Question:
Why do you think Gandhiji considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life? (from 'Indigo')
Why do you think Gandhiji considered the Champaran episode to be a turning-point in his life? (from 'Indigo')
Updated On: Sep 24, 2026
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Context:
'Indigo' by Louis Fischer describes Gandhiji's first major act of civil disobedience in India, when he went to Champaran in Bihar in 1917 to investigate the exploitation of indigo sharecroppers by British planters.
Step 2: Why it was a turning point:
In Champaran, Gandhiji, for the first time in India, deliberately defied an unjust British order to leave the district, and chose to accept the legal consequences peacefully rather than obey. The court ultimately withdrew the case against him. This showed both Gandhiji and the Indian people that civil disobedience — calm, non-violent defiance of unjust laws — could succeed against colonial authority.
Step 3: Its lasting significance:
Champaran was Gandhiji's first experiment with the tools of Satyagraha and non-cooperation on Indian soil, which he would go on to use throughout the freedom struggle. It also marked the beginning of his direct engagement with the Indian peasantry's real problems, shaping his future approach to the independence movement.
Final Answer:
Champaran was a turning point because it was Gandhiji's first successful use of civil disobedience in India, proving that non-violent defiance could work and setting the template for the entire freedom movement that followed.
'Indigo' by Louis Fischer describes Gandhiji's first major act of civil disobedience in India, when he went to Champaran in Bihar in 1917 to investigate the exploitation of indigo sharecroppers by British planters.
Step 2: Why it was a turning point:
In Champaran, Gandhiji, for the first time in India, deliberately defied an unjust British order to leave the district, and chose to accept the legal consequences peacefully rather than obey. The court ultimately withdrew the case against him. This showed both Gandhiji and the Indian people that civil disobedience — calm, non-violent defiance of unjust laws — could succeed against colonial authority.
Step 3: Its lasting significance:
Champaran was Gandhiji's first experiment with the tools of Satyagraha and non-cooperation on Indian soil, which he would go on to use throughout the freedom struggle. It also marked the beginning of his direct engagement with the Indian peasantry's real problems, shaping his future approach to the independence movement.
Final Answer:
Champaran was a turning point because it was Gandhiji's first successful use of civil disobedience in India, proving that non-violent defiance could work and setting the template for the entire freedom movement that followed.
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- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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