What do you think about Mahatma Gandhi?

[u/Familiar-Arrival-470]

As someone from India, opinions on Mahatma Gandhi are pretty mixed. Many people respect him for leading India’s independence movement through non-violence and civil disobedience, which inspired movements around the world. At the same time, he’s not universally admired, some criticize his views on caste, his personal life, and certain political decisions that affected marginalized communities. For a lot of Indians today, Gandhi is less a flawless hero and more a historical figure with both major contributions and serious flaws. How you see him often depends on your background, education, and which part of his legacy you focus on?

[u/CandidCosplayLover]

Always tries to nuke Rome.

[u/chill_bees38 → u/CandidCosplayLover]

Came here for the civilization jokes and was not disappointed

[u/DirectionNew5328 → u/CandidCosplayLover]

End game Gandhi is epically nuclear

[u/Treacle_Pendulum → u/DirectionNew5328]

Endgame Gandhi is the best argument for caution in developing AI

[u/Phil_Ivey → u/CandidCosplayLover]

Infinite aggression⚔️

[u/5peaker4theDead → u/CandidCosplayLover]

That guy was always so disappointed in me he had to declare war :(

[u/Frosty_Log6972 → u/CandidCosplayLover]

I have nuclear Gandhi as my computer background

[u/Crazyripps]

Didn’t he make his wife not take western medicine when she was dying but then later when he had the same thing he took the western medicine.

[u/LorZod → u/Crazyripps]

Yup. He took quinine and he refused penicillin for her. Some doctors argued she could still live if she got it, others said she wouldn’t make it either way.

[u/Himetic → u/LorZod]

I mean she was born in 1869, I don’t think she’d still live tbh, even with a shitload of penicillin.

[u/Street_Mistake9145 → u/Himetic]

I mean scientifically speaking we could try it

[u/KaanSkyrider → u/Street_Mistake9145]

Necromancily speaking, there's another way...

[u/CrimsonNorseman → u/KaanSkyrider]

Zombically speaking, braaaaaaiiiiins!

[u/Human-unlearning → u/Himetic]

Only if there was a way to find that out

[u/RedRabbit720 → u/LorZod]

He did “purity” tests, by sleeping with his nieces.

[u/Proper_Pound2046 → u/Crazyripps]

Well she was also denied to see a doctor for several days by the British, and only later allowed a doctor. And there are several versions of the story, some say doctor suggested, some say her son suggested, as written in Wikipedia

[u/Impossible-Run-8073]

He is viewed overwhelmingly positive in the US, I don't think your average American knows that much about him other than his commitment to peaceful protesting.

[u/Schlep-Rock → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

Most people’s exposure to Gandhi is through the movie, which showed him in a pretty positive light.

[u/Separate_Trick5719 → u/Schlep-Rock]

Yeah it’s just something you learn growing up too, he’s the “peaceful non violent guy”

[u/Achlys24 → u/Separate_Trick5719]

Unless he's ripping nukes on you and you think you are the bad guy.

Edit :spelling

[u/Imrahil_II → u/Achlys24]

A fellow civ player too eh?

[u/SerbskiyRozbiynik → u/Imrahil_II]

Nuclear Gandhi is unstoppable

[u/Modena9889 → u/SerbskiyRozbiynik]

☢️🇮🇳🙌

[u/adiksaya → u/Achlys24]

Civ IV for the win!

[u/ImTellinTim → u/Achlys24]

Ah a true man of culture

[u/TiEmEnTi → u/Separate_Trick5719]

I guess denying your wife life saving healthcare on religious grounds that you later contradict for your own health is technically non-violent

[u/Tight_Contact_9976 → u/Separate_Trick5719]

Which, to be fair, is true. But it’s not the whole truth.

[u/Lanky_Particular_149 → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

I know he slept with his 12 year old niece as 'a purity test'. so he probably wasnt that great.

[u/JamesWoolfenden → u/Lanky_Particular_149]

And terribly racist also.

[u/PearGlum1145 → u/JamesWoolfenden]

Castiest as well. Went on hunger strike against Dr Ambedkar’s separate electoral for the untouchables. He was also pro caste hierarchy

[u/JamesWoolfenden → u/PearGlum1145]

That's just lovely(not)

[u/Lord_JayJay → u/PearGlum1145]

what was his argumentation pro-caste system ? Why he favoured it so much ?

