Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world.
Jayaprakash Narayan, who is popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak, was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and called for her overthrow in a "total revolution". His biography Jayaprakash was written by his nationalist friend and the writer of Hindi literature Rambriksh Benipuri. In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.
Ramdhari Singh, known by his pen name Dinkar, was an Indian Hindi language poet, essayist, freedom fighter, patriot and academic. He emerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence. His poetry exuded Veer Rasa, and he has been hailed as a Rashtrakavi and Yuga-Chāraṇa on account of his inspiring patriotic compositions. He was a regular poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan and is hailed to be as popular and connected to poetry lovers for Hindi speakers as Pushkin for Russians.
Jai Hind is a salutation and slogan that originally meant "Victory to Hindustan", and in contemporary colloquial usage often means "Long live India" or "Salute to India". Coined by Champakaraman Pillai and used during India's independence movement from British rule, it emerged as a battle cry and in political speeches.
Swarāj (Svarāja) sva "self", raj "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Shivaji to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adilshahi Sultanate. Later, the term was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and later on by Mahatma Gandhi, but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept of Indian independence from foreign domination. Swaraj lays stress on governance, not by a hierarchical government, but by self-governance through individuals and community building. The focus is on political decentralisation. Since this is against the political and social systems followed by Britain, Gandhi's concept of Swaraj advocated India's discarding British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal, military, and educational institutions. S. Satyamurti, Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru were among a contrasting group of Swarajists who laid the foundation for parliamentary democracy in India.
Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance.
Seshadri Srinivasa Iyengar CIE, also seen as Sreenivasa Iyengar and Srinivasa Ayyangar, was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter and politician from the Indian National Congress. Iyengar was the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1916 to 1920. He also served as a member of the bar council from 1912 to 1920, the law member of Madras Presidency from 1916 to 1920 and as the president of the madras province Swarajya Party faction of the Indian National Congress from 1923 to 1930. Srinivasa Iyengar was the son-in-law of renowned lawyer and first Indian Advocate-general of Madras, Sir Vembaukum Bhashyam Aiyangar. Iyengar's followers called him Lion of the South.
Sushila Nayyar, also spelt 'Nayar', was an Indian physician, a lifelong follower of Mahatma Gandhi, and a politician. She played a leading role in public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in India. She became Gandhi's personal physician and an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based on her experiences. Her brother, Pyarelal Nayyar, was the personal secretary to Gandhi. In post-Independent India, she contested elections for political office and served as India's health minister.
Gandhian socialism is the branch of socialism based on the national interpretation of the theories of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhian socialism generally centers on Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule authored by Gandhi.
Gandhian economics is a school of economic thought based on the spiritual and socio-economic principles expounded by Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. It is largely characterised by rejection of the concept of the human being as a rational actor always seeking to maximize material self-interest that underlies classical economic thinking. Where Western economic systems were based on what he called the “multiplication of wants,” Gandhi felt that this was both unsustainable and devastating to the human spirit. His model, by contrast, aimed at the fulfillment of needs – including the need for meaning and community. As a school of economics the resulting model contained elements of protectionism, nationalism, adherence to the principles and objectives of nonviolence and a rejection of class war in favor of socio-economic harmony. Gandhi's economic ideas also aim to promote spiritual development and harmony with a rejection of materialism. The term "Gandhian economics" was coined by J. C. Kumarappa, a close supporter of Gandhi.
J. C. Kumarappa was an Indian economist and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. A pioneer of rural economic development theories, Kumarappa is credited for developing economic theories based on Gandhism – a school of economic thought he coined "Gandhian economics."
B. R. Deepak is an Indian sinologist. He is the first Indian to receive China's highest literary award.
Jharokha Darshan was a daily practice of addressing the public audience (darshan) at the balcony (jharokha) at the forts and palaces of medieval kings in India. It was an essential and direct way of communicating face-to-face with the public, and was a practice which was adopted by the Mughal emperors. The balcony appearance in the name of Jharokha Darshan also spelled jharokha-i darshan was adopted by the 16th-century Mughal Emperor Akbar, even though it was contrary to Islamic injunctions. Earlier, Akbar's father Emperor Humayun had also adopted this Hindu practice of appearing before his subjects at the jharokha to hear their public grievances.
Swami Anand was a monk, a Gandhian activist and a Gujarati writer from India. He was the manager of Gandhi's publications such as Navajivan and Young India and inspired Gandhi to write his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. He wrote sketches, memoir, biographies, philosophy, travelogues and translated some works.
Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya, was an Indian freedom fighter and member of the Indian National Congress from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Known by his title of Andhra Ratna (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర రత్న, translates to "Jewel of Andhra" or "Gem of Andhra." Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya, Gopalakrishnayya was the first Andhra leader to become secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya, was a very captivating poet, speaker, songwriter, philosopher, singer and an extraordinary revolutionary with a philosophy of non-violence. Sri Nadimpalli Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Rao worked in tandem with Sri Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya. For his exemplary work and sacrifices for freedom movement in Andhra, he was fondly conferred the name 'Andhra Ratna'
The online Gandhi Heritage Portal preserves, protects, and disseminates original writings of Mohandas K. Gandhi and makes available to the world the large corpus of “Fundamental Works” which are useful for any comprehensive study of the life and thought of Gandhiji. Gandhiji was 24 years old in South Africa "Natal Indian Congress " made in 1894.
Rajnish Kumar is President, All India Prohibition council.
Bhabani Bhattacharya was an Indian writer, of Bengali origin, who wrote social-realist fiction. He was born in Bhagalpur, part of the Bengal Presidency in British India. Bhattacharya gained a bachelor's degree from Patna University and a doctorate from the University of London. He returned to India and joined the diplomatic service. Bhattacharya served in the United States, to which country he returned as a teacher of literary studies once he had left the service. He taught in Hawaii, and later in Seattle. In his mid-thirties Bhattacharya began writing fiction set in historically and socially realistic contexts. He wrote in English, his chosen medium following the advice of two prominent literary figures.
Mithuben Hormusji Petit was one of the pioneer Indian independence female activists who participated in Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March.
Tridip Suhrud is an Indian writer, political scientist, cultural historian and translator from Gujarat, India.
