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10 Inspiring Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi, Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi in 800 Words

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi, is regarded as one of history's most inspirational leaders. His nonviolent struggle against British rule in India is well chronicled, and it inspired movements for civil rights and freedom around the world.

Throughout his life, Mahatma Gandhi worked for the rights and dignity of all people, using nonviolence as a way to win people over. He had used nonviolent resistance for the first time during a civil rights struggle in South Africa. For his empathy, humility, and words of wisdom that continue to inspire people all across the world, he earned the title Mahatma, which means "great soul."

Gandhi's Student Life: Mahatma Gandhi fell into bad company in 10th, what was his high school result?

Here are 10 quotes of Mahatma Gandhi that help inspire a healthy and fruitful living:

1. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

2. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.

3. A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

4. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

5. Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.

6. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

7. Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it.

8. Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

9. An eye for an eye will only end up making the whole world blind.

10. It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi in 800 Words for class 4,5,6,7 and 8

Introduction.

Nonviolence, often known as 'ahimsa,' is the discipline of avoiding purposely or accidentally harming others. It is a practice followed by famous saints such as Gautam Buddha and Mahaveer. Mahatma Gandhi was a forerunner in the practice of nonviolence. He employed nonviolence as a weapon against the British Empire's armed forces, assisting us in gaining independence without using a single weapon.

Nonviolence's Role in the Indian Freedom Struggle

After Mahatma Gandhi's engagement in the Indian freedom war, the role of nonviolence grew more important. Many violent freedom movements were taking place in the country at the same time, and their significance cannot be overstated. Our independence fighters who fought against British tyranny made numerous sacrifices. Nonviolence, on the other hand, was a peaceful protest that was a perfect approach to seek complete independence. Mahatma Gandhi used nonviolence in every anti-British movement. The following are Mahatma Gandhi's most major nonviolent movements that helped rock the foundations of the British administration.

Agitations in Champaran and Kheda

The British forced Champaran farmers to grow indigo and sell it at very low fixed prices again in 1917. Mahatma Gandhi launched a nonviolent protest against this practice, forcing Britishers to fulfill the farmers' demand.

Floods struck Kheda village in 1918, causing a catastrophic famine in the region. The British were unwilling to make any tax concessions or exemptions. For many months, Gandhiji developed a non-cooperation movement and led nonviolent rallies against the British authority. Finally, the administration was forced to give tax relief and temporarily cease revenue collection.

Movement Against Non-Cooperation

In 1920, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and harsh British policies sparked the Non-cooperation movement. It was a peaceful protest against British control. Gandhiji believed that the fundamental reason for Britishers' success in India was the support they received from Indians.

He urged people to shun British items in favor of 'Swadeshi' ones. Indians refused to work for the British and withdrew from British schools, civil services, government jobs, and so on. People began quitting from prominent positions, which had a significant impact on the British administration. The Non-Cooperation movement undermined the foundations of British control, and this without the employment of a single weapon. The non-cooperation movement exemplified the power of nonviolence.

Salt Satyagraha, also known as the Salt March

The Salt March, also known as the 'Namak Satyagrah,' was a nonviolent action spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi to protest the British salt monopoly. The British put a high tariff on salt, which had an impact on local salt production. Gandhiji began a 26-day nonviolent march to Dandi village in Gujarat to protest the British government's salt monopoly.

The Dandi march began on March 12, 1930, from Sabarmati Ashram and finished on April 6, 1930, at Dandi, breaching British government salt rules and establishing local salt manufacture. The Salt March was a nonviolent movement that gained international notice and contributed to the establishment of Independent India.

Quit India Campaign

The foundation of the British government was profoundly shaken by the successful Salt March movement. On August 8, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement, which demanded that the British leave India. It was World War II, and Britain was already at war with Germany, and the Quit India Movement added fuel to the fire. A nationwide campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience was initiated, and Indians requested that they be removed from World War II.

The Quit India Movement had such an impact that the British administration agreed to grant India total independence after the war was finished. The Quit India Movement effectively put an end to British rule in India.

These Mahatma Gandhi-led movements were purely nonviolent and did not employ any weapons. The power of truth and nonviolence were employed to combat British control. The impact of nonviolence was so powerful that it drew the international community's immediate attention to the Indian independence cause. It aided in exposing the harsh policies and actions of British control to an international audience.

Weapons, according to Mahatma Gandhi, are not the only solution to any situation; in fact, they cause more problems than they solve. It is an instrument for spreading hatred, fear, and rage. Nonviolence is one of the best ways to battle far more powerful opponents without using a single weapon.

Apart from the independence movement, there are many modern-day examples that demonstrate the value of nonviolence and how it has aided in bringing about changes in society, all without spilling a single drop of blood. I hope the day does not come too soon when there will be no violence and all conflicts and disputes would be resolved peacefully without harming anyone or pouring blood, since this would be the greatest tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

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Essay on Mahatma Gandhi – Contributions and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi

500+ words essay on mahatma gandhi.

Essay on Mahatma Gandhi – Mahatma Gandhi was a great patriotic Indian, if not the greatest. He was a man of an unbelievably great personality. He certainly does not need anyone like me praising him. Furthermore, his efforts for Indian independence are unparalleled. Most noteworthy, there would have been a significant delay in independence without him. Consequently, the British because of his pressure left India in 1947. In this essay on Mahatma Gandhi, we will see his contribution and legacy.

Contributions of Mahatma Gandhi

First of all, Mahatma Gandhi was a notable public figure. His role in social and political reform was instrumental. Above all, he rid the society of these social evils. Hence, many oppressed people felt great relief because of his efforts. Gandhi became a famous international figure because of these efforts. Furthermore, he became the topic of discussion in many international media outlets.

Mahatma Gandhi made significant contributions to environmental sustainability. Most noteworthy, he said that each person should consume according to his needs. The main question that he raised was “How much should a person consume?”. Gandhi certainly put forward this question.

Furthermore, this model of sustainability by Gandhi holds huge relevance in current India. This is because currently, India has a very high population . There has been the promotion of renewable energy and small-scale irrigation systems. This was due to Gandhiji’s campaigns against excessive industrial development.

Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence is probably his most important contribution. This philosophy of non-violence is known as Ahimsa. Most noteworthy, Gandhiji’s aim was to seek independence without violence. He decided to quit the Non-cooperation movement after the Chauri-Chaura incident . This was due to the violence at the Chauri Chaura incident. Consequently, many became upset at this decision. However, Gandhi was relentless in his philosophy of Ahimsa.

Secularism is yet another contribution of Gandhi. His belief was that no religion should have a monopoly on the truth. Mahatma Gandhi certainly encouraged friendship between different religions.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi has influenced many international leaders around the world. His struggle certainly became an inspiration for leaders. Such leaders are Martin Luther King Jr., James Beve, and James Lawson. Furthermore, Gandhi influenced Nelson Mandela for his freedom struggle. Also, Lanza del Vasto came to India to live with Gandhi.

The awards given to Mahatma Gandhi are too many to discuss. Probably only a few nations remain which have not awarded Mahatma Gandhi.

In conclusion, Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest political icons ever. Most noteworthy, Indians revere by describing him as the “father of the nation”. His name will certainly remain immortal for all generations.

Essay Topics on Famous Leaders

Mahatma Gandhi
APJ Abdul Kalam
Jawaharlal Nehru
Swami Vivekananda
Mother Teresa
Rabindranath Tagore
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Subhash Chandra Bose
Abraham Lincoln
Martin Luther King

FAQs on Mahatma Gandhi

Q.1 Why Mahatma Gandhi decided to stop Non-cooperation movement?

A.1 Mahatma Gandhi decided to stop the Non-cooperation movement. This was due to the infamous Chauri-Chaura incident. There was significant violence at this incident. Furthermore, Gandhiji was strictly against any kind of violence.

Q.2 Name any two leaders influenced by Mahatma Gandhi?

A.2 Two leaders influenced by Mahatma Gandhi are Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.

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Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English for Children and Students

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Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English: Mahatma Gandhi was an influential political leader in India who is best known for leading the country’s nonviolent resistance movement against British colonialism. After studying law in England, Gandhi returned to India and became a prominent leader of the Indian National Congress. He advocated for India’s independence from British rule and promoted a philosophy of non-violent resistance. Gandhi was arrested numerous times by the British authorities, but he continued to lead protests and campaigns against British rule. In 1947, India finally achieved independence, and Gandhi played a key role in the country’s transition to democracy. He was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu extremist.

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Below, we have provided simple essays on Mahatma Gandhi , a person who would always live in the heart of the Indian people. Every kid and child of India knows him by the name of Bapu, or Father of the Nation. Using the following Mahatma Gandhi essay, you can help your kids, and school-going children perform better in school during any competition or exam.

Long and Short Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English

Below are short and long essays on Mahatma Gandhi in English for your information and knowledge.

The essays have been written in simple yet effective English so that you can quickly grasp and present the information whenever needed.

After going through these Mahatma Gandhi essays, you will learn about the life and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, what role he played in the freedom struggle, and why is he the most respected leader in the world over; how his birthday is celebrated, etc.

The information given in the essays will be helpful in speech giving, essay writing, or speech-providing competition on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Also Read: Independence Day Speech for Students

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 1 (100 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is famous in India as “Bapu” or “Rastrapita.” His full name of him is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was a great freedom fighter who led India as a leader of nationalism against British rule. He was born on the 2 nd of October in 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat, India.

He died on the 30 th of January in 1948. M.K. Gandhi was assassinated by the Hindu activist Nathuram Godse, who was hanged later as a punishment by the government of India. Rabindranath Tagore has given him another name, “Martyr of the Nation,” since 1948.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 2 (150 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is called Mahatma because of his great works and greatness throughout his life. He was a great freedom fighter and non-violent activist who always followed non-violence throughout his life while leading India to independence from British rule.

He was born on the 2 nd of October 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat, India. He was just 18 years old while studying law in England. Later he went to the British colony of South Africa to practice his law, where he got differentiated from the light skin people because of being a dark skin person. That’s why he decided to become a political activist to make some positive changes in such unfair laws.

Later he returned to India and started a powerful and non-violent movement to make India an independent country. He was the one who led the Salt March (Namak Satyagrah or Salt Satyagrah or Dandi March) in 1930. He inspired many Indians to work against British rule for their independence.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 3 (200 words)

Mahatma Gandhi was an outstanding personality in India who still inspires the people in the country and abroad through his legacy of greatness, idealness, and dignified life. Bapu was born in a Hindu family in Porbandar, Gujarat, India, on the 2 nd of October in 1869. The 2 nd of October was the great day for India when Bapu took birth. He paid an incredible and unforgettable role in the independence of India from British rule. The full name of the Bapu is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He went to England for his law study just after passing his matriculation examination. Later he returned to India as a lawyer in 1890.

After he arrived in India, he started helping Indian people facing various problems from British rule. He started a Satyagraha movement against the British government to help Indians. Other significant movements initiated by the Bapu for the independence of India are the Non-cooperation movement in 1920, the Civil Dis the obedience movement in 1930, and the Quit India movement in 1942. All the movements had shaken the British rule in India and inspired many everyday Indian citizens to fight for freedom.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 4 (250 words)

Bapu, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was born 1869 on the 2 nd of October at Porbander in Gujarat, India. Mahatma Gandhi was a great Indian who led India in the independence movement against British rule. He completed his schooling in India and went to England for further study of law. He returned to India as a lawyer and started practicing law. He started helping the people of India who were humiliated and insulted by British rule.

