The golden statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Port Blair, India
© Darren Robb/The Image Bank/Getty Image
Remembering the Mahatma. Gandhi Jayanti
Today, we are celebrating Gandhi Jayanti to mark the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, often known as Mahatma Gandhi. We are at Gandhi Statue Circle in Port Blair, where a giant golden statue of Mahatma Gandhi was established. Port Blair is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who shares his birthday with another legendary personality, former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri (born 1904), was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, in present-day Gujarat. A lawyer whose life changed through his experiences in South Africa, Gandhi played the most significant role in India's independence movement, holding demonstrations through non-violent means. Gandhi was a firm believer in religious pluralism. He desired for India to be a secular nation and worked hard to make it a reality.
Internationally, October 2 is observed as the Day of Nonviolence in his honour. In India, it is a full holiday, and one of three national festivals, along with Republic Day (January 26) and Independence Day (August 15).
Statue of Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra Sarobar, West Bengal
Grove of redwoods in Redwood National and State Parks, California, United States
Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario, Canada
Spire Cove in Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska, United States
Joshua trees under the Milky Way, California, United States
Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
Kachina Bridge, Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah, United States
Wat Tang Sai Temple in Ban Krut, Thailand
