Gandhi Biographical Profile
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in October of 1869, and died in January of 1948. His is remembered as one of the greatest political and spiritual teachers of India, and was the champion of the Indian Independence movement. He was the leader and pioneer of Satyagraha, or resistance by use of mass civil disobedience; an almost unheard of method to escape from the hands of tyranny. He was the supreme advocate for non-violence, and his genius that led to the independence of India would then go on to inspire other civil rights and freedom movements across the globe.
Throughout the world today he is known as Mahatma Gandhi, or the “Great Soul”. In India he is also called Bapu, or father. India considers Mahatma Gandhi to be the father of their nation, and Gandhi’s birthday is a national holiday in the country. Across the globe it is the International Day of Non-Violence.
Gandhi began to use his non-violent methods when he was an expat lawyer in South Africa. He fought there for civil rights in the Indian community where he lived. Gandhi returned to India in 1915, and began his work to bring together many farmers, peasants, and laborers to protest the horrible land tax at the time, as well as the discrimination that they faced. He became head of the Indian National Congress in 1921, and did work around the world to ease the proliferation of poverty, helping in the fight for women’s right, building religious amity, and weakening the caste system in India. His greatest fight was for Swaraj, which is the total independence for India from any foreign power.
Gandhi was assassinated on January 30th, now considered Martyr’s Day in India. After the assassination, the Prime Minister of India remarked on the radio "Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu ["also known as Father"] as we called him, the father of our nation, is no more."
He was well known for his modest and peaceful way of living. He lived in a self-sufficient residential community, and the image of him in the traditional dhoti and shawl stamped in many memories. He was known for his simple vegetarian diet, and his self- purification fasts that were a part of his non-violence tactics.
