Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā—applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa—is now used worldwide. In India, he is also called Bapu and Gandhi ji, and unofficially known as the Father of the Nation.