Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), known honorifically as Mahatma, meaning great soul, was an Indian lawyer and political leader who became the principal figure of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule. He first developed his philosophy of nonviolent civil resistance, satyagraha, while working as a lawyer for the Indian community in South Africa, and after returning to India in 1915 applied it to a series of mass campaigns against British rule, including the 1930 Salt March and the Quit India movement of 1942. India achieved independence in August 1947, though Gandhi opposed the accompanying partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan and the communal violence that followed it. He was assassinated in January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who blamed him for conceding too much to Muslims during partition, and his method of nonviolent resistance went on to influence civil rights and independence movements worldwide.
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