He started the non-violence independence movement to fight against the injustice of Britishers. He was insulted many times but continued his non-violent struggle for the Independence of India. After his return to India, he joined Indian National Congress as a member. He was the great leader of the Indian independence movement who struggled a lot for the freedom of India. As a member of the Indian National Congress, he started independence movements like Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, and later Quit India Movement, which became successful a day and helped India get freedom.

As a great freedom fighter, he got arrested and sent to jail many times, but he continued fighting against British rule for the justice of Indians. He was a great believer in non-violence and unity of people of all religions, which he followed through his struggle for independence. After many battles with many Indians, he finally became successful in making India an independent country on the 15 th of August in 1947. Later he was assassinated in 1948 on the 30 th of January by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu activist.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 5 (300 words)

Mahatma Gandhi was a great freedom fighter who spent his whole life in a struggle for the independence of India. He was born in an Indian Hindu family on the 2 nd of October in 1869 in Porbander, Gujarat. He lived his whole as a leader of the Indian people. His whole life story is a great inspiration for us. He is called the Bapu or Rashtrapita as he spent his life fighting against British rule for our freedom of us. While fighting with Britishers, he took the help of his great weapons like non-violence and Satyagraha movements to achieve independence. He was arrested and sent to jail many times but never discouraged himself and continued fighting for national freedom.

He is the birth father of our nation who used all his power to make us free from British rule. He understood the power of unity in people (from different castes, religions, communities, races, ages, or gender), which he used throughout his independence movement. Finally, he forced Britishers to quit India forever through his mass movements on the 15 th of August in 1947. Since 1947, India’s 15th of August has been celebrated as Independence Day th of August has been celebrated as Independence Day in India.

He could not continue his life after the independence of India in 1947 as he was assassinated by one of the Hindu activists, Nathuram Godse, in 1948 on the 30 th of January. He was a great personality who served his whole life till death for the motherland. He enlightened our life with the true light of freedom from British rule. He proved that everything is possible with the non-violence and unity of people. Even after dying many years ago, he is still alive in the heart of every Indian as a “Father of the Nation and Bapu.”

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 6 (400 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is well known as the “Father of the Nation or Bapu” because of his most significant contributions toward our country’s independence. He was the one who believed in the non-violence and unity of the people and brought spirituality to Indian politics. He worked hard the remove the untouchability in the Indian society , upliftment of the backward classes in India, raised his voice to develop villages for social development, and inspired Indian people to use swadeshi goods and other social issues. He brought familiar people in front to participate in the national movement and encouraged them to fight for their actual freedom.

He was one of the persons who converted people’s dream of independence into truth day through his noble ideals and supreme sacrifices. He is remembered for his wondrous works and primary virtues such as non-violence, truth, love, and fraternity. He was not born as excellent, but he made himself great through his hard struggles and work. The life of King Harischandra highly influenced him from the play titled Raja Harischandra. After schooling, he completed his law degree in England and began his career as a lawyer. He faced many difficulties in his life but continued walking as a great leader.

He started many mass movements like the Non-cooperation movement in 1920, the civil disobedience movement in 1930, and finally the Quit India Movement in 1942, throughout the way to independence of India. After many struggles and work, the British Government finally granted independence to India. He was a straightforward person who worked to remove the color barrier and caste barrier. He also worked hard to remove the untouchability in the Indian society and named untouchables as “Harijan” means the people of God.

He was a great social reformer and Indian freedom fighter who died a day after completing his aim of life. He inspired Indian people for the manual labour and said that arrange all the resource ownself for living a simple life and becoming self-dependent. He started weaving cotton clothes through the use of Charakha in order to avoid the use of videshi goods and promote the use of Swadeshi goods among Indians.

He was a strong supporter of the agriculture and motivated people to do agriculture works. He was a spiritual man who brought spirituality to the Indian politics. He died in 1948 on 30 th of January and his body was cremated at Raj Ghat, New Delhi. 30 th of January is celebrated every year as the Martyr Day in India in order to pay homage to him.

Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi – Essay 7 (800 Words)

Introduction

Non-violence or ‘ahimsa’ is a practice of not hurting anyone intentionally or unintentionally. It is the practice professed by great saints like Gautam Buddha and Mahaveer. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the pioneer personalities to practice non-violence. He used non-violence as a weapon to fight the armed forces of the British Empire and helped us to get independence without lifting a single weapon.

Role of Non-violence in Indian Freedom Struggle

The role of non-violence in the Indian freedom struggle became prominent after the involvement of Mahatma Gandhi. There were many violent freedom struggles going on concurrently in the country and the importance of these cannot be neglected either. There were many sacrifices made by our freedom fighters battling against the British rule. But non-violence was a protest which was done in a very peaceful manner and was a great way to demand for the complete independence. Mahatma Gandhi used non-violence in every movement against British rule. The most important non-violence movements of Mahatma Gandhi which helped to shake the foundation of the British government are as follows.

Champaran and Kheda Agitations

In 1917 the farmers of Champaran were forced by the Britishers to grow indigo and again sell them at very cheap fixed prices. Mahatma Gandhi organized a non-violent protest against this practice and Britishers were forced to accept the demand of the farmers.

Kheda village was hit by floods in 1918 and created a major famine in the region. The Britishers were not ready to provide any concessions or relief in the taxes. Gandhiji organized a non-cooperation movement and led peaceful protests against the British administration for many months. Ultimately the administration was forced to provide relief in taxes and temporarily suspended the collection of revenue.

Non-cooperation Movement

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the harsh British policies lead to the Non-cooperation movement in 1920. It was the non-violence protest against the British rule. Gandhiji believed that the main reason of the Britishers flourishing in India is the support they are getting from Indians. He pleaded to boycott the use of British products and promoted the use of ‘Swadeshi’ products. Indians denied working for the Britishers and withdrew themselves from the British schools, civil services, government jobs etc. People started resigning from the prominent posts which highly affected the British administration. The Non-Cooperation movement shook the foundation of the British rule and all these without a single use of any weapon. The power of non-violence was more evident in the non-cooperation movement.

Salt Satyagrah or Salt March

Salt March or the ‘Namak Satyagrah’ was the non-violence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi against the salt monopoly of the Britishers. Britishers imposed a heavy taxation on the salt produce which affected the local salt production. Gandhiji started the 26 days non-violence march to Dandi village, Gujarat protesting against the salt monopoly of the British government. The Dandi march was started on 12 th March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram and ended on 06 th April 1930 at Dandi, breaking the salt laws of the British government and starting the local production of salt. The Salt March was a non violent movement which got the international attention and which helped to concrete the foundation of Independent India.

Quit India Movement

After the successful movement of the Salt March, the foundation of British government shook completely. Quit India Movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 th August 1942 which demanded the Britishers to quit India. It was the time of World War II when Britain was already in war with Germany and the Quit India Movement acted as a fuel in the fire. There was a mass non-violent civil disobedience launched across the country and Indians also demanded their separation from World War II. The effect of Quit India Movement was so intense that British government agreed to provide complete independence to India once the war gets over. The Quit India Movement was a final nail in the coffin of the British rule in India.

These movements led by Mahatma Gandhi were completely Non-violent and did not use any weapon. The power of truth and non-violence were the weapons used to fight the British rule. The effect of non-violence was so intense that it gained the immediate attention of the international community towards the Indian independence struggle. It helped to reveal the harsh policies and acts of the British rule to the international audience.

Mahatma Gandhi always believed that weapons are not the only answer for any problem; in fact they created more problems than they solved. It is a tool which spreads hatred, fear and anger. Non-violence is one of the best methods by which we can fight with much powerful enemies, without holding a single weapon. Apart from the independence struggle; there are many incidents of modern times which exhibited the importance of non-violence and how it helped in bringing changes in the society and all that without spilling a single drop of blood. Hope the day is not very far when there will be no violence and every conflict and dispute will be solved through peaceful dialogues without harming anyone and shedding blood and this would be a greatest tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

Long Essay on Mahatma Gandhi – Essay 8 (1100 Words)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ was one of the great sons of Indian soil who rose to become a great soul and gave major contribution in the great Indian freedom struggle against the British rule in India. He was a man of ideologies and a man with great patience and courage. His non-violence movements involved peaceful protests and non-cooperation with the British rule. These movements had a long term effects on the Britishers and it also helped India to grab the eye balls of global leaders and attracted the attention on the international platforms.

Family and Life of Mahatma Gandhi

Birth and Childhood

Mahatma Gandhi was born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 02 nd October, 1869 at Porbandar (which is in the current state of Gujarat). His father Karamchand Gandhi was working as the Chief Minister (diwan) of Porbandar at that time. His mother Putlibai was a very devotional and generous lady. Young Gandhi was a reflection of his mother and inherited high values, ethics and the feeling of sacrifice from her.

Marriage and Education

Mohandas was married to Kasturba Makanji at a very young age of 13. In 1888, they were blessed with a baby boy and after which he sailed to London for higher studies. In 1893, he went to South Africa to continue his practice of law where he faced strong racial discrimination by the Britishers. The major incident which completely changed the young Gandhi was when he was forcibly removed from the first class compartment of a train due to his race and color.

Civil Rights Movement in Africa

After the discrimination and embracement faced by Gandhi due to his race and color, he vowed to fight and challenge the racial discrimination of immigrants in South Africa. He formed Natal Indian Congress in 1894 and started fighting against racial discrimination. He fought for the civil rights of the immigrants in South Africa and spent around 21 years there.

Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Freedom Struggle

Gandhi returned to India in 1915 and joined Indian National Congress and started to raise voice against the British rule in India and demanded the complete independence or ‘Purn Swaraj’ for India. He started many non-violent movements and protests against Britishers and was also imprisoned various times in his long quest of freedom. His campaigns were completely non-violent without the involvement of any force or weapons. His ideology of ‘ahimsa’ meaning not to injure anyone was highly appreciated and was also followed by many great personalities around the globe.

Why was Gandhi called Mahatma?

‘Mahatma’ is a Sanskrit word which means ‘great soul’. It is said that it was Rabindranth Tagore who first used ‘Mahatma’ for Gandhi. It was because of the great thoughts and ideologies of Gandhi which made people honour him by calling ‘Mahatma Gandhi’. The great feeling of sacrifice, love and help he showed throughout his life was a matter of great respect for each citizen of India.

Mahatma Gandhi showed a lifelong compassion towards the people affected with leprosy. He used to nurse the wounds of people with leprosy and take proper care of them. In the times when people used to ignore and discriminate people with leprosy, the humanitarian compassion of Gandhi towards them made him a person with great feelings and a person with great soul justifying himself as Mahatma.

Mahatma Gandhi’s contribution on various social issues could never be ignored. His campaign against untouchability during his imprisonment in the Yerwada Jail where he went on fast against the age old evil of untouchability in the society had highly helped the upliftment of the community in the modern era. Apart from this, he also advocated the importance of education, cleanliness, health and equality in the society. All these qualities made him a man with great soul and justify his journey from Gandhi to Mahatma.

What are Gandhi’s accomplishments?

Mahatma Gandhi was a man with mission who not only fought for the country’s independence but also gave his valuable contribution in uprooting various evils of the society. The accomplishments of Mahatma Gandhi is summarized below:

Fought against Racial Discrimination in South Africa

The racial discrimination in South Africa shocked Mahatma Gandhi and he vowed to fight against it. He challenged the law which denied the voting rights of the people not belonging to the European region. He continued to fight for the civil rights of the immigrants in South Africa and became a prominent face of a civil right activist.

