Gandhi

Question 1

Describe Gandhi’s early life

Answer 1

He was born to a vaishya family, raised as a hindu, but exposed to Jain ideas and Christianity. He was married at the age of only 13 and left India to study law in England aged 19.

Question 2

Describe his time in England

Answer 2

He studied law and joined the vegetarian society, he was introduced to the ideas of J.S.Mill, Jesus, Tolstoy, the Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament, he began to develop his ideas on non violence.

Question 3

Describe his time in South Africa

Answer 3

He first experienced discrimination and began to support swaraj and satyagraha. After being arrested after opposing a law nullifying Indian marriages, he got the law repealed and retuned to India in 1915.

Question 4

What were some of his main campaigns in India?

Answer 4

1. After organizing peaceful protests, a group of Sikhs was fired on by general dyer in 1919, with 400 being killed. Gandhi blamed himself and fasted. 2. 1930 salt march against a law which forced Hindus to only buy English salt. 3. 1930s- fast until death for changes to the treatment of Dalits and political reform. 4. 1947- opposition to to the partition of India.

Question 5

Why did he oppose the partition of India?

Answer 5

He wanted India to continue to be a country made from different faiths, all of whom respected each other and lived harmoniously, the partition was seen by him as encouraging division.

Question 6

Who were his three western influences?

Answer 6

1. Jesus- with his teachings on turning the other cheek and the idea that all are blessed. 2. Tolstoy, who emphasized the importance of agape. 3. Thoreau, who inspired his non cooperation with his work on civil disobedience.

Question 7

What were his Indian influences?

Answer 7

1. The Bhagavad Gita and its teachings on letting go of the ego and doing what it right for others. 2. The Jain religion, with its sky-clad monks who advocate ahimsa.

Question 8

What were his thoughts on religious pluralism?

Answer 8

He was a strong supporter of it, he believed in the Jain idea that our knowledge of truth is fragmentary, so we have no right to impose our beliefs upon others.

Question 9

What were his thoughts on ahimsa?

Answer 9

He saw it as a respect fro all life, he was influenced by Jain ideas and the advaita Vedanta, which says that man and god are the same and that we are all equal, so when you harm someone else, you are harming yourself.

Question 10

What is satyagraha?

Answer 10

It comes from the Sikh concept that ‘god’s name is truth’. Truth has an international force and if you are on the side of truth, you cannot loose.

Question 11

What is brahmacharya?

Answer 11

The student stage of life, in this stage you are to be celibate, to embrace aparigraha and to study the holy texts. Gandhi dedicated his life to this stage after previously being a householder as he believed this was the highest path.

Question 12

What did he think of asceticism?

Answer 12

He rejected it and said that the sannyasin stage of life in which one renounces the world is selfish and does not help to improve one’s spirituality.

Question 13

What were his views on the Varna system?

Answer 13

He supported it and thought that it had merit in the way of social organization and religious truth.

Question 14

How did Gandhi view the untouchables?

Answer 14

He despised the system of untouchability a it went ain’t ahimsa he renamed the untouchables Harijans, but they rejected this and took on the name of Dalit.

Question 15

Give two of his views on women

Answer 15

He belived in equality for women as he saw all people as equal, he also supported the remarriage of widows and opposed arranged marriages as the dowry system helps to farther disadvantage the poor and leads to inequality.

Question 16

What was swaraj?

Answer 16

The idea of self rule, Gandhi described it as “wanting the systems of English rule without the Englishman.” It was the aim to set India free from the exploitative and unjust Bristol systems of rule, bureaucracy and law.

Question 17

What did Gandhi think about swaraj?

Answer 17

It was about more then just getting rid of the english and then taking up their systems of rule, it was about regaining self control and self respect for India and replacing British rule with a new way of Indian ruling that it right for India.

Question 18

What did Gandhi think of big industrial companies?

Answer 18

He hated their power and thought that the best way to reduce it would be to teach Hindus handicrafts so that they could generate income for themselves, not big companies. He thought that educating people in their own languages would be crucial to achieving swaraj.

Question 19

How were Gandhi’s views both similar and different to Sarsawati’s?

Answer 19

1. He also wanted home rule and education in local languages. 2. He did not want to combine western science with Hindu teachings and thought that it would be better to teach poor Indians handicrafts and skills as opposed to numeracy and literacy.

Question 20

How did Gandhi view home rule?

Answer 20

It should be universalist, India should continue to be diverse and have many faiths. This feeling would eventually lead to his assassination by a radical Hindutva who opposed his support for giving political power to Muslims.

Question 21

Was he Hindutva or Neo Vedanta?

Answer 21

He can be seen as a mixture of both, he wanted home rule and eduction in native languages like Hindutva, but was not an exclusivist. He advocated pluralism like Neo Vedanta, but did not center his ideas of reinterpreting the vedas.

Question 22

Give two points to show the limit of his influence

Answer 22

1. His ideas are well known in the west, but have lost much of their original context- the ideas of brahmacharya and aparigraha. 2. Dalit discrimination is still widespread and the Dalits rejects his title of harijan.

Question 23

Give five more points to show his influence

Answer 23

1. He influenced Martin Luther king with his ideas on non violent active resistance. 2. He made the west take Hinduism seriously. 3. Because of him, ahimsa and vegetarianism are key parts of Hinduism. 4. Because of him, discrimination against Dalits is illegal. 5. He tired to find radical, but Indian solutions to Indian problems.

Question 24

How can he be seen as a traditionalist?

Answer 24

1. He based his thinking on traditional ideas like the Bhagavad Gita, ahimsa and aparigraha. 2. He wanted to maintain the varna system. 3. He did not want to blend Hindu ideas with western science.

Question 25

How can he be seen as a reformer?

Answer 25

1. He rejected the idea of untouchability and saw women as equals. 2. He wanted Hinduism to be universalist and to accept all religions as correct. 3. He campaigned for political change.