Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti colonial, nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific mahatma first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family and first employed non violent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915 aged 45, he returns to India. He set about organizing peasants farmers and urban laborers to protest against excessive land tax and discrimination.
