Mahatma Gandhi $1.69 AUD
Category: People & Places
On 30 January, 1948, a small, peaceful man aged 78 was shot dead while holding a prayer meeting in Delhi, India. What made this man’s death global news was the extraordinary life that had preceded it. The world gasped in shock that the man who had brought India her independence had been killed; that a man who had proven to be one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century was dead. This man was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Born on 2 October 1869 in Porbunder, western India, he was married at the tender age of 13 to a girl named Kasturba. His wife was a constant supporter of her husband throughout his struggle to gain India her independence from the British Empire.
On completing school in India, Gandhi travelled to England to study law at University College London. It was during this stage of his life that his love of philosophy blossomed. Gandhi was a Hindu and was familiar with the sacred text of the Gita. But he also familiarised himself with the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, as well as Christianity’s Old and New Testaments. After law school, Gandhi returned to India in 1891 and attempted to start a legal practice in Mumbai. His plans failed, but Gandhi ended up accepting a year-long contract with an Indian law firm to a post in the Colony of Natal in South Africa. This trip would provide a major turning point in his life.
