PART 4.02

 

MAHATMA GANDHIJI AMAR RAHE!

CHRONOLOGY OF A BLESSED LIFE

by

Velandy Manohar, MD 

Distinguished Life Fellow and

Past President, Asian American Caucus

American Psychiatric Association

Past President Indo American Psychiatric Association

 

“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills.” Mahatma Gandhiji wrote in Harijan, March 28, 1936.

 

CHRONOLOGY OF A BLESSED LIFE

 

1869, OCT 2. Birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was affectionately called “Bapu.” 

1883                           Marries Kasturba. She was affectionately called “Ba”

1885                           Birth of Indian National Congress

1888, SEPT 4              Sets sail to England to study law

1891, SEPT                 Called to bar, returns to India

1893, APRIL              Leaves for South Africa for the first time. Acts as legal consultant

1893, MAY-JUNE    Experiences racial discrimination and decides to fight against racial prejudice in South Africa 

1897                          Petitions British authorities to end Discriminatory laws in South Africa.

1899                          Forms Indian ambulance corps during Boer war

 

1901- 1902                Returns to India, practices law and promotes the causes of Indians in           South Africa.

1902                          Recalled to South Africa to fight anti-Asiatic legislation in Transvaal. Is           nearly fatally assaulted on his return to South Africa..  

1905                         Opposes partition of Bengal 

1906                         Announces Indian home rule

          Declares disinterestedness in worldly goods

                                 Takes vow of celibacy for life

1906, sept.11            Organizes Indian opposition to Transvaal’s Anti-Asiatic laws. 

          He takes an oath of non-violence/passive resistance at a mass meeting.

1907, JAN           Writes on Ethical Religion

1908, JAN              Adopts the word Satyagraha to replace Passive Resistance to           denote his non-violent struggle 

1908                          Sentenced to two months imprisonment for failure to leave            Transvaal  

1909 NOV.            Writes about Hind Swaraj or Indian home rule or Self-Rule.            Swaraj has deeper meaning.

 

 

1913, MAY                Indian marriages are invalidated in South Africa.     

1913, SEPT.              Satyagraha to protest the invalidation of marriages starts.   

         Kasturba is arrested

1913, OCT                 Gandhiji urges miners to strike, he leads March into Transvaal 

1914, JAN                 Bapu suspends Satyagraha after reaching agreement with General          Smuts. The latter was an implacable foe who regarded Gandhiji very highly

1914                        Bapu returns to India.

1914, May 20            He founds the Satyagraha ashram in Ahmedabad, India

1915, Jan 21         Mayor Nautamlal Mehta [Nagar Sheth] and 40 residents of Jetpur Village         officially conferred the title of Mahatma to Bapu in written Maanpatra {letter of       Honor}.  Nobelist Tagore met Bapu in March 1915. The National Gandhi Museum       in Rajghat could authenticate this.

1916 Feb 04        Delivers epochal speech at the Benares Hindu university on       Swaraj- Self Rule in political and personal dimensions

1917        Bapu fights successfully against indentured Indian emigration

1918, JAN               Bapu takes up the cause of the textile laborers in Ahmedabad; initiates       Satyagraha in Bombay district

 

1919, APRIL 1         Bapu inaugurates all India Satyagraha movement

1919, APRIL 11.      Arrested in Delhi, escorted back to Bombay. 

1919, APRIL13        JALLIANWALA BAGH HATYAKA ON BAISAKHI FESTIVAL DAY Gen       Dwyer’s troops fire on unarmed crowd killing over 000 people. Mahatma       Bapu said, "The impossible men of India shall rise and liberate their                   motherland.” He called an end to the Fast Satyagraha because more violence erupted. Winston Churchill, “The incident at Jallianwala Bagh was an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation.”

1919, OCT             Bapu assumes editorship of “Young India”

1919, NOV            Bapu presides over the All-India Khilafat movement in Delhi

1920, SEPT         Indian national congress at Calcutta accepts Gandhiji’s programme of            noncooperation to gain redress of Punjab and Khilafat wrong doings.

1921, APRIL          Bapu leads total boycott of western cloth.

1922, MAR            Bapu gives notice to viceroy of intention to launch            Bardoli Satyagraha

1922, MAR 18       Bapu was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment for sedition

 

1924, SEPT          Bapu begins 21 day fast for Hindu-Muslim unity

1925, NOV           Bapu begins to write final version of autobiography. The title translated        from Gujarati is the story of my experiments with Truth. It was published in        installments from 1925-1929 in Nav Jivan and the English Translation in        Young India. The translator Is Mahadev Desai. 

 

1928, DEC           Gandhiji moves in favor of independence if Dominion status is not granted         to India by 1929. Canada and Austrailia had Dominion Status.

