World Religions › Modern › Hindu reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj)
Mahatma Gandhi
1869–1948· Founder, prophet or teacher· Hindu, Buddhist, Jain & Sikh
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Indian independence leader (1869–1948) who turned the religious ideal of non-violence into mass political action.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi trained as a lawyer in London and fought racial discrimination in South Africa for 21 years, developing satyagraha, 'truth-force': non-violent resistance. Back in India from 1915, he led boycotts, the 1930 Salt March and the 1942 Quit India campaign. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita, Jain teaching and Tolstoy, he fasted, spun his own cloth and lived simply. India became independent in 1947; a Hindu nationalist shot him in Delhi on January 30, 1948.
Why it matters
He showed that religious ethics could power mass politics; Martin Luther King Jr. and many later civil-rights and independence movements adopted his methods.
Life, legacy and sources
His autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth; his collected writings, about 100 volumes; newspapers, British government files and film footage.
Questions and debates
Historians debate how much his campaigns, versus wartime strain on Britain and other movements, won independence, and some criticize his early racial views and stance on caste.
Connections (5)
▸Mahatma Gandhi built his politics on Ahimsa: non-violenceHistorical record
The connection
Gandhi took ahimsa, the Jain, Hindu and Buddhist ideal of not harming living beings, and made it a political method. His satyagraha campaigns relied on disciplined non-violence: accepting arrest and beatings without striking back, to shame opponents and win public sympathy. He also lived it personally, as a strict vegetarian.
When and where
South Africa from 1906, then India from 1915, through campaigns like the 1930 Salt March; shaped by his Jain-influenced Gujarati upbringing and the Jain thinker Shrimad Rajchandra.
Historical evidence
Gandhi's autobiography and writings credit ahimsa, his Jain mentor Rajchandra and the Gita; his campaigns' rules made non-violence a strict condition.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate whether his ahimsa was mainly religious conviction or strategy, and whether non-violence alone could have ended British rule.
▸Mahatma Gandhi drew on Bhagavad GitaHistorical record
The connection
Gandhi called the Gita his 'mother' and 'spiritual dictionary'. He read its battle as an allegory of the inner struggle between good and evil, not a call to war, and took from it the ideal of selfless action without attachment to results, which he applied to nonviolent political work.
When and where
He first read it in English, in Edwin Arnold's version, in London around 1889; he translated it into Gujarati (1929) and taught it during the independence movement.
Historical evidence
His autobiography, letters and his Gita commentary Anasaktiyoga ('the yoga of non-attachment') document it; verses were recited at his daily prayer meetings.
Questions and debates
Critics note the Gita urges a warrior to fight, so how a nonviolent reading fits is contested; his assassin, Nathuram Godse, also cited it.
▸Mahatma Gandhi campaigned against untouchability in Varna and casteHistorical record
The connection
Gandhi called untouchability Hinduism's great sin, renamed the 'untouchables' Harijans ('people of God'), toured India against it and fasted for their cause. Yet for years he defended varna as a division of duties, putting him at odds with B. R. Ambedkar, who wanted caste abolished.
When and where
India, 1920s–1940s: the 1932 Poona Pact with Ambedkar, the Harijan Sevak Sangh founded that year, and his 1933–34 anti-untouchability tour.
Historical evidence
Gandhi's own writings in Young India and Harijan; records of his fasts and tours; Ambedkar's critique in Annihilation of Caste (1936).
Questions and debates
Gandhi's views shifted over time; historians and Dalit activists still debate whether he advanced or slowed caste abolition. Many Dalits now find 'Harijan' patronizing.
▸Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by an adherent of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva)Historical record
The connection
Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist and former RSS member active in the Hindu Mahasabha, shot Gandhi on January 30, 1948. He blamed Gandhi for Partition and for appeasing Muslims and Pakistan. Gandhi's inclusive Hinduism, which treated all religions as true, clashed with Hindutva. The government banned the RSS for over a year.
When and where
Birla House, New Delhi, January 30, 1948; Godse and Narayan Apte were hanged in November 1949.
Historical evidence
The 1948–49 trial record, Godse's courtroom statement, and the Kapur Commission report of 1969.
Questions and debates
Whether Godse had truly left the RSS is disputed; the RSS denies involvement. Savarkar was acquitted, though the Kapur Commission later raised suspicions.
▸Mahatma Gandhi fasted to stop the violence of Partition of India and PakistanHistorical record
The connection
Gandhi opposed partition but could not stop it. As Hindu–Muslim–Sikh violence spread, he walked through riot-torn Noakhali villages and fasted in Calcutta in September 1947 until leaders pledged peace. His last fast, in Delhi in January 1948, pressed for Muslims' safety and for India to pay funds owed to Pakistan.
When and where
Noakhali in East Bengal (1946–47), Calcutta (September 1–4, 1947) and Delhi (January 13–18, 1948), amid violence that killed an estimated 200,000 to 2 million.
Historical evidence
Newspaper reports, Gandhi's own writings and officials' records show riots in Calcutta and Delhi quieting after his fasts.
Questions and debates
How much the fasts reduced violence is debated; his assassin, Nathuram Godse, cited Gandhi's concessions to Muslims and Pakistan as his motive.