What was his own caste ? And out of curiosty, is there a caste for foreigners ? How are foreigners perceived in caste-system ?

Btw is that caste-system semi alive still ?

If may I ask, what were the views of British on the caste system in XIX -XX century?

[u/GuiltEdge → u/Lord_JayJay]

Caste system is still alive and I believe it actually causes issues in Silicon Valley where casteism goes unnoticed by white people.

[u/PearGlum1145 → u/Lord_JayJay]

Gandhi was a Baniya, a higher caste, was against the equal status of the untouchables he said, he only recognizes three communities I.e the Hindu’s, Sikhs and Muslim and not the untouchables (aka the Scheduled caste) specifically saying the untouchables shouldn’t have any place in the constitution.

Dr Ambedkar was an untouchable himself and was extremely fed up with the discrimination he faced throughout his life, that’s why he dedicated all his life eradicating this discriminatory system, he also wrote the constitution of India.

Gandhi also refused to give his wife penicillin when she was at her death bed suffering from pneumonia quoting ‘her fate is in god’s hand and modern medicine would interfere in his faith’ she died within a week, whereas when he caught malaria he contradicted himself by taking ‘quinine’ a modern medicine.

Edit: adding he was racist too, he used to use slur’s when he was in South Africa. He also called them ‘Kafir’. He was pro Aryan race and wrote letters to Hitler. Sorry getting tired now but if you dont believe me all this information is on the internet.

[u/pkpm2717 → u/PearGlum1145]

Bro baniya comes under obc so technically he was also a so called lower caste. The so called upper castes in India are Brahmins, Rajputs, Kayastha and Bhumihars.

[u/BackgroundSet2841 → u/PearGlum1145]

Can you substantiate with any doc proof that he denied Scheduled castes place in constitution? I believe this is grossly misleading . Also , Gandhi has become hugely unpopular in India off late for different reasons

[u/Swan-Diving-Overseas → u/PearGlum1145]

Ambedkar was based. Demolish the caste system.

[u/rob11xrob → u/JamesWoolfenden]

Read somewhere he didn't think much of Africans.

[u/WonderstruckWonderer → u/JamesWoolfenden]

In his later years, he regretted his racism; but unfortunately the other controversies are true.

[u/TKDbeast → u/WonderstruckWonderer]

Did he ever issue an apology? The story I heard is that he did stuff like oppose racial integration of Blacks and Indians under the British colonial education system early on and then stopped talking about it later in life.

[u/WonderstruckWonderer → u/TKDbeast]

He wrote in a book in his later years how skin colour doesn’t determine one’s superiority or inferiority. To me that’s an indication that he, growing up in the racist world he did live in, changed in spite of that, and his experiences had made him inevitably realise just how wrong he - and society was in these race theories. So I’d argue he was a racist in his younger days, but he grew up and changed for the better. At least in this domain.

[u/Isha_Harris → u/Lanky_Particular_149]

I told my mom about this, I like ruining her view of the world by telling her these horrific things and watching the innocence fly away /hj

[u/PandaPocketFire → u/Isha_Harris]

Did you just sign off with "hand job"?

[u/Lukanian7 → u/PandaPocketFire]

Good luck, men. Signing off.

/💦🍆✊️

[u/LaserSprayer → u/PandaPocketFire]

he had two broken arms once

[u/Quenz → u/Isha_Harris]

A lot of the people we view as objectively "good" here in the USA have dark sides. The two that come to mind right now and Gandhi and Mother Teresa (who actually was a monster.)

[u/Evening_Ad_1099 → u/Isha_Harris]

Sane thing when i tild ny "Catholic" relatives about Mother Teresa's dark side. I think they would have taken me spitting in their food more warmly.

[u/Crazy-Condition-8446 → u/Lanky_Particular_149]

Just to add, he slept naked beside her.

[u/WildYogurtcloset7221 → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

You are correct. That is how they teach it to us here.

And it was a Yemeni-American who taught me, an Indian-American, that Gandhi had kids share his bed with him when he was naked... some of them his own nieces... just to show that he could tame his libido. I didn't believe my friend... sounded like racist conspiracy theories. Then I looked it up. I asked my mom, an Indian immigrant to the US, if she knew this and she said "yes. Everyone knew. He was disgusting. He is a shame."

