Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, pronounced [moːɦən̪d̪aːs kərəmʨən̪d̪ ɡaːn̪d̪ʱiː] ( listen); 2 October 1869 - 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered satyagraha--resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon ahimsa, or total nonviolence, which helped India to gain independence, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is often referred to as Mahatma Gandhi ([məɦaːt̪maː]; Sanskrit: महात्मा mahātmā or "Great Soul", an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore),[1] and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ, bāpu or "Father"). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian community's struggle there for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he organised protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later, in 1942, he launched the Quit India civil disobedience movement demanding immediate independence for India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun himself. He ate simple vegetarian food, experimented for a time with a fruitarian diet, and undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.

Contents [hide]

1 Early life and background

2 Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893-1914)

2.1 Racism and controversy

2.2 Role in Zulu War of 1906

3 Struggle for Indian Independence (1915-1945)

3.1 Role in World War I

3.2 Champaran and Kheda

3.3 Non-cooperation

3.4 Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)

3.5 World War II and Quit India

4 Freedom and partition of India

5 Assassination

6 Gandhi's principles

6.1 Truth

6.2 Nonviolence

6.3 Vegetarianism

6.4 Brahmacharya

6.5 Simplicity

6.6 Faith

6.7 Swaraj

7 Literary works

8 Legacy and depictions in popular culture

8.1 Followers and influence

8.2 National holidays

8.3 Awards

8.4 Film and literature

9 See also

10 Notes

10.1 Further reading

11 External links

Early life and background

A young Gandhi c. 1876

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[2] was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822-1885), who belonged