Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (/ndi, n-/;[2] Hindustani: [mondd as

krmtndd andd i] (

listen); 2 October 1869 30 January 1948) was the

preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.

Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired
movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
The honorificMahatma (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable")[3]applied to him first in
1914 in South Africa,[4]is now used worldwide. He is also called Bapu (Gujarati:
endearment for "father",[5] "papa"[5][6]) in India.
Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and
trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed nonviolent civil
disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's
struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising
peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and
discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi
led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building
religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or
self-rule.
Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km
(250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in
1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa
and India. Gandhi attempted to practise nonviolence and truth in all situations, and
advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential
community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun
on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means
of both self-purification and social protest.
Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism, however, was
challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a
separate Muslim homeland carved out of India. [7] Eventually, in August 1947, Britain
granted independence, but the British Indian Empire [7] was partitioned into
two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan.[8] As many displaced
Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke

out, especially in the Punjaband Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of

independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace.
Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed Azad (Bengali: ,

pronunciation (helpinfo); Urdu: Abul Kalam Azad; 11 November 1888

22 February 1958 was an Indian scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian

independence movement. Following India's independence, he became the first [Minister

of Education] in the Indian government. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded India's
highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.[1] There is also a theory which suggests that
earlier when he was offered Bharat Ratna he promptly declined it saying that it should
not be given to those who have been on the selection committee. He is commonly
remembered as Maulana Azad; the word Maulana is an honorific meaning 'learned
man', and he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing
the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as "National
Education Day" across India.[2]
As a young man, Azad composed poetry in Urdu language, as well as treatises on
religion and philosophy. He rose to prominence through his work as a journalist,
publishing works critical of the British Raj and espousing the causes of Indian
nationalism. Azad became the leader of the Khilafat Movement, during which he came
into close contact with the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Azad became an
enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience, and worked to
organise the non-co-operation movement in protest of the 1919 Rowlatt Acts. Azad
committed himself to Gandhi's ideals, including promoting Swadeshi(indigenous)
products and the cause of Swaraj (Self-rule) for India. In 1923, at an age of 35, he
became the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress.
Azad was one of the main organisers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931, and
emerged as one of the most important national leaders of the time, prominently leading
the causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as espousing secularism and socialism.[3] He
served as Congress president from 1940 to 1945, during which the Quit India rebellion
was launched. Azad was imprisoned, together with the entire Congress leadership, for
three years.

Amidst communal turmoil following the partition of India, he worked for religious
harmony. As India's Education Minister, Azad oversaw the establishment of a national
education system with free primary education and modern institutions of higher
education. He is also credited with the establishment of the

Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 30 June 1917), known as the Grand Old Man of
India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and
social leader. He was a Liberal Party member of parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom
House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP.[1]
Naoroji is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O.
Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought
attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was also member of theSecond
International along with Kautsky and Plekhanov.
Naoroji was born in Mumbai and educated at the Elphinstone Institute School. He was
patronised by Maharaja of Baroda Sayajirao Gaekwad III and started his public life as the
Dewan (Minister) to the Maharaja in 1874. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji
founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August
1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also
founded a fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (or The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian
concepts. In 1855, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at
the Elphinstone College in Bombay,[2] becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic
position. He travelled to London in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening
a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within three
years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859, he established his own cotton trading
company, Dadabhai Naoroji & Co. Later, he became professor ofGujarati at University
College London.
Plaque referring to Dadabhai Naoroji, located outside the Finsbury Town Hall on Rosebery
Avenue, London.
In 1867 Naoroji helped to establish the East India Association, one of the predecessor
organisations of the Indian National Congresswith the aim of putting across the Indian point
of view before the British public. The Association was instrumental in counter-acting
the propaganda by the Ethnological Society of London which, in its session in 1866, had

