-
 Indian
independence leader
- Mohandas Gandhi was born in the state
of Gujarat when India was part of the British Empire. Brought up in
the Hindu faith, he took for granted its tenets of nonviolence and
used them to resist British oppression in India, showing that political
ends could be won without force.
In 1893, after studying law in England, Gandhi moved to South Africa.
There his experience of racial injustice forced him to campaign for
social change, and led him to develop his "satyagraha"
(soul-force) method of peaceful resistance. He returned to India in
1915 and eventually became the spiritual leader of millions, earning
the title "Mahatma," meaning great soul.
Leader of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi was the dominant political
figure in India for nearly three decades. A participant in the negotiations
with the British for Indian home rule, he was integral to securing
India's independence - granted in 1947. He was saddened, however,
at the partition of India and Pakistan, and in 1948 the world mourned
when he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic in Delhi.
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