Civil Disobedience Against Chand Kazi

Dadi: "Guddu, have you heard of Mahatma Gandhi's Salt March?"

Guddu: "Yes! When people walked to the sea and made their own salt!"

Dadi: "That was civil disobedience - peacefully breaking an unjust law. But did you know someone did this hundreds of years before Gandhi?"

Guddu: "Who?"

Dadi: "Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He led a massive peaceful protest in the 1500s - one of the first in history."

Guddu: "What were they protesting?"

Dadi: "Chaitanya was spreading devotion through kirtan - singing God's names with drums and cymbals. "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." Thousands of people joined in."

Guddu: "That sounds fun, not dangerous!"

Dadi: "It scared the powerful people. The high-caste priests didn't like that everyone - rich and poor, high caste and low caste, Hindu and Muslim - was singing together as equals. And the Muslim rulers worried that united Hindus might overthrow them."

Guddu: "So what happened?"

Dadi: "Chand Kazi, the Muslim magistrate, issued an order: "Stop this chanting immediately!""

Guddu: "Could he do that?"

Dadi: "He had the power. He sent police who broke the devotees' drums and scattered their gatherings."

Guddu: "What did Chaitanya do?"

Dadi: "He said, "Never mind. Just keep chanting.""

Guddu: "But the police..."

Dadi: "When the devotees continued, Chaitanya decided it was time for something bigger. He called for a massive peaceful protest. About 100,000 people gathered!"

Guddu: "One hundred THOUSAND?!"

Dadi: "Each person carried a torch. They marched through the streets of Navadvipa, singing kirtan, playing drums and cymbals. The sound was thunderous, but there was no violence. Just singing."

Guddu: "What did Chand Kazi do?"

Dadi: "He hid in his house! He was terrified. His soldiers had fled. This massive crowd was approaching, but they weren't carrying weapons - just musical instruments and love in their hearts."

Guddu: "Did they break down his door?"

Dadi: "No, beta. That's the beauty of civil disobedience. Chaitanya went to meet the Kazi peacefully. He spoke politely but firmly. He asked, "Why did you ban the chanting of God's names?""

Guddu: "And the Kazi?"

Dadi: "His heart changed. When he looked into Chaitanya's eyes, he felt something transform inside. He realized he had been wrong."

With tears, the Kazi promised: "From this day forward, no one in my family - not my children, not my grandchildren, not their children - will ever stop the sankirtana movement."

Guddu: "He promised that for future generations?"

Dadi: "And it worked! The devotees won their freedom to worship through completely peaceful means."

Guddu: "So before Gandhi, there was Chaitanya!"

Dadi: "Exactly. The principle is the same: when an unjust law exists, you don't obey it, but you don't become violent either. You face the consequences peacefully. You fill the streets with so much peaceful resistance that the unjust power cannot function."

Guddu: "Did Gandhi know about Chaitanya's march?"

Dadi: "Possibly. The tradition of nonviolent resistance runs deep in India. Chaitanya showed that you can fight injustice without becoming like your oppressors."

Guddu: "That takes a lot of courage - to face police with just songs."

Dadi: "More courage than fighting with fists, beta. Anyone can throw a punch. But to stand peacefully while you're being threatened? To respond to hatred with singing? That's true strength."

Guddu: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna..."

Dadi: "*smiles* Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. See? Still echoing 500 years later."