holiest place. More than 450 Sikhs died.
On October 31, 1984, two Sikhs got
revenge. While working as Gandhi’s
bodyguards, the Sikhs assassinated Gandhi
in her garden.
#More to explore
India • Nehru, Jawaharlal • Sikhism
Gandhi,
Mahatma
Mohandas Gandhi was a leader of
India’s independence movement. When
India was a colony of Great Britain,
Gandhi used nonviolent methods to
protest against British rule. His efforts
earned him the title Mahatma.
Mahatma means “great soul.”
Before
becoming
prime minister,
Gandhi served
as the minister
of information
and broadcasting,
an
important job
in Indian
government.
Indira Gandhi addresses a crowd in Delhi,
India, in 1971.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Gandhi, Mahatma 85
Early Life
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was
born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar,
India. In his youth he learned the religions
of Hinduism and Jainism. Nonviolence
is one of Jainism’s main ideas.
Politics in South Africa
In 1893 Gandhi took a job in South
Africa. At the time it was also a British
colony. There he saw Europeans mistreating
Indian settlers. He got into politics
to fight for Indian rights.
Gandhi first used his method of nonviolent
protest in 1906. He told Indians
that they should not obey the British
laws that they thought were wrong. He
also said they should stay peaceful no
matter how they were punished for their
actions.
Protests in India
Gandhi returned to India in 1915.
Within a few years he became India’s
most powerful political leader. He led
several major protests against the British.
He was sometimes jailed for his actions.
Independence
India won its independence in 1947. It
was a great victory for Gandhi. But he
was disappointed because Hindus and
Muslims fought each other. He tried to
make peace. On January 30, 1948, in
the city of Delhi, Gandhi was shot and
killed by a Hindu man.
#More to explore
India
Ganges River
Followers of Hinduism believe that
dying on the banks of the Ganges River
and having one’s ashes cast on its waters
is the way to a happy afterlife. One of
the world’s great rivers, the Ganges flows
across the plains of northern India for
most of its course. In India the river is
called the Ganga.
The Ganges is 1,560 miles (2,510 kilometers)
long. It begins in the southern
Himalayas, near India’s border with the
Chinese region of Tibet. After emerging
from the mountains, the river flows onto
the plains. Midway in its course, the
Mahatma Gandhi shares a laugh with his
granddaughters.
86 Ganges River BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ganges merges with the Yamuna River.
It then flows into Bangladesh, where it is
joined by the mighty Brahmaputra
River. The combined stream empties
into the Bay of Bengal.
Hindus make religious pilgrimages to
many places along the Ganges. They
believe that bathing in its waters washes
away sin. Hindus also have built many
temples for cremating, or burning, the
dead along the Ganges. They scatter the
ashes on the river, believing that the
dead will go straight to heaven.
Water from the Ganges has been used
for irrigation for more than 2,000 years.
Rice and other crops grown in the
Ganges region feed most of India and
Bangladesh.
#More to explore
Delta • Hinduism • India • Irrigation
• Pilgrimage
Garden
People have been growing plants in special
areas of land, called gardens, since
ancient times. Early gardens led to the
many different kinds of gardens that
people enjoy today.
Types of Gardens
The first gardens had useful purposes.
They provided food and herbs. Herbs
are plants that are used as medicines or
for adding flavor to food. Vegetable and
herb gardens remain popular today for
the same reasons.
People grow flower gardens, such as rose
gardens, for their beauty. Cottage gardens
are a well-known kind of flower
garden, especially in England. They have
showy flowers bunched tightly together.
An indoor garden is called a conservatory.
Gardens can be large areas set aside
by a city or they can be a small plot in a
backyard.
Botanical gardens are large gardens that
are usually open to the public. Botanists,
A path of purple flowers blooms between
rows of trees at Keukenhof Gardens near
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
A mother and a daughter work in their garden.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Garden 87
or scientists who study plants, help to
grow botanical gardens. These gardens
are organized in a scientific way. Groups
of plants from similar climates grow in
different sections of a botanical garden.
History
People began growing plants about
10,000 years ago. This was the earliest
form of agriculture, or growing plants
for food and other uses. People in
ancient China, Egypt, and the Middle
East later grew gardens for their beauty.
In the 1600s the Dutch sold many tulip
bulbs to Europeans who wanted to grow
the flowers in their gardens. Today’s
gardens may contain plants from almost
anywhere in the world.
#More to explore
Agriculture • Flower • Herb
Garfield, James
A.
James A. Garfield, the 20th president of
the United States, held office for less
than a year. Garfield was shot four
months after taking office and died
slightly more than two months later, in
September 1881.
Early Life and Career
