A quiz on the first 45 years of Gandhi's life (before he joined the Indian freedom struggle)

1. Gandhi Before India Quiz
By: Pramod Biligiri

2. Question 1
Many generations of Gandhis had served in the court of the Rana of Porbandar, who hailed
from a Rajput family. One ancestor had a dispute with the Rana and returned briefly to their
native village which was in a neighbouring kingdom in the region. Which one?
Options: a) Malwa b) Mewar c) Junagadh

3. Answer to Question 1
Correct answer: c) Junagadh
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karamchand_Uttamchand_Gandhi

4. Question 2
At 13, Gandhi was married to Kasturba (aged 14). But that didn’t stop him from hanging out
with a friend who introduced him to eating meat (which was a big taboo within his
community), and almost lured him into a brothel. What reason does Gandhi cite in his
autobiography for stopping these practices?
Options: a) Kasturba talked him out of it b) He did not want to lie to his parents anymore c)
He was able to reform his friend

5. Answer to Question 2
Correct answer: b) He did not want to lie to his parents anymore
Source: https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/autobiography/chapter-6.php

6. Question 3
At the age of 19, Gandhi defied his caste elders, crossed the seas and studied law in
London for three years. London then was a great imperial, industrial and cosmopolitan city.
The works of people like Karl Marx, Charles Dickens and Darwin were being actively read
and discussed. When eating at a restaurant there, Gandhi came across a book that kicked
off his first step in activism and public outreach. What was this book about?
Options: a) Vegetarianism b) Evolution c) British Imperialism

7. Answer to Question 3
Correct answer: a) Vegetarianism
Source: https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ZBRp4G4izTCiSDzRvdUsCJ/Mahatma-Gandhi--
Experiments-with-eating.html

8. Question 4
Despite his law degree, Gandhi was unable to get a successful practice going in either
Bombay or Rajkot and was only drafting petitions for clients. Eventually, a Gujarati trader in
South Africa requested Gandhi’s help in fighting a case in that country. Why did the trader
contact Gandhi for the job?
Options: a) The case needed knowledge of Gujarati b) They were both from the same caste
(Modh Bania) c) Gandhi had put out an ad in a newspaper

9. Answer to Question 4
Correct answer: a) The case needed knowledge of Gujarati (the client was named Dada
Abdullah)
Source: https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/autobiography/chapter-38.php

10. Question 5
In South Africa, Gandhi got pulled into fighting racial laws that British colonizers passed to
make Indians there into second-class citizens. He authored a famous petition that said: “It is
a known fact that there is, in the Colony, a wide gulf between the European section of the
community and the Indian. The Indian is hated and shunned by the European. He is often
needlessly vexed and harassed. The [XXX] Amendment Bill, your Petitioners submit, will
only accentuate such a feeling. The signs have already begun to appear...”. What was this
Bill about?
Options: a) Denying right to buy property b) Denying right to vote c) Denying right to join
civil services

11. Answer to Question 5
Correct answer: b) Denying right to vote (Franchise Amendment Bill)
Source: https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/38-natal-franchise-bill-1894-do-not-make-our-
sons-pariahs

12. Question 6
Gandhi launched his first ever “Satyagraha” in South Africa in 1906, against the Asiatic
Registration Act (the Act required every Asian to register their presence in the country and
carry a permit, in order to make it easier to identify illegal immigrants). In English he referred
to the concept using a phrase coined by David Thoreau. What phrase?
Options: a) Passive Resistance b) Non Cooperation c) Civil Disobedience

13. Answer to Question 6
Correct answer: c) Civil Disobedience
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha#Origin_and_meaning_of_name

14. Question 7
Over the course of his 20 years in South Africa (1893-1914), Gandhi befriended and
collaborated with an extremely diverse set of people. Who among the following was not a
close associate of Gandhi’s during those years?
Options: a) Sonja Schlesin, a Jewish woman from Moscow b) H. Kallenbach, a Jewish
architect from Germany c) John Dube, a native African scholar d) Haji Ojer Ally, a devout
Muslim e) Thambi Naidoo, a Tamil businessman

15. Answer to Question 7
Correct answer: c) John Dube, a native African scholar
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Schlesin ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kallenbach ,
https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/thambi_naidu.htm ,
https://www.aljama.co.za/2010/11/16/commemorating-150-years-of-indian-history-in-south-
africa/ and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Langalibalele_Dube

16. References and Further Reading
1. Gandhi Before India, book by Ramachandra Guha
2. Podcast interview with Ramachandra Guha on Gandhi's first 45 years -
https://seenunseen.in/episodes/2019/1/21/episode-104-understanding-
gandhi-part-1-mohandas/