The spiritual father of modern India and one of it's key figures in the struggle for independence, Mohandas Gandhi, called respectfully the Mahatma (great soul), represents a crucial link in the chain of resistance that also includes Emerson's Civil Disobedience and Martin Luther King Jr.. Trained in England as a lawyer, Gandhi first became involved with Indian's rights while working in South Africa and observing the discriminatory practices there. Returning to India, Gandhi was embraced by the growing nationalist movement who had heard of his work in Africa. Although he was responsible for several important marches, was an important leader in the Indian National Congress and spent much time in jail for his efforts, his attention was drawn less to politics and more towards the formation of a new society with emphasis on local self-sufficiency, the breaking of caste distinctions and the practice of ahimsa (non-injury). Drawing on Hindu and Jain ideals of right living, his experiments were embodied in the Sabarmati Ashram which he founded and intended as a model for the future. When independence did come, it was a bittersweet victory for the Mahatma. Communal divisions between Hindus and Muslims had forced a partition of British India into the new nations of India and Pakistan. Gandhi, determined that there should be one India for all, refused to attend the independence ceremonies. The Mahatma was gunned down by a fanatic, a member of a radical Hindu group which did not agree with Gandhi's hospitable attitude toward Muslims.