Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, in 1869.
He was assassinated in 1948.
Though in school he was rated as only"good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography," he would go on to become a lawyer and spend twenty years in South Africa before returning to a still-colonial India.
There he led the Indian independence movement, which culminated to the Indian Independence Act of 1947.
His philosophy of satyagraha— or mass nonviolent protest — would become a tool of oppressed people around the world, inspiring the likes of Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
For this we call him Mahatma, or great soul.
On nonviolence
"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."
["Satyagraha Leaflet No. 11," 1919]
On religion
"In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals."
On practicing law
"I had learnt the true practice of law. I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men’s hearts. I realized the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder."
["Gandhi's Experiments With Truth", 2006]
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