Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, India--at a time when Bahá'u'lláh had been exiled to the Holy Land as a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. Gandhi is best known for helping to free the people of India from British rule through nonviolent resistance. He thus became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the twentieth century. India honors him as ``Father of the Nation'' and as a Mahatma, or Great Soul.
Gandhi left India in 1888 to study law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he took on a one year contract to do legal work in South Africa. At the time, South Africa was controlled by the British. When he attempted to exercise his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon realized that all ethnic Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to improve the rights and conditions of ethnic Indians. He developed a nonviolent method of direct social action based on spiritual principles, which he called Satyagraha, also known as passive resistance. In 1915 Gandhi returned to India and within 15 years became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. Using the tenets of Satyagraha he lead the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Gandhi was arrested many times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India. He believed that it was honorable to suffer or go to jail for a just cause. He spent a total of seven years in prison for his political activities. More than once Gandhi used fasting to impress upon others the need to be nonviolent.
Through the efforts of Gandhi and others, India was granted independence in 1947, but partitioned in two--thus were born India and Pakistan. Rioting between Hindus and Muslims followed. Being an advocate for a united India where Hindus and Muslims could live together in peace, Gandhi began a fast at the age of 78 in order to stop the bloodshed. After five days, the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Sadly, twelve days later Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religions. He died with the mention of God on his lips.
Albert Einstein, the famous physicist, eulogized Gandhi saying, ``Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.''
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