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Gandhi's father's name was Karamchand Gandhi. His mother's name was Putlibai. His wife's name was Kasturba (also written as Kasturbai). With regard to the Gandhi family's socio-economic status: the Gandhis were of the Vaisya caste, 'below' the Brahmin and Kshatriya caste
and 'above' the Sudra caste. However, Gandhi's grandfather and father had been prime minister of a small state in the Kathiawar peninsula, western India. Authoritative Gandhi biograher Louis Fischer describes Gandhi's home life as cultured and the family as well-to-do by Indian standards. There were books in the house, chiefly about religion and mythology. At one stage Gandhi's father Karamchand owned three houses. Gandhi's elder brother Laxmidas practised law and became a government treasury
official. He owned two houses. Gandhi's other brother, Karsandas, was a sub-inspector of police. Before Gandhi became the figure he was to become, he graduated as a barrister-at-law. He studied at the Inner Temple in London. Fischer recounts an opinion that the Inner Temple was considered by Indians the most aristocratic of the four Inns of Court in London.
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