Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbander, Gujarat. Popularly known as Mahatma (Sanskrit for “great soul”), he was one of the founding fathers of the modern Indian state and an influential advocate of Satyagraha (non-violent protest) as a means of revolution. He helped bring about India’s independence from British rule, inspiring other colonial peoples to work for their own independence and ultimately dismantle the British Empire and replace it with the Commonwealth. Gandhi’s principles of satyagrahahas inspired generations of democratic and anti-racist activities. He often stated his values were simple, drawn from traditional Hindu beliefs: truth (satya) and non-violence (ahimsa).

Married at 13, his career path was largely decided by his family and in 1888 he left India to train as a barrister at University College, London. Returning to India in 1891 to find the legal profession oversubscribed, he accepted a contract to work in South Africa. There, apartheid was thriving and he quickly became attuned to the level of discrimination levelled at members of the Indian and non-white community.

Overcoming his naturally quiet temperament, Gandhi decided to do something about this problem and began his method of passive resistance and non-cooperation. It was by no means an easy ride. He regularly endured terms of imprisonment and was harshly beaten several times. Twenty years of this type of campaigning paid off, when in 1914 the South African government made several concessions to the Indian people living there. After the First World War, Gandhi decided to concentrate on improving life back in his native India and from there harnessed satyagraha politically. Being from a religious family his background was one of faith, but he was also widely read and contemplative. His devotion to a simple and disciplined lifestyle was typified in an ashram he set up in Ahmedabad, which was innovative for its admission of untouchables and for its economic and social activities. Gandhi initially felt his way cautiously around the Indian political scene, but within a year saw his first of many victories, defending farmers in Bihar from exploitation. This was when he received the title “Mahatma” (Great Soul) from an admirer. His ideology was well received and he soon had a healthy following that regularly practised passive resistance. The British government didn’t like the campaigning and deemed it to be revolutionary. Consequently, British troops massacred many innocent Indians at a demonstration in 1920. This caused Gandhi to instigate a policy of non-cooperation towards the Brits. Indians began removing their children from government run schools and masses of people began squatting in the streets to protest. Even when faced with physical punishments, such as being beaten with a truncheon, they would refuse to move.

In retaliation Britain imprisoned Gandhi, but he was soon released. In 1924, he was forced to call an end to the campaign of non-cooperation due to rising levels of violence from India towards Britain. Ironically, the opposite of what he preached was starting to take place. He led by example, wearing homespun clothes to weaken the British textile industry and orchestrating a march to the sea, where demonstrators proceeded to make their own salt in protest against the British monopoly. In 1934, he formally resigned from politics, having been imprisoned several more times. When imprisoned, Gandhi would begin fasting in protest. The British hated this; because they knew that if he died whilst being wrongly imprisoned the repercussions from the Indian people would be catastrophic.

In 1947 India gained independence, something that Gandhi had worked towards for a long time. It came at great cost, though. While Gandhi was leading a largely Hindu movement, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was fronting a Muslim one through a group called the Muslim League. Jinnah advocated the division of India into two separate states: Muslim and Hindu and was able to achieve his goal. Gandhi had, on the other hand, always been against partition, wishing that those of Hindu and Muslim faith could live peacefully side-by-side. He was also very critical of the caste system. When the British left, they created the separate states of Pakistan and Bangladesh (known at that time as East Pakistan). Violence erupted when stranded Muslims and Hindu minorities in the areas fled in opposite directions. Within a few weeks, half a million people had died in the course of the greatest migration of human beings in the world’s history. The ageing Gandhi vowed to fast until the violence stopped. It did when his health was seriously threatened. The British also returned and helped restore order.

His work on behalf of members of all communities inevitably drew resentment from Hindu hardliners. On 30 January 1948, a Hindu fanatic assassinated Gandhi. His last words “He Ram. He Ram” (‘Oh God. Oh God’) are immortalised on his memorial funeral ghat in Delhi. Gandhi’s death was regarded as an international catastrophe. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century, but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set-aside in the United Nations General Assembly and many countries expressed condolences to India. Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan and the teachings of Gandhi came to inspire non-violent movements elsewhere, notably in the U.S. under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and in South Africa under Nelson Mandela.