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The Answer is Mahatma Gandhi, also known as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. The term "Mahatma," meaning "Great Soul," was bestowed upon him by the people of India and his admirers worldwide due to his profound spiritual presence and dedication to peaceful protest and civil disobedience as means of social and political change.

Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India. He studied law in London and then went on to work in South Africa, where he experienced racial discrimination firsthand. This experience awakened his social conscience and led him to develop his signature method of nonviolent protest, known as Satyagraha.

Throughout his life, Gandhi advocated for the rights of the oppressed, including the poor and those marginalized by the caste system. He worked towards alleviating poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, and ending untouchability. Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence and his relentless pursuit of truth ('Satya') influenced civil rights movements across the world.

Gandhi played a key role in the Indian National Congress and led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. His famous Salt March to Dandi in 1930 was a pivotal act of protest against the British salt tax, symbolizing the Indian people's defiance against British rule.

Gandhi's commitment to nonviolence and his belief in simple living—making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest—have made him a lasting symbol of peaceful resistance. He was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who disagreed with Gandhi's tolerance towards Muslims.

Today, Gandhi's legacy lives on as a beacon of hope for peaceful change and social justice. His birthday, October 2nd, is commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti in India, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Please Define the Following Key Terms

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