Face of the Indian Freedom Struggle

Mahatma Gandhi was the liberal face of independence struggle. He challenged the British rule in India through his peaceful and non-violent protests. The Champaran Satyagrah, Civil Disobedience Movement, Salt March, Quit India Movement etc are just the few non-violent movements led by him which shook the foundation of the Britishers in India and grabbed the attention of the global audience to the Indian freedom struggle.

Uprooting the Evils of Society

Gandhi Ji also worked on uprooting various social evils in the society which prevailed at that time. He launched many campaigns to provide equal rights to the untouchables and improve their status in the society. He also worked on the women empowerment, education and opposed child marriage which had a long term effect on the Indian society.

What was Gandhi famous for?

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the great personalities of India. He was a man with simplicity and great ideologies. His non-violent way to fight a much powerful enemy without the use of a weapon or shedding a single drop of blood surprised the whole world. His patience, courage and disciplined life made him popular and attracted people from every corners of the world.

He was the man who majorly contributed in the independence of India from the British rule. He devoted his whole life for the country and its people. He was the face of the Indian leadership on international platform. He was the man with ethics, values and discipline which inspires the young generation around the globe even in the modern era.

Gandhi Ji was also famous for his strict discipline. He always professed the importance of self discipline in life. He believed that it helps to achieve bigger goals and the graces of ahimsa could only be achieved through hard discipline.

These qualities of the great leader made him famous not only in India but also across the world and inspired global personalities like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

Mahatma Gandhi helped India to fulfill her dream of achieving ‘Purna Swaraj’ or complete independence and gave the country a global recognition. Though he left this world on 30 th January, 1948, but his ideologies and thoughts still prevail in the minds of his followers and act as a guiding light to lead their lives. He proved that everything is possible in the world if you have a strong will, courage and determination.

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FAQs on Mahatma Gandhi

Who is Mahatma Gandhi?

Mahatma Gandhi was an influential political leader in India who is best known for leading the country's non-violent resistance movement against British colonialism.

Write Mahatma Gandhi essay in english?

Mahatma Gandhi was a man with mission who not only fought for the country’s independence but also gave his valuable contribution in uprooting various evils of the society.

When is Gandhi Jayanti?

The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti. It is on 2nd October.

Who was Kasturba?

Kasturba was Gandhi's wife. He was married to Kasturba at a very young age of 13.

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ARTICLES : Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

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Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution : Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence

Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

Nonviolence and Multilateral Diplomacy
Ahimsa: Its Theory and Practice in Gandhism
Non-violent Resistance and Satyagraha as Alternatives to War - The Nazi Case
Thanatos, Terror and Tolerance: An Analysis of Terror Management Theory and a Possible Contribution by Gandhi
Yoga as a Tool in Peace Education
Forgiveness and Conflict Resolution

Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence

Global Nonviolence Network
Violence And Its Dimensions
Youth, Nonviolence And Gandhi
Nonviolent Action: Some Dilemmas
The Meaning of Nonviolence
India And The Anglo-Boer War
Gandhi's Vision of Peace
Gandhi's Greatest Weapon
Conflict Resolution: The Gandhian Approach
Kingian Nonviolence : A Practical Application in Policing
Pilgrimage To Nonviolence
Peace Paradigms: Five Approaches To Peace
Interpersonal Conflict
Moral Equivalent of War As A Conflict Resolution
Conflict, Violence And Education
The Emerging Role of NGOs in Conflict Resolution
Role of Academics in Conflict Resolution
The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Resolution
Martin Luther King's Nonviolent Struggle And Its Relevance To Asia
Terrorism: Counter Violence is Not the Answer
Gandhi's Vision and Technique of Conflict Resolution
Three Case Studies of Nonviolence
How Nonviolence Works
The Courage of Nonviolence
Conflict Resolution and Peace Possibilities in the Gandhian Perspective
An Approach To Conflict Resolution
Non-violence: Neither A Beginning Nor An End
Peacemaking According To Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.
The Truth About Truth Force
The Development of A Culture of Peace Through Elementary Schools in Canada
Gandhi, Christianity And Ahimsa
Issues In Culture of Peace And Non-violence
Solution of Violence Through Love
Developing A Culture of Peace And Non-Violence Through Education
Nonviolence And Western Sociological And Political Thought
Gandhi After 9/11: Terrorism, Violence And The Other
Conflict Resolution & Peace: A Gandhian Perspective
A Gandhian Approach To International Security
Address To the Nation: Mahatma Gandhi Writes on 26 January 2009
Truth & Non-violence: Gandhiji's Tenets for Passive Resistance
The Experiments of Gandhi: Nonviolence in the Nuclear Age
Terrorism And Gandhian Non-violence
Reborn in Riyadh
Satyagraha As A Peaceful Method of Conflict Resolution
Non-violence : A Force for Radical Change
Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and Beyond
Gandhian Approach to Peace and Non-violence
Locating Education for Peace in Gandhian Thought

Extrernal Links

Gandhi, The Jews And Palestine A Collection of Articles, Speeches, Letters and Interviews Compiled by: E. S. Reddy

With Gandhi, the notion of nonviolence attained a special status. He not only theorized on it, he adopted nonviolence as a philosophy and an ideal way of life. He made us understand that the philosophy of nonviolence is not a weapon of the weak; it is a weapon, which can be tried by all.

