my essay deals with Gandhi’s relationships with the crowd, with his wife and family and with his main political or religious leaders like Nehru and Jinnah.
I have chosen Mahatma Gandhi because his puritan life and his simple informality are fascinating to me.

Chapter 1
- My experiences from the film about Mahatma Gandhi
- Survey

I saw a film about Gandhi 13-14 years ago. This was the first occasion when I was acquainted with his name and got some information about people’s life, various religious customs and political movements in India.

Why was Gandhi’s figure so fascinating? It would be difficult to answer, but at that time I was charmed by him. It was not because of his appearance but his behaviour and decisions, which did not interfere with anybody’s interests. I did not understand the difficult political activities and the complicated religious movements but I was unable to stop watching the film and I was unable to withstand crying at the end of the story. Those things were unexplainable to me.
There were several things, which impressed me and I am able to remember those thing even now. What were those things? His puritan behaviour among simple folk, when he cleaned the toilet in spite of the fact that he was originated from the high caste - Brahma. Gandhi’s clever decisions solved several bloody movements such as the Hindu-Muslims religious war in which people killed each other without any purposes. His persistence, which attracted many people when he went to make salt from the sea it thrilled me, but I was really angry with him and could not understand how he could forgive his murderer.

When I saw Gandhi’s photo in any newspaper I definitely read the article. It happened to me when I studied the Newsweek in March. The article was about "How India’s once puritan leaders fell prey to corruption and big-money politics". It means that the Indian democracy has come a long way from the freedom movement, which was associated with Gandhi and now the politicians are corrupt who offended their political morality.

In connection with my own experiences and the article about Gandhi the survey, which I made at the grammar school of Apáczai Nevelési Központ caused me a great surprise. Why don’t they know much about Gandhi? The questions of the survey were simple:

What do you know about Mahatma Gandhi?
Is it suitable to call him a 'hero'? If 'yes' in which consideration?

According to the students’ answers I did three groups in connection with Gandhi.
a) The first group did not know anything about him. The only thing they have heard it was his name.
b) The second group was able to give one or two pieces of information in connection with him. These were: "he was an Indian politician and famous". They mentioned the film about Gandhi but they had not seen it yet.
c) The third group gave the most information. Like "the famous ruler of India; organiser of a movement, who fought for piece, freedom and independence". He did not like aggressive solution for the problem. They gave few details about his appearance like: he wore glasses, he was short, thin and bold. Few students mentioned that Gandhi was killed with a knife.
Why do they know only few things about him? They have a good history book, they have many visual aids (video, TV…), they learn a lot about famous people. The reason could be their young age (15 years old) and they can be less sensitive than we were many years ago.

Chapter 2
Gandhi’s visual portrait and his voice

"Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." (Einstein on Gandhi) (Shirer: 1)

His figure was compared with the figure of Christ who walked upon this earth. It can be hardly imagined, that the average appearance short, thin dark skinned man could be compared with Jesus Christ.

I had seen many photographs of him but I was nevertheless somewhat surprised at his actual appearance after thorough examining his figure. His face at the first glance did not "convey at all the stature of the man and his obvious greatness". He was not that person who would have especially noticed in a crowd. His figure strikes us not as ugly, indeed his figure radiated a certain beauty. The Indian sun and the few years that he spent in prison left few visible marks on his body. Like humped back, turned nose, widened nostrils and the missing teeth. He became almost bold. His large ears spread out 'rabbit like'. His grey eyes lit up and sharpened when they peered at somebody. It is mentioned in several books that a lot of women "felt a strong sexuality in him". The reason for it was his 'sensual' mouth, which the "full, slightly protruding lower lip seemed to emphasise." A certain kind of sexual force emanating from Gandhi.

He seemed to be "terribly frail all his skin and bones though this appearance was deceptive". He kept a frugal but carefully planned diet that kept him fit. Such as fruit, vegetable and goat’s milk. He kept him fit and for exercise he walked four or five miles each morning.

Gandhi was clothed with his loincloth and an old blanket wrapped over his shoulders. He hardly looked like a statesman or a revolutionary in such a cloth. In spite of the chilly weather his clothes were almost the same. Besides his 'skinny' legs were bare, his feet were in his clumsy wooden sandals. Another surprising thing was his hands with his long nimble fingers. These fingers worked on a crude wheel of the spinning machine almost every day.

This Christ-like figure in a "homespun loincloth" was regarded like a saint by a lot of people. But this man being a human being was far from perfect in despite of his lively and attractive personality but he was the first who admitted it publicly. He was a man of many paradoxes and contradictions and he was a man who had a charm. This charm was the rarest used and most invisible of powers, which can be captured with a single glance. It is close to love in that is moves without force, like gifts. But this charm was disturbing to all who revered him, when he was in his last year of his life. At that time he was in his late seventies when he took a pretty young woman to his bed. He did it not only for bodily warmth against the chill of the winter night but to "test his ability".

