Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, in the present-day Indian state of Gujarat.
He began his activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa in the early 1900s, and in the years following World War I became the leading figure in India’s struggle to gain independence from Great Britain.
Gandhi was imprisoned several times during his pursuit of non-cooperation, and undertook a number of hunger strikes to protest the oppression of India’s poorest classes, among other injustices.
After Partition of India & Pakistan in 1947, he continued to work toward peace between Hindus and Muslims.
Gandhi was shot to death in Delhi in January 1948 by a Hindu fundamentalist.