Nonviolence was not Gandhi's invention. He is however called the father of nonviolence because according to Mark Shepard, "He raised nonviolent action to a level never before achieved." 1 Krishna Kripalani again asserts "Gandhi was the first in Human history to extend the principle of nonviolence from the individual to social and political plane." 2 While scholars were talking about an idea without a name or a movement, Gandhi is the person who came up with the name and brought together different related ideas under one concept: Satyagraha. Gandhi's View of Violence / Nonviolence Gandhi saw violence pejoratively and also identified two formsof violence; Passive and Physical, as we saw earlier. The practice of passive violence is a daily affair, consciously and unconsciously. It is again the fuel that ignites the fire of physical violence. Gandhi understands violence from its Sanskrit root, "himsa", meaning injury. In the midst of hyper violence, Gandhi teaches that the one who possess nonviolence is blessed. Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (nonviolence) in the midst of the raging fire of himsa all around him. We bow in reverence to such a man by his example. The more adverse the circumstances around him, the intenser grows his longing for deliverance from the bondage of flesh which is a vehicle of himsa... 3 Gandhi objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred. When it appears to do 'good', the good is only temporary and cannot do any good in the long run. A true nonviolence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another. This is heroism, and will be discussed in another section. When Gandhi says that in the course of fighting for human rights, one should accept violence and self-suffering, he does not applaud cowardice. Cowardice for him is "the greatest violence, certainly, far greater than bloodshed and the like that generally go under the name of violence." 4 For Gandhi, perpetrators of violence (whom he referred to as criminals), are products of social disintegration. Gandhi feels that violence is not a natural tendency of humans. It is a learned experience. There is need for a perfect weapon to combat violence and this is nonviolence.Gandhi understood nonviolence from its Sanskrit root "Ahimsa". Ahimsa is just translated to mean nonviolence in English, but it implies more than just avoidance of physical violence. Ahimsa implies total nonviolence, no physical violence, and no passive violence. Gandhi translates Ahimsa as love. This is explained by Arun Gandhi in an interview thus; "He (Gandhi) said ahimsa means love. Because if you have love towards somebody, and you respect that person, then you are not going to do any harm to that person." 5 For Gandhi, nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It is a living force of power and no one has been or will ever be able to measure its limits or it's extend.Gandhi's nonviolence is the search for truth. Truth is the most fundamental aspect in Gandhi's Philosophy of nonviolence. His whole life has been "experiments of truth". It was in this course of his pursuit of truth that Gandhi discovered nonviolence, which he further explained in his Autobiography thus "Ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing that this search is vain, unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis." 6 Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills.For nonviolence to be strong and effective, it must begin with the mind, without which it will be nonviolence of the weak and cowardly. A coward is a person who lacks courage when facing a dangerous and unpleasant situation and tries to avoid it. A man cannot practice ahimsa and at the same time be a coward. True nonviolence is dissociated from fear. Gandhi feels that possession of arms is not only cowardice but also lack of fearlessness or courage. Gandhi stressed this when he says; "I can imagine a fully armed man to be at heart a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true nonviolence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness." 7 In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission. There is hope that a violent man may someday be nonviolent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness. As the world's pioneer in nonviolent theory and practice, Gandhi unequivocally stated that nonviolence contained a universal applicability. In his letter to Daniel Oliver in Hammana Lebanon on the 11th of 1937 Gandhi used these words: " I have no message to give except this that there is no deliverance for any people on this earth or for all the people of this earth except through truth and nonviolence in every walk of life without any exceptions." 8 In this passage, Gandhi promises "deliverance" through nonviolence for oppressed peoples without exception. Speaking primarily with regards to nonviolence as a libratory philosophy in this passage, Gandhi emphasizes the power of nonviolence to emancipate spiritually and physically. It is a science and of its own can lead one to pure democracy. Satyagraha, the Centre of Gandhi's Contribution to the Philosophy of Nonviolence It will be good here to examine what Stanley E. Jones calls "the centre of Gandhi's contribution to the world". All else is marginal compared to it. Satyagraha is the quintessence of Gandhism. Through it, Gandhi introduced a new spirit to the world. It is the greatest of all Gandhi's contribution to the world. What is Satyagraha? Satyagraha (pronounced sat-YAH-graha) is a compound of two Sanskrit nouns satya, meaning truth (from 'sat'- 'being' with a suffix 'ya'), and agraha, meaning, "firm grasping" (a noun made from the agra, which has its root 'grah'- 'seize', 'grasp', with the verbal prefix 'a' – 'to' 'towards). Thus Satyagraha literally means devotion to truth, remaining firm on the truth and resisting untruth actively but nonviolently. Since the only way for Gandhi getting to the truth is by nonviolence (love), it follows that Satyagraha implies an unwavering search for the truth using nonviolence. Satyagraha according to Michael Nagler literally means 'clinging to truth,' and that was exactly how Gandhi understood it: "clinging to the truth that we are all one under the skin, that there is no such thing as a 'win/lose' confrontation because all our important interests are really the same, that consciously or not every single person wants unity and peace with every other" 9 Put succinctly, Satyagraha means 'truth force' , 'soul force' or as Martin Luther Jr would call it 'love in action.' Satyagraha has often been defined as the philosophy of nonviolent resistance most famously employed by Mahatma Gandhi, in forcing an end to the British domination. Gene Sharp did not hesitate to define Satyagraha simply as "Gandhian Nonviolence." 10 Today as Nagler would say, when we use the word Satyagraha we sometimes mean that general principle, the fact that love is stronger than hate (and we can learn to use it to overcome hate), and sometimes we mean more specifically active resistance by a repressed group; sometimes, even more specifically, we apply the term to a given movement like Salt Satyagraha etc. It is worthwhile looking at the way Gandhi uses Satyagraha. Gandhi View of Satyagraha Satyagraha was not a preconceived plan for Gandhi. Event in his life culminating in his "Bramacharya vow", 11 prepared him for it. He therefore underlined: Events were so shaping themselves in Johannesburg as to make this self-purification on my part a preliminary as it were to Satyagraha. I can now see that all the principal events of my life, culminating in the vow of Bramacharya were secretly preparing me for it. 12 Satyagraha is a moral weapon and the stress is on soul force over physical force. It aims at winning the enemy through love and patient suffering. It aims at winning over an unjust law, not at crushing, punishing, or taking revenge against the authority, but to convert and heal it. Though it started as a struggle for political rights, Satyagraha became in the long run a struggle for individual salvation, which could be achieved through love and self-sacrifice. Satyagraha is meant to overcome all methods of violence. Gandhi explained in a letter to Lord Hunter that Satyagraha is a movement based entirely upon truth. It replaces every form of violence, direct and indirect, veiled and unveiled and whether in thought, word or deed. Satyagraha is for the strong in spirit. A doubter or a timid person cannot do it. Satyagraha teaches the art of living well as well as dying. It is love and unshakeable firmness that comes from it. Its training is meant for all, irrespective of age and sex. The most important training is mental not physical. It has some basic precepts treated below. The Basic Precepts of Satyagraha There are three basic precepts essential to Satyagraha: Truth, Nonviolence and self-suffering. These are called the pillars of Satyagraha. Failure to grasp them is a handicap to the understanding of Gandhi's non –violence. These three fundamentals correspond to Sanskrit terms: Sat/Satya – Truth implying openness, honesty and fairness Ahimsa/Nonviolence – refusal to inflict injury upon others. Tapasya – willingness to self-sacrifice. These fundamental concepts are elaborated below. 1.Satya/Truth: Satyagraha as stated before literally means truth force. Truth is relative. Man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth. Satyagraha implies working steadily towards a discovery of the absolute truth and converting the opponent into a trend in the working process. What a person sees as truth may just as clearly be untrue for another. Gandhi made his life a numerous experiments with truth. In holding to the truth, he claims to be making a ceaseless effort to find it. Gandhi's conception of truth is deeply rooted in Hinduism. The emphasis of Satya-truth is paramount in the writings of the Indian philosophers. "Satyannasti Parodharmati (Satyan Nasti Paro Dharma Ti) – there is no religion or duty greater than truth", holds a prominent place in Hinduism. Reaching pure and absolute truth is attaining moksha. Gandhi holds that truth is God, and maintains that it is an integral part of Satyagraha. He explains it thus: The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth; asatya meaning untruth also means "nonexistent" and satya or truth, means that which is of untruth does not so much exist. Its victory is out of the question. And truth being "that which is" can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha in a nutshell. 13 2.Ahimsa: In Gandhi's Satyagraha, truth is inseparable from Ahimsa. Ahimsa expresses as ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist ethical precept. The negative prefix 'a' plus himsa meaning injury make up the world normally translated 'nonviolence'. The term Ahimsa appears in Hindu teachings as early as the Chandoya Upanishad. The Jain Religion constitutes Ahimsa as the first vow. It is a cardinal virtue in Buddhism. Despite its being rooted in these Religions, the special contribution of Gandhi was: To make the concept of Ahimsa meaningful in the social and political spheres by moulding tools for nonviolent action to use as a positive force in the search for social and political truths. Gandhi formed Ahimsa into the active social technique, which was to challenge political authorities and religious orthodoxy. 14 It is worth noting that this 'active social technique which was to challenge political authorities', used by Gandhi is none other than Satyagraha. Truly enough, the Indian milieu was already infused with notions of Ahimsa. Nevertheless, Gandhi acknowledged that it was an essential part of his experiments with the truth whose technique of action he called Satyagraha. At the root of Satya and Ahimsa is love. While making discourses on the Bhagavad-Gita, an author says: Truth, peace, righteousness and nonviolence, Satya, Shanti, Dharma and Ahimsa, do not exist separately. They are all essentially dependent on love. When love enters the thoughts it becomes truth. When it manifests itself in the form of action it becomes truth. When Love manifests itself in the form of action it becomes Dharma or righteousness. When your feelings become saturated with love you become peace itself. The very meaning of the word peace is love. When you fill your understanding with love it is Ahimsa. Practicing love is Dharma, thinking of love is Satya, feeling love is Shanti, and understanding love is Ahimsa. For all these values it is love which flows as the undercurrent. 15 3.;Tapasya (Self-Suffering); it remains a truism that the classical yogic laws of self-restraint and self-discipline are familiar elements in Indian culture. Self-suffering in Satyagraha is a test of love. It is detected first of all towards the much persuasion of one whom is undertaken. Gandhi distinguished self-suffering from cowardice. Gandhi's choice of self-suffering does not mean that he valued life low. It is rather a sign of voluntary help and it is noble and morally enriching. He himself says; It is not because I value life lo I can countenance with joy Thousands voluntary losing their lives for Satyagraha, but because I know that it results in the long run in the least loss of life, and what is more, it ennobles those who lose their lives and morally enriches the world for their sacrifice. 16 Satyagraha is at its best when preached and practiced by those who would use arms but decided instead to invite suffering upon them. It is not easy for a western mind or nonoriental philosopher to understand this issue of self-suffering. In fact, in Satyagraha, the element of self-suffering is perhaps the least acceptable to a western mind. Yet such sacrifice may well provide the ultimate means of realizing that characteristic so eminent in Christian religion and western moral philosophy: The dignity of the individual. The three elements: Satya, Ahimsa, Tapasya must move together for the success of any Satyagraha campaign. It follows that Ahimsa – which implies love, leads in turn to social service. Truth leads to an ethical humanism. Self-suffering not for its own sake, but for the demonstration of sincerity flowing from refusal to injure the opponent while at the same time holding to the truth, implies sacrifice and preparation for sacrifice even to death. Satyagraha in Action For Satyagraha to be valid, it has to be tested. When the principles are applied to specific political and social action, the tools of civil disobedience, noncooperation, nonviolent strike, and constructive action are cherished. South Africa and India were 'laboratories' where Gandhi tested his new technique. Satyagraha was a necessary weapon for Gandhi to work in South Africa and India. Louis Fischer attests that: "Gandhi could never have achieved what he did in South Africa and India but for a weapon peculiarly his own. It was unprecedented indeed; it was so unique he could not find a name for it until he finally hit upon Satyagraha." 17 South Africa is the acclaimed birthplace of Satyagraha. Here Satyagraha was employed to fight for the civil rights of Indians in South Africa. In India, Gandhi applied Satyagraha in his socio-political milieu and carried out several acts of civil disobedience culminating in the Salt March. Another wonderful way of seeing Satyagraha in action is through the fasting of Mahatma Gandhi. Fasting was part and parcel of his philosophy of truth and nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi was an activist – a moral and spiritual activist. And fasting was "one of his strategies of activism, in many ways his most powerful." 18 Qualities of a Satyagrahi (Nonviolence Activist) Gandhi was quite aware that there was need to train people who could carry on with his Satyagraha campaigns. He trained them in his "Satyagraha Ashrams". Here are some of the basic qualities of expected of a Satyagrahi. A Satyagraha should have a living faith in God for he is his only Rock. One must believe in truth and nonviolence as one's creed and therefore have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature. One must live a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of one's cause to give up his life and his possessions. One must be free from the use any intoxicant, in order that his reason may be undivided and his mind constant. One must carry out with a willing heart all the rules of discipline as may be laid down from time to time. One should carry out the jail rules unless they are especially dense to hurt his self-respect. A satyagrahi must accept to suffer in order to correct a situation. In a nutshell, Satyagraha is itself a movement intended to fight social and promote ethical values. It is a whole philosophy of nonviolence. It is undertaken only after all the other peaceful means have proven ineffective. At its heart is nonviolence. An attempt is made to convert, persuade or win over the opponent. It involves applying the forces of both reason and conscience simultaneously, while holding aloft the indisputable truth of his/her position. The Satyagrahi also engages in acts of voluntary suffering. Any violence inflicted by the opponent is accepted without retaliation. The opponent can only become morally bankrupt if violence continues to be inflicted indefinitely. Several methods can be applied in a Satyagraha campaign. Stephen Murphy gives primacy to "noncooperation and fasting". Bertrand Russell has this to say about Gandhi's method: The essence of this method which he (Gandhi) gradually brought to greater and greater perfection consisted in refusal to do things, which the authorities wished to have done, while abstaining from any positive action of an aggressive sort.... The method always had in Gandhi's mind a religious aspect... As a rule, this method depended upon moral force for its success. 19 Murphy and Russell do not accept Gandhi's doctrine totally. Michael Nagler insists that they ignore Constructive Programme, which Gandhi considered paramount. A better understanding of Gandhi's nonviolence will be seen in the next chapter.

M. SHEPARD, Mahatma Gandhi and his Myths, Civil Disobedience, Nonviolence and Satyagraha in the Real World, Los Angeles,
Shepard Publications, 2002, http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/books/myths.html
M. K. GANDHI, All Men Are Brothers, Autobiographical Reflections, Krishna Kripalani (ed.), New York; The Continuum Publishing Company, 1990, vii.
M. K. GANDHI, Young India, 22-11-1928, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. xxxviii, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 1970, 69.
M. K. GANDHI, Young India, 20-12-1928, in ibidem, 247.
The New Zion’s Herald, July/August 2001, vol. 175, issue 4, 17.
M. K. GANDHI, An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments With truth, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 2003, 254.
NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE, Selections from Gandhi, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 1948,154.
Mahatma Gandhi, Judith M. Brown, The Essential Writings, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008, 20. Also in Pyarelal Papers, EWMG, 60.
Michael N. Nagler, Hope or Terror? Minneapolis, METTA Center for Nonviolence Education, 2009, p. 7.
T. WEBER and R. J. Burrowes, Nonviolence, An Introduction, http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia
Bramacharya Simply means Celibacy, Chastity.
M. K. GANDHI, An Autobiography, 292.
S. E. JONES, Gandhi, Portrayal of a Friend, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1948, 82.
J. V. BONDURANT, Conquest of Violence, The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict. Los Angeles; University of California Press, 1965, 112.
BHAGAVAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA, Discourses on the Bhagavad-Gita, Andhra Pradesh; Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, 1988, 51-52.
M. K. GANDHI, Nonviolence in Peace and War,(2nd ed.) Ahmedadad, Navijivan Trust, 1944, 49.
L. FISCHER. Gandhi; His life and Message For the World, New York Mentor Books, 1954, 35.
S. E. JONES, Gandhi, Portrayal of a Friend, 108.
B. RUSSELL, Mahatma Gandhi, Boston, Atlantic Monthly, December 1952, 23.

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Essay on Mahatma Gandhi [100, 150, 200, 300, 500 Words]

Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English: In this article, you are going to read short and long essays on Mahatma Gandhi in English (100, 150, 200-250, 300, and 500 words). This article will be also helpful for you If you are looking for a speech on Mahatma Gandhi or Paragraph on Mahatma Gandhi in English. We’ve written this article for students of all classes (nursery to class 12). So, let’s get started.

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Short Essay on Mahatma Gandhi 100 Words

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest leaders of our country. He was born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869. His father Karamchand Gandhi was the Dewan and his mother Putlibai was a pious lady. Gandhiji went to England to become a barrister. In 1893 he went to South Africa and worked for the rights of our people.

He returned to India in 1915 and joined the freedom struggle. He started many political movements like Non-cooperation movement, Salt Satyagraha, Quit India Movement to fight against the British. Gandhiji worked for the ending of the caste system and the establishment of Hindu-Muslim unity. He was killed by Nathuram Godse On January 30, 1948.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay in English 150 Words

Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader. His full name was Mohandas and Gandhi. He was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar. His father was a Diwan. He was an average student. He went to England and returned as a barrister.

In South Africa, Gandhiji saw the bad condition of the Indians. There he raised his voice against it and organised a movement.

In India, he started the non-cooperation and Satyagraha movements to fight against the British Government. He went to jail many times. He wanted Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1947, he got freedom for us.

Gandhiji was a great social reformer. He worked for Dalits and lower-class people. He lived a very simple life. He wanted peace. He believed in Ahimsa.

On January 30, 1948, he was shot dead. We call him ‘Bapu’ out of love and respect. He is the Father of the Nation.