Gandhi’s personal struggle with the problem of sex, of which he wrote and sometimes spoke originated from Brahmacharya. His vow caused him a lot of problems and it took him a long way to get free from the shackeers of lust and he had to pass through many ordeals before he could overcome it. To remain sexually pure was like walking on the 'sword’s edge'.

Gandhi’s voice was full of emotions. His voice seemed to be high-pitched, his words were spoken slowly, deliberately. He never read a speech or even spoke from notes. When he dictated his statement he seemed to be "both relaxed and sombre his voice was low and beautifully modulated, the words came out slowly but distinctly" (Shirer: 105).

Gandhi's virtue

His incommunicative reserved character dates back to his childhood. This fact is proved with that he hadn't got a lot of friends. He had only one close friend but it was because Gandhi wanted to persuade him to take the right way. But Gandhi because his shy personality got under the influence of his friend. He made mistakes, which caused eternal remorse for him. He ate meat, smoked, which was forbidden in his caste. His shy personality remained later and caused several problems in his life. For example he could hardly find any common topics in the big company because he was afraid of making mistakes in spoken English language and his bad pronunciation. He was afraid of his uneducated ability such as the incapacity to eat food with a fork and a knife.
On the other hand his strong will-power was presented in his childhood, too, when he dedicated to travel to London to study law. But on the eve of his departure in 1888 the leaders of his caste called him in and forbade the journey. The reason for it was the special rule of his caste, which prohibited voyages abroad. Gandhi refused to obey, which was enough for his excommunication. He took his final examination in Britain, which was more difficult to take than in India. Besides it he learnt two languages, Latin and French. When he returned from England three years later, Gandhi found that his closest relatives were forbidden to receive him in their homes even for a drink of water. These experiences led him to a broader view of the caste system than most Hindus held. This is why he has never sought readmission to his caste, and he has "never troubled by caste". Gandhi himself did not follow the Hindu customs. In his ashrams or on the road he shared the meal with "any and everybody" - Hindus of all castes, untouchables, Moslems, English Americans and Europeans.

He worked for changes in the caste system, which often threatened his Ahimsa or non-violent civil disobedience. India was always the country of different languages and the home of race of different religions. Most Indians were Hindus, Brahmins and Untouchables. The others were Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians. But the largest groups were the Hindus and Moslems. They were unable to settle their differences to join together for the sake of independence for India. Gandhi believed so he will solve this religious quarrel he thought that the problem is not the masses, but between their religious leaders. They cause the trouble and in this way they play right into the hands of the British. Gandhi seemed to be achieve his aim to unite the whole country and make real peace. This was the reason for his long journey to East Bengali, which he regarded a religious mission. He has been wondering through the country for six weeks and he has been working 16-20 hours a day. He tried to remove the confidence between the two religious groups. It seemed to be not a hopeless process, but it seemed to be slow and difficult. He devoted his life to the sake of solving these problems even with his self-sacrifice. He did hunger-strikes when he could not find a solution to the problem. Then the whole nation turned his attention to his suffering and stopped doing bloody religious struggle or violent war each-other.

Main Gandhian ideas

Gandhi started to deal with religious questions in London. He got his basic religious inspiration from the Christian, from Islam and from the Hindu religions. He read the New and the Old Testament, the Bhagavad Gita the Hindu's saintly book and the Koran. These religions have common moral standards, which served as a basis for Gandhi's theoretical and practical activities. For example the idea of Yajna or service is a central concept of the Bhagavad Gita. Or Gandhi called Satyagraha or "adherence to Truth or soul-force". The basic elements of this principle included Ahimsa, or non-violent passive resistance. Gandhi believed that India should be independent of Britain and he also believed that all people should love and respect each other. As a result he fought against the British without using violence. He disobeyed the British government in many ways, although he never harmed or hurt anyone. He asked Indians not to buy British-made cloth, not to pay the British tax on salt.

Gandhi believed in the triumph of truth over evil. He often talked about God who for him was nothing more than Truth. "There is no other God than Truth… Absolute Truth , which he equated with God." The Truth issued from the God so it is exclude revenge, devastation, murder and low instincts. And what did the religion mean for him? "To me religion means self-realisation or knowledge."

This can be one reason for calling him 'Mahatma', which means 'Great Soul' or 'Bapu' or Father. He lived among the poor and worked for them and he practised what he preached.

