Mahatma Gandhi was an activist who worked tirelessly to get India her freedom from colonial rule. India was controlled by the British between 1757 and 1947. Initially the British did not interfere with the Hindus and allowed them to follow and practice Hinduism, their religion. However, gradually Christian missionaries tried to westernize and convert the people of India.
During the British rule a number of reformers emerged. Mahatma Gandhi was a well known peace activist and politician who led the freedom struggle to make India free from the British rule.
In 1947, the partition of India took place. In the year 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. In the partition, British India was split into two independent nations that is, Pakistan and India. After this, Hinduism became the main religion of India.
After the 1960s a lot of Hindus began migrating to Britain and North America and spread their philosophies and faith to people of the Western nations.
Mahatma Gandhi himself believed in the Puranas, the Vedas, the Scriptures, the Upanishads, rebirth and the Avataras (incarnations). He called himself a Sanatani Hindu. In the Vedic sense, Gandhiji believed in the law of Varnashrama in terms of idol worship and protecting the sacred Hindu animal the cow. He was of a strong belief that all religious texts were ordained by the power of God.
