Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(1869-1948)

Most popularly known as Mahtm (Great Soul) Gandhi and fondly addressed as Bapuji (Father of the Nation), Gandhi was the leading moral force in India's long struggle for independence from British colonial rule. He was a strong advocate of non-violent political activism, non-cooperation with unfair legal fiats, and the abolition of caste and racial discrimination.

Gandhi studied in England, was called to the Bar, and practiced law in South Africa, where he frequently faced arrest for his anti-apartheid activity. He traveled regularly between the west coast of India and South Africa before joining the Indian National Congress and spearheading India's freedom movement. He was a strict vegetarian and took a vow of celibacy in 1906, advocated religious brotherhood, eschewed most material comforts, and embraced physical hardship in his personal life. His innumerable fasts unto death, imprisonments without trial, protest marches, rousing speeches, and essays, aphorisms and other writings are testimony to a life lived according to the principles he espoused.

Numerous biographies and photographic journals of Mahtm Gandhi exist in many different languages. The moral tenets that governed his public and private life have inspired other world leaders, politicians, activists—and ordinary citizens throughout the world.

[top] Gandhi: His Life and Work. Published on the occasion of his 75th birthday, October 2, 1944. Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House, 1944. Gift of Jawaharlal Nehru. [middle] Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Letter to Professor George P. Conger, June 12, 1934. [middle and bottom] From the George P. Conger Papers, # 2660.

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