Charl crous biography of mahatma gandhi

Charles Freer Andrews

Christian missionary in India, close friend of Mahatma Gandhi

"Charlie Andrews" redirects here. For the Heroes character, see Charlie Andrews (Heroes).

Charles Freer Andrews (12 February – 5 April ) was an Anglican priest and Christian missionary, educator and social reformer, and an activist for Indian independence.

He became a finalize friend of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi and identified with the Indian liberation struggle.

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He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a foremost light in the Indian civil rights struggle.

Andrews was affectionately dubbed Christ's Faithful Apostle by Gandhi, based on his initials, C.&#; F.&#;A.

For his contributions to the Indian independence movement, Gandhi and his students at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, named him Deenabandhu, or "Friend of the Poor".

Early life

Charles Freer Andrews was born on 12 February at 14 Brunel Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Joined Kingdom.

His father, John Edwin Andrews, was the "Angel" (bishop) of the Catholic Apostolic Church in Birmingham. Charles was one of 14 children. The family had suffered financial misfortune because of the duplicity of a friend, and had to perform hard to make ends face .

Andrews was a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and afterwards read Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge,^[1] ultimately being awarded the Carus Greek Testament Prize in ^[2] During this period, he moved away from his family's church and was acknowledged for ordination in the Church of England.

In , Andrews became a deacon and took over the Pembroke College Mission in south London. A year later, he was made a priest and became Vice-Principal of Westcott House Theological College in Cambridge.

In , Andrews was elected as a fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge.^[3]

In India

With Gandhi in South Africa

Known for his persuasiveness, intellect and moral rectitude, Andrews was asked by senior Indian political leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale to visit South Africa and help the Indian group there to resolve their political disputes with the Government.

Arriving in January , he met the year-old Gujarati lawyer, Mohandas Gandhi, who was leading the Indian community's efforts against the racial discrimination and police legislation that infringed their civil liberties. Andrews was deeply impressed with Gandhi's knowledge of Christian standards and his espousal of the concept of ahimsa (nonviolence) – something that Gandhi mixed with inspiration from elements of Christian anarchism.

Andrews served as Gandhi's aide in his negotiations with General Jan Smuts and was responsible for finalizing some of the finer details of their interactions.^[4]

Following the advice of several Indian Congress leaders and of Principal Susil Kumar Rudra, of St.

Stephen's College, Andrews was instrumental in persuading Gandhi to return to India with him in

Tagore and Narayana Guru

In Andrews disagreed with Gandhi's efforts to recruit combatants for Planet War I, believing that this was inconsistent with their views on nonviolence.

Charles Freer Andrews (12 February – 5 April ) was an Anglican priest and Christian missionary, educator and social reformer, and an activist for Indian independence. He became a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi and identified with the Indian liberation struggle.

In Mahatma Gandhi's Ideas Andrews wrote about Gandhi's recruitment campaign: "Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have found myself in painful disagreement."^[5]

Andrews was elected President of the All India Trade Union in and

Andrews developed a dialogue between Christians and Hindus.

He spent a lot of time at Santiniketan in conversation with the poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. He also supported the movement to prohibit the ‘untouchability of outcasts’. In he joined the famous Vaikom Satyagraha, and in assisted B.R.

Ambedkar in formulating the demands of the Dalits.

He and Agatha Harrison arranged for Gandhi's visit to the UK.^[6] He accompanied Gandhi to the second Round Table Conference in London, helping him to negotiate with the British government on matters of Indian autonomy and devolution.

In Fiji

When the news reached India, through the writings of Christian missionaries J. W. Burton, Hannah Dudley, and R. Piper^[who?] and a returned indentured labourer, Totaram Sanadhya, of the mistreatment of Indian indentured labourers in Fiji, the Indian Government in September sent Andrews and William W.

Pearson to make inquiries. The two visited numerous plantations and interviewed indentured labourers, overseers and Government officials and on their return to India also interviewed returned labourers. In their "Report on Indentured Labour in Fiji" Andrews and Pearson highlighted the ills of the indenture system; which led to the end of further transportation of Indian labour to the British colonies.^[7] In Andrews made a second visit to Fiji, and although he reported some improvements, was still appalled at the moral degradation of indentured labourers.

He called for an immediate end to indenture; and the system of Indian indentured labour was formally abolished in

In , while on a attend to Australia and New Zealand, Andrews was invited to and visited Fiji again. The ex-indentured labourers and their descendants wanted him to help them overcome a new type of slavery, by which they were bound to the Colonial Sugar Streamlining Company, which controlled all aspects of their lives.

