Mahatma Gandhi Signed Handwritten Letter to a Mr. Baker stating that he will meet "all of you" next week. Mohandas K. Gandhi is better known by the reverential byname Mahatma (“Great Soul”). He was a lawyer and anti-colonial political campaigner known for his nonviolent methods of protesting British rule in India. Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent protest was called satyagraha. It was adopted as an important device for protesting British colonial rule by the Indian independence movement. In Sanskrit and Hindi, satyagraha means “holding onto truth”. Mahatma Gandhi introduced the concept to describe a committed but nonviolent resistance to evil. Gandhi’s life led him to become familiar with religions such as Jainism. This morally exacting Indian religion had important principles such as nonviolence. This probably helped motivate Gandhi’s vegetarianism, commitment of non-injury to all living things, and notions of tolerance between faiths. Gandhi became the leader of the Indian National Congress in 1921. He organized campaigns across India to demand self-rule, as well as to ease poverty, extend women’s rights, develop religious and ethnic peace, and end caste-based ostracism. As a prominent political figure, Gandhi became associated with folk heroes and was portrayed as a messiah figure. His terminology and concepts and symbolism resonated in India. From the 1920s, Gandhi lived in a self-sufficient residential community. He ate simple vegetarian food. He fasted for long periods of time as part of his political protest and as part of his faith in self-purification. Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who fired three bullets into his chest. His assassin was Nathuram Godse. When Prime Minister Nehru announced his death, he said that “the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere”. This item has been professionally custom matted and framed and comes with a letter of authenticity issued by Autograph Certification Experts.

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