Facts about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), called Mahat­ma Gandhi was an East Indian political leader.
  • Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India.
  • He studied law in London and upon his return to India practiced at Bombay.
  • Gandhi went to South Africa as a lawyer in 1893. There he inaugurated his policy of passive resistance in protest against the conditions imposed upon Indians.
  • Mahatma Gandhi was a devoted vegetarian, and undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and political mobilization.
  • After World War I, during which he organized an Indian ambulance corps, he transferred to India his firm, patient policy of nonviolence in order to secure self-govermnent and to raise the standard of living.
  • Recognized as a great religious leader of the Hindus, Gandhi wielded tremendous personal and political influence.
  • On January 30 of 1948 Gandhi was fatally shot by a Hindu fanatic as he walked to evening prayer at Birla House in New Delhi, India.