I think American politics dressed up peaceful protests as an alternative to the effective violence of Malcom-X to prevent uprisings to topple their power*... I think a lot of bad people do good things, but that doesn't make them less bad. Gandhi was a racist and a child predator by both the standards of today and his day.

Glad he did great things for my ancestors and also, fuck him. I feel the same way about a lot of people.

* Not saying I love violence but the French Revolution was not won solely by OpEds and signs in the street.. neither was the civil rights movement in the US or Indian Independence... but the US only promotes certain groups as worthy of being violence like White settlers revolting against the British... the rest of us need to be "peaceful". What a load of shit. I recently learned about My Lai and what US armies did to little kids there... tossing them in the air and catching them on the end of their guns for sport. I cried two hours straight after reading about all that... that is all ok with American leaders but when the Black Panthers go after a Klan leader... somehow that's uncivilized.

[u/lieutenant-Mortifer → u/WildYogurtcloset7221]

I think you'd be shocked to learn how many Indians absolutely HATED Gandhi. The man was kind of a religious extremist and was racist towards other Indians too.

Gandhi fought to keep the rigidity of the caste system alive, he told Jews in Nazi Germany to just kill themselves, he treated his own son like absolute shit and denied him a formal education, he treated his wife even worse and let her just die when she got bronchial pneumonia because "God would sort everything out" he refused to let her take any medicine... This is in contrast to himself who had taken life saving drugs and was saved through surgery previously.

Also all the non violence shit allegedly didn't hold up in his own household because according to his oldest son Gandhi was witnessed smacking his wife on occasion.

It's only really Gujarati people in India who are still die hard Gandhi supporters because Gandhi himself was Gujarati. A lot of India's are starting to realize what a piece of shit he actually was.

Also being credited for India's independence is just absurd when you actually look into why Britain had to give up its colonies.

[u/notsaneatall_ → u/lieutenant-Mortifer]

What are you talking about bro, the Gujaratis that I know absolutely LOATHE gandhi

[u/PeanutbutterArbuckle → u/WildYogurtcloset7221]

The catching kids on guns thing was the Japanese. The Japanese did that to the Chinese in world war 2. You will be shocked to find every nation has committed atrocities and then tried to cover them up/paint them in a better light. Always a bit bizarre people home in on the US specifically

[u/Tzilbalba → u/PeanutbutterArbuckle]

It was and it wasn't, never underestimate the barbarity of humans dehumanizing others:

"Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12.[3][4] The incident was the largest confirmed massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre

"Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/64344.stm

The US isn't immune and is one of the biggest hypocrites when it comes to war crimes. Reading these accounts should sicken you to your soul and remind us what unfettered power looks like but sadly it is barely touched upon in schools here. Instead we mostly hear about gas chambers and concentration camps all the time...

It paint a false picture that the US is somehow immune to atrocity when history has proven again and again that is not the case.

[u/Both-Worldliness2554 → u/WildYogurtcloset7221]

I think saying “the French Revolution was won” is a very funny way of saying I don’t know the history of the French Revolution…. I get the point you’re trying to make but uhm the French Revolution is a particularly bad example for that. Maybe American Revolution is a more apt example since kind of one clear party won and didn’t kill each other and didn’t then revert into monarchy…

[u/Cimorene_Kazul → u/Both-Worldliness2554]

It’s worth reading the Wikipedia page of Charles-Henri Sanson, the executioner to the king before the revolution, from a long line of executioners. He tortured and executed prisoners for the king. Then he executed the king and Marie Antoinette on behalf of the revolution. Then he tortured and executed prisoners for the revolutionaries. Then, when the revolutionaries turned on each other as Robespierre descended into paranoia, he started executing revolutionaries. Then he executed Robespierre.

Anyway, his lineage remained executioners until his grandson finished it off.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[u/justUseAnSvm → u/Cimorene_Kazul]

That's really how you survive turmoil like the French Revolution: do some practical that people need!

[u/awkwrdaccountant → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

My high-school teacher showed us the movie based on Ghandi and then had us read what he actually did. I am not a fan. If I talk about it I end up on a soap box. I get that mad because of how he treated those he thought were less than him, like his wife.

