Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Gandhi's campaign of nonviolent civil resistance to British rule of India led to India’s independence in 1947. A member of the merchant caste, Mohandas K. Gandhi, later called Mahatma (Sanskrit for “great soul”), studied law in London. As a lawyer, and later as a political activist, he effectively fought discrimination with his principles of truth, nonviolence, and courage.

Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and meditation. His union with his wife became, as he himself stated, that of brother and sister. Refusing earthly possessions, he wore the loincloth and shawl of the lowliest Indian and subsisted on vegetables, fruit juices, and goat's milk.

Indians revered him as a saint and began to call him Mahatma (Sanskrit, “great soul”), a title reserved for the greatest sages. Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolence, known as ahimsa (Sanskrit, “noninjury”), was the expression of a way of life implicit in the Hindu religion. By the Indian practice of nonviolence, Gandhi held, Britain too would eventually consider violence useless and would leave India.

Gandhi's death was regarded as an international catastrophe. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set aside in the United Nations General Assembly, and condolences to India were expressed by all countries.

Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan, and the teachings of Gandhi came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in the U.S. under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

甘地

甘地(1869-1948)，印度現(xiàn)代民族解放運動的著名領(lǐng)袖，現(xiàn)代民族資產(chǎn)階級政治學(xué)說——甘地主義的創(chuàng)始人。他從小就熟讀印度教經(jīng)典，把“逢惡報以善，用德報以怨”作為自己的處世格言。1887 年，他進入薩馬達爾斯學(xué)院，同年到倫敦大學(xué)攻讀法學(xué)，四年后學(xué)成歸國，先后在孟買、拉杰科特?fù)?dān)任律師。

1893 年4月，甘地為處理一起債務(wù)糾紛來到南非，在那里參加了當(dāng)?shù)胤磳ΨN族歧視、爭取平等權(quán)利的斗爭。在南非的21 年中，他把印度教毗濕奴派的仁愛、素食、不殺生主張同《圣經(jīng)》、《古蘭經(jīng)》中的仁愛思想結(jié)合起來，并受梭倫、托爾斯泰、魯斯金著作的影響，最終形成了一整套非暴力主義的理論。在這一思想指導(dǎo)下，他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)在南非的印度僑民展開反對禁止印度向南非移民的“黑色法案”和《亞洲人登記條例》的斗爭，其間，他曾三次被捕入獄，但最終迫使官方作出了讓步，非暴力運動取得了初步勝利。

甘地的偉大人格幾乎是舉世公認(rèn)。他具有赤誠的愛國熱誠，崇高的犧牲精神，追求真理的執(zhí)著信念;堅強的意志，堅韌的耐心，隨機應(yīng)變的本領(lǐng);他待人謙恭、誠實、光明磊落，不分貴賤善惡一視同仁，沒有種族歧視和宗教偏見;他注重實際，反對空談;他關(guān)心下層人民疾苦，善于體察民情并始終與人民群眾打成一片;他生活清苦，安貧樂道;他尊重女性，提倡人的精神完善和社會和諧;他的道德修養(yǎng)堪稱楷模。正因為如此，甘地這位身材矮小、其貌不揚的東方人博得了不同民族、信仰和階級的人的景仰和愛戴。