Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948), a political and spiritual leader, was known as the Mahatma (great-souled) and viewed as the father of independent India. He was educated in law at University College in London. In 1891, after having been admitted to the British bar, Gandhi returned to India and attempted to establish a law practice in Bombay, attaining negligible success. An Indian firm with interests in South Africa retained him as legal adviser two years later. Throughout the country, Gandhi found himself treated as a member of an inferior race. He was shocked at the pervasive denial of civil liberties and political rights to Indian immigrants. As a result, he threw himself into the struggle for basic rights of Indians.
After practicing law in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He gave up Western ways to lead a life of abstinence and spirituality. Gandhi stressed the importance of unity for all people under one God and preached Christian and Muslim ethics along with those of Hinduism. He became an advocate of passive resistance as a way to end British rule. His efforts led the British to imprison him several times, but so great was Gandhi’s following that his threats to fast until death usually forced his release.
He became a major figure in the postwar negotiations that resulted in Indian independence in 1947. When violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims, he resorted to fasts and visits to the troubled areas in efforts to end the violence. He was on one such prayer vigil in New Delhi when he was fatally shot by a Hindu extremist who objected to Gandhi's tolerance for the Muslims. Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan after his death, and the teachings of Gandhi inspired nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in America under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
After practicing law in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He gave up Western ways to lead a life of abstinence and spirituality. Gandhi stressed the importance of unity for all people under one God and preached Christian and Muslim ethics along with those of Hinduism. He became an advocate of passive resistance as a way to end British rule. His efforts led the British to imprison him several times, but so great was Gandhi’s following that his threats to fast until death usually forced his release.
He became a major figure in the postwar negotiations that resulted in Indian independence in 1947. When violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims, he resorted to fasts and visits to the troubled areas in efforts to end the violence. He was on one such prayer vigil in New Delhi when he was fatally shot by a Hindu extremist who objected to Gandhi's tolerance for the Muslims. Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan after his death, and the teachings of Gandhi inspired nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in America under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