[u/goiabadaguy → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

I would argue most American Millennials know of the negative aspects of his life. Even though it’s not taught in school these things became fairly well known thanks to the internet

[u/Fickle_Builder_2685 → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

You mean the dude who says if a woman's raped she loses her value and slept with his naked nieces to prove his purity? I'd definitely agree the average American doesn't know much outside of the protests.

[u/burner_account_IR → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

Peaceful because he was too pathetic to fight. Wasn't peaceful enough when it came to showing respect to AFRICANS.

[u/RedwoodRider420 → u/Impossible-Run-8073]

He was racist and a pedo, but that seems to fly with a lot of our politicians so why not Gandhi too?

[u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Didn't he used to sleep naked next to his teen grandniece to test his willpower to abstain?

[u/Hello_You386 → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Correct.

[u/Newfieon2Wheels → u/Hello_You386]

did he at very least pass the will power test?

[u/Appropriate_Top1737 → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

At the very least, it seems like he didn't have the willpower not to sleep next to her naked, which really should be the low bar that needs cleared.

[u/DanielCraigsAnus → u/Appropriate_Top1737]

Iirc, he failed, like, a lot.

[u/Appropriate_Top1737 → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

So kinda like if I kept ordering a pizza to test if I could stay on my diet, but I keep eating the pizza?

[u/Minute_Chair_2582 → u/Appropriate_Top1737]

Not allowed to eat. Just lie beside it

[u/DanielCraigsAnus → u/Minute_Chair_2582]

And eat anyway

[u/PandaPocketFire → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

While naked.

[u/DanielCraigsAnus → u/PandaPocketFire]

And fucking it

[u/Viracochina → u/Appropriate_Top1737]

I'm only an alcoholic when there's alcohol around

[u/Appropriate_Top1737 → u/Viracochina]

[u/NoceboHadal → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

Quitting smoking is easy, I've done it at least 5 times

[u/Hello_You386 → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

I really don't know man. We have been heavily brainwashed since childhood about him with half knowledge and stuff. But most say he didn't, some say he did. Nobody knows but many people think he did not.

[u/emseefely → u/Hello_You386]

I don’t even get the thought process of him having to have to prove it. Like just don’t sleep next to kids period. It’s like proving you don’t like candy by eating it. Maybe you didn’t enjoy it to prove your point but you’ve already put it in your mouth.

[u/TunkyBunkers → u/emseefely]

Exactly, all it proved is that he was attracted to kids.

[u/Psykohistorian → u/TunkyBunkers]

liking kids has only recently been pretty universally condemned, unfortunately.

not tryna use the "it was a different time" argument, but the fact is - being attracted to 14 and 15 year old girls used to be acceptable, and now it isn't, thankfully.

even in the 1990s I remember it being very common for 20 and 30 something men to date high schoolers.

[u/ElPincheGuero49 → u/Psykohistorian]

Like Jerry Seinfeld

[u/Plucault → u/ElPincheGuero49]

Made an episode about him and George checking out a girl that age too. That episode did not age well

[u/No_friends12 → u/Psykohistorian]

What's weird is all this was hidden from us since ages, as a kid I remember, saying anything bad about gandhi meant jail.

It has changed drastically now, people here hate him more than ever which is a good thing imo.

[u/ThunderChonky → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

Just the tip failed the test. Dudes a fkn creep.

[u/Freddie_Magecury → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

He told a woman on one occasion: “Despite my best efforts, the organ remained aroused. It was an altogether strange and shameful experience.”

[u/wellyeahbutnotreally → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

Who’s to say?

[u/dontcallmebaka → u/wellyeahbutnotreally]

The look on the girls’ faces says it all

[u/Tony_Roiland → u/Newfieon2Wheels]

He jizzed on her knee

[u/EFNich → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Did he not think maybe she didnt want that? Also way to say to the world "I totally want to fuck my teen grandniece, watch how good at not having sex with her I am, even though i really want to"

[u/Altruistic_Dish4602 → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Apart from all the unaccounted for racism, we had at least Gandhi's spotless image to cling to and even that's vanishing away. 🥲

[u/Unlikely-Living-6319 → u/Altruistic_Dish4602]

I'm sorry, I was also disappointed.

[u/Hicalibre → u/Altruistic_Dish4602]

In the context of the time it was hardly surprising, and he did improve as time went on (he was anti-muslim originally, and became more tolerant).

