A brief summary of Gandhi's journey

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist. Employing nonviolent resistance, he led the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.

Early life

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India, which was then part of the British Empire. Although young Gandhi wanted to become a doctor, his father, who served as a chief minister in Porbandar, persuaded him to study law. After 3 years of studies in London (where he became a vegetarian), Gandhi came back to India and tried to start his career as a lawyer.

South Africa

After struggling to find a job in India, he went to South Africa for a one-year contract to perform legal services. Gandhi was there confronted with discrimination against Indian immigrants by British authorities. At the end of his contract, Gandhi fought against a bill that would ban Indians from voting. Although he didn't stop the bill from passing, it initiated his fight for equality of human rights.

Return to India

In 1914, Gandhi sailed from South Africa to India, where he founded an ashram that was open to all castes.

India’s Independence

After a series of protests, India's independence was inevitable. The Government of India Act (1935) surrendered significant amounts of power to Indians, and the Indian National Congress clamoured for more. But after World War II Muslim League demanded that a separate state be created for India's Muslims, and to Gandhi's great distress, the Congress leaders agreed. In August 1947, India was finally independent, not as a whole but divided into two countries, India and Pakistan.

Assasination

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at age 78 in the compound of Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi. His assassin was Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a Chitpavan Brahmin from Pune, Maharashtra, a Hindu nationalist, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization as well as a member of the Hindu Mahasabha.Godse considered Gandhi to have been too accommodating to Pakistan during the Partition of India of the previous year. Godse tried to assassinate Gandhi two times in 1944 but failed.

Legacy

Gandhi's commitment to nonviolence and his belief in simple living — making his clothes, eating a vegetarian diet — has been a beacon of hope for oppressed people around the world for decades to come after his death. Gandhi's actions inspired future human rights movements around the globe, including those of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.