Claim: Jawaharlal Nehru's mentor was a person.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi -LRB- -LSB- ˈgɑːndi , _ ˈgæn - -RSB- -LSB- ˈmoːɦənd̪aːs ˈkərəmtʃənd̪ ˈɡaːnd̪ʱi -RSB- -RRB- ; -LRB- 2 October 1869 -- 30 January 1948 -RRB- was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule . Employing nonviolent civil disobedience , Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world . The honorific Mahātmā -LRB- Sanskrit : `` high-souled '' , `` venerable '' -RRB- -- applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa -- is now used worldwide . In India , he is also called Bapu -LRB- Gujarati : endearment for `` father '' , `` papa '' -RRB- and Gandhiji . He is unofficially called the Father of the Nation .   Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat , western India , and trained in law at the Inner Temple , London , Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa , in the resident Indian community 's struggle for civil rights . After his return to India in 1915 , he set about organising peasants , farmers , and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination . Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921 , Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty , expanding women 's rights , building religious and ethnic amity , ending untouchability , but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule .   Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930 , and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942 . He was imprisoned for many years , upon many occasions , in both South Africa and India . Gandhi attempted to practice nonviolence and truth in all situations , and advocated that others do the same . 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 .   Gandhi 's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism , however , was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India . Eventually , in August 1947 , Britain granted independence , but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions , a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan . As many displaced Hindus , Muslims , and Sikhs made their way to their new lands , religious violence broke out , especially in the Punjab and Bengal . Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi , Gandhi visited the affected areas , attempting to provide solace . In the months following , he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony . The last of these , undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78 , also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan . Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating . Among them was Nathuram Godse , a Hindu nationalist , who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest .   Mahatma Gandhi 's birthday , 2 October , is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti , a national holiday , and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence .