UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT MAHATMA GANDHI

UNKNOWN FACTS ABOUT MAHATMA GANDHI

1. Title of “Mahatma” or “Great soul” was given by Rabindranath Tagore. According to a popular anecdote, when Gandhiji visited Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan in the year 1915, he greeted him with a 'Namaste Gurudev'. On hearing this, Tagore's reply was, "If I am Gurudev, you are Mahatma". Since then Mahatma, which means a great soul, has become popular as his first name.
2. 'Father of the Nation' might not have been officially accorded by the Indian Government, but it still has come to be associated with him. The origin of the term dates back to a radio address by Subhas Chandra Bose on Singapore radio on July 6, 1944 as the Indian National Army that was headed by him started its march in Delhi.
3. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 5 times. However, he was not awarded with it and the committee regrets not giving him the Nobel Peace Prize to this day. Also, this award cannot be given posthumously.
4. His funeral was 8 kilometres long and Ramdas Gandhi, the third son of the Mahatma, set fire to the funeral pyre.
5. Mahatma Gandhi dedicated his life to fighting the British. And many do not know that 21 years after his death, Great Britain released a stamp honouring him. Also, it will surprise you to know that stamps dedicated to Gandhi have been found in close to around 150 countries.

6. As tensions mounted in Europe following Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia, the non-violent leader penned a letter to Hitler to avoid war, but it never reached its intended recipient because of an intervention by the British Government. It is also believed that Gandhiji and Leo Tolstoy exchanged letters several times.

7. He was thinking of dissolving the Congress a day before he died. Few days after his assassination the Harijan published an article written by Mahatma Gandhi under the title, His Last Will And Testament. In the article, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that the Congress "has outlived its use" and advised "to disband the existing Congress organization".

8. Gandhi Was A Part Of The Anglo-boer War. Gandhi was a practising lawyer in Durban at the time of the Anglo-Boer war that was held between 1899 and 1902. He formed a volunteer Ambulance Corps for the British Army . The Natal Indian Ambulance Corps, as it came to be known, comprised 300 free and 800 indentured labourers sent by their employers.

Credit - Times of India (TOI)

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