Mohandas Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in Gujarat, India, on October 2, 1869, and taught law at University College London. In 1891, Gandhi returned to India and attempted to establish a practice in Bombay, almost unsuccessfully. Two years later, an Indian company with interests in South Africa retained him as a legal advisor in the office. After arriving there, Gandhi found himself treated as a member of an inferior race. He was shocked by the general rejection of civil liberties and political rights of Indians in South Africa. He threw himself into the fight for fundamental rights. Gandhi remained in South Africa for 20 years, being imprisoned several times. In 1896, after being attacked and beaten by white South Africans, Gandhi began to teach a rule of passive resistance and non-cooperation with the South African authorities. During the Boer War, Gandhi organized an ambulance corps for the British Army and commanded a Red Cross unit. After the war ended he returned to his campaign for Indian rights. India's economic independence, which involved a complete boycott of British goods, became a corollary of Gandhi's Swaraj, or "self-government" movement. The economic features of the movement were significant, as the abuse of Indian villagers by British industrialists had resulted in much poverty in the country and the near destruction of Indian industries. As a cure for such poverty, Gandhi advocated the restoration of cottage industries; he began using a spinning wheel as a sign of the return to the simple village life he preached. Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting and meditation. His union with his wife became, like him...a piece of paper...ndhi implored Hindus and Muslims to live together peacefully. Riots surrounded Calcutta and Gandhi fasted until the riots stopped. On January 13, 1948, he undertook another successful fast in New Delhi for peace, but on January 30, 12 days after the end of that fast, he was murdered by a fanatic. Gandhi's death was considered an international disaster. Its place in humanity has not been measured in the 20th century, but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set aside and condolences were expressed to India from all countries. Religious violence soon declined in India and Pakistan, and Gandhi's teachings came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, especially in the United States under civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and in South Africa under Nelson Mandela, two other of the most great exponents of passive politics. resistant leaders of the 20th century.