Essay on Mahatma Gandhi 200-250 Words

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, freedom activist, and politician. Gandhiji was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar, Gujarat. His father Karamchand Gandhi was the Chief Minister (diwan) of Porbandar state. His mother Putlibai was a religious woman.

He went to England to study law at the age of 18 years. After his return to India, he started a practice as a lawyer in the Bombay High Court. He went to South Africa and started practicing law. There he protested against the injustice and harsh treatment of the white people towards the native Africans and Indians.

He returned to India in 1915 and started to take interest in politics. Mahatma Gandhi used the ideals of truth and non-violence as weapons to fight against British colonial rule. He worked for the upliftment of Harijans. He fought against untouchability and worked for Hindu-Muslim unity.

Through his freedom movements like Non-cooperation movement, Khilafat movement, and civil disobedience movement he fought for freedom against the British imperialists. 1942, he launched the Quit India movement to end the British rule. At last, India got freedom in 1947 at his initiative.

People affectionately call him ‘Bapu’ and the ‘Father of the Nation’. He was shot dead in 1948 by the Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse. Gandhiji’s life is a true inspiration for all of us.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay in English 300 Words

Mahatma Gandhi was born at Porbandar in Gujarat on 2nd October, 1869. His father was the Diwan of the State. His name was Karam Chand Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi’s full name was Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi. His mother’s name was Putali Bai. Mahatma Gandhi went to school first at Porbandar then at Rajkot. Even as a child, Mahatma never told a lie. He passed his Matric examination at the age of 18.

Mohan Das was married to Kasturba at the age of thirteen. Mahatma Gandhi was sent to England to study law and became a Barrister. He lived a very simple life even in England. After getting his law degree, he returned to India.

Mr. Gandhi started his law practice. He went to South Africa in the course of a law suit. He saw the condition of the Indians living there. They were treated very badly by the white men. They were not allowed to travel in 1st class on the trains, also not allowed to enter certain localities, clubs, and so on. Once when Gandhiji was travelling in the 1st class compartment of the train, he was beaten and thrown out of the train. Then Mahatma decided to unite all Indians and started the Non-violence and Satyagrah Movement. In no time, the Movement picked up.

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India and joined Indian National Congress. He started the Non-violence, Non-cooperation Movements here also. He travelled all over India, especially the rural India to see the conditions of the poor.

Mahatma Gandhi started Satyagrah Movement to oppose the Rowlatt Act and there was the shoot-out at Jalian-Wala-Bagh. The Act was drawn after many people were killed. He then started the Salt Satyagraha and Quit India Movements. And finally, Gandhiji won freedom for us. India became free on 15th August, 1947. He is called as “Father of the Nation”. Unfortunately, Gandhiji was shot on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse.

Also Read: Gandhi Jayanti Speech 10 Lines

Mahatma Gandhi Essay in English 500 Words

Introduction:.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi was a politician, social activist, writer, and leader of the Indian national movement. He is a figure known all over the world. His name is a household word in India, rather, in all the world round. His creed of non-violence has placed him on the same par with Buddha, Sri Chaitanya, and Jesus Christ.

Family & Education:

Mahatma Gandhi was born in the small town of Porbandar in the Kathiwad state on October 2, 1869. His father Karamchand Gandhi was the prime minister of Rajkot State and his mother Putlibai was a pious lady. Her influence shaped the future life of Mahatma Gandhi.

He was sent to school at a very early age, but he was not a very bright student. After his Matriculation Examination, he went to England to study law and returned home as a barrister. He began to practice law in Bombay but he was not very successful.

Life in South Africa:

In 1893 Gandhiji went to South Africa in connection with a case. He found his own countrymen treated with contempt by the whites. Gandhiji started satyagraha against this color hated. It was a non-violent protest, yet hundreds were beaten up and thousands were sent to jail. But Gandhiji did not buzz an inch from his faith in truth and non-violence and at last, he succeeded in his mission. He was awarded the title of Mahatma.

Fight for India’s Independence:

In 1915 Gandhiji came back to India after twenty long years in South Africa. He joined the Indian National congress and championed the cause of India’s freedom movement. He asked people to unite for the cause of freedom. He used the weapons of truth and non-violence to fight against the mighty British.

The horrible massacre at Jalianwalabag in Punjab touched him and he resolved to face the brute force of the British Government with moral force. In 1920 he launched the Non-cooperation movement to oppose British rule in India.

He led the famous Dandi March on 12th March 1930. This march was meant to break the salt law. And as a result of this, the British rule in India had already started shaking and he had to go to London for a Round Table Conference in 1931. But this Conference proved abortive and the country was about to give a death blow to the foreign rule.

In 1942 Gandhiji launched his final bout for freedom. He started the ‘Quit India’ movement. At last, the British Government had to quit India in 1947, and India was declared a free country on August 15, 1947.

Social Works:

Mahatma Gandhi was a social activist who fought against the evils of society. He found the Satyagraha Ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Gujarat. He preached against untouchability and worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. He fought tirelessly for the rights of Harijans.

Conclusion:

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation was a generous, god-loving, and peace-loving person. But unfortunately, he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on 30th January 1948 at the age of 78. To commemorate Gandhiji’s birth anniversary Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated every year on October 2. Gandhiji’s teachings and ideologies will continue to enlighten and encourage us in the future.

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Essay on mahatma gandhi: biography of mahatma gandhi | 800+ words.

Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, is widely regarded as the Father of the Nation in India. He was a freedom fighter, political leader, and spiritual teacher who dedicated his life to nonviolent resistance and social justice. In this essay on Mahatma Gandhi biography in English, we will explore his life, legacy, and achievements. From his humble beginnings in Porbandar, Gujarat, to his leadership in India's independence movement, Gandhi's teachings and philosophy have had a profound impact on social and political movements around the world. This essay will delve into his life's work and highlight the enduring legacy of this remarkable individual.

In this article, we have shared 800+ words essay on mahatama gandhi, including all the birth, childhood, marriage and education of Mahatma Gandhi.

Essay On Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is also known as Mahatma Gandhi is considered to be the father of this country. In the fight for independence against British rule, he was the leader of the nationalist movement. He was an Indian lawyer, political ethicist, anti-colonial nationalist, writer, and a kind-hearted person.

Birth and Childhood

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, the year 1869 in a place named Porbandar, Gujrat in northwest India. He was born in a Hindu Modh family. His father Karamchand Gandhi was a political figure and also the chief minister of Porbandar. His mother named Putlibai Gandhi was the fourth wife of his father, previous wives died during childbirth. Gandhi was born in a vaishya family that's why from an early age of life he learned a lot of things such as non-injury to living beings, tolerance and vegetarianism.

In May 1883, he was 13 years old when he got married to a girl named Kasturba Makhanji, who was also 13 years old, this marriage was arranged by their parents. They together had four sons, Harilal (1888), Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), Devdas (1900).

In this essay on Mahatma Gandhi, let's know about Mahatma Gandhi's education Porbandar did not have enough chance of education, all the children in school used to write in dust with their fingers. However, he was lucky that his father became the chief minister of another city named Rajkot. He was average in education. At the age of 13, he lost a year at school due to marriage. He was not a shining student in the classroom or playground, but he always obeyed the given order by elders.

That's why like other kids he did not go through all the teenage life. He wanted to eat meat but never did because of their parent's beliefs. In the year of 1887, Gandhi passed the matriculation examination from the University of Bombay and joined a college in Bhavnagar named Samaldas College. It was clear for him by then that if he has to maintain his family tradition and become a high office working person in the state of Gujarat, he would have to become a barrister.

At the age of 18, he was offered to continue his studies in London and he was not very happy at Samaldas College so he accepted the offer and sailed to London in September 1888. After reaching London, He was having difficulty understanding the culture and understanding the English language. Some days after arrival he joined a Law college named Inner Temple which was one of the four London law colleges.

The transformation of changing life from a city to India studying in a college in England was not easy for him but he took his study very seriously and started to brush up his English and Latin. His vegetarianism became a very problematic subject for him as everyone around him as eating meat and he started to feel embarrassed.

Some of his new friends in London said some of the things like not eating meat will make him weak physically and mentally. But eventually, he found a vegetarian restaurant and a book that helped him understand the reason to become a vegetarian. From childhood, he wanted to eat meat himself but never did because of his parents but now in London, he was convinced that he finally embraced vegetarianism and never again thought of eating meat.

After some time he became an active member of the society called London vegetarian society and started to attend all the conferences and journals. In England not only Gandhi met Food faddists but also met some men and women who had vast knowledge about Bhagavad-Gita, Bible, Mahabharata, etc. From them, he learned a lot about Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and many others.

Many people he met were rebels not supporting the Victorian establishment from these people Gandhi slowly absorbed politics, personality, and more importantly ideas. He passed his study from England and became a Barrister but there was some painful news was waiting for him back at home in India. In January 1891 Gandhi's mother died while Gandhi was still in London.

He came back to India in July 1891 and started to begin the legal career but he lost his very first case in India. He soon realized that the legal profession was heavily overcrowded and he changed his path. He then was offered to be a teacher in Bombay high school but he turned it down and returned to Rajkot. With the dream of living a good life, he started to draft petitions for litigants which soon ended with the dissatisfaction of a local British officer.

Fortunately in the year 1893, he got an offer to go to Natal, South Africa and work there in an Indian firm for 1 year as it was a contract basis.

Civil Right Movement in Africa

South Africa was waiting with a lot of challenges and opportunities for him. From there he started to grow a new leaf. In South Africa 2 of his four sons were born. He had to face many difficulties there too. Once he as advocating for his client and he had to flee from the court because he was so nervous, he wasn't able to talk properly. But the bigger problem was waiting for him, as he had to face racial discrimination in South Africa.

In the journey from Durban to Pretoria, he faced a lot from, being asked to take off the turban in a court to travel on a car footboard to make room for European passenger but he refused. He was beaten by a taxi driver and thrown out of a first-class compartment but these instances made him strong and gave him the strength to fight for justice.

He started to educate others about their rights and duties. When he learned about a bill to deprive Indians of the right to vote, it was that time when others begged him to take up the fight on behalf of them. Eventually at the age of 25 in July 1894 he became a proficient political campaigner.

He drafted petitions and got them signed by hundreds of compatriots. He was not able to stop the bill but succeeded in drawing the attention of the public in Natal, England, and India. He then built many societies in Durban. He planted the seed, spirit of solidarity in the Indian community.

Very well known newspapers of that time such as The Times of London and The Statesman and Englishman of Calcutta were writing about him from this his success could be measured. He began to wear white Indian dhoti in this time-period which later became his trademark. He started a non-violent protest against tax also known as "Satyagraha" where he led a march with more than 2000 people and later he was arrested and for nine-month he was in prison.

His contribution to India's Freedom struggle and Achievements

Back in India, in the year of 1919, the British started to arrest and imprison anyone they suspect of sedition that's when Gandhi stood up and started non-violent disobedience. Gandhi's goal about Indian's independence got cleared after a tragic incident when more than 20000 protesters were getting open fired by the British army in the city of Amritsar.

400 people were killed and 1000 injured. He started the mass boycotts of British goods and institutions and told everyone to stop working for the British. In 1992 he was again got arrested and got a 6-year prison sentence. In 1930 he started the salt march and a very well known campaign of walking 390km to the Arabian Sea shores.

The salt act protesters around 60,000 including Gandhi were imprisoned. At the time of World War II, Gandhi started his campaign if Quit India to banish British rule from the country, he was again arrested and sent to prison with many other well-known leaders of Indian Congress. He met King George V on behalf of the Indian National Congress, but there was not that much progress.

