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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
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"Gandhi" redirects here. For other uses, seeGandhi (disambiguation).
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, pictured in the 1930s
Born
2 October 1869Porbandar 
 
, Kathiawar Agency
 
,BritishIndia
Died
30 January 1948 (aged 78) New Delhi,Union of India
Cause of death
Assassination
Nationality
Indian
Other names
Mahatma Gandhi
Education
University College London
 
Known for
Indian Independence Movement
Political party
Indian National Congress
Religious beliefs
Hinduism
Spouse(s)
Kasturba Gandhi
Children
HarilalManilalRamdasDevdas
Signature
 
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
 
listen 
(help·info)
(Gujarati:
મોહનદાસ
 
કરમચદં
 
ગાધં ી
,
IPA
: 
[ moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d
 
  ̪gän̪d̪ʱi]
 
) (2 October 1869– 30 January 1948) was a major  political and spiritual leader of Indiaand theIndian independence movement.He was the pioneer  of 
 satyagraha
 —resistance totyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon
ahimsa
or totalnon-violence —which led India toindependenceand inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. He is commonly known around the world as
MahatmaGandhi
(Sanskrit:
महातमा 
 
mahātmā
or "Great Soul", anhonorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore) and in India also as
 Bapu
(Gujarati:
બાપ   ુ
 
bāpu
or "Father"). He isofficially honoured in Indiaas the
 Father of the Nation
; his birthday, 2 October, iscommemorated there as 
Gandhi Jayanti
, anational holiday, and worldwide as theInternational Day of Non-Violence.Gandhi first employed non-violentcivil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer inSouth Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he setabout organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers in protesting excessive land-tax anddiscrimination. Assuming leadership of theIndian National Congressin 1921, Gandhi lednationwide campaigns for easing poverty, for expanding women's rights, for building religiousand ethnic amity, for endinguntouchability,for increasing economic self-reliance, but above all for achieving
Swaraj
 —the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously ledIndians in the Non-cooperation movement in 1922 and in protesting the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (249 mi)Dandi Salt Marchin 1930, and later in calling for the British to
Quit  India
in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, on numerous occasions, in both South Africaand India.As a practitioner of Ahimsa Gandhi swore to speak the truth,and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in aself-sufficient residential communityand wore the traditionalIndian
dhoti
 and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a
charkha
. He ate simplevegetarianfood, and also undertook longfastsas means of both self-purification and social  protest.
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