MOHANDAS K. GHANDI BIOGRAPHY

BIRTHPLACE/FAMILY/CHILDHOOD Gandhi was born in Porbandar, a small coastal town in the princely state of Saurashtra, now the state of Gujarat (India). He was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the divan (Prime Minister) of Porbandar. His family was of the breed vaisia (merchant). His mother, Putlibai, the fourth wife of his father, had a great influence on his childhood, when Gandhi learned at a very early age not to harm any living being, to be vegetarian, to fast to purify and to have tolerance for other faiths and religions. At thirteen, her parents arranged her marriage to Kasturba Makharji, who was a year older than him, and which would have four children.

STUDIES/PROFESSIONAL LIFE Passed the entrance exam at the University of Bombay in 1887, enrolling at the School of Samaldas in Bhavnagar. He was not there long, and took the opportunity presented to him to study in England, a country that considered the "cradle of philosophers and poets, the center of civilization." He studied law at the University of London. He returned to India after attaining his degree to practice law in England. He tried to establish himself as a lawyer in Bombay, but not very successful, since at the time the legal profession was overcrowded and Gandhi was not a dynamic figure in the courts. Rajkot returned to exercising the modest task of preparing petitions for litigants. He had to leave this task after an altercation with a British officer in an incident in which he tried to plead for his brother. Work in South Africa In the year 1893, agreed to sign an employment contract for one year with an Indian company operating in Natal (South Africa). He became interested in the situation of the 150,000 compatriots who lived there, fighting against laws that discriminate against Hindus in South Africa through passive resistance and civil disobedience. o However, the incident would serve as a catalyst for political activism occurred several years later, while traveling to Pretoria was forced out of the train he was traveling in the Pietermaritzburg station where he refused to move from where they traveled first class to third class, which was for black people. Later, traveling in a stagecoach, was beaten by the driver when he refused to give up her seat to a passenger with white skin. Moreover, on this trip other humiliations suffered by not giving accommodation in several hotels because of their race. This experience gave him much more in touch with the daily problems faced by black people in South Africa. And in this country, having suffered racism, prejudice and injustice began to question the social situation of their countrymen and yours the same in society.