The Life and Work of Mahatma Gandhi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Life and Work of Mahatma Gandhi - Essay Example These three aspects are his contribution to the social justice against apartheid in South Africa, the leadership of the non-violent freedom struggle in India and his principled life that finally led to his assassination in 1948. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was to go on and become Mahatma Gandhi, was born in at Porbandar, in the state of Gujarat in India on October 2, 1869. He reached the shores of Africa in 1893 after completing his education to become a lawyer. South Africa in those days was steeped in racial discrimination of the Europeans consisting of the white population. The discriminated population consisted of the native Africans, the coloured people of mixed race and the Asians, which were mostly Indians. Any non-white person in South Africa faced prejudice in every aspect of social activity because of the colour of his skin and it was into this environment that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stepped into. Gandhiji was to spend nearly twenty-one years of his life in South Africa as an attorney and a public worker. He considered himself as much as a South African as he did that he was an Indian. It was in this foster motherland that Gandhiji realized his vocation in life, in the service of his countrymen and mankind. It was during his stay and work in South Africa that his philosophy of life was to take shape and so too with his attitude to the social problems being witnessed in India. South Africa was where he introduced the unique and non-violent protest form of Satyagraha. Gandhiji was to bring about unity in the Indian community in South Africa and then use this united strength to oppose the policy of racial segregation in all spheres of social activity that was practised in those times in South Africa. The road to unity was not easy, but Gandhi persisted with his efforts and his perseverance bore fruit. His attempts to win concessions from the ruling white community met with very limited success.