Video narration
How did a young lawyer become a defining leader of India's independence movement? Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar in 1869 and studied law in London. In South Africa, beginning in 1893, racial discrimination led him to develop satyagraha-resisting injustice through truth and nonviolence. He returned to India in 1915, supporting farmers and workers in Champaran, Kheda, and Ahmedabad. Then came the turning point: during the 1920-22 Non-Cooperation Movement, violence erupted at Chauri Chaura, so Gandhi stopped his own campaign. Nonviolence was not a slogan. It was his strict political principle. In 1930, the Dandi March challenged the salt law. In 1942, the Congress-led Quit India Movement demanded an end to British rule. When independence came in 1947, Gandhi was in Bengal, calming communal violence instead of celebrating in Delhi. He was assassinated in 1948; "Hey Ram" is traditionally attributed to him, but disputed. So what made him powerful? He turned truth and nonviolence into mass action-and stopped when violence appeared.