Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandi | Origin of Street Names

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948) is one of the most significant statesmen in history, perhaps of all human civilization. He is a symbol of nonviolent struggle for freedom, peaceful resistance against powerful oppressors, and an eternal inspiration to free-thinking peoples around the world.

The "Father" of the Indian nation was born in 1869 in the city of Porbandar, in (then) British India. Coming from a deeply religious Hindu family, he was taught values such as fasting (for physical and spiritual purification), tolerance towards people of different views and faiths, and compassion for the poor from a young age. These values guided him and marked his entire life.

As is often customary in India, he entered into an arranged marriage at a very young age, marrying a girl just a year older than him when he was only 13 years old. He remained with her until the end of his life and fathered four sons. However, in his thirties, he renounced earthly pleasures and chose a strict life of fasting, asceticism, celibacy, and meditation.

After completing his law studies in London and unable to establish his own legal practice in India, he ended up in the South African Republic (also a British colony in the late 19th century) in search of employment. It was there that he first encountered racial discrimination and the disenfranchisement of people based on their skin color. He was thrown off a train for refusing to move from the first-class compartment to the third-class compartment designated for "colored" individuals, despite having a valid ticket. This racist act by British colonialists, along with a series of other prejudices and injustices towards the non-white population, led him to contemplate the position of the Indian people under British rule.

Gandhi's struggle against the British Empire lasted for almost thirty years and was filled with important and revolutionary events, from the recognition of basic human rights for the Indian people to the declaration of India's independence in 1947.

Millions of pages, volumes of books, and kilometers of film footage have been written and recorded about Mohandas Gandhi, a unique and shining example of successful nonviolent resistance against oppression and racial discrimination of a people. And what a people it was - one of the largest on the planet.

His work became an ideal for the struggle of oppressed peoples worldwide and an inspiration to future generations, including figures like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and others.

Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian writer and philosopher, called him the Great Soul. Great Soul in the traditional Indian language (Sanskrit) is called Mahatma. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi.

Today, the name Mahatma Gandhi is carried by streets in Belgrade and Kragujevac, and on the Sava Quay in Block 70 of New Belgrade, there is a monument to the great statesman.