Gandhi was influenced by religious concepts
One of the most interesting facts about Mahatma Gandhi is he was influenced by religious concepts. Gandhi's life exposed him to other religions, including Jainism. The youngest child of his father's fourth wife was Gandhi. His father, Karamchand Gandhi, who served as the dewan (chief minister) of Porbandar, the regional capital of a minor principality in western India (in what is now Gujarat state), was not particularly well-educated. However, he was a skilled administrator who knew how to navigate between the erratic princes, their patient subjects, and the domineering British political officers.
Putlibai, Gandhi's mother, was entirely engrossed in religion, did not care much for finery or jewelry, split her time between her home and the temple, frequently fasted, and spent days and nights nursing whenever there was illness in the family, exhausting herself in the process. Mohandas was raised in a home that was heavily influenced by Jainism, an Indian religion with strict morals that emphasizes nonviolence and the idea that everything in the cosmos is everlasting. Vaishnavism is the worship of the Hindu god Vishnu. Thus, he took vegetarianism, fasting for one's own purification, and respect between followers of different creeds and sects for granted. He also assumed that everyone would practice ahimsa (noninjury to all living beings).
