Mahatma Gandhi's Life and Achievements

Study Notes

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in Gujarat, India.
He was educated at the Inner Temple in London and became a lawyer in 1891.
Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit.
He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years.
During this time, he campaigned for civil rights and achieved some success.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and soon became involved in the Indian National Congress.
He led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding womens rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and achieving independence from British rule.
Gandhi adopted the short dhoti woven with hand-spun yarn as a mark of identification with Indias rural poor.
He began to live in a self-sufficient residential community, to eat simple food, and undertake long fasts as a means of both introspection and political protest.
In 1947, Britain granted independence to India and the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Gandhi attempted to stop religious violence following the partition of the British Indian Empire.
In 1948, he began a fast to press India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. He ended the fast after six weeks.
Mahatma Gandhi died on January 30, 1948.