Page:Rolland - Mahatma Gandhi, tr. by Catherine D. Groth, 1924.pdf/20



His real name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in a little semi-independent state in the north western part of India, at Porbandar, the “White City” on the sea of Oman, October 2, 1869. He comes of an ardent and active race, which to this day has been split by civil strife; a practical race, commercially keen, which established trade relations all the way from Aden to Zanzibar. Gandhi’s father and grandfather were both leaders of the people and met with persecution be cause of their independent spirit. Both were forced to flee for safety, their lives in peril. Gandhi’s family was well-to-do and belonged to a cultivated class of society, but it was not of superior caste. His parents were followers of the Jaïn school of Hinduism,