Ganhi was born in 1869 to Hindu parents in Western India. He studied law in London and then worked in Southern Africa to improve the rights of immigrant Indians. Back in India he took the lead in the long struggle for independence from Britain. He never wavered in his belief in nonviolent protest and religious tolerance. To Gandhi's despair the country was partitioned into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. The last months of his life were spent trying to end the appaulling violence that ensued, leading him to fast to the brink of death. In January 1948, at the age of 79, he was killed by the bullets of an Indian assassin as he walked through a crowded garden in new Delhi to take evening prayers.