A professor at West Virginia University's College of Law recently published book that explores a side of Gandhi most are not familiar with: his early years as a lawyer in South Africa.
1893From 1893 till 1913 Gandhiji practised in South Africa. Early in his practice he realized that "the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder".
the Inner Temple, LondonBorn and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891.
The world of legal education into which Gandhi stepped in the fall of 1888 would be almost unrecognizable to legal educators today. It is now almost universally true that there is a serious academic component in one's training for the bar, usually in a university context.
an attorneyHis involvement in the non-violent movement in South Africa had made such an impact that even now, he is looked up to as a leader there. From 1893 to 1914, Gandhi worked as an attorney and a public worker.
When gandhi opened his law office in Johannesburg in 1903, it was a time of new beginnings for the thirty-three-year-old lawyer. His Durban practice was behind him, as was his struggle to establish himself in India. It was also a time of new beginnings for the Transvaal.
Gandhi will become a shy and unpromising school pupil. During his first stay in Britain, Gandhi studies in London and qualifies as a barrister at the Inner Temple. He becomes active in the Vegetarian Society and meets a number of British radicals. Gandhi lives in South Africa and works as a lawyer.
Mavji Dave was a learned Brahman, an old family friend and counselor. Even after the death of Gandhiji 's father, he maintained his link with the family. During the holidays, he used to visit them. One visit he inquired about Gandhi ji's studies from his family and got to know he was in Samaldas college.
Since he had studied in India all his life, he decided to make a change and study in England. His decision was met with many challenges starting from his own family.
21 yearsIt is during the 21 years he spent in South Africa, from 1893 to 1914, broken by a few visits to India and England, that this timid young man who had just passed the bar examination became the man who would lead India to its independence and instigate the world movement of decolonization.