Chapter 3
Relationships with crowd, family and religious leaders

How did Gandhi get in touch with the crowd?
It happened first in South Africa, where he started to organise his movement. He was inspired with the Indians who lived in South Africa and suffered from the humiliation. It served the introduction of the three pound sterling tax. It was the first time when Gandhi acted against corruption for the sake of the public. He organised the "Natali Indian Congress" which was the form of his civil service non-violent war. He got in close contact with the crowd because he achieved results in the non-violence movement and because of his puritan way of life, his patient behaviour and his care for ill people. He put his soul into his work. It happened when he looked after a leprous and during the war of Zulu and Boer war. He organised a detachment from Indians and offered their help for the British army. He confessed that if they demand their rights from the British then they are bound to help them in the trouble.

Gandhi understood that communication is a "two-way phenomenon". He reached the masses, but they gave him back something that "bolstered his confidence and his determination" to continue the struggle to free them. The crowd's belief in him, their gathering by tens of thousands just to see him were spontaneous. The great crowds all over India felt the presence of the great leader. The poor peasants and villagers came not only to see him but to bring offerings. One of the writers asked him "How do you explain these crowds?". He answered "They want to see the man, they're told; goes around half-naked like themselves." (Shirer: 71).

Gandhi listened to peasants carefully and sympathetically to their complaints. Besides he tried to educate the poor about personal hygiene and paying attention to cleanness of their environment. It was important in every respect such as to avoid the spread of epidemic diseases and to receive the respect of Europe.

Gandhi had close contact with his parents and brothers. His mother was a religious person with a strong personality. This religious behaviour influenced Gandhi's personality. His oath to his mother before his journey was connected with their religious custom. He inherited his father's uprightness, his wisdom and his susceptibility to the news.

Gandhi's connection with his wife Kasturbai was unusual. Gandhi was very jealous of his wife, which he mentioned with irony. They quarrelled with each other but Gandhi admired his wife's strengths in spite of being illiterate. Kasturbai was often present, but silent. They rarely exchanged a word. Gandhi almost never addressed her, nor she him. There was a wide difference between them intellectually. There was no intellectual communication between them, no connection between their minds. Gandhi's world in which he moved and thought and acted was far from her. Despite they had a long marriage of 60 years, which was full of stormy periods. For example when she had to take refuge, or when his husband took his vow of brahmacharya (sexual abstinence) Gandhi tried to educate his wife and his whole family. He considered to be the most important for the 5 years in children's life. He directed his youngest child's delivery and taught him himself. Gandhi was despondent over his wife's death and this contributed to the further deterioration of his health. He thought that the injections of penicillin by the British (which could have saved his wife's life) would be a violent act in violation of his belief in non-violence.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the closest of all men to Gandhi though of "vastly different mold and outlook". Nehru’s westernisation cut him from much in his India that was dear to Gandhi. Modern civilisation, industrialisation was 'satanic' for Gandhi. They could not find common meeting ground on the value of the Bhagavad Gita. Nehru liked the poetry of the Gita and their general message but he did not care much for the 'metaphysical' part of the Gita. He could not share Gandhi's deep religious feelings and simple life. But he realised that Gandhi could be the only leader of the struggle for independence. Gandhi did not like socialism but according to Nehru he did not understand it. In spite of these differences they could work well together.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The Moslem leader - like Gandhi and Nehru - he also studied law in London. His personality was totally different from Gandhi's. He was Gandhi's only enemy who did not love and did not respect him. He was contemptuous of the poor. His aim was to create a separate Indian Islamic state as the only solution to the Hindu-Moslem problem. Gandhi was heartbroken that independence had been won at the cost of dividing India. "The failure, as Gandhi often said, was the greatest cross he ever bore." (Shirer: 101).

"I shall see India free! Before I die" (Shirer: 66). Gandhi who had no fear of anything - not even of death. He protested against the British government by starving to 'death'. He thought that if God has ordered his death by starvation then it will happen in this way. Godse, a fanatical Hindu killed Gandhi. The only thing which he cried out was "He Ram! (O God!)"

Gandhi was murdered not only by one of "his own people", an Indian, but one of "his own religion, a Hindu". He walked to his death in the garden of at Delhi from which so many myths have grown up around Gandhi since his death.

Nehru said after Gandhi's death, "heartbroken, fighting back the tears and the choking of his voice" on radio. "The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere." (Shirer: 230)

Conclusion

"Mahatma Gandhi will go down in history on a par with Buddha and Jesus Christ" (Shirer: 0)
Mahatma Gandhi became the hero of twentieth century as it was predicted. He worked, struggled, suffered for the whole of India. He devoted much of his life to freeing India and to solve the most difficult religious problems in his country. He was the founder of the non-violence resistance. He believed in God and he was to seek the Truth in his whole life. What supported him so magnificently? His puritan attractive appearance and his rich character. He was very optimistic. 'I do not see land in sight yet. But neither did Columbus, so it is said, until the last moment." (Shirer: 161)

I hope the next generation will remember his message and will not forget his greatness.