s of other religious groups. He found wisdom in some of Buddha's teachings as well as parts of the New Testament of the Christian Bible: "He plowed through the Old Testament 'with much difficulty and without the least interest or understanding,' but the New Testament, especially the Sermon on the Mount, appealed to him and invited comparison with the Gita." Because Gandhi embraced the truths of various religions, he was seen as an unorthodox Hindu and was despised by strict orthodox Hindus, a hatred that eventually led to his assassination.
Gandhi was a champion of the people's rights. Although his parents were not wealthy, the Gandhis lived a comfortable life as members of India's Bania caste, a middle-class social subdivision that included merchants, tradesmen, landowning farmers, and government officials. Yet Gandhi never embraced the philosophy of class privilege. Especially anathema to him was the treatment of people in India's very lowest social class, the Untouchables: "Sometimes when he found Untouchables cordoned off in a corner by themselves at meetings he was to address, he would deliberately go and take his stand among them and address the meeting from their midst, incurring pollution for all to see by coming in actual physical contact with them." Gandhi saw cruelty to the Untouchables as an insult and a threat to the Hindu religion. He believed in unity for all people, based on equality and their common status as children of God.
Gandhi often grappled with the dilemma of living and working in a society that is morally corrupt. For example, while practicing law in India, Gandhi quickly became disillusioned with the political system in his region. His fellow Indians acted subservient to British officials, and they engaged in bribery and other dishonest acts to ingratiate themselves into hig
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