After the End of the war, Britain's government was changed and this time progress was made they were willing to discuss independence for India but a tragic event followed by it partition of the country into India and Pakistan. In 1947 India gained independence. In the year of 1948, a Hindu extremist killed Gandhi. In this essay on Mahatma Gandhi, learn about the contributions made by Mahatma Gandhi!

What he was famous for?

He was known for his silent protest, disobedience campaign in India, Satyagraha, and passive resistance. His death made India mourn for 13 days, His birthday 2nd October is celebrated as a national holiday in India.

Why he was called Mahatma?

The title Mahatma means "great- soul". It is a title that was given to him by Rabindranath Tagore but he thinks he is not worthy of this title so he never accepted it.

Books dedicated to him or written by him

He was a writer from an early age, he liked writing books and there are many books written by him. Some of the most famous of them is Autobiography of Gandhi, The Essential Gandhi, Hind Swaraj and other writings, the words of Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, and many more.

Many writers have written about Mahatma Gandhi some of them are Great Soul by Joseph Lelyveld, Gandhi Before India by Ramachandra Guha, The Good Boatman by Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi: Prisoner of hope by Judith M. Brown, etc.

While writing an essay on mahatma gandhi you can include books dedicated to him or his autobiographies.

Mahatma Gandhi Struggled very much from his early life but regardless of all the suffering, he made his way. And he is a very important part of our history of independence. We hope we have covered all the detail in this essay on Mahatma Gandhi for you to write a perfect essay!

Short Essay On Mahatma Gandhi Biography In English

Mahatma Gandhi, also known as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was a prominent Indian leader who played a pivotal role in India's struggle for independence. This essay on Mahatma Gandhi biography in English will explore his life, legacy, and achievements.

Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat. After studying law in London, he moved to South Africa, where he fought against discrimination faced by the Indian community. His experiences in South Africa would later shape his philosophy of nonviolent resistance or Satyagraha.

Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi became a prominent leader in India's independence movement. He advocated for nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against British colonial rule. His leadership and vision played a crucial role in India's eventual independence in 1947.

Gandhi's teachings have had a profound impact on social and political movements around the world. His message of nonviolent resistance has inspired many leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. He was a spiritual leader who believed in the power of love and compassion to bring about social change.

In addition to his political achievements, Gandhi was also an advocate for social justice and equality. He fought against caste discrimination, championed the rights of women, and promoted communal harmony.

In conclusion, Mahatma Gandhi was a remarkable individual whose life and teachings continue to inspire people around the world. His philosophy of nonviolent resistance, his leadership in India's independence movement, and his advocacy for social justice and equality make him a true hero of our time. This essay on Mahatma Gandhi biography in English is a testament to his enduring legacy.

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Gandhi’s Vision: The Goals Behind Non-Violence and Truthful Resistance

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Have you ever wondered how monumental change can be achieved without resorting to violence or aggression? This is precisely what Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha (truthful resistance) offer as a blueprint for social and political reform. The effectiveness of these principles not only played a pivotal role in India’s struggle for independence but also inspired civil rights movement s across the world. Let’s delve into the heart of Gandhi’s vision and uncover the profound goals behind his pacifist methodologies.

Ahimsa: The bedrock of Gandhi’s philosophy

Gandhi’s concept of Ahimsa goes beyond mere passive non-violence; it is an active force of the highest order. It is about harboring no ill will towards anyone and requires tremendous courage. Ahimsa is the embodiment of love and compassion, aiming to transform an opponent through understanding and patience.

Awakening the inherent goodness: Gandhi believed that every individual possesses an innate goodness that can be awakened through non-violent means.
Fostering love and respect: By refusing to retaliate with violence, one fosters an atmosphere of love and respect, which can lead to reconciliation and harmony.

Satyagraha: The force of truth and firmness

Satyagraha is often translated as “truth force” or “soul force”. For Gandhi, this was the powerful weapon of the morally right to combat injustice and oppression without resorting to violence. It is a methodical approach to assert one’s will and rights through non-violent resistance and civil disobedience .

Resisting injustice: Satyagraha empowers individuals to stand firm against injustice, without succumbing to hatred or anger.
Creating moral opposition: The satyagrahi (practitioner of Satyagraha) aims to create a moral dilemma for the oppressor, highlighting the injustice of their actions.

A moralized politics

Gandhi’s vision was to not only gain independence from colonial rule but to establish a society where politics are deeply infused with morality. He saw Ahimsa and Satyagraha as tools to purify the political arena, where decisions are made not out of expediency or for power but for the greater good of all.

Integrity in leadership: Leaders are to lead by example, embodying the principles of non-violence and truth in their actions.
Accountable governance: A governing body that adheres to the principles of Ahimsa and Satyagraha is more likely to be transparent, just, and accountable to its people.

Building a society grounded in justice and equality

Gandhi’s ultimate goal was to create a society that is just, peaceful, and treats all its members with equality and respect. To achieve this, the societal fabric must be interwoven with the threads of non-violence and truth.

Empowering the marginalized: By emphasizing non-violence, Gandhi aimed to empower the weakest in society to speak up against oppression without fear of retribution.
Cultivating peace: A society that practices Ahimsa is more likely to resolve conflicts through dialogue and mutual understanding, paving the way for enduring peace.

Challenges in the path of non-violence

While the ideals of Ahimsa and Satyagraha are noble, implementing them in the practical world is fraught with challenges. Gandhi himself faced criticism and resistance, and his methods required immense personal discipline and collective will.

Misinterpretation as weakness: Non-violence is often mistaken for passivity or cowardice, whereas it is an active force requiring greater bravery than armed resistance.
Sustaining the moral high ground: Maintaining non-violent discipline in the face of provocation is a test of conviction and resilience.

The global impact of Gandhi’s vision

The ripple effect of Gandhi’s principles has been felt worldwide, inspiring leaders like Martin Luther King Jr\. and Nelson Mandela . These leaders adapted the essence of Ahimsa and Satyagraha to their own contexts, proving the universal applicability of Gandhi’s vision.

Inspiring civil rights movements: The civil rights movement in the United States took cues from Gandhi’s non-violent resistance to combat racial segregation and discrimination.
A template for global peace: Gandhi’s principles offer a template for resolving conflicts around the world through peaceful means, promoting dialogue over confrontation.

In a world that often seems dominated by violence and strife, Gandhi’s vision of Ahimsa and Satyagraha shines as a beacon of hope. It reminds us that enduring change can be achieved through the power of non-violence and truth. While the path of non-violence is not the easiest, it is certainly the most humane and sustainable. The goals behind these principles—to awaken inherent goodness, foster love, and resist injustice—remain as relevant today as they were during Gandhi’s time.

What do you think? How can we apply Gandhi’s principles in today’s society to address our own challenges? Can non-violent resistance be as effective now as it was in the past? Let’s continue the conversation and explore how we can embody these timeless values in our daily lives.

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Gandhian Philosophy

1 Context and Emergence of Gandhian Philosophy

Gandhi in the Indian Political Arena
Emergence as an All India Leader

2 Gandhi’s Metaphysical World-View

Gandhi’s Notion of Truth
Concept of God
Critical View

3 Gandhian Understanding of Man

Human Nature
Philosophy of Man
Implications

4 Ethical Teachings of Gandhi

Non-Violence
Non-stealing
Non-possessiveness
Life Moral Teachings

5 Gandhian Concept of God

Gandhian Concept of God
Influences that Shaped Gandhi’s Idea of God
Gandhi’s Theism
God as Truth and Truth as God
Proofs for the Existence of God
God and Evil
The Way to God

6 Religious Experience and Ashram Life

Gandhi’s Religious Experience in its Preparatory Phase
Religious Experience in its Maturity
The Ashram Life: A Historical Overview
Ashram Life in the Rules

7 Religious Tolerance and Religious Harmony

Religions in India
Religious Tolerance in India: A Historical Overview
Religious Harmony

8 Ahimsa and Satyagraha

The Meaning of Ahimsa and Satyagraha
The Dynamic Meaning of Ahimsa and Satyagraha
The Goal of Ahimsa and Satyagraha
The Socio-political Significance of Ahimsa and Satyagraha
The Principles of Satyagraha Technique
The Application of Satyagraha Technique
Criticism on Gandhian Concept of Ahimsa and Satyagraha

9 Swaraj and Swadeshi

Basic Notions
Hind Swaraj
Swaraj and Swadeshi: Village as a Republic
Education and Upliftment of All
Swaraj in Swadeshi: in Gandhi’s Own Words

10 Sarvodaya

The Meaning of Sarvodaya
The Philosophical Foundations of Sarvodaya
The Goals of Sarvodaya
The Main Features of Sarvodaya
Socio-political Philosophy of Sarvodaya
Political Implications of Sarvodaya
Socialism, Communism, and Sarvodaya
Drawbacks of Gandhian Sarvodaya

11 Caste and Social Order

Caste System in India
Varna System
Gandhian Social Thought
Gandhi’s Concept of Varna System
Gandhi’s Views on Caste System and Untouchability

12 Relevance of Non-violence

Concept of Non-violence
Non-violence and Satyagraha
Limitations

13 Holistic Vision of Life

Interpretation of Purusharthas
Morality and Religion
The Political and the Spiritual
Critique of Civilization

14 Social Egalitarianism and Gandhi

Gandhi and the problem of Untouchability
Empowerment of Women
Secularism and Religion

15 Towards Peace and Harmony

Gandhi and World Peace
Tolerance in Gandhism
Peace Education

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Sojourn in England and return to India
Emergence as a political and social activist

Resistance and results

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Return to party leadership
The last phase
Place in history

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Cultural India - History of India - Biography of Mahatma Gandhi
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Bombay Sarvodaya Centre - Gandhi Book Centre - Mahatma Gandhi
Stanford University - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute - Mohandas K. Gandhi
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South African History Online - Biography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
The Nobel Prize - Mahatma Gandhi, the missing laureate
GlobalSecurity.org - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal / Gandhi Book Centre - Civil Disobedience in Political Theory and Social Practice
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Mahatma Gandhi - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Table Of Contents

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Gandhi was not the man to nurse a grudge . On the outbreak of the South African (Boer) War in 1899, he argued that the Indians, who claimed the full rights of citizenship in the British crown colony of Natal, were in duty bound to defend it. He raised an ambulance corps of 1,100 volunteers, out of whom 300 were free Indians and the rest indentured laborers. It was a motley crowd: barristers and accountants, artisans and laborers. It was Gandhi’s task to instill in them a spirit of service to those whom they regarded as their oppressors. The editor of the Pretoria News offered an insightful portrait of Gandhi in the battle zone:

After a night’s work which had shattered men with much bigger frames, I came across Gandhi in the early morning sitting by the roadside eating a regulation army biscuit. Every man in [General] Buller’s force was dull and depressed, and damnation was heartily invoked on everything. But Gandhi was stoical in his bearing, cheerful and confident in his conversation and had a kindly eye.

The British victory in the war brought little relief to the Indians in South Africa . The new regime in South Africa was to blossom into a partnership, but only between Boers and Britons. Gandhi saw that, with the exception of a few Christian missionaries and youthful idealists, he had been unable to make a perceptible impression upon the South African Europeans. In 1906 the Transvaal government published a particularly humiliating ordinance for the registration of its Indian population. The Indians held a mass protest meeting at Johannesburg in September 1906 and, under Gandhi’s leadership, took a pledge to defy the ordinance if it became law in the teeth of their opposition and to suffer all the penalties resulting from their defiance. Thus was born satyagraha (“devotion to truth”), a new technique for redressing wrongs through inviting, rather than inflicting, suffering, for resisting adversaries without rancor and fighting them without violence.