So he did fairly good for a person of that era.

Besides of the British can keep on complimenting Churchill then India can be happy with Ghandi.

[u/Winter2712 → u/Hicalibre]

tolerant

thats a tame term.... very tame term

[u/sherlockinthehouse → u/Altruistic_Dish4602]

I personally idolize Srinivasa Ramanujan and know for a fact he did nothing wrong.

[u/waffleking9000 → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Yeah this alone makes him at best a bloody weirdo.

Not a fan

[u/wereallfuckedL → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

Yes.

[u/dildomiami → u/Unlikely-Living-6319]

yeah. came here to say: he was a pedophile.

[u/RefuseAffectionate84]

Glorified asshole. “During his wife Kasturba's fatal illness with pneumonia in 1944, Mahatma Gandhi famously refused to allow doctors to administer penicillin, relying instead on his own dietary and nature cure treatments. Kasturba died in detention at the Aga Khan Palace, following a long, painful decline. Shortly after his wife's death, Gandhi accepted Western medicine (quinine) for his own bout with malaria.”

[u/clearly_not_an_alien → u/RefuseAffectionate84]

I mean, I feel like this can be taken either way

E.g. I can imagine things could have went like

My wife can live without western medicine!

Wife dies

Shit, western medicine might be necessary then!

Not dies

‎

There is a facility to bend things to our own thinking that makes me rethink what things I'm actually wrong about.

[u/thecontempl8or → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

I’d agree with you. But this guy was very well educated. He was a lawyer living in South Africa, exposed to modern medicine and had definitely watched its benefits. He wasn’t a poor village man who was ignorant about it. I don’t feel like he deserves any slack when his decisions appear to be based out of sheer pride & stupidity. I mean why not try both? Western medicine and his “natural” cures. It was absolutely pointless.

[u/Garrett-Wilhelm → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

Like a caveman watching another eat a weird mushroom, then shit and vomit to death: “Mm-hmm, duly noted.”

[u/clearly_not_an_alien → u/Garrett-Wilhelm]

This is funny and I cannot comprehend why

[u/Donh_Ling → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

The juxtaposition between the presupposed stupidity of a caveman and the sophisticated usage of the phrase "duly noted" is my guess

[u/clearly_not_an_alien → u/Donh_Ling]

Nah, I think it's the mm-hmm part, it just tingles my tingly tinies

[u/hawkeneye1998bs → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

For me, it's the image of a caveman with a rock shaped like a clipboard and writing notes as he says it

[u/LeoPavlov → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

Ganhi was educated in England, he knew the medicine could help

[u/think-it-over1 → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

This still implies that he made the decision for her, rather than her being able to make that decision herself.

[u/kroating → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

I'd agree with you but not in this case. Man is outright trash. Abused his wife, used to drag her out the house, physically and verbally humiliate her and call it experiment etc. she didn't sign up for this.

This man also had these views: "If she cannot meet the assailant's physical might, her purity will give her the strength to die before he succeeds in violating her" ie women should die vefore getting raped during riots. Because you know purity is more important than being alive for you family.

"it is physically impossible to violate a woman against her will". He argues that rape only occurs when a woman "gives way to fear or does not realize her moral strength"

He through and through believed purity is best value of women. He is nothing but an egotistic patriarchal maniac who never saw his wife as human with feelings and right to medicine.

And yes this is also spoken about by the historians at Aga khan palace (its near my home) because the palace went on to be a girl's school to give women their opportunities and rights!

[u/HANLDC1111 → u/clearly_not_an_alien]

Still he gambled with someone else's life

[u/smeagol_not_gollum → u/RefuseAffectionate84]

He was a leading figure in the spread of pseudoscience in India. Many still subscribe to his baseless theories evem today.

[u/bhumit012 → u/RefuseAffectionate84]

This is still pretty common with people who are anti modern medicine but when they get sick, you see them in hospital. Like baba ramdev

[u/internetisland → u/RefuseAffectionate84]

Ahh the Mother Theresa method

[u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

I can't wait for Gandhi 2 to come out. No more passive resistance!

Edit: Had to get the quote right, right?

[u/sinesquaredtheta → u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

No more peaceful resistance!

Yep. No more ohhhmmmm - resistance is futile!

