Sunday, July 3, 2011

Gandhiji's Lost Jewel

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi:-




Born :- 2 October 1869
Porbandar, Bombay Presidency, British India

Died:- 30 January 1948 (aged 78)
New Delhi,

Cause of death:- Assassination (three bullets in the chest)

Resting place:- Rajghat, New Delhi, India

Nationality :-Indian

Other names:- Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu

EDUCATION:- University College London, University of London

KNOWN FOR:-Propounding the philosophy of Satyagraha and Ahimsa
Advocating non-violence

Religion:- Hinduism

Spouse:- Kasturba Gandhi

Children:- Harilal
Manilal
Ramdas
Devdas

Parents:- Putlibai Gandhi (Mother)
Karamchand Gandhi (Father)


On 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) One of the most eminent leader called GANGHI or Mahatma or Bapu who fought for Indian independence . His philosophy was firmly founded upon ahimsa (nonviolence). His philosophy and leadership helped India gain independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is often referred to as Mahatma.

http://www.nathuram.com/why-nathuram-killed-gandhi/

Harilal:-




Born :-1888
Died:- 18 June 1948
Religion:- Hindu Islam (briefly)
Spouse:- Gulab Gandhi Children five children
Father: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Mother: Kasturba Gandhi

Harilal was married to Gulab Gandhi. They had five children, two of whom died at an early age. Nilam Parikh, the daughter of Ramibehn, who was the eldest of Harilal's children has written a biography on him “Gandhiji's Lost Jewel: Harilal Gandhi”

Basically Harilal wanted to go to England for higher studies, and hoped to become a barrister as his father had once been. His father firmly opposed this, believing that a Western style education would not be helpful in the struggle against British rule over India. Eventually rebelling against his father's decision, in 1911 Harilal renounced all family ties and embarked upon a tragic, lifelong path of self-destruction.

Yet Harilal rebelled against his father's influence and, perhaps, his exaltation by others as a man who could do no wrong. Later he converted to Islam and took the name Abdullah Gandhi in a move that many have seen as an act of rebellion against his father rather than a genuine religious conversion. He also sought to remarry after his wife's death, something of which his father did not approve.


In one bitter letter to his father, Harilal wrote:
"In your laboratory of experiments, unfortunately, I am the one truth that has gone wrong ... Yours Harilal."
Elsewhere, he wrote of the man whom Indians knew as "Bapu" or father: "He is the greatest father you have... but he is the one father I wish I did not have."
Gandhi, meanwhile, publicly deplored his son's "drink habit" and "habit of visiting houses of ill-fame". When Harilal became a Muslim,
Gandhi wrote that "Harilal's abandonment is no loss to Hinduism and his admission to Islam a source of weakness to it," and suggested that, because of his debt problems,
Harilal - who had also talked of converting to Christianity - had "gone over to the highest bidder".
If his conversion had been "from the heart and free from any worldly considerations,I should have no quarrel," he added, saying regretfully: "He still delights in sensation and in good living. If he had changed, he would have written to me to gladden my heart."
But Gandhi also blamed himself for having failed to connect with his first-born. The disappointment weighed heavily on him, as he himself admitted. "The greatest regret of my life ... Two people I could never convince - my Muslim friend Mohammed Ali Jinnah [a fellow independence activist who eventually pushed for the creation of a separate, Muslim-dominated country that became Pakistan] and my own son, Harilal Gandhi."
.
"Somewhere in the shadows of the great man lived his son, roaming the streets of India like a beggar. He converted to Islam and became Abdullah Gandhi as a rebellion, then reconverted to Hinduism as a penance, finally drinking himself to death. Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but couldn't save the soul of his own son."
Harilal spent the latter part of his life as an alcoholic and destitute.He appeared at his father's funeral in such derelict condition that few recognized him. He died from liver disease on 18 June 1948 in a municipal hospital in Mumbai.



By looking up all this its difficult to conclude that “ GANDHI is father of our nation but was he played father role to his son’s……….????”

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