How old is Mahatma Gandhi?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Mahatma Gandhi, is a prominent Indian politician, national leader and civil activist, who played a crucial role in the national movement of Indian people for freedom. Born in 1869 in Bombay, Mohandas was brought up in quite a poor family of a low caste, despite the fact that his father was a chief administrative worker of Porbandar state. Gandhi studied in poor schools, he was a great student, but when he was 13 years old his parents put him through 'the arranged marriage' to a 14-years old girl. Various family matters (deaths of his first babies, the death of his father, having children, etc.) affected the studies, but Gandhi could finally graduate from college and went to the UK where he studied law. Upon being back to Bombay, the 22-year-old Gandhi tried to establish his own business related to jurisprudence, but all the attempts failed, so shortly after he sailed to South Africa to take part in some commercial business. South Africa was the place where he was involved in various social activities, the acts of peaceful protests and public disobedience. He returned to India in 1915 and started talking to the poor Indian people in order to help them get the ideas on how to make their life better. Caste discrimination, too high payments, and taxes were among the main issues, and Gandhi started organizing people to express their dissatisfaction by this situation. During these years, Gandhi's philosophy as the protest leader was being formed. The ideas of equality (especially religious), as well as independence, were among the key ones. In 1930s-40s he was one of the leaders of Indian Congress, spending a lot of effort for promoting his ideas and advocating pluralism of all religions, which was very important for such multi-religious community. In summer 1947 was the greatest time for Gandhi, when India finally received its independence from the British rule. However, as a result of various misunderstandings and arguments (especially on the religious background), in January 1948 Gandhi was assassinated by other so-called activists. He was 78 years old. Mahatma Gandhi is a national hero of all progressive Indian people, who value and adore his wisdom, patience, hard work, and other merits.

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