Facts about Mahatma Gandhi
- 13
Renouncing his law degree in 1893, Gandhi returned to India after 21 years in South Africa and led the Quit India Movement of 1942, which demanded immediate British withdrawal and accelerated independence by five years.
- 12
Gandhi's eyesight deteriorated so severely by 1944 that he required thick glasses with a power of approximately 5.00 diopters to read his daily correspondence.
- 11
From 1919 to 1922, Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement mobilized millions of Indians to boycott British goods and institutions, fundamentally shifting the independence struggle toward mass civil disobedience.
- 10
Over 50 countries sent representatives to Gandhi's funeral in 1948, with world leaders including Albert Einstein publicly mourning the loss of the nonviolent resistance pioneer.
- 09
Between 1893 and 1914, Gandhi lived in South Africa for 21 years, where he first developed and practiced nonviolent resistance against discriminatory laws targeting Indian immigrants.
- 08
Vegetarian since childhood, Gandhi consumed only fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and drank goat's milk as his sole animal product, maintaining this strict diet throughout his life.
- 07
At age 78, Gandhi wrote approximately 490 letters per month during 1947, his final year, often addressing correspondence to world leaders and Indian citizens about communal harmony.
- 06
The 1944 Bengal famine, which killed an estimated 3 million people, prompted Gandhi to begin his final fast, a 21-day abstention from food that weakened his already frail body.
- 05
Gandhi wore only handspun khadi cloth from 1921 onward, spending 4 hours daily at his spinning wheel to symbolically support India's textile independence from British mills.
- 04
Approximately 2 million Indians attended Gandhi's funeral procession in Delhi on February 1, 1948, making it one of history's largest gatherings for a single individual's memorial.
- 03
Spanning 21 years of his life, Gandhi spent approximately 2,338 days imprisoned across South Africa and India for civil disobedience activities.
- 02
During his 79 years, Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist opposed to his support for Hindu-Muslim unity.
- 01
In 1930, Gandhi's Salt March covered 240 miles over 24 days to protest British salt monopoly in India.