h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know it’s easy to criticize than create, but after reading the h2g2's entry for Mahatma Gandhi, my reverence towards the great man compels me to write my candid views about the article.

1. Apart from overlooking many important pieces of information and providing rather inconsequential ones, the overall tone and vocabulary of the article is totally unacceptable. It’s lamentable not to find the words like 'nonviolent resistance', 'world peace' and 'civil disobedience' which are of prime importance while describing his political works.

2. The article needs better structuring: (It’s surprising to find "…he denounced materialism and stopped having sex…" in the politics section). There definitely needs to be a section elaborating his renowned principles of satya (truth) and ahimsa (non-violence), which changed the vocabulary of the world politics forever.

3. In case the author is ignorant of the fact, the honorific title "Mahatma" (the great soul) is always attached while mentioning his name... even if it's in the title of a webpage!

I am not a researcher on Gandhi, but from whatever I know about him, this article is highly insufficient and inadequate to inform people about the great man, and needs a better rescript.

Seems the best place to nitpick. Having read the whole article, I have to admit to being surprised that this is in the 'Edited Guide'. Obviously criteria and quality have changed since 2000 but I think, as suggested before me, this entry needs a serious rewrite, and probably a more fitting title (such as the Mahatma's full name and/or something more closely linked to the struggle for Indian independence). Meanwhile, I really don't think this particular article should be 'Edited', as it is very misleading to someone who is looking for the kind of factual, comprehensive and clearly written article that the Edited Guide is expected to deliver.

The first thing that leapt out at me (after the totally irrelevant comments about astrology) is that, according to everything I have read so far (and I am still learning, so I won't be offering a rewrite just yet!), Gandhi and Kasturba (note spelling also!) were both 13 at the time of their marriage. The whole article has the feel of someone who knows very little about the topic, couldn't be bothered to research it (hence lack of the mention of terms such as ashram, Mahatma, Gandhiji, Bapu, etc.) and perhaps most seriously, I felt the wording has undertones of discrimination.

Perhaps a collection of articles on Gandhi, his life, his beliefs and the struggle for Indian independence, the creation of Pakistan, etc, would be an ideal topic for an h2g2 university project (if the uni is still in existence/resurrected). Maybe I'll put it on the end of my 'to do' list, but it's a very long list already...

Sus

I would disagree - there aren't undertones of discrimination. I feel that it is is a light-hearted article and seems to be written tongue-in-cheek. As an entry on Gandhi it is clearly incomplete, but it is better than 'Mostly Harmless' and it seems to me as if it was written with that kind of mindset.
There is a great deal of known relevant information which could be added. I'm not suggesting that all this additional relevant information was edited out, of course.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known as Mahatma (the Great Soul of India), was born in 1869 in Porbandar in Western India and went to England in 1888 where he studied law.

He returned to India, and became a barrister in Bombay, but after 2 years he went to South Africa to practice law and there he stood up for the rights of the Indian community in that land, especially in the Transvaal.

He introduced a policy of none co-operation with the authorities, a taste of the policy of satyagraha* which he would later introduce in India(*snaskrit - a policy of non-violent resistance) against British rule. He returned to his homeland in 1914.

He became the leader of the Indian National Congress Party, succeeding the Hindu extremist Bal Gangadhar Tilak and in 1919 he introduced his policy of satyagraha and civil disobedience such as non-payment of British taxes. He was imprisoned as an 'agitator' from 1922 -1924.

Upon his release he travelled around India and campaigned against the degrading treatment of the untouchables. In 1932 he was to fast almost to death on their behalf. Many Indians began to see him as a saint. He encouraged the developement of Indian craft industries and the boycotting of British goods.

In 1927 he returned to politics and in 1930 he made his famous walk from Ahmedabad to the sea in order to dilute salt from the sea as a peaceful protest against the government's salt monopoly. He was imprisoned for having 'publicly made salt' in defiance of the Salt Laws.

He campaigned for full Indian independence and went to London to meet with the Ramsey MacDonald governemt who found his demands to be 'too extreme'. On his return to India he was arrested and from 1942 to 1944 was again imprisoned.

Gandhi undertook a second fast in an attempt to halt the serious conflict between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. He advocated frienship between the two religions.

Gandhi worked closely with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Viceroys Wavell and Mountbatten in 1945 and 1946. This lead to the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan and full independence on 15th August 1947.

On 30th January 1948 a Hindu fanatic, a young journalist named Nathuram Godse, assassinated Gandhi, shooting him dead, as he went to a prayer meeting.