Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule.Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable") was applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa and is now used worldwide. In India, he was also called Bapu, a term that he preferred (Gujarati: endearment for father, papa), and Gandhi ji, and is known as the Father of the Nation.