DUSHANBE, October 2, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Events to mark the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the International Day of Non-Violence are being held in Tajikistan today.

A ceremony of laying flowers at the monument to Mahatma Gandhi near the Indian Embassy in Dushanbe was held today morning.  Representatives from diplomatic missions and international organizations active in Tajikistan took part at the ceremony.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2 1869 – January 30 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian Independence movement.  He was the pioneer of satyagraha – resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence – which led India to independence and has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.  Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi (in Sanskrit mahatma means “Great Soul”, a honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore) and in India also as Bapu (Farther).  He is officially honored in India as the Farther of the Nation; his birthday, October 2, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.