Aga Khan III -  (1877-1957) Hereditary ruler of the Muslim Ismaili sect and general Muslim leader. Born into great power and wealth, the Aga Khan supported the British in India, and founded the All-India Muslim League in 1906.

Winston Churchill  -  Prime Minister of England during World War II, and an obdurate foe of Indian independence

Karamchand Gandhi  -  Gandhi's father, and a local politician. When Gandhi's family sent him to England after Karamchand's death, it was with the hope that he would follow in his father's footsteps.

Nathuram Vinayuk Godse -  A militant Hindu nationalist, and Gandhi's assassin

G.K. Gokhale - A great Indian politician at the turn of the century, who befriended Gandhi

Muhammed Ali Jinnah  -  Head of the Muslim League, and founder of Pakistan. He successfully demanded partition of India into Muslim and Hindu countries, an idea to which Gandhi was fundamentally opposed.

Kasturbai  -  Gandhi's wife. They were married at the age of thirteen.

Lord Mountbatten -  The last Viceroy of India, he presided over the partition of the subcontinent.

Jawaharlal Nehru  -  An Indian nationalist leader and friend to Gandhi, he became the first Prime Minister of India.

Motilal Nehru  -  A leader in the Indian National Congress and Gandhi's ally, he was the father of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Putlibai  -  Gandhi's mother. She died while he was in England.

Raychandra - A Jain friend of Gandhi's, with whom he corresponded on matters of religion in the 1890s

Jan Smuts  - The Afrikaner President of the Transvaal, and Gandhi's opponent in his struggle against discrimination

Leo Tolstoy - The Russian author whose works on pacifism had a profound effect on Gandhi

Ashram -   · An Indian word for a religiously-oriented, communal farm

Bhagavad-Gita  -   · One of the sacred texts of Hinduism, this long poem helped shape Gandhi's personal philosophy.

Boer  -   · Descendants of the Dutch settlers of South Africa, they struggled with the British for dominance of the region.

Bombay -   · The great port of western India

Brahmacharya -   · The renunciation of sex by a male Hindu. Gandhi committed himself to Brahmacharya, after some struggle, in 1906.

British Empire  -   · The vast collection of British-ruled territories that included, at Gandhi's birth, all of India.

Caste -   · A caste is a social level or class. In Hindu India, the caste system is especially intricate and influential; under this system, a person is born into a specific caste and may never leave it. The castes span a wide range, the highest being the Brahmin caste, the lowest being the untouchables.

Delhi -   · The capital of India under the Raj

East India Company  -   · The British trading company that dominated India in the 18th century.

Hartal -   · In Indian tradition, this is a day of fasting, prayer, and abstention from work.

Hindu  -   · The complex, polytheistic majority religion of India

Indian National Congress  -   · An organization of well-educated Indians, founded in 1885, that fell under Gandhi's leadership and pushed for Indian independence

Jain  -   · A reform movement in Hinduism that emphasized the sacredness of all life, and greatly influenced Gandhi.

Mahatma -   · A word meaning "great soul" that was applied to Gandhi

Muslim  -   · A member of the monotheistic religion Islam. Muslims have long been the largest religious minority in India.

Natal -   · A province of British-ruled South Africa

Natal Indian Congress  -   · Founded by Gandhi, this organization lobbied for Indian rights in South Africa.

Phoenix Settlement -   · Gandhi's communal farm in South Africa

Raj -   · The British term for their dominions in India

Satyagraha  -   · Literally, "soul-force." It was the term given to Gandhi's strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppression

Satyagraha ashram  -   · The name given to Gandhi's ashram in India.

Transvaal -   · A Boer republic in South Africa, ruled by the British after the Boer War

Unto This Last -   · Written by a British author named John Ruskin, this book convinced Gandhi of the virtues of physical labor.

Untouchables -   · The shunned lowest caste, they were embraced by Gandhi.

Viceroy of India  -   · The British-appointed ruler of India

Amritsar Massacre -   · The 1919 slaughter of Indian protesters by British troops that sparked outrage around the world

Boer War  -   · The struggle (1899-1901) between Britain and the Boer republics, ending in British control of South Africa.

Government of India Act  -   · Passed by the British Parliament in 1935, it paved the way for Indian independence.

Rowlatt Act  -   · Passed after World War I, it cracked down on civil liberties in India, and led Gandhi toward rebellion.

The Salt March  -   · Gandhi's march to the sea, in spring 1930, to protest the British government's salt monopoly.