Andrews, however, was delighted with the improvements in conditions since his last visit, and asked Fiji Indians to "remember that Fiji belonged to the Fijians and they were there as guests."

Later life

About this time Gandhi reasoned with Andrews that it was probably best for sympathetic Britons like himself to leave the freedom struggle to Indians.

So from onwards Andrews began to spend more time in Britain, teaching young people all over the country about Christ's contact to radical discipleship. Gandhi's affectionate nickname for Andrews was Christ’s Faithful Apostle, based on the initials of his name, "C.F.A".

An intimate biography of one of the greatest social and religious reformers of the up-to-date world. It was about building positive relationships based on respect, understanding, acceptance, and appreciation. It was about eliminating exploitation of all kinds and creating agreement. Arun Gandhi, cofounder of the M.

He was widely recognizable as Gandhi's closest friend and was perhaps the only major figure to address Gandhi by his first name, Mohan.^[8]

Charles Andrews died on 5 April , during a visit to Calcutta, and is buried in the 'Christian Burial ground' of Drop Circular Road cemetery, Calcutta.^[9]^[10]

Commemoration

Andrews is widely commemorated and respected in India.

Two undergraduate colleges of the University of Calcutta, the Dinabandhu Andrews College, and the Dinabandhu Institution and one Lofty School in Salimpur area of south Kolkata commemorate his call. The Dinabandhu Andrews College was constituted with an aim of disseminating higher education to a huge number of children of the displaced persons from erstwhile East Pakistan, presently Bangladesh.^[11] Even in South India, he was remembered by naming hospitals as Deenabandhu.

One such was Deenabandhu Hospital, Thachampara, Palakkad, Kerala.

In , Joseph John, pastor in Katpadi, was so inspired by Gandhis and Andrews‘ ideas, that he left his ministry to serve the poor and casteless in a remote area in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh and founded a village/ Rural Life Centre, which he called Deenabandupuram.

Andrews was a major character, portrayed by British performer Ian Charleson, in the production, Gandhi, by Richard Attenborough. He is honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on February ^[12]^[13]

In , India issued a commemorative postage logo to mark the birth centenary of Andrews.

In , it was announced that Newcastle Municipality Council plans to install a plaque at 14 Brunel Terrace, the birthplace of Andrews, to commemorate his life.^[14]

Publications

Hakim Ajmal Khan A sketch of his animation and career.

Madras: G. A. Natesan. ()
The Relation of Christianity to the Conflict between Capital and Labour ()
The Renaissance in India: its Missionary Aspect ()
Non-Co-Operation. Madras: Ganesh & Co.

Archived from the original on 30 November
Christ and Labour ()
Mahatma Gandhi His Life and Works () republished by Starlight Paths Publishing () with a foreword by Arun Gandhi
What I Owe to Christ ()
The Sermon on the Mount ()

References

^"Andrews, Charles Freer (ANDSCF)".

A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)
^"University Intelligence" British Newspaper Archive, London Evening Standard, 11 December
^Guha, Ramachandra, Gandhi Before India, Knopf; F., , pp.
Mahatma Gandhi biography. One of the leaders of the national ...: In this intimate biography, Charles ("Charlie") Andrews-Englishman, Anglican priest, and a close confidant and colleague of Gandhi's in both South Africa and India―explores the life and times of this great soul, providing fascinating insight into the spiritual, political and historical environment that affected Gandhi, playing key roles in the.
^Andrews, C.F. (). Mahatma Gandhi's Ideas. Macmillan. p.&#;
^Agatha Harrison, Open University, Retrieved 20 March
^"Report on indentured labour in Fiji&#;: an independent enquiry".

Trove. Retrieved 9 February
^Guha, Ramachandra (29 January ). "His faith, our faith". Hindustan Times.
^Lahiri, Samhita Chakraborty (9 January ).

"A love-hate relationship with Calcutta". Telegraph India.
An intimate biography of one of the greatest social and religious reformers of the modern world. It was about building positive relationships based on respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. It was about eliminating exploitation of all kinds and creating harmony. Arun Gandhicofounder of the M.
Archived from the original on 19 October
^Guha, Ramachandra (28 February ). "Searching for Charlie". Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 19 October
^"Dinabandhu Andrews College".

Archived from the original on 9 December Retrieved 19 December
^"Holy Women, Holy Men Celebrating the Saints"(PDF).
^"Charles Freer Andrews". . Retrieved 10 April
^edanderson (1 Rally ).

"Wonderful to see such a positive response to the announcement that Newcastle City Council will be putting up a plaque to C.F. Andrews" (Tweet) &#; via Twitter.^{[better&#;source&#;needed]}