The struggle in South Africa lasted for more than seven years. It had its ups and downs, but under Gandhi’s leadership, the small Indian minority kept up its resistance against heavy odds. Hundreds of Indians chose to sacrifice their livelihood and liberty rather than submit to laws repugnant to their conscience and self-respect. In the final phase of the movement in 1913, hundreds of Indians, including women, went to jail, and thousands of Indian workers who had struck work in the mines bravely faced imprisonment, flogging, and even shooting. It was a terrible ordeal for the Indians, but it was also the worst possible advertisement for the South African government, which, under pressure from the governments of Britain and India , accepted a compromise negotiated by Gandhi on the one hand and the South African statesman Gen. Jan Christian Smuts on the other.

Civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers a speech to a crowd of approximately 7,000 people on May 17, 1967 at UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, California.

“The saint has left our shores,” Smuts wrote to a friend on Gandhi’s departure from South Africa for India, in July 1914, “I hope for ever.” A quarter century later, he wrote that it had been his “fate to be the antagonist of a man for whom even then I had the highest respect.” Once, during his not-infrequent stays in jail, Gandhi had prepared a pair of sandals for Smuts, who recalled that there was no hatred and personal ill-feeling between them, and when the fight was over “there was the atmosphere in which a decent peace could be concluded.”

As later events were to show, Gandhi’s work did not provide an enduring solution for the Indian problem in South Africa. What he did to South Africa was indeed less important than what South Africa did to him. It had not treated him kindly, but, by drawing him into the vortex of its racial problem, it had provided him with the ideal setting in which his peculiar talents could unfold themselves.

Gandhi’s religious quest dated back to his childhood, the influence of his mother and of his home life in Porbandar and Rajkot, but it received a great impetus after his arrival in South Africa. His Quaker friends in Pretoria failed to convert him to Christianity, but they quickened his appetite for religious studies. He was fascinated by the writings of Leo Tolstoy on Christianity, read the Qurʾān in translation, and delved into Hindu scriptures and philosophy. The study of comparative religion , talks with scholars, and his own reading of theological works brought him to the conclusion that all religions were true and yet every one of them was imperfect because they were “interpreted with poor intellects, sometimes with poor hearts, and more often misinterpreted.”

Shrimad Rajchandra, a brilliant young Jain philosopher who became Gandhi’s spiritual mentor, convinced him of “the subtlety and profundity” of Hinduism , the religion of his birth. And it was the Bhagavadgita , which Gandhi had first read in London , that became his “spiritual dictionary” and exercised probably the greatest single influence on his life. Two Sanskrit words in the Gita particularly fascinated him. One was aparigraha (“nonpossession”), which implies that people have to jettison the material goods that cramp the life of the spirit and to shake off the bonds of money and property . The other was samabhava (“equability”), which enjoins people to remain unruffled by pain or pleasure, victory or defeat, and to work without hope of success or fear of failure.

Those were not merely counsels of perfection. In the civil case that had taken him to South Africa in 1893, he had persuaded the antagonists to settle their differences out of court. The true function of a lawyer seemed to him “to unite parties riven asunder.” He soon regarded his clients not as purchasers of his services but as friends; they consulted him not only on legal issues but on such matters as the best way of weaning a baby or balancing the family budget. When an associate protested that clients came even on Sundays, Gandhi replied: “A man in distress cannot have Sunday rest.”

Gandhi’s legal earnings reached a peak figure of £5,000 a year, but he had little interest in moneymaking, and his savings were often sunk in his public activities. In Durban and later in Johannesburg, he kept an open table; his house was a virtual hostel for younger colleagues and political coworkers. This was something of an ordeal for his wife, without whose extraordinary patience, endurance, and self-effacement Gandhi could hardly have devoted himself to public causes. As he broke through the conventional bonds of family and property, their life tended to shade into a community life.

Gandhi felt an irresistible attraction to a life of simplicity, manual labor, and austerity. In 1904—after reading John Ruskin ’s Unto This Last , a critique of capitalism—he set up a farm at Phoenix near Durban where he and his friends could live by the sweat of their brow. Six years later another colony grew up under Gandhi’s fostering care near Johannesburg; it was named Tolstoy Farm for the Russian writer and moralist, whom Gandhi admired and corresponded with. Those two settlements were the precursors of the more-famous ashrams (religious retreats) in India, at Sabarmati near Ahmedabad ( Ahmadabad ) and at Sevagram near Wardha .

South Africa had not only prompted Gandhi to evolve a novel technique for political action but also transformed him into a leader of men by freeing him from bonds that make cowards of most men. “Persons in power,” the British Classical scholar Gilbert Murray prophetically wrote about Gandhi in the Hibbert Journal in 1918,

should be very careful how they deal with a man who cares nothing for sensual pleasure, nothing for riches, nothing for comfort or praise, or promotion, but is simply determined to do what he believes to be right. He is a dangerous and uncomfortable enemy, because his body which you can always conquer gives you so little purchase upon his soul.

Return to India

Gandhi decided to leave South Africa in the summer of 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I . He and his family first went to London, where they remained for several months. Finally, they departed England in December, arriving in Bombay in early January 1915.

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Mahatma Gandhi Essay

Important Essay on Mahatma Gandhi for Students in English

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, often called the 'Father of the Nation' , was a leader who fought for India's freedom from British rule. He believed in non-violence. Every year on October 2nd, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti to honor his efforts in freeing India.

English Essay on Mahatma Gandhi

Rabindranath Tagore was the first to call Gandhiji 'Mahatma,' which means 'Great Soul' in Sanskrit. His wise ideas and beliefs led people to respect and call him 'Mahatma Gandhi.' His dedication to the country and efforts to turn his ideas into reality make Indians around the world very proud of him .

According to Mahatma Gandhi’s biography, he was born on October 2, 1869 , in Porbandar, a coastal town in the present-day Indian state of Gujarat. He grew up in a Hindu family and ate basic vegetarian meals. His dad, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi, was an important leader in Porbandar State. In South Africa, he was the first to lead a peaceful protest movement, setting him apart from other demonstrators. Mahatma Gandhi also introduced the idea of Satyagraha, a nonviolent approach to opposing unfairness. He devoted 20 years of his life to battling discrimination in South Africa.

His idea of 'Ahimsa,' which means not hurting anyone, was widely admired and followed by many influential people worldwide. He became an indomitable figure who couldn't be defeated in any situation. Mahatma Gandhi initiated the 'Khadi Movement' to encourage the use of fabrics like khadi or jute. This movement was a crucial part of the larger 'Non-co-operation Movement,' which advocated for Indian goods and discouraged foreign ones. Gandhi strongly supported agriculture and encouraged people to engage in farming. He inspired Indians to embrace manual labor and emphasized self-reliance, urging them to provide for their needs and lead simple lives. He began weaving cotton clothes using the Charkha to reduce dependence on foreign goods and promote Swadeshi products among Indians.

During the fight for India's freedom, Gandhiji faced imprisonment several times along with his followers, but his main goal was always the freedom of his motherland. Even when he was in prison, he never chose the path of violence.

Mahatma Gandhi made significant contributions to various social issues. His efforts against 'untouchability' while he was in Yerwada Jail, where he went on a hunger strike against this ancient social evil, greatly helped uplift the oppressed community in modern times. He also emphasized the importance of education, cleanliness, health, and equality in society.

These qualities defined him as a person with a great soul and justified his transformation from Gandhi to Mahatma. He led many freedom movements, including the "Quit India Movement," which was highly successful. His death was a huge loss to the forces of peace and democracy, leaving a significant void in the nation's life.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a prominent Indian nationalist leader, significantly influenced Mahatma Gandhi's political ideology and leadership approach. Gandhi considered him his political teacher.

Mahatma Gandhi played a crucial role in India's fight for freedom from British rule. His life was dedicated to serving his country and its people, and he became an international symbol of Indian leadership. Even today, he continues to inspire and motivate young people worldwide with his values and principles.

Gandhi Ji was known for his strong sense of discipline. He emphasized the importance of self-discipline in achieving significant goals, a principle he applied in promoting his philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence). Through his own life, he demonstrated that rigorous discipline can lead to the realization of any objective, provided we remain committed and dedicated. These qualities established him as a revered and respected leader whose influence extends far beyond his lifetime. His ideals continue to resonate not only in India but also around the world.

FAQs on Mahatma Gandhi Essay

1. What were the different movements that Gandhi started in order to bring Independence to India?

In order to bring freedom, Gandhi started the Satyagraha movement in 1919, the non-cooperation movement in 1921, and Civil Disobedience movement in 1930 and Quit India movement in 1942.

2. Who killed Mahatma Gandhi?

A young man named Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi when he was going to attend an evening prayer meeting.

3. Why is Gandhi known as the ‘Father of the Nation’?

Mahatma Gandhi is known as the ‘Father of the Nation’ because he laid the true foundation of independent India with his noble ideals and supreme sacrifice.

4. How do we commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s contribution for our Nation?

His birthday on 2 nd October is celebrated as a National Holiday across the nation in order to commemorate his great contributions and sacrifices for the country’s independence.

5. What are the things we should learn from Mahatma Gandhi?

There are various things one can learn from Gandhiji. The principles that he followed and preached his entire generation and for generations to come are commendable. He believed in ‘Ahimsa’ and taught people how any war in the world can be won through non-violence. To simply state one can learn the following principles from Gandhiji -

Nonviolence,

Respect for elders,

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22 Mahatma Gandhi and Non Violent Revolution

Dr.Vandana Arora

Objective of the study

Brief sketch of Mahatma Gandhi

Non-violent revolution or ahimsa: introduction
Meaning of Non-Violence revolution or ahimsa Definition of Non-Violence
Historical background of Non-Violence or ahimsa Gandhian concept and philosophy of Non-Violence Four
pillars of ahimsa or Non-ViolenceRevolution
Sarvodaya Swaraj
Swadeshi Satyagraha
The basic percept of satyagraha Satya/truth: Ahimsa:
Tapasya (self-suffering): Satyagraha in action
Qualities of a satyagrahi (Non-Violence activist) Non-Violence and democracy
Extent of Applicability of Non-Violence
Are only the Indians suited for Non-Violence action? Gandhi as revolutionery thinker
Community Prayer The Spinning Wheel The Broom-stick
Relevance of non-violent revolution in the present scenario
Self Assesment

The struggle in India during 1930-33 proves that there is remarkable power in the method of non-violent resistance which Gandhiji advocated and used. The perils of war and class conflict make it important for us to learn whatever may help to evolve peace. Is non-violent resistance applicable in the West or not? To what extent is it practical and why? Is it morally and intellectually respectable or not? The subject of pacifism in both individual and collective use should be removed from the profitless atmosphere of emotional adjectives and vague mysticism. We need to understand non-violent resistance much more clearly and fully.

