Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial activist, and philosopher who led India's independence movement through non-violent resistance (satyagraha). Drawing on Hindu ethics, the Bhagavad Gita, and Tolstoy, he developed a philosophy of truth-force that inspired civil rights movements worldwide.

Gandhi's political philosophy combined the Jain concept of ahimsa (non-violence) with the Bhagavad Gita's call to disinterested action and Tolstoy's Christian anarchism. His campaigns of civil disobedience — in South Africa and India — demonstrated that non-violent resistance could be strategically effective as well as morally superior.