Mohandas Gandhi, 78, was walking to a prayer meeting at Birla House in New Delhi when Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who blamed Gandhi for concessions to Muslims during Partition, stepped forward and fired three shots. Gandhi died within minutes. His death, five months after India's independence and the bloody partition with Pakistan, sent the fledgling nation into mourning and briefly united a country reeling from communal violence.
Gandhi had just finished a frugal evening meal and was walking, supported by his grandnieces, across the lawn of Birla House to address the crowd gathered for his daily multi-faith prayer meeting. Nathuram Godse pushed through the crowd, bowed as if to touch Gandhi's feet, then drew a pistol and fired three rounds into his chest and abdomen at close range. Gandhi is said to have murmured 'Hey Ram' (Oh God) as he fell.
Godse, a Chitpavan Brahmin and former member of the Hindu Mahasabha, believed Gandhi's insistence on protecting Muslim minorities and his fasting to secure payments to Pakistan had betrayed Hindus during Partition's horrific violence. He made no attempt to flee and was arrested at the scene.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced to the nation over radio: 'The light has gone out of our lives.' Gandhi's assassination, just months after leading India to independence through decades of nonviolent resistance, transformed him instantly into a martyr and cemented his legacy as one of the twentieth century's most influential moral leaders. Godse was tried and hanged in November 1949.