He founded a religious retreat on Tolstoyan lines near Ahmedabad, the Viceroy conferred on him the Kalsar-Hind Gold Medal for distinguished humanitarian work in South Africa, and, by general consent, he began to be called by the name Mahatma, which means literally 'Great Soul.'Ī series of events quickly following each other at the end of the war brought him back into political leadership. When the war of 1914-18 broke out he came to Britain to organise an Indian ambulance corps (he had done ambulance work in both the Zulu campaign and the Boer War), but was taken so seriously ill the doctors sent him back to India. The summer of 1914 brought victory for the cause, and in July of that year the Gandhi-Smuts Settlement was signed. Little by little, the Indians gained the respect of the Europeans in South Africa by the faith with which they obeyed their leader in his campaigns of passive resistance. He went on steadily preparing his followers in South Africa for the struggle which was to end the indignities under which they suffered. Perhaps the greatest religious effort of his life was to break down 'untouchability.' To the end of his life he remained a devout Hindu, but declared if ever 'untouchability' were made part of Hinduism he would cease to be a Hindu. He became an ascetic of the most rigorous type, setting great store by fasting and every form of self-denial. He read Tolstoy and corresponded with him: the result was an experiment in the simple communal life conducted by a small band of enthusiasts whom he had gathered together. Meanwhile a religious conflict was taking place in within him. Seeing the social and political disabilities of his fellow-countrymen in South Africa, he decided to stay and help them and soon he had become their political leader and adviser. That visit changed the whole course of his life.

In 1896 he went to the Transvaal to help a client in a legal suit. When 19, he came to London, qualified as a barrister (being 'called' at the Inner Temple), and, returning to Bombay in 1892, set up a practice.

Mahatma gandhi age