Post about Gandhi and first comment being about Muhammad, shits bout to get spicy in the comments.
WinkSprout22 on
And yet, in Civ, he’s the one with a PhD in Nuclear Physics and zero chill.
Astronautazinho on
Also trumpty dumpty
PhoenixKingMalekith on
*I gently open the comment section*
DungeonCrawler19 on
Here before the “locked” award from mods.
Thick-Ad-4168 on
Gandhi was a complex figure, and the popular mythos around his absolutely lionizes him to the point of caricature. This perhaps can be drawn directly from the film Gandhi which certainly presents an overly-sympathetic portrait, and perhaps we should expect no less as it was partially funded by the Indian government who has a vested interest in making Gandhi look good.
I think another part of this is just how difficult Gandhi is to grapple with and understand, especially from a western perspective. Gandhi was deeply rooted in both Hindu and Yogic traditions, which he mixed freely with Christian teachings he picked up during his time in London, Islamic traditions, and a number of other philosophic and religious influences. This leads to a number of interesting views that seem odd to the modern, western reader. For example, his prescription for extreme celibacy, saying that even in marriage individuals should abstain from sex. Sex is only permissible once or twice in a lifetime, and only for the purposes of procreation as he claims in *Self-Restraint and Self-Indulgence*, which is a collection of his letters on sex, health and other issues of the body, that was actually his most popular published writing during his life.
This difficulty in understanding Gandhi is compounded by the huge volume of writing that he produced. His collected works stretch to 98 volumes (and maybe more, as there is a lot of controversy around the completeness of these works). You can see for yourself, as they are all available online for free at [http://gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm](http://gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm)
This idea of Gandhi-bashing is not new, . If you want a major takedown of Gandhi, Richard Greiner’s “The Gandhi Nobody Knows,” published in 1983, ostensibly as a critique after the premier of the film, sets the gold-standard ( [https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/](https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/) ). This prompted a number of responses, specifically by two of the formost Gandhi-scholars Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph. They published a rejoinder in the Chicago Sun-Tribune, but I cannot find a copy of it online, and I only have a picture of the original article to draw from.
In regards to the oft-repeated charge of sleeping naked with underage girls, the Rudolphs make two points. One, that such an account is exaggerated (he only slept with his grandniece, and they were both clothed) and two, that Gandhi made no secret about what he was doing, and knew it would court controversy.
The Rudolphs put it this way: “Gandhi believed that his capacity to control the external environment was related to his capacity to control himself. At other times under trying circumstances Gandhi imposed penances and fasts upon himself. This time some thing more was needed. He warned his friends and followers that he was thinking of a bold and original experiment ‘whose heat will be great.”
They go on to point out that “Gandhi’s bedroom then as always was public; others passed through and could look in,” and “that no nudity was involved we know from accounts by members and visitors to the Ashram who report seeing Gandhi and Manu [his grandniece] peacefully asleep.”
Now, this may not absolve Gandhi entirely, it is certainly an odd thing to do, and may have had a significant psychological impact upon his grandniece. It is also worth pointing out how Gandhi was willing to use people, specifically women, as means to his own personal end without regard to the impact his actions would have on them. An interesting account of reading Gandhi through a feminist lens can be found here ( [http://www.epw.in/journal/2008/40/special-articles/gandhi-everyone-loves-hate.html](http://www.epw.in/journal/2008/40/special-articles/gandhi-everyone-loves-hate.html) ) the record is clearly mixed. However, it still stands that while odd and perhaps exploitative, the charge of mere lechery is unfair.
kickass_bramhin on
A post about gandhi and top comment about mohammed, placing this comment before it gets locked
12 Comments
Muhamad did it first.
Gandhi’s a small-time player next to him 😤
Kamarchond Gandi!!
Post about Gandhi and first comment being about Muhammad, shits bout to get spicy in the comments.
And yet, in Civ, he’s the one with a PhD in Nuclear Physics and zero chill.
Also trumpty dumpty
*I gently open the comment section*
Here before the “locked” award from mods.
Gandhi was a complex figure, and the popular mythos around his absolutely lionizes him to the point of caricature. This perhaps can be drawn directly from the film Gandhi which certainly presents an overly-sympathetic portrait, and perhaps we should expect no less as it was partially funded by the Indian government who has a vested interest in making Gandhi look good.
I think another part of this is just how difficult Gandhi is to grapple with and understand, especially from a western perspective. Gandhi was deeply rooted in both Hindu and Yogic traditions, which he mixed freely with Christian teachings he picked up during his time in London, Islamic traditions, and a number of other philosophic and religious influences. This leads to a number of interesting views that seem odd to the modern, western reader. For example, his prescription for extreme celibacy, saying that even in marriage individuals should abstain from sex. Sex is only permissible once or twice in a lifetime, and only for the purposes of procreation as he claims in *Self-Restraint and Self-Indulgence*, which is a collection of his letters on sex, health and other issues of the body, that was actually his most popular published writing during his life.
This difficulty in understanding Gandhi is compounded by the huge volume of writing that he produced. His collected works stretch to 98 volumes (and maybe more, as there is a lot of controversy around the completeness of these works). You can see for yourself, as they are all available online for free at [http://gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm](http://gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm)
This idea of Gandhi-bashing is not new, . If you want a major takedown of Gandhi, Richard Greiner’s “The Gandhi Nobody Knows,” published in 1983, ostensibly as a critique after the premier of the film, sets the gold-standard ( [https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/](https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/) ). This prompted a number of responses, specifically by two of the formost Gandhi-scholars Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph. They published a rejoinder in the Chicago Sun-Tribune, but I cannot find a copy of it online, and I only have a picture of the original article to draw from.
In regards to the oft-repeated charge of sleeping naked with underage girls, the Rudolphs make two points. One, that such an account is exaggerated (he only slept with his grandniece, and they were both clothed) and two, that Gandhi made no secret about what he was doing, and knew it would court controversy.
The Rudolphs put it this way: “Gandhi believed that his capacity to control the external environment was related to his capacity to control himself. At other times under trying circumstances Gandhi imposed penances and fasts upon himself. This time some thing more was needed. He warned his friends and followers that he was thinking of a bold and original experiment ‘whose heat will be great.”
They go on to point out that “Gandhi’s bedroom then as always was public; others passed through and could look in,” and “that no nudity was involved we know from accounts by members and visitors to the Ashram who report seeing Gandhi and Manu [his grandniece] peacefully asleep.”
Now, this may not absolve Gandhi entirely, it is certainly an odd thing to do, and may have had a significant psychological impact upon his grandniece. It is also worth pointing out how Gandhi was willing to use people, specifically women, as means to his own personal end without regard to the impact his actions would have on them. An interesting account of reading Gandhi through a feminist lens can be found here ( [http://www.epw.in/journal/2008/40/special-articles/gandhi-everyone-loves-hate.html](http://www.epw.in/journal/2008/40/special-articles/gandhi-everyone-loves-hate.html) ) the record is clearly mixed. However, it still stands that while odd and perhaps exploitative, the charge of mere lechery is unfair.
A post about gandhi and top comment about mohammed, placing this comment before it gets locked
His ass did not say that
You don’t understand it was a test!
/s
Legendary post