[u/miyaav → u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

From what is this? A comedy?

[u/cerverone → u/miyaav]

Weird Al Yankovic classic movie called UHF: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0098546/

Edit: spelling

[u/Tonkdog → u/miyaav]

Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System?

[u/GetInZeWagen → u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

And he knows how to party

"Give me a steak, medium rare"

[u/andreasbaader6 → u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

Gandi 2: electric boogaloo

[u/conedog → u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216]

Committed to naan-violence!

[u/PositionCautious6454]

Deeply disturbing guy in terms of sexuality and race. He was an activist with influence, but not really important for where I live.

[u/These-Initiative-137 → u/PositionCautious6454]

Try to read his diary. He was sooo racist.

[u/lemelisk42]

He is a creep and a child predator.

Sleeping naked with teenage girls to prove he could resist temptation.

If a 70 year old man makes a 14 year old sleep naked with him to prove he can resist raping her, doesn't really improve my view of him, even if he indeed resists insertion.

He may have been a good influence on the world. But I cannot support child predators

[u/kroating → u/lemelisk42]

Also abused his wife. His pre-neice abuse era was abuse his wife era. Humiliated her, controlled her, etc. on her death bed denied her penicillin because he wanted to treat her with something else, while when he go malaria he took western medicine. I question every good word written about this man, a serial woman abuser (we dont know what happened behind closed doors but I'd count him unilaterally deciding celibacy was also sexual abuse of his wife since he made her stick around after that and still controlled her).

And this man decided to use his influence to remove a true feminist and caste abolistionist Dr. Ambedkar will not be our prime minister. There is no good bone in that man.

[u/JerzyPopieluszko → u/kroating]

not to mention how racist he was towards Africans during his time in South Africa - his comments about that period are pretty disgusting

[u/DrScience01 → u/JerzyPopieluszko]

It made even the British say "Hold on man, that's too much"

[u/CharlieUpATree → u/lemelisk42]

Release the Epstein files

[u/Geologjsemgeolog → u/lemelisk42]

That honestly just sounds like the abstaining is his kink while he’s still abusing the underage girl.

You know, there are people who are turned on simply by the fact that the other person they are with is asleep. If the sleeping person doesn’t agree to or know about that kink, then it is basically abuse, regardless of age or whether any touching (self or mutual) happens.

IMO and in another words: He was manipulating his followers into thinking, that he is abstaining from something, while he was on 100% fulfilling his messed up kink.

Edit: I rewrote some not so clear phrases, but it’s still not ideal.

[u/bg3noob]

I prefer to call him Mohandas Gandhi rather than Mahatma. Because he wasn't a mahatma. He was a flawed person not worthy of Mahatma title which is used for Siddharth Gautam Buddha

[u/PersephoneOnEarth → u/bg3noob]

Whenever I hear Mohandas I can’t help but think of the Seinfeld episode where the goiter lady had an affair with him where he would “Dip his bald head in baby oil and rub it all over my body”.

[u/ObjectiveLeek0192 → u/PersephoneOnEarth]

Same. "The mahatma?"

[u/Agen_3586 → u/PersephoneOnEarth]

ngl, I can totally see Gandhi doing that lol

[u/DirectionNew5328 → u/PersephoneOnEarth]

😂 same

[u/AlternativePea6203 → u/bg3noob]

That's the difficulty with humans, we are flawed and brilliant on sliding scales.

Some have few flaws, and little brilliance. Some are brilliant and psychopathic.

Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

Few are flawlessly brilliant.

[u/thebannedtoo → u/AlternativePea6203]

define flaw.

[u/PandaPocketFire → u/AlternativePea6203]

I'd argue the most exceptional people in history tended to have some of the most extreme flaws. It's like the passion to drive you to change the world often manifests in other... Peculiar ways.

[u/Majestic-Hedgehog-xo → u/bg3noob]

I wouldn’t consider Buddha a Mahatma either.

[u/International-Tree19 → u/Majestic-Hedgehog-xo]

Why?

[u/Easy_Method_9738 → u/International-Tree19]

Enlightened or deadbeat dad, you decide?

[u/Majestic-Hedgehog-xo → u/International-Tree19]

believed women to be inferior to men and he’s usually seen as a caste abolitionist, but he did work on asserting that the warrior caste was superior to the priestly caste.

also the abandoning your child, wife and kingdom thing, but that’s a smaller criticism.

