By: iTopTopics Staff
Stadtteil Innenstadtgurtel Sud, Nuremberg, Bavaria in Autumn. Photo by Alexander Mueller, licensed under CC BY 2.0
"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator." - Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. He was born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.