Downtown Riverside Mahatma Gandhi Monument

Downtown Riverside Mahatma Gandhi Monument. , The Great Soul , In a century ravaged by war and marked by the relentless degradation of the weak, came a warrior from India unlike any the world had seen in a long time. Clad in homespun cotton (khadi) like India's poorest, and armed only with the weapons of satyagraha (the force of truth and love) and ahimsa (nonviolence to all living things) Mahatma Gandhi strode the 20th century like a colossus, liberating the downtrodden in South Africa and India from political and social tyranny. , Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in the sleepy Indian coastal town of Porbandar on October 2, 1869, Gandhi's distaste for violence was shaped in the battlefields of Natal, South Africa during the Zulu rebellion. His resolve never to surrender his dignity or that of fellow human beings was born after he was thrown off a railroad car in the South African town of Pietermaritzburg cause of the color of his skin. His compassion for the weak and helpless came from long nights spent comforting abandoned victims of the plague that devastated South Africa. , When the South African government produced legislation stripping the Indian community there of its civil rights, Gandhi vowed that he would die resisting the humiliating laws, but without violence. Thus came into being satyagraha, Gandhi's "moral equivalent of war." He would use this weapon to restore the dignity of South Africa's Indian community, humble the British into freeing India, unfetter India's untouchable people from the shackles of the caste system, and quell religious discord on the Indian sub-continent., Far from dying out on January 30, 1948 when he fell to an assassin's bullet, Gandhi's influence continued to spread, inspiring the civil rights movements of Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Not surprisingly, Time magazine named Mahatma Gandhi whom it hailed as "a moral beacon for all epochs," as one of the three most influential figures of the 20th century. , Tower of Human Values , This narrative sculpture by India's Madan and Aruna Garge shows Gandhi rising out of a cresting wave, into which are carved seminal events from his life, his values and guiding principles, and his mentors and spiritual heirs., As you walk down to the statue, the first figure in the wave is that of a child, symbolizing love and innocence, holding a lamp from which shines the light of truth. These were key principles that shaped Gandhi's life and thinking. Moving clockwise, the wave reveals Gandhi scooping up salt from the Arabian Sea at Dandi on the coast of Gujarat, India after a month-long trek known as the "salt march." By this simple act on April 6, 1930 Gandhi signaled his defiance of the salt tax that had been imposed by the British, and triggered a civil disobedience movement that set India on the path to her freedom. Beside and a little behind Gandhi, is Kasturba, his wife and partner in his life-long struggle for human rights. Next to Kasturba is an Indian muni or sage, representing the timeless wisdom of India, of which Gandhi was a product. , The muni yields to an image the western world most associates Gandhi with - a Gandhian or follower spinning khadi cotton cloth on a chakra or spinning wheel. Gandhi encouraged such activities among India's masses to promote economic independence from the British. Between the spinner and the muni is the depiction of an event believed to mark Gandhi's emergence as a leader. Here, Gandhi is shown unceremoniously thrown out a first class railway carriage in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, becuase of the color of his skin. , The remaining figures are those of Gandhi's spiritual heir - Nobel Peace laureates Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Behind them are United Farm Workers of America founder, Cesar Chavez, and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Gandhi's disciple from Afghanistan who was famously known as "Frontier Gandhi." , , [As you approach the monument, you see the following inscriptions in the path] , This site was dedicated on Sunday, October 9 2005 by Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Rajmohan Gandhi and Riverside Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge. "That the City of Riverside recognizes the 'great-souled one' whose spiritual and political greatness came to fruition in a land located on the opposite side of the Earth, in another century, and in a language most of us would not understand, speaks loudly of the richness of Riverside's soul." K. Wallace Longshore, A resident of Riverside. , "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man." , "An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind." , Live simply so others may simply live." , "there are seven sins in the world: , Wealth without work, , Pleasure without conscience, , Knowledge without character, , Commerce without morality, , Science without humanity, , Worship without sacrifice; and , Politics without principle."