Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi, known as Mahatma which means great soul, was born in Gujarat, India, on 2 October 1869. His family were Hindu and belonged to the business community of Gujarat. He grew up surrounded by the religious principles of compassion, vegetarianism and tolerance for all people.
Gandhi was a very spiritual man; he lived a sparing life, slept on a mat on the floor and ate a simple diet consisting of rice and vegetables. He didn't have any clothes, except for a dhoti he had made himself and a pair of sandals.
When he was 19, Gandhi went to London to study law; after graduating he returned to India to practise as a lawyer but was hindered by the British.
He went to work in South Africa where he experienced discrimination and hardship. He was once thrown out of a train because he was travelling first class in a carriage reserved for whites only. Although he never used violence in his protests, he was arrested several times during the 20 years he stayed in South Africa.
When he returned back to India, he was ready to put to work the ideas of non-violence, passive resistance and non-cooperation which he had developed in South Africa. With millions of followers he started a boycott of British goods and institutions. He asked Indians to boycott British universities, courts and even British made clothes. The most famous campaign led by Gandhi was the Salt March. According to the British law, Indians could not produce salt, they could only buy it from licensed salt factories, all of which belonged to British people. In 1930 Gandhi organised a march to the sea; thousands of participants walked 300 kilometres and produced salt from seawater.
India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, when King George VI renounced the title of Emperor of India and two independent states were born: India, for the most part Hindu, and Pakistan, mainly Muslim.
Gandhi was assassinated in Delhi on 30 January, 1948 by a Hindu.