Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India.
Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town which was then
part of the Bombay Presidency, British India. He was born in his ancestral
home, now known as Kirti Mandir. His father, Karamchand Gandhi, served as the
diwan of Porbander State, a small princely salute state in the Kathiawar Agency
of British India. His grandfather was Uttamchand Gandhi, also called Utta
Gandhi. His mother, Putlibai was Karamchand's fourth wife, the first three
wives having apparently died in childbirth.
In May 1883, the
13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji in an
arranged child marriage, according to the custom of the region. In the process,
he lost a year at school. Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said,
"As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new
clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives." However, as was
prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her
parents' house, and away from her husband. In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the
couple's first child was born, but survived only a few days. Gandhi's father,
Karamchand Gandhi, had also died earlier that year.
Mohandas and Kasturba
had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892;
Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900. At his middle school in
Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi remained a mediocre student. He
shone neither in the classroom nor on the playing field. One of the terminal
reports rated him as "good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in
Geography; conduct very good, bad handwriting." He passed the
matriculation exam at Samaldas College in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, with some
difficulty. Gandhi's family wanted him to be a barrister, as it would increase
the prospects of succeeding to his father's post.
