Key influence on ghandi
Answers
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an exceptional influential figure in the Indian Independence Movement. However, Gandhi adopted his tactics in achieving Indian Independence from a variety of sources. Gandhi advocated civil disobedience or non-violent, but aggressive protest or what he called satyagraha. Although Henry David Thoreau and his ideas and the Bhagavad Gita had a crucial influence on Mahatma Gandhi, and how he attained Indian Independence, the “New Testament” of the Bible had the most significant influence on him.
One person that greatly influenced Gandhi and his tactics for achieving Indian Independence was Henry David Thoreau, primarily his essay on civil disobedience. Thoreau was an early ecologist who perceived himself as a nature writer (“…‘Civil Disobedience’” 1). Thoreau was an American who opposed the United States’ invasion of Mexico during the 1840s. He demonstrated his disapproval by refusing to pay his taxes, as a protest to the Mexican War. “Thoreau placed special emphasis on the responsibilities and capabilities of the individual…he urged each man to take seriously his ability to change society for the better or worse in his daily life…Thoreau suggested in ‘Civil Disobedience’ that just and honest men should always question the role of government, and should obey its laws only when the individual deem them just” (“…‘Civil Disobedience’” 1). Gandhi, like Thoreau, spent a large quantity of time in jail for protesting causes he believed were unjust. However, both men accepted their jail time and used it to their advantage for they strongly believed in what they were fighting for.