1929, DEC         At Lahore meeting CWC includes  calls for complete      Independence at Gandhiji’s insistence

1930, FEBR         Gandhiji launches Nation Wide Civil disobedience  movement

1930, APRIL 6 Gandhiji launches Dandi march launches Salt Satyagraha and defies  Salt taxation  laws

1930, May         Gandhiji is arrested and imprisoned. India is shut down. Ba and          other women patriots such as Sarojini Naidu were actively engaged in the Dandi March and Satyagraha.

 

1931, MAR           Gandhiji and Viceroy Irwin reach agreement.

1931, AUG           Gandhiji sails for England to attend second round table conference.

1932, SEPT 20     Gandhiji begins fast unto death in jail to secure abolition of separate         electorates for Harijans. Name Gandhiji used to refer to          “untouchables” Hari Jan translates to people of God.

1932, SEPT 26    Gandhiji’s fast ends because his cause prevails. It is important to bear in mind the               architect of the Indian Constitution is member of the Harijan community. Many   leaders were members of various castes from the “highest” to the “lowest” in terms   of ones assigned caste at birth.

 

1933, FEB 11       Bapu launches weekly paper “Harijan”

1934 SEPT           Bapu announces retirement from politics to engage in developing village                industries, Harijan service and education through basic crafts

1939, MARCH      Bapu commences fast unto death to secure adherence of the govt. to    promised reforms from the 1931 accords and the earlier promises after    WWI.

1939, JULY 7TH    First letter to Herr Hitler mailed from Wardha 1 month before Non-Aggression    pact between Germany and the Soviet Union and 5 weeks before Invasion of Poland   and the outbreak of WW II. Second letter was written on Dec 24, 1940. By then   all of Europe had been conquered by Herr Hitler except the Soviet Union. Germany,   Italy and Japan had formed an Alliance and Operation Barbarossa for the attack on   the Soviet Union was ready. Despite severe bombardment on London and England   Germany postponed Operation Sea Lion –the invasion of Britain. Germany was on   the ascendency in Europe, Africa and Asia.

1940, OCT      Gandhiji sanctions individual civil disobedience in wartime.

1941, DEC        Bapu asks to be relieved of leadership in CWC (working committee). America             enters the War after sneak attack on Pearl. 

Jan 20 1942. The Wannsee Conference with 15 high ranking nazis was conevened to plan           and implement the final solution. Mahatma Gandhi had written about the pivotal         role Herr Hitler had on the World stage at that time. His first hand written letter            07 17 1939 said this to Herr Hitler, “…It is quite clear that you are today         the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce         humanity to a savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however         worthy it may appear to you to be? Will you listen to the appeal of one            who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without             considerable success? Any way I anticipate your forgiveness, if I have         erred in writing to you. I remain, your sincere friend, M.K. Gandhi

 

1942, MAY      Gandhiji  appeals to Britain to quit India

1944, FEB      “Bapu’s beloved better half, Ba” - Kasturba Gandhi passes away

1944, SEPT.    Gandhi-Jinnah talks regarding Pakistan

1946, AUG      Gandhiji opposes partition of India

1946, AUG      The great Calcutta killing. The British Govt and Police appear to be helpless

1946, AUG      The Congress Party forms interim govt.

1946, OCT      The Noakahalli massacre. Bapu and Badhsha Khan- The frontier Gandhi                     toured the area and brought the horrific killings to an end. 

1947, APRIL   Gandhiji and Jinnahji issues joint appeal for peace. Peace Prevails in                    Calcutta and Bengal.  Bapu was referred to as the One man Police Force.

 

1947, MAY     CWC accepts partition in principle over Gandhiji’s objection

1947, AUG 14 Gandhiji deplores birth of Pakistan but hails the birth of freedom on the                    Subcontinent

1948, JAN 12-18 Bapu fasts for communal peace in Delhi. Serious Civil disorder was prevalent after the violent vivisection of India.

    

1948, JAN 30 Mahatma Gandhiji attains moksha through his martyrdom,              Nish Kama karma and Nishpala Tyaga

Mahatma Gandhiji  Amar Rahe

Ba aur Bapu Zindabad.

 

May the wicked become virtuous

May the virtuous attain tranquility

May the tranquil be freed from their bonds

May the liberated help make the shackled go free.

May peace pervade the three spheres

 

Asato ma Sadgamaya

Tamaso ma Jyotir gamaya

Mrityor ma Amritam gamaya

Om shanti, shanti, shantihi.

Lead us o! Lord from untruth of our senses bound existence

To the Truth that abides in our essence

Lead us from the darkness of our mundane existence to the glorious illumination of the transcendental experience

Lead us o! Lord from death of our passions and attachments to the immortality of the liberated soul.

Lead thou me on 

May peace prevail in the three spheres of experience.

 

 

Velandy Manohar, MD

Distinguished Life Fellow and Past President, Asian American Caucus

American Psychiatric Association. Past President Indo-American Psychiatric Association