Originally trained as a lawyer, Gandhi left India for South Africa in 1893. His philosophy of non-violence, celibacy, and absence of personal possessions, was informed by wide reading, including such opponents of modernity as Ruskin, Thoreau, and Tolstoy. In 1907 he organized his first satyagraha (holding to the truth), a campaign of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance. Returning to India in 1915 he led many such campaigns, both in protest against particular injustices and in order to secure Indian independence from the British Empire. His programme included the revival of cottage industries, especially the production of handwoven cloth; and the abolition of untouchability. He was shot by a Hindu fanatic, while holding a prayer and reconciliation meeting with the aim of stopping the violence between Hindus and Muslims that followed upon Indian independence. The title Mahatma commonly given to him means ‘great souled’.