The Dewan of Porbandar

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into the family of the dewan of Porbandar in 1869. The town was the capital of a tiny Rajput kingdom of the same name, and had gained in importance since 1857, because the British were using it as a center for extending their influence further west. As the prime minister of this state, Mohandas' father was strongly involved in the complicated local politics. When the boy was seven, his family moved to Rajkot, and his father became the dewan of that principality.
Gandhi's formal education began immediately on the move to Rajkot, where he enrolled in a school created by the British. Except in his early years, all his schooling was done in English. However, at home the influence of Western secular thought was minimal, and he was exposed to traditional Jain influences. In his later autobiography he records a major deviation from tradition in his secret experiments with eating meat when he was in his early teens. He seems to have reverted to vegetarianism quite soon.
When he was sixteen, his father died, leaving him to become the prime minister of Rajkot. Six months later, the British took over direct control of the kingdom and removed many members of his family from the administration. A friend of the family then advised him to go to London to study law. Having taken a vow not to touch meat, wine or women, he left the country in 1886.