Talk:Mahatma Gandhi/Archive 1

message: Please note concerning the last sentence of the second paragraph dealing with "Civil Rights Movement in South Africa" that, although the topic of the section is "civil rights," the sentence in question refers to the rites, i.e., the ceremonies, of Christian marriage. 68.89.190.183 05:03, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: irrelevant text

message: I've moved a paragraph on a book by Harry Turtledove here from Pacifism. I didn't want to simply delete real information. On the other hand I'm not sure the paragraph really belongs here either. I think it's become a bit of an orphan looking for the right article. Kim Bruning 18:46, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: paragraph move

message: Gandhi would often refrain from sex from the beginning of his puberty.
I don't think this is true. Are there any references ? On the contrary Gandhi says in his autobiography that he had an active sex life as a teenager. Jay 07:07, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: removed the mentioned line as no clarifications forthcoming. Jay 10:00, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, I definitely remember that in his autobiography... he expresses guilt over the fact that he was not there for his father's death because he was with his wife. But I have also heard rumors of things he did later in life to "test" himself, e.g. sleep with (but not have sex with) young girls. Whether these are true stories or not I can't say. I didn't find them very flattering, anyway. Graft 11:20, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

text: Yeah, I too remember so. But other theories are also popular as someone said   --Rrjanbiah 12:44, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Celibacy

message: Gandhi often voiced for those of the lower castes and promoted a society without castes. I haven't read the hole article, but there didn't seem to be any information on this. I don't know much about this, but somebody else could perhaps write something. Moravice 15:00, 3 July 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: He definitely did not. He vehemently disagreed with Bhim Rao Ambedkar about the importance of caste in Indian society: Ambedkar wanted recognition of the depressed status of the untouchables at worst, and abolition of the caste system at best. Gandhi repeatedly blocked such reforms, as evidenced in the Poona Pact of 1932. --Deepsix 04:20, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Gandhi's view on caste

message: I have been having a very interesting discussion withLordSuryaofShropshire about whether the qualifier 'as a subject of the British Empire' should appear on Churchill's opinion of Ghandi in the 'Noble Peace Prize' section, viz;
:Throughout his lifetime, Ghandi's activities attracted a wide range of comment and opinion. For example, as a subject of the British Empire, Winston Churchill once referred to Gandhi as a "brown fakir." Conversely, Albert Einstein said of Gandhi, "Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."
I thought I would reproduce the discussion here, for the record, and in case anyone wishes to contribute/edit...
For:
:As for Churchill, I think it's quite important to mention is 'vassalship' to the Crown especially when one considers that his goals for the British Empire were directly conflicted with those of Gandhi for India. The prevailing viewpoint, unfortunately, of Britishers in the colonial era was extremely racist and condescending, and it gives powerful context to the situation...at least Churchill's status as an British subject should be admitted in view of his antipathy towards Gandhi. 
Against:
:I understand the view that Churchill's vassalship provides relevant context to the reader, but one can still make the argument that it is presenting a POV about the truth-value Churchill's opinion, and privileges Einstein's opinion as being more 'accurate' (like this: the truth-value of Churchill's opinion is compromised in some way by his allegience to the Crown, whereas, Einstein's opinion, being unqualified in the text, is presented as more value-free, neutral and unbiased..?). If it's relevant to qualify Churchill's opinion as a British Empire subject, why is it not relevant to mention that Albert Einstein was a German Jew living in America??? Or that they were both European males?
Mercurius 22:52, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Churchill's Opinions of Ghandi

message: I'm changing "brown fakir" to "half-naked fakir" for the obvious reason.
References:
# http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=828
# http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/mohandas_gandhi12a.html
# Google Test: http://www.google.com/search?q=winston+churchill+%22half+naked+fakir%22 Vs. http://www.google.com/search?q=winston+churchill+%22brown+fakir%22
--Rrjanbiah 04:43, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Churchill and Gandhi 

message: I have a felling that I read in this article that Gandhi was inspired by Henry David Thoreau and Jesus Christ (apart from Bhagvad Gita). There is no such mention anymore. Was it removed or is it my imagination? Is there some way to find out without going through the entire article history? --Ankur 07:29, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I found these Thoreau-Gandhi references easily with Google -- several publications are cited regarding the influence of Thoreau on Gandhi. --Ds13 23:46, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thoreau 

message: The section on World War II gives the impression that India decided not to participate in the war; as a matter of fact, India did, and the Indian Armed Forces were the largest all-volunteer forces to fight in the 2nd world war. See Indian Air Force and World War II casualties. 
On another note, should this article be entered for featured article status? --ashwatha 21:26, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  World War II 

message: I made a few changes:
* Re-named Bibliography to References
* Re-arranged a few sections (placing Quotations above References, etc)
* linked some of the terms to associated articles
and other minor stuff. --ashwatha 05:57, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Changes 

message: I noticed this was the featured article today, so I thought I'd note this pun here. <>< tbc 05:40, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pun