Mahatma Gandhi

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"Gandhi" redirects here. For other uses, see Gandhi (disambiguation).

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

2 October 1869
Born
Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency, British
India[1]
30 January 1948 (aged 78)
Died
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Cause of death Assassination by shooting
Cremated at Rajghat, Delhi
Resting place
28.6415N 77.2483E
Other names Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu, Gandhiji
Ethnicity Gujarati
Education barrister-at-law
Alfred High School, Rajkot,
Alma mater Samaldas College, Bhavnagar,
University College, London (UCL)
Leadership of Indian independence
movement,
Known for philosophy of Satyagraha, Ahimsa or
nonviolence,
pacifism
Movement Indian National Congress

Religion
Spouse(s)
Children
Parent(s)

Hinduism, with Jain influences

Kasturba Gandhi
Harilal
Manilal
Ramdas
Devdas
Putlibai Gandhi (Mother)
Karamchand Gandhi (Father)
Signature

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (/ndi, n-/;[2] Hindustani: [mondas krmtnd

andi] ( listen); 2 October 1869 30 January 1948) was the preeminent leader of the Indian
independence movement in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience,
Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the
world. The honorific Mahatma (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable")[3]applied to him first in
1914 in South Africa,[4]is now used worldwide. He is also called Bapu (Gujarati: endearment
for "father",[5] "papa"[5][6]) in India.
Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained
in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an
expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights.
After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers
to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian
National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding
women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for
achieving Swaraj or self-rule.
Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km
(250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He
was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi
attempted to practise nonviolence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the
same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional
Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food,
and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.
Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism, however, was challenged
in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim
homeland carved out of India.[7] Eventually, in August 1947, Britain granted independence, but
the British Indian Empire[7] was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and
Muslim Pakistan.[8] As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new
lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official
celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide
solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious

harmony. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 at age 78,[9] also had the indirect goal
of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan.[9] Some Indians thought Gandhi
was too accommodating.[9][10] Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated Gandhi on 30
January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest at point-blank range.[10]
Indians widely describe Gandhi as the father of the nation.[11][12] His birthday, 2 October, is
commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of
Nonviolence.

Contents

1 Early life and background

2 English barrister

3 Civil rights activist in South Africa (18931914)

o 3.1 Gandhi and the Africans

4 Struggle for Indian Independence (191547)

o 4.1 Role in World War I
o 4.2 Champaran and Kheda
o 4.3 Khilafat movement
o 4.4 Non-cooperation
o 4.5 Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)

4.5.1 Women

4.5.2 Gandhi as folk hero

4.5.3 Negotiations

o 4.6 Untouchables
o 4.7 Congress politics
o 4.8 World War II and Quit India
o 4.9 Partition and independence, 1947

5 Assassination
o 5.1 Ashes

6 Principles, practices and beliefs

o 6.1 Influences
o 6.2 Tolstoy
o 6.3 Truth and Satyagraha
o 6.4 Nonviolence

6.4.1 Muslims

6.4.2 Jews

o 6.5 Vegetarianism, food, and animals

o 6.6 Fasting
o 6.7 Brahmacharya, celibacy
o 6.8 Nai Talim, basic education