Mohandas K.

Gandhi
A Life in Pictures
 1876
as a child
This is the earliest picture of Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi

He is aged 7
 Gandhi’s mother
Putlibai
Putlibai had a strong spiritual influence
on Gandhi

She was a devout Hindu, who used to fast

regularly

She also took advice from a

Jain priest
 Gandhi’s father
Karamchand
Gandhi’s father was a politician

He was Prime Minister of Porbandar, a

small princely
state in Western India
 1883
as a teenager
Gandhi played sports such as tennis and
cricket

When he lied to his parents or stole from

his brother he felt very guilty!
 1886
with brother
Gandhi had two brothers and
one sister

He was the youngest child

Here he is shown with his elder brother

Laxmidas
 1890
in England
This the first picture of Gandhi
in England.

Gandhi was a lifelong vegetarian

He is shown on a visit of the Vegetarian

Society to the
Isle of Wight
 1891
law student
Gandhi trained to be a barrister at the
Inner Temple in London
 1895
as a barrister
After a brief period back in India, Gandhi
went to South Africa to practice law

He was retained by a firm of Muslim

merchants, headed by Dada Abdullah
Sheth
 1895
Natal Congress
In South Africa he soon became involved
in protecting the rights of Indian migrants

Here he is shown with other members of

the Natal Indian Congress
 1899
ambulance corps
During the Boer War,
Gandhi formed the Indian
Ambulance Corps

“Their unassuming dauntlessness cost

them many lives and eventually an order
was published forbidding them to go into
the firing line.”

(Mr. Vere Kent

Johannesburg Illustrated Star)
 1902
with Kasturbhai
Mohandas and Kasturbai
were married when they
were both aged 13

Later Gandhi became a campaigner

against child marriage
 1902
family
Kasturbai (Ba) is shown with their
four children (all boys):

Harilal, born in 1888

Manilal, born in 1892
Ramdas, born in 1897
Devdas, born in 1900
 1908
recuperating
Gandhi was sometimes subject to physical
beatings because of
his activism

When this photo was taken he was

recovering from a beating at the hands of
other Indians, who objected to the
compromise Gandhi made with General
Smuts regarding the Pass Laws
 1910:
letter to Tolstoy
Tolstoy:
“I want to tell others what I feel
particularly clearly and what to my mind
is of great importance – namely that
which is called nonviolent resistance –
but which
is really nothing else but the
teaching of love”
 1910
Tolstoy Farm
21 miles from Johannesburg

Gandhi’s second venture into communal

living

The first had been Phoenix Farm near

Durban

Later Gandhi founded ashrams

in India
 1912
with Gokhale
Many important Indians had become
aware of Gandhi’s campaigning in South
Africa

Here he is shown with Gokhale, a senior

leader of the Indian Nationalist
movement, who
became Gandhi’s political ‘guru’
 1913
Transvaal march
A protest against the ban on Indian
immigration, and the ruling that only
Christian marriages were legal

Gandhi hoped the marchers would be sent

to jail when they entered the Transvaal

Eventually there was a compromise with

the government of General Smuts
 1913
Satyagraha
Gandhi called his method ‘Satyagraha’,
meaning
‘struggle for truth’

He was prepared to sacrifice his own

well-being in order to change the hearts of
his opponents
 1913
the Satyagrahi
Gandhi ceased to wear European clothes

He believed that simple dress was

appropriate for defending the
rights of ordinary Indians
 1915
a hero in India
Gandhi’s successes in South Africa were
well known throughout India

In this picture he is welcomed in Karachi,

now in modern-day Pakistan
 1929
Gandhi
This picture shows the ‘iconic’ Gandhi,
who had developed by the age of 60

By this time Gandhi had established

himself on the Indian political scene, and
achieved many notable victories
 1930
Salt march
Gandhi was very clever at picking his
campaign issues

Although the British tax on salt did not

raise much money, it was symbolic of the
lack of freedom
for Indians in their
own country
 1930
making salt
Gandhi is shown picking up salt from the
beach – ‘making’ salt – which was illegal
for Indians

Even today foreign companies try to

prevent Indians using their own natural
resources, such as drugs companies which
try to patent Indian medicinal plants
 1931
round the table
It seemed that the British government was
taking Indian demands for independence
seriously

A conference was organised in London,

but nothing changed
 1931
St James Palace
While in England, Gandhi met the King
and the Prime Minister

He told a reporter: “You people wear

plus-fours, mine are
minus-fours!”
 1931
Kingsley Hall
“I find that my work lies outside the
conference”

While in London, Gandhi stayed in the

poor East End

The Gandhi Foundation maintains its HQ

at Kingsley Hall to this day
 1931
Lancashire
In India, Gandhi had campaigned against
the import of cotton cloth from England

This caused many textile workers in

England to lose their jobs

Gandhi visited them to show his solidarity

– and they showed theirs!
 1932
in jail
Gandhi went to jail many times in both
South Africa and India

He used his time in jail to

read and study

‘whoever has a taste for reading good

books is able to bear loneliness in any
place with
great ease”
 1937
with Nehru
Gandhi had good relations with Nehru,
who became Prime
Minister of India in 1947

However their visions for India

were different

Nehru wanted industrialisation

Gandhi had traditional village life at the

heart of his vision
 1939
letter to Hitler
Hitler never saw the letter because
British officials intervened to stop it.

Would Hitler have replied?

Gandhi later published his letter in

his journal ‘Harijan’
 1940
‘frontier Gandhi’
Gandhi had good relations with many
Muslims

Here he is shown with Abdul Ghaffar

Khan, who was known as the ‘frontier
Gandhi’, for his work promoting peace on
the border
with Afghanistan
 1940
tending a leper
Gandhi had wanted to be a doctor rather
than a lawyer, and he nursed many people
throughout his life
 1940
‘the scientist’
Here he is shown researching leprosy

Gandhi’s autobiography is called ‘My

Experiments with Truth’

He wanted to bring ‘scientific’ methods to

the exploration of
human morality
 1942
spinning
Gandhi was inspired by Ruskin’s ideal of
self-reliance

He taught Indians to provide for

themselves and not depend on
the British

The spinning wheel became the symbol of

independence, and was used on the flag of
the Indian National Congress.
 Indian Flags
INC flag with spinning wheel Indian flag with Dharma wheel
 1944
with Jinnah
The Partition of Pakistan from India in
1947 broke Gandhi’s heart

Gandhi believed that Hindus, Muslims,

Sikhs and Christians should all live
together in India
 1947
fasting
Gandhi fasted so that people
would stop fighting

Without his fasting, it is probable that

more people would have died in the riots
of 1947
 1947
the Mountbattens
Gandhi continued to work at the highest
political level until the end of his life
 1948
When he was assassinated by a Hindu
extremist his last words were

‘Hey Rama’
(O God)