Gandhi and his Early Movements (Part-I)

Gandhi’s Satyagraha Ashram was originally established at the Kochrab Bungalow of Jivanlal Desai, a barrister, and friend of Gandhi. At that time, the Ashram was called the Satyagraha Ashram. But Gandhi wanted to carry out various activities such as farming and animal husbandry, in addition to other pursuits which required a much larger area of usable land. So two years later, on 17 June 1917, the Ashram was relocated to an area of thirty-six acres on the banks of the River Sabarmati, in Ahmedabad and later came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was one of the early social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was famously a mentor of Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi’s invitation. As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians. By 1920, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide.

Gandhi purchased some land near Phoenix station and established the Phoenix Ashram in 1904. It was reopened on 27 February 2000. It was the first Ashram established by Gandhiji.

During his stay in South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi rendered his services as an attendant to the helpless poor patients in the charity hospitals of Rustumji. Here, he gave his voluntary service as a compounder. He also served the wounded soldiers of the Boer War.

It was in South Africa that Gandhiji discovered himself. He emerged from shy and timid youth as a successful organiser and leader. It was only after the struggles of South Africa that he prepared himself for the leadership of Indian national movement.

Militancy is generally associated  with violent methods of struggles. But Gandhiji's  struggle in South Africa was completely non-violent and based on Satyagraha. Hence Reason (R) can not be considered right.

For Gandhi, politics meant social welfare and public welfare. The most important suggestion about politics from Gandhiji was “decentralization of power”. For him, the decentralization meant to encourage the village Panchayats and control their local administration.

The paradigm of politics presented by Gandhiji is the combination of three elements-morality, religion and humanity. But in Gandhian political model, there is no place for authority. He wanted to establish a Stateless Society.

Batak Mian was a cook for a British manager of an Indigo plantation in Bihar known as Erwin in popular memory. During Champaran Satyagraha, he invited Gandhiji for dinner and coerced Batak Mian to poison Gandhi through milk. But Batak Mian, while serving milk to Gandhiji, broke down and told Gandhi about the poison and Gandhi escaped unhurt. This story was corroborated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad in one of his speeches given in the 1950s at Motihari which is mentioned in Delhi University Professor Dr. Girish Mishra’s article "Gandhi's Champaran Struggle".

Batak Mian was a cook for a British manager of an Indigo plantation in Bihar known as Erwin in popular memory. During Champaran Satyagraha, he invited Gandhiji for dinner and coerced Batak Mian to poison Gandhi through milk. But Batak Mian, while serving milk to Gandhiji, broke down and told Gandhi about the poison and Gandhi escaped unhurt. This story was corroborated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad in one of his speeches given in the 1950s at Motihari which is mentioned in Delhi University Professor Dr. Girish Mishra’s article "Gandhi's Champaran Struggle".

The nephew of Mahatma Gandhi, Magan Lal Gandhi, first used the term ‘Sada Graha’ during a competition for which he was rewarded. Satyagraha means truth and rigidity. Later on, Gandhi improvised the word as ‘Satyagraha’. Hence, it is clear that the word ‘Satyagraha’ was used first by Gandhi.