In an essay published in 2014, author and activist Arundhati Roy slammed Mahatma Gandhi for his “casteist tendencies” and defense of the varna system.

Regardless of the transition, his views have been criticised by various scholars. His view of marriage between people of different religious affiliations also underwent a similar change. The changes in the views of Mahatma Gandhi were arguably due to the influence of two opponents of the caste system whose intellectual integrity he held in high esteem – BR Ambedkar and Goparaju Ramachandra Rao (Gora). In a new foreword to (new edition of) Varnavyavastha, he invited the reader “to discard anything in the book which may appear to him incompatible”. He discarded some previous formulations, including those on hereditary occupations. In the 1920’s he had held that every Hindu “must follow the hereditary profession” (varnashrama) and that “prohibition of intermarriage” between people of different varnas was “necessary for the rapid evolution of the soul.”īy 1945, Gandhi’s position against the fourfold varna order had become more emphatic. In January 1948, he was killed by someone who blamed him for India being divided.īut we still remember him today for the power of his peaceful protests.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s views on the caste system changed in the last years of his life. But before going, they split it into two countries - India, where people mainly followed the Hindu religion, and Pakistan, where most were Muslims. Gandhi won support from people around the world.Īs his protests increased, the British decided they couldn't rule India any more. Because of it, he was arrested and spent almost nine months in prison.

They wanted to make their own because it was cheaper. In 1930, he led the Salt March, a protest against the British who were selling salt to Indians. He wanted Indians to stop buying British things. He now dressed in white cotton clothes to show he was living simply like the poor. Gandhi started making many peaceful protests. Because of this unfair treatment he returned to India, determined to work for change. He was thrown off a train carriage which was just for white people.

He wanted change but through peace, not violence.Īged 23, Gandhi moved to South Africa, where one event changed the rest of his life. He thought India should be ruled by Indian people. In the 1940s, a powerful empire was defeated by a man of peace dressed in simple clothes.Īt that time, India was part of the British Empire, a group of countries ruled by Britain and Britain decided their laws.

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