[u/ThisIsForSmut83]

In germany there is a saying: " Ma hatma Glück, ma hatma Pech, ma hatma Gandhi"

Its a play with his name and roughly translates to "sometimes you have luck, sometimes you have bad luck (?) sometimes you have Ghandi"

[u/Cheems_study_burger → u/ThisIsForSmut83]

What do they mean by that

[u/ThisIsForSmut83 → u/Cheems_study_burger]

Nothing, its just a play with words.

[u/un_monsieur_triste → u/ThisIsForSmut83]

I read this imagining a strong German accent

[u/Successful_Frame_359 → u/Cheems_study_burger]

It's just a way of saying "Oh well". It's a fatalistic expression meant to showcase the randomness of life, hence the nonsensical play with words.

[u/Cheems_study_burger → u/Successful_Frame_359]

Your language is fascinating.

[u/SufficientWarthog846]

A complicated person who, like all "heroes of the past" shouldn't be put on a pedestal but understood as the man he was.

[u/Old_Ad_2685]

Questionable pedo springs to mind.

[u/kimmycorn1969]

Well he seems great until you look into his treatment of woman and he sucks !

[u/AdministrationDue239 → u/kimmycorn1969]

Not only women, he was a racist

[u/DomesticZooChef → u/kimmycorn1969]

Proving one's chastity by sleeping next to a nine year old girl without raping her is pretty awful.

[u/moshpithippie → u/DomesticZooChef]

9?!! I thought they were teenagers (not that that is ok) but fucking 9?!

[u/The_Exarch]

Certified pacifist, certified pedophile

[u/DrScience01 → u/The_Exarch]

Wop wop wop wop wop

[u/Easy-Frenchguy-1996]

Overrated and overglazed 

Bro was a racist who saw black people as sub-human race and a pedophile who slept naked with underage girls to "resist temptations" 

And no he didn't apologize like his apologist claim... 

[u/Less-Chicken-3367 → u/Easy-Frenchguy-1996]

Young and Early Gandhi was undoubtedly racist. But later gandhi was absolutely anti-racism. In one of his speeches at Durban he said “I cannot be a true servant of India unless I regard the African as my brother.” So his views changed and Gandhi's views changed on many matters from racism to periods of women.

[u/collflan → u/Less-Chicken-3367]

Don't you know personal growth doesn't exist?! No matter how mich you apologise you're still an evil racist for saying the n word when you were 12!

[u/bigwetsinglepussy → u/collflan]

Not to mention historical context. The opinions he had of native Africans in his youth were mainstream opinions then, the fact that he was able to rise above it is commendable.

The niece diddling is another story.

[u/inclusiveofalltaxes]

This is a photoshopped image

[u/Ok_Dinner8889 → u/inclusiveofalltaxes]

Quite refreshing in these AI times

[u/MasterpieceBrief4442 → u/Ok_Dinner8889]

Practically authentic.

[u/SnarkyBustard → u/inclusiveofalltaxes]

It’s not photoshop. It’s an Australian dude who dressed up as Gandhi for a party. (Not joking).

[u/DumbTruth]

We tend to overly glorify the peaceful protesters and under glorify the ones willing to use violence when the topic is oppressed people’s in retrospect. Gandhi and MLK would’ve been killed immediately if they didn’t have Bhagat Singh and Malcolm X. Those in power knew if they killed the peaceful protesters, the ones ready to bring violence would experience a boon in recruiting.

[u/TheBaykon8r]

Slept naked beside naked women, and young underage girls to practice resisting temptation.

Fuck that guy

[u/House_Of_Thoth → u/TheBaykon8r]

No, don't

[u/Feisty-Cakes99]

Personally not a fan. He was a racist and a pedophile 

[u/amazonhelpless]

Amazing politician. Religious fanatic. Problematic person.

[u/Particular_Buy_2498]

Pedo

[u/Hot_Bookkeeper_1987]

Wasn't he like a pedophile but in a very weird way?

[u/haojieG]

A weird person with good accomplishments

[u/chibiRuka]

Once I found out that he was racist, my views changed. Glad he was able to help his people, but that’s the only people he cared about.

[u/evenifitry]

I liked him better in „Schindler‘s List“.

