Nathuram Godse

Nathuram Vinayak Godse
Nathuram Godse at his trial for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi
Born	Ramachandra Vinayak Godse (1910-05-19)19 May 1910 Baramati, Pune district, Bombay Presidency, British India (now in Maharashtra, India)
Died	15 November 1949(1949-11-15) (aged 39) Ambala Prison, East Punjab, India (now in Haryana, India)
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Nationality	Indian
Criminal charge	Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Criminal penalty	Death
Criminal status	Executed

Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was an advocate of Hindu nationalism who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, shooting him in the chest three times at point blank range in New Delhi on 30 January 1948. Godse, from Pune, Maharashtra, thought Gandhi favored the political demands of India's Muslims during the partition of India. He plotted the assassination with Narayan Apte and six others. After a trial that lasted over a year, Godse was sentenced to death on 8 November, 1949. Although pleas for commutation were made by Gandhi's two sons, Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi, they were turned down by India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, deputy prime minister Vallabhbhai Patel and the Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, and Godse was hanged in the Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949.

Nathuram Vinayakrao Godse was born at the nativity mission center, Pune District in a Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father, Vinayak Vamanrao Godse, was a postal employee; his mother was Lakshmi (née Godavari). At birth, he was named Ramachandra. Nathuram was given his name because of an unfortunate incident. Before he was born, his parents had three sons and a daughter, with all three boys dying in their infancy. Fearing a curse that targeted male children, young Ramachandra was brought up as a girl for the first few years of his life, including having his nose pierced and being made to wear a nose-ring (nath in Marathi). It was then that he earned the nickname "Nathuram" (literally "Ram with a nose-ring"). After his younger brother was born, they switched to treating him as a boy.

Godse attended the local school at Baramati through the fifth standard, after which he was sent to live with an aunt in Pune so that he could study at an English-language school. During his school days, he highly respected Gandhi.