tried to prove the inferiority of the Asians to the Europeans. This Association soon won the
support of eminent Englishmen and was able to exercise considerable influence in
theBritish Parliament. In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of
the Legislative Council of Mumbai (188588). He was also a member of the Indian National
Association founded by Sir Surendranath Banerjee from Calcutta a few years before the
founding of the Indian National Congress in Bombay, with the same objectives and
practices. The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of
the Congress in 1886. Naoroji published Poverty and un-British Rule in India in 1901.
Khn Abdul Ghaffr Khn (6 February 1890 20 January 1988) (Pashto: ) ,
nicknamed as Bch Khn (Pashto: , lit. "king of chiefs") or Pch Khn () ,
was a Pashtun independence activist against the rule of the British Raj. He was a political
and spiritual leader known for his nonviolent opposition, and a lifelong pacifist and
devout Muslim.[1] A close friend ofMahatma Gandhi, Bacha Khan was nicknamed the
"Frontier Gandhi" in British India.[2] Bacha Khan founded the Khudai Khidmatgar("Servants
of God") movement in 1929, whose success triggered a harsh crackdown by the British
Empire against him and his supporters, and they suffered some of the most severe
repression of the Indian independence movement. [3]
Bacha Khan strongly opposed the All-India Muslim League's demand for the partition of
India.[4][5] When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan
without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, he felt very sad and told the Congress
"you have thrown us to the wolves."[6] After partition, Bacha Khan pledged allegiance
to Pakistan and demanded an autonomous "Pashtunistan" administrative unit within the
country, but he was frequently arrested by the Pakistani government between 1948 and
1954. In 1956, he was again arrested for his opposition to the One Unit program, under
which the government announced to merge the former provinces of West
Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, Chief Commissioner's Province of
Balochistan, and Baluchistan States Union into one single polity of West Pakistan. Bacha
Khan also spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile. Upon his death in
1988 in Peshawar under house arrest, following his will, he was buried at his house
in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of mourners attended his funeral, marching
through the Khyber Pass from Peshawar to Jalalabad, although it was marred by two bomb
explosions killing 15 people. Despite the heavy fighting at the time, both sides of theSoviet

war in Afghanistan, the communist army and the mujahideen, declared a ceasefire to allow
his burial.[7]
Ghaffar Khan was born on 6 February 1890 into a generally peaceful and prosperous family
from Utmanzai in the Peshawar Valley of British India. His father, Bahram Khan, was a land
owner in the area commonly referred to as Hashtnaghar. Ghaffar was the second son of
Bahram to attend the British run Edward's mission school, since this was the only fully
functioning school because it was run by missionaries. At school the young Ghaffar did well
in his studies, and was inspired by his mentor Reverend Wigram to see the importance of
education in service to the community. In his 10th and final year of high school, he was
The Rani of Jhansi (19 November 1828 18 June 1858[1][2][3]), born as Manikarnika and
renamed Lakshmibai

pronunciation (helpinfo) in 1842, was the queen of the Maratha-

ruled Jhansi State, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the leading
figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became for Indian nationalists a symbol of
resistance to the British Raj. Lakshmibai was born probably on 19 November 1828[1][3][4][5][6] in
the holy town of Varanasi into a Marathi Brahman (Karhade Brahmin[citation needed]) family.[7][8] She
was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu.[9] Her father was Moropant Tambe and
her mother Bhagirathi Sapre (Bhagirathi Bai). Her parents came from Maharashtra. Her
mother died when she was four. Her father worked for a court Peshwa of Bithoor
district who brought Manikarnika up like his own daughter.[10] The Peshwa called her
"Chhabili", which means "playful". She was educated at home and was more independent in
her childhood than others of her age; her studies included shooting, horsemanship, and
fencing.[11][12]
Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, in May
1842[4][13] and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai) in honour of the Hindu
goddess Lakshmi.[14] She gave birth to a boy, later named Damodar Rao, in 1851, who died
when four months old. The Maharaja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of
Gangadhar Rao's cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before the Maharaja
died. The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter
from the Maharaja instructing that the child be treated with respect and that the government
of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime. After the death of the Maharaja in
November 1853, because Damodar Rao was adopted, theBritish East India Company,
under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar

Rao's claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories. In March 1854,
Lakshmibai was given a pension of Rs. 60,000 and ordered to leave the palace and the fort.
[15][16]

Rani Lakshmibai was accustomed to riding on horseback accompanied by a small escort

between the palace and the temple although sometimes she was carried bypalanquin.[17] Her
horses included Sarangi, Pavan and Badal; according to tradition she rode Badal when
escaping from the fort in 1858. The Rani Mahal, the palace of Rani Lakshmibai, has now
been converted into a museum. It houses a collection of archaeological remains of the
period between the 9th and 12th centuries AD.