E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesChapter IIThe Beginnings of An Extraordinary ManGANDHI belonged to the Vaisya caste. In the old Hindu social scale, the Vaisyasstood third, far below the Brahmans who were the number one caste and theKshatriyas, or rulers and soldiers, who ranked second. The Vaisyas, in fact,were only a notch above the Sudras, the working class. Originally, they devotedthemselves to trade and agriculture.The Gandhis belonged to the Modh Bania subdivision of their caste. Bania is asynonym in India for a sharp, shrewd businessman. Far back, the Gandhi familywere retail grocers; 'Gandhi' means grocer. But the professional barriersbetween castes began to crumble generations ago, and Gandhi's grandfatherUttamchand served as prime minister to the princeling of Porbandar, a tinystate in the Kathiawar peninsula, western India, about half way between themouth of the Indus and the city of Bombay. Uttamchand handed the officedown to his son Karamchand who passed it to his brother Tulsidas. The job hadalmost become the family's private property.Karamchand was the father of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Mahatma.The Gandhis apparently got into trouble often. Political intrigues forcedgrandfather Uttamchand out of the prime ministership of Porbandar and intoexile in the nearby little state of Junagadh. There he once saluted the rulingNawab with his left hand. Asked for an explanation, he said: 'The right hand isalready pledged to Porbandar.' Mohandas was proud of such loyalty: 'Mygrandfather', he wrote, 'must have been a man of principle.'Gandhi's father likewise left his position as prime minister to Rana SahebVikmatji, the ruler of Porbandar, and took the same office in Rajkot, anotherminiature Kathiawar principality 120 miles to the north-west. Once, the BritishPolitical Agent spoke disparagingly of Thakor Saheb Bawajiraj, Rajkot's nativeruler. Karamchand sprang to the defence of his chief. The Agent orderedKaramchand to apologize. Karamchand refused and was forthwith arrested. Butwww.mkgandhi.org Page 16