Gandhi's full name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in 1869 to Hindu parents in the state of Gujarat in Western India. By the age of thirteen he was married to a woman named Kasturbai Makanji, and by a few years later his family sent him to London to study law. In 1891, Gandhi was admitted to the Inner Temple and acquired his law degree from London.

He moved to South Africa to improve immigrant Indians' rights. While in South Africa Gandhi read Thoreau's book on 'Civil Disobedience'. There he began to form a belief of passive resistance offered to uphold the truth in fighting against injustice, and was frequently jailed as a result of the protests that he led. Before he returned to India with his wife and children in 1915, he had already drastically altered the lives of Indians living in South Africa.

After he was back in India, he continuously fought for its independence by never ending his constant belief of nonviolent protest. When Hindu and Muslim citizens began to turn to violence, whether against the British who ruled India, or against each other, he would fast until the fighting came to an end.

Finally in 1947, India had obtained the independence it had been waiting for.

Even though India attained independence from Britain, that did not mean religious fighting ceased in the nation. The country was separating into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Through the final two months of Gandhi's life, he constantly tried to end the violence, which led to his assassination in January 1948, at the age of 79. Only after this incident, riots ceased from ever happening again. He was assassinated while walking through a crowded garden in New Delhi for the evening prayers.