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Message: <blockquote data-quote="G.D.1.nirmal" data-source="post: 11519288" data-attributes="member: 80976"> Early life and background  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birth_place_of_Mahatma_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Birth_place_of_Mahatma_Gandhi.jpg/180px-Birth_place_of_Mahatma_Gandhi.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Birth_place_of_Mahatma_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirti_Mandir,_Porbandar" target="_blank">Kirti Mandir, Porbandar</a>, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi.    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Young_Gandhi.jpg/170px-Young_Gandhi.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Gandhi.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> A young Gandhi, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa" target="_blank">c.</a> 1876   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-3" target="_blank">[4]</a> was born on 2 October 1869 in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porbandar" target="_blank">Porbandar</a>, a coastal town which was then part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Presidency" target="_blank">Bombay Presidency</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj" target="_blank">British India</a>. He was born in his ancestral home, now known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirti_Mandir,_Porbandar" target="_blank">Kirti Mandir</a>, Porbandar. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), who belonged to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank">Hindu</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modh" target="_blank">Modh</a> community, served as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwan_%28title%29" target="_blank">diwan</a> (a high official) of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porbandar" target="_blank">Porbander state</a>, a small <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state" target="_blank">princely state</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathiawar_Agency" target="_blank">Kathiawar Agency</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj" target="_blank">British India</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-fischer1954-4" target="_blank">[5]</a> His grandfather was Uttamchand Gandhi, fondly called Utta Gandhi. His mother, Putlibai, who came from the Hindu <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranami" target="_blank">Pranami</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnava" target="_blank">Vaishnava</a> community, was Karamchand's fourth wife, the first three wives having apparently died in childbirth.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a> Growing up with a devout mother and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism" target="_blank">Jain</a>  traditions of the region, the young Mohandas absorbed early the  influences that would play an important role in his adult life; these  included compassion for sentient beings, vegetarianism, fasting for  self-purification, and mutual tolerance among individuals of different  creeds.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-6" target="_blank">[7]</a> The Indian classics, especially the stories of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shravan#In_Hindu_epics" target="_blank">Shravana</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harishchandra" target="_blank">Maharaja Harishchandra</a>,  had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, he  admits that it left an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It  haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without  number." Gandhi's early self-identification with Truth and Love as  supreme values is traceable to these epic characters.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-7" target="_blank">[8]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-8" target="_blank">[9]</a> In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasturba_Gandhi" target="_blank">Kasturbai Makhanji</a> (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to "Ba") in an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage" target="_blank">arranged child marriage</a>, according to the custom of the region.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-autobio-wedding-9" target="_blank">[10]</a>  Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As we didn't know  much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating  sweets and playing with relatives." However, as was also the custom of  the region, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents'  house, and away from her husband.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-10" target="_blank">[11]</a>  In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's first child was born, but  survived only a few days, and Gandhi's father, Karamchand Gandhi, had  died earlier that year.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-11" target="_blank">[12]</a> Mohandas and Kasturba had four more children, all sons: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harilal_Gandhi" target="_blank">Harilal</a>, born in 1888; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manilal_Gandhi" target="_blank">Manilal</a>, born in 1892; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdas_Gandhi" target="_blank">Ramdas</a>, born in 1897; and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devdas_Gandhi" target="_blank">Devdas</a>, born in 1900. At his middle school in Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi remained an average student. He passed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriculation" target="_blank">matriculation exam</a> for Samaldas College at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavnagar" target="_blank">Bhavnagar</a>, Gujarat, with some difficulty. While there, he was unhappy, in part because his family wanted him to become a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrister" target="_blank">barrister</a>.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_and_Kasturbhai_1902.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Gandhi_and_Kasturbhai_1902.jpg/220px-Gandhi_and_Kasturbhai_1902.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_and_Kasturbhai_1902.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> Gandhi and his wife <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasturba_Gandhi" target="_blank">Kasturba</a> (1902)   On 4 September 1888, Gandhi travelled to London, England, to study law at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_London" target="_blank">University College London</a> where he studied Indian law and jurisprudence<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-autogenerated155-0" target="_blank">[1]</a> and to train as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrister" target="_blank">barrister</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple" target="_blank">Inner Temple</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-12" target="_blank">[13]</a>  His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he  had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharji, upon  leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat,  alcohol, and promiscuity.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a>  Although Gandhi experimented with adopting "English" customs—taking  dancing lessons for example—he could not stomach the bland vegetarian  food offered by his landlady, and he was always hungry until he found  one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stephens_Salt" target="_blank">Salt's</a> book, he joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_Society" target="_blank">Vegetarian Society</a>, was elected to its executive committee,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a> and started a local Bayswater chapter.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a> Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophical_Society" target="_blank">Theosophical Society</a>, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist" target="_blank">Buddhist</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" target="_blank">Hindu</a> literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita" target="_blank">Bhagavad Gita</a> both in translation as well as in the original.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a> Not having shown interest in religion before, he became interested in religious thought and began to read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" target="_blank">Hindu</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic" target="_blank">Muslim</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-Johnson-14" target="_blank">[15]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-Gandhi-15" target="_blank">[16]</a> and Christian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripture" target="_blank">scriptures</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a> Gandhi was called to the bar on 10 June 1891. Two days later, he left London for India,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a> where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept the news from him.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a> His attempts at establishing a law practice in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay" target="_blank">Bombay</a> failed and, later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher, he ended up returning to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajkot" target="_blank">Rajkot</a>  to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, a business he  was forced to close when he ran afoul of a British officer. In his  autobiography, Gandhi refers to this incident as an unsuccessful attempt  to lobby on behalf of his older brother.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-brown-13" target="_blank">[14]</a>  It was in this climate that, in April 1893, he accepted a year-long  contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian firm, to a post in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Natal" target="_blank">Colony of Natal</a>, South Africa, then part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire" target="_blank">British Empire</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-tendulkar-5" target="_blank">[6]</a>  Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893–1914) Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi_in_South_Africa" target="_blank">Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa</a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_South-Africa.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Gandhi_South-Africa.jpg/220px-Gandhi_South-Africa.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_South-Africa.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> Gandhi in South Africa (1895)   In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietermaritzburg" target="_blank">Pietermaritzburg</a> after refusing to move from the first-class to a third-class coach while holding a valid first-class ticket.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-essential-16" target="_blank">[17]</a> Travelling farther on by stagecoach, he was beaten by a driver for refusing to move to make room for a European passenger.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-17" target="_blank">[18]</a>  He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being  barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durban" target="_blank">Durban</a> court ordered Gandhi to remove his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban" target="_blank">turban</a>, which he refused to do.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi#cite_note-18" target="_blank">[19]</a>  These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life: they shaped his  social activism and awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing  racism, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prejudice" target="_blank">prejudice</a> and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to question his place in society and his people's standing in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire" target="_blank">British Empire</a>.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_Boer_War_1899.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Gandhi_Boer_War_1899.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_Boer_War_1899.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> M.K. Gandhi while serving in the Ambulance Corps during the Boer War (1899)</blockquote>

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