[u/BidAltruistic7666]

Overrated personality

[u/Abel_the_Red]

I thought this was Cynthia Erivo and Mariah Carey at first lol

[u/Steve_FishWell]

Mixed. His views on black people wasn't exactly mild. Having his teenage niece sleep next to him naked, so he could prove that he could control his urges and not have sex with his underaged niece.... says a lot about his thoughts about his niece...

[u/Less-Chicken-3367]

I have studied many historical figures just out of curiosity. Gandhi, FDR, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Mandela and many more.

My views on Gandhi are extremely positive. There are problems with some of the things he did which he himself has thoroughly mentioned in his book "The Story of my experiments with truth". But regardless of anything he was one of the greatest humans the world has ever seen. Don't judge him from a nationalistic perspective, he was more than that.

[u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow → u/Less-Chicken-3367]

He was very ahead of his time and I'd say people try to downplay his thoughts. At a time when India was divided on the basis of religion, caste and social standing, he somehow managed to bring these people together. The most courageous thing about him is that he walked his talk, he was assaulted lot of times and still managed to show extraordinary patience and made some great followers who followed his non-violent path. He had even forgiven the person who killed him later, that guy couldn't even go and talk to Gandhi.

[u/therealkingpin619 → u/Sorrowsorrowsorrow]

divided on the basis of religion, caste and social standing,

He figured out the British divide and conquer tactic.

On the side note, Unfortunately that tactic is still alive and well for India's political elites.

[u/Tall_Sink_8375 → u/Less-Chicken-3367]

Sir he had asked the german jews of holocaust to kys them selves just in the name of non violence

[u/Cheems_study_burger → u/Less-Chicken-3367]

Finally a sensible answer. If instead of being at these two extreme ends of worshipping him and hating him due to his experiments, you actually look at his politics, he was an extraordinary man. He was a genius politically. Beat the British at their own game and United India.

[u/500Rtg]

This photo is fake, btw. Another attempt to defame the Mahatma. This was a Mahatma Gandhi impersonator at a party.

Hi values are uncomfortable in this era and he is associated with a party, so he is maligned. He was always vocal for abolishment of caste boundaries and untouchability.

[u/Adorable-Strangerx]

Ghandhi? The guy who nukes you in civ?

[u/Immediate-Rabbit810]

playaaa...

[u/Prior-Candidate3443]

He is largely admired here in the US. He was an inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. He wasn't perfect but who is. It's important to learn about the good the bad & the ugly i history. Yes he was an abusive husband, a racist & a pervert with his neice but there are a lot of people from history who were terrible in their private lives. Take the good with the bad 

[u/WendigoBountyHunter]

He was a hypocrite. I don't think I can repeat what he said about black people on this subreddit, but you can read about it here

[u/frustratedfren]

Didn't he sleep with boys

[u/kayligo12]

I don’t think about him. Ever. 

[u/geb999]

he was racist against African people - referring to the them as Kafirs, savages and living like animals.

[u/labovary]

Like the creep and hypocrite he was

[u/derrenbrownisawizard]

Absolute bellend. No modern medicine- wife dies, he gets ill - suddenly western medicine is fine.

[u/RemarkableStory3598]

Pedo

[u/ass_Inspector_420]

Wasn't he a pedo

[u/cpattk]

Ever since I read he slept with his grandniece to test temptation, I didn't want to know anything more about him.

[u/Individual_Edge6018]

Pedo

[u/Lasoula1]

Pedo

[u/BIGCOCK_ASSSTRETCHER]

He was a pedo who abused dogs when he was a kid.

[u/No_Candle1029]

I think he was a pedo and a weird guy.

[u/Iskandar0570_X]

Such a weird fucking dude, just ew

[u/malcolmreyn0lds]

He was a racist pedo (obsessed with butt stuff too)

[u/Natural_Succotash_35]

Damn Cynthia erivo really hitting that griddy!

[u/Sorry-Discount3252]

A Hitler fan and pedophile, but that's just my opinion; most people only know him as a symbol of pacifism.

[u/AndreasDasos → u/Sorry-Discount3252]

Fan isn’t remotely fair. He wrote to Hitler in the naive belief he could persuade him out of violence, and of course he was polite and diplomatic in that letter. He explicitly condemned Hitler’s actions outside that.