{"id":130740,"date":"2024-09-21T11:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T15:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=130740"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T16:38:26","slug":"mahatma-gandhi-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mahatma-gandhi-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahatma Gandhi: England Unexpectedly Shaped His Lifestyle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What challenges did Mahatma Gandhi face before leaving India for England? How did his experiences in London shape his future lifestyle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gandhi&#8217;s journey to England was a pivotal moment in his life. He encountered obstacles from his family and community but persevered. His time in London presented new challenges, including maintaining his diet and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/being-frugal\/\">living frugally<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover how Mahatma Gandhi&#8217;s England years laid the foundation for his future leadership and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-simplify-your-life\/\">simple living<\/a> philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Gandhi_student.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Image source: Wikipedia<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mahatma-gandhi-in-england\">Mahatma Gandhi in England<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For Mahatma Gandhi, England offered a springboard toward an honorable future. In 1887, he finished his high school education in India but wasn\u2019t sure about his next steps. <strong>A family friend suggested that he go to England and study law<\/strong>.<strong> <\/strong>This would secure him a high-earning and respectable career. Gandhi says he felt both scared and thrilled at the idea of going abroad. But two major obstacles stood in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, <strong>Putlibai didn\u2019t approve of her son living abroad<\/strong> for several years. She was worried that he\u2019d be tempted to drink alcohol, eat meat, and have relationships with women. To calm her fears, Mohandas took an oath to abstain from those vices and she gave him her blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, <strong>the caste Gandhi\u2019s family belonged to forbade him to travel <\/strong>because they followed religious prohibitions against foreign travel. He decided to go despite their prohibition, and the caste expelled him from the group. (Shortform note: In India in the late 19th century, a widespread <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/caste-society\/\">caste system<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/race-human\/Indias-caste-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">categorized people into a hierarchy of <em>varnas<\/em><\/a>, or social classes. Gandhi and his family belonged to the Vaishya (merchant and landowner) caste, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Mahatma-Gandhi#:~:text=(Vaishya%20caste)%2C%20to%20which%20the%20Gandhis%20belonged%2C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the third highest<\/a> of the main four varnas. The members of these varnas <a href=\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/postcolonialstudies\/2014\/06\/20\/caste-system-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">all rank above the <em>Dalits<\/em>, or \u201cuntouchables\u201d<\/a>\u2014a social class that falls outside of the caste system.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/soft-diplomacy\/\">Soft Power<\/a> of Gandhi\u2019s Self-Restraint<\/strong><br><br>The challenges Gandhi faced as he pursued his goal of higher education in England illustrate how <strong>he wielded <em>soft power<\/em> to achieve his aims<\/strong>. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/quiet-the-power-of-introverts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Quiet<\/em><\/a>, Susan Cain argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/quiet-the-power-of-introverts\/part-3#soft-power\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gandhi was extraordinarily effective in wielding soft power<\/a>, the quiet persistence in building support through day-to-day personal interactions. According to Cain, Gandhi&#8217;s shyness and fear of authority figures evolved into self-restraint\u2014the ability to choose his battles wisely and avoid conflicts that could undermine his leadership and the support of his community. This allowed him to nurture his connection with his followers and build support even through periods of controversy and conflict.<br><br>The two obstacles Gandhi describes arguably illustrate this. He exercised self-restraint around food, alcohol, and women to fulfill the vow he swore to his mother, a key authority figure in his life. Then he exercised self-restraint by accepting his caste members\u2019 decision to expel him. Because of his nonresistance, the caste left him alone and later even helped in his political work. Had Gandhi fought back, he and caste leaders might have been in perpetual conflict.<br><br>Cain explains that Gandhi\u2019s soft power became a hallmark of his life. Because he stayed focused on his ultimate goal, rather than being diverted by unnecessary fights, Gandhi\u2019s self-restraint became one of his greatest assets by continuously protecting his relationship with his followers and community.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once in London, Gandhi remembers that <strong>he continued to face formative challenges<\/strong> related to his desired lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Finding vegetarian meals<\/strong>\u2014Gandhi says he often starved because he couldn\u2019t get filling vegetarian meals in London. He also had to defend his decision whenever people insisted he eat meat. He eventually found vegetarian restaurants and learned to cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Living on a tight budget<\/strong>\u2014He spent a lot of money trying to fit into London society, including investing in an entirely new wardrobe. However, he soon had to cut back. He moved to a modest apartment, began walking instead of using public transportation, and took meticulous notes of all the money he spent. These habits stayed with him all his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: These challenges set the stage for what would become Gandhi\u2019s signature simple living: austere accommodations, simple and traditional clothing, and vegetarian meals he could easily prepare himself. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org\/en\/about-gandhi-ashram-menu\/history-menu.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The ashram he founded later in life\u2014where he was living when he wrote his autobiography\u2014taught families to live a simple, self-sufficient lifestyle<\/a> where even the furniture they slept on and the clothes they wore were made by themselves or others in the community.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What challenges did Mahatma Gandhi face before leaving India for England? How did his experiences in London shape his future lifestyle? Gandhi&#8217;s journey to England was a pivotal moment in his life. He encountered obstacles from his family and community but persevered. His time in London presented new challenges, including maintaining his diet and living frugally. Keep reading to discover how Mahatma Gandhi&#8217;s England years laid the foundation for his future leadership and simple living philosophy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":130754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33],"tags":[1598],"class_list":["post-130740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","tag-the-story-of-my-experiments-with-truth","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mahatma Gandhi: England Unexpectedly Shaped His Lifestyle - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For Mahatma Gandhi, England offered a springboard toward an honorable future. 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