Gandhi, Ahimsa, Satyagraha, Non-Violence, Tapasya, Sarvodya Democracy Objective of the study:

To analyse the idea of Non-Violence with contemporary situation not confining the explanation merely to Gandhi’s own concepts to India, but an attempt is made to explain and evaluate the principle in its application in any country, at any time, under any circumstances, for any cause.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbandar in the state of Gujarat on 2nd October 1869. He had his schooling nearby Rajkot where his father served as an advisor of a local Ruler. Though, India was then under the British rule, over 500 kingdoms principality revered the world over for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. In his autobiography he admitted that as a boy he secretly ate meat with his friends so that they could become strong like the English. After some local education it was decided that he should go to England to study law. He gained his mother’s permission by promising to refrain from wine, women, and meat, but he defied his caste’s regulations which forbade travel to England. He joined the Inner Temple law college in London. In searching for a vegetarian restaurant he discovered its philosophy in Henry Salt’s A Plea for Vegetarianism and became convinced. He organized a vegetarian club and met people with theosophical and altruistic interests. He discovered the Bhagavad-Gita in Edwin Arnold’s poetic translation, The Song Celestial, and offered his limited knowledge of Sanskrit to others. This Hindu scripture and the Sermon on the Mount later became his bibles and spiritual guidebooks. He memorized the Gita during his daily tooth brushing and often recited its original Sanskrit at his prayer meetings.1

Known for his ascetic lifestyle, he inspired many people around the world. He faced jail terms during the journey of the freedom of India. Finally this legendary figure and the great fundamentalist laid to rest on 30th January 1948. But his principle of self-discipline, Non-Violence, ahimsa, satyagraha kept inspiring future generations ever after his departure to heavenly abode.2

He began his campaign and activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa in the early 1900 and subsequently became the first leading figure in India’s struggle to gain Independence from the Great Britain.

Non-Violent Revolution or Ahimsa: Introduction

1 http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html

2 www.history.com

Non-Violence is a weapon of the great leaders. It is the simplest method of persuasion. Non-Violence has divine qualities that take us near to God. So, everyone should know Non-Violence and why Non-Violence is necessary.Non-Violence guarantees freedom of conscience and people are free to base their behavior on their deeper conviction. In modern world violence has spreaded highly unjust message and promotes greed among few ignoring needs of vast majority of people and his heavily biased in favour of few rich nations to creatively applied Non-Violence methods of resistance to save humanity.3

Meaning of Non Violent Evolution or Ahimsa

The literal meaning of Non-Violence means not to be violent in action. One should not kill humans and the wilds. One should not hurt them in any manner. Non-Violence has been taken from the Sanskrit word ahimsa which refers to “lack of desire to harm or kill” is the personal practice of being harmless with self and with others under every condition. It comes from the belief that hurting people, animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of abstention from violence based on moral, religious or spiritual principles.

“Non-Violence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”- Martin Luther King Jr. the Quest for peace and Justice (1964)
“Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man” by Mahatma Gandhi.
“Non-Violence is not to be used ever as the shield of the coward. It is the weapon of the brave”- Mahatma Gandhi.

Historical background of Non-Violence or Ahimsa

3 www.gandhiashram.org

Ahimsa is considered the highest duty and accepted norm in Hinduism, Jainism and many other religious traditions. In ancient India, people exclusively used to abide by the principle of “Ahimsa Parmo Dharma” (Non-Violence is supreme conduct) in practicality and had a pragmatic approach of this principle. It is a novel device of the greats to pacify stormy situations and has been in practice since ages. Mahavir, Jaina, Gautam Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Ashok and Leo Tolstoy have been the chief exponents of Non-Violence.

Mahavir Jain and his followers were strictly the followers of Non-Violence. They used to put thin pieces of clothes on their nostrils to filter air to breathe in as they feared that worms might get into their bodies and killed. In modern times the same principles are followed by their disciples.

Gautam Buddha is yet another champion of Non-Violence. He repelled against the evil practices like animal sacrifice and human sacrifice of Hindus. Legendary Ashok was so much inspired by the practice of Non-Violence that he gave up war and bloodshed. He started preaching Non-Violence worldwide through his followers. He accepted Buddhist faith and switched over to vegetarian diet. He stopped killing animals in his kingdom. He opened many health Centres/dispensaries for men and animals.

Gandhian concept and philosophy of Non-Violence

With Gandhi, the notion of Non-Violence attained a special status. Mahatma Gandhi is also an ardent supporter of Non-Violence, he practiced Non-Violence right from his youth and preached the same worldwide. He said it is the weapon of strong and brave. By strong people he meant those who are morally and spiritually strong. He said that Non-Violence is much effective and stronger than violence. Gandhi’s Non-Violence is the search for truth.

Truth is the most fundamental aspect in Gandhi’s philosophy of Non-Violence. In the book “Experiments with Truth” a compilation of his pursuit of truth that Gandhi discovered the principle of Non-Violence, which he further explained in his autobiography thus “Ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing that this search is vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis”. Truth and Non-Violence are as old as the hills. He not only theorized on it, he adopted Non-Violence as a philosophy and an ideal way of life. He made us understand that the philosophy of Non-Violence is not a weapon of the weak; it is a weapon, which can be tried by all. Non-Violence was not Gandhi’s invention. He is however, called the father of Non-Violence because according to Mark Shepard, “He raised non-violent action to a level never before achieved”. Kripalani again asserts “Gandhi was the first in Human History to extend the principle of Non-Violence from the individual to social and political plane.” While the other scholars were talking about an idea without giving it a nomenclature or a movement whereas Mahatma Gandhi is the person who came up with the name and brought together different related ideas under one concept Satyagraha.

Gandhi identified two forms of violence- Passive and Physical. The practice of passive violence is a daily affair, consciously and unconsciously. It is again the fuel that ignites the fire of physical violence. Gandhi understands violence from its Sanskrit root, “himsa” which means injury. In the midst of hyper violence, Gandhi teaches that the one who possesses Non-Violence is blessed. Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (Non-Violence) in the midst of the raging fire of himsa all around him. We bow in reverence to such a man by his example. The more adverse the circumstances around him, the intense grow his longing for deliverance from the bondage of flesh which is a vehicle of himsa… Gandhi objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred.

When it appears to do good, the good is only temporary and cannot do any good in the long run. A true Non-Violence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another leading towards heroism. When Gandhi says that in the course of fighting for human rights, one should accept Non-Violence and self-suffering, he does not applaud cowardice. Cowardice for him is “the greatest violence, certainly, for greater than bloodshed and the like that generally go under the name of violence.” For Gandhi perpetrators of violence (whom he referred to as criminals), are the products of social disintegration. Gandhi feels that violence is not a natural tendency of humans. It is a learned experience. There is need for a perfect weapon to combat violence and this is Non-Violence. Gandhi understood Non-Violence from its Sanskrit root Ahimsa is just translated to mean Non-Violence in English, but it implies more than just avoidance of physical violence. Ahimsa implies total Non-Violence, no physical violence, and no passive violence. Gandhi translates Ahimsa as love. This is explained by Arun Gandhi in an interview thus, “He (Gandhi) said ahimsa means love. Because if you have love towards somebody, and you respect that person, then you are not going to do any harm to that person”. For Gandhi, Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It is a living force of power and no one has been or will ever be able to measure its limits or its extent.

For Non-Violence to be strong and effective, it must begin with mind, without which it will be Non-Violence of the weak and the coward. A coward is a person who lacks courage when facing a dangerous and unpleasant situation and tries to avoid it. A man cannot practice ahimsa and at the same time be a coward. True Non-Violence is dissociated from the fear. Gandhi feels that possession of arms is not only cowardice but also lacks of fearlessness or courage.

Gandhi stressed this when he says, “I can imagine a fully armed man to be atleast a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true Non-Violence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.” In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission. There is hope that a violent man may someday be non-violent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness.

As the world’s pioneer in nonviolent theory and practice, Gandhi unequivocally states that Non-Violence contained a universal applicability. In his letter to Daniel Oliver in Hanmana Lebanon on the 11th of 1937 Gandhi used these words: “I have no message to give except this that there is no deliverance for any people on this earth or for all the people of this earth except through truth and Non-Violence in every walk of life without any exceptions”.

In this passage, Gandhi promises “deliverance” through Non-Violence for the oppressed people without exception. Speaking primarily with regards to Non-Violence as a laboratory philosophy in this passage, Gandhi emphasizes the power of Non-Violence to emancipate spiritually and physically. It is a science of its own which can lead to pure democracy.

It will be good here to examine what Shanley E. Jones calls “the centre of Gandhi’s contribution to the world”. Satyagraha is the quintessence of Gandhism. Through, Gandhi introduced a new spirit to the world and it is his greatest contribution to the world.Gandhian nonviolence is a combination of constructive, base-building programs and satyagraha, often interpreted in the Global North as a form of spiritual direct action. Strategic nonviolence takes a more tactical tack and focuses on the tactics enumerated by Gene Sharp. Meanwhile, as Gandhi himself noted, revolutionary nonviolence suggests that it is better to engage in violence than to do nothing in the face of oppression His first use of civil disobedience on a mass scale began in September 1906 when the Transvaal government wanted to register the entire Indian population and passed what the Indians called the “Black Act.” In response they held a mass meeting in the Imperial Theatre of Johannesburg; some were so angry at the humiliating ordinance that they threatened a violent response if put to the test. However, with Gandhi’s advice they all decided as a group to refuse to comply with the registration provisions. Gandhi suggested that they take a pledge in the name of God; even though they were Hindus and Muslims, they all believed in one and the same God. Every one of the nearly three thousand Indians present took the solemn pledge. Gandhi decided to call this technique of refusing to submit to injustice satyagraha4

The philosophy of nonviolence that has been developed through much of the 20th century has made an indispensable contribution to all theories of legitimate revolutionary social change. Gandhi himself has said that if one lacked the courage to fight injustice through nonviolent means, then one should pick up a gun. Gandhi advocated is not violence “as a last resort” or a “slippery slope” that opens the door to militarize violence rather he is pointing out that nonviolence means an activation of the universal spirit of humanity that is within all of us. He affirms that nonviolence is the activation in us of that true courage, honor, faithfulness, integrity and loyalty to truth and justice.

Gandhi understood that a nonviolent world order is not only a spiritual commitment on the part of persons everywhere but must be institutionalized both politically and economically in the form of democratic world government and federated democratic government at all levels of governing.

“The entire social order has got to be reconstructed”. He writes ‘’it is blasphemy to say that nonviolence can only be practiced by individuals and never by nations which are compound of nations”. Gandhi made clear, if we want real democracy on Earth, and real economic justice and prosperity on Earth, we will have to institutionalize nonviolence. With today system of militarized ‘’sovereign’ ’nations state and vast disparities between extreme wealth and extreme poverty, we have pervasive institutionalized violence. This violence requires the military to enforce its global system of injustice and exploitation.

But if we ratify the constitution for the federation of earth and create world institutions premised on the dignity, freedom and equality of every person on earth, we will eliminate the need not only for the military, but also for most personal or terrorist violence.”5

4 http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html

5 The philosophy of nonviolence and world revolution through world law by Glen.T.Martin.

Four pillars of Ahimsa or Non Violent Revolution

Gandhi offers four pillars for the sustenance of Ahimsa:

1. Sarvodaya

2. Swaraj

3. Swadeshi

4. Satyagraha

1. Sarvodaya

This is the core among these pillars i.e. the practice of economic, political, and moral justice for all. It is based on the idea that the earth is having sufficient to satisfy the need of all but when it comes of satisfying the greed of a single man it complains of paucity. Sarvodaya societies and communities endeavour the spirit of equal sharing. Sarvodaya serves to remind us, moment by moment, of our entire Earth family—interdependent, made of each other, inextricably interconnected.6

Gandhi’s idea of self-rule celebrates the freedoms born of the self-discipline necessary for Sarvodaya. Swaraj demands maximum power for self-organization and self-rule by people within their families, neighborhoods, villages, and bioregions, and minimal intervention by national governments. We assume full responsibility for our own behavior and for our decisions, made with others, on how to organize our communities. Swaraj celebrates personal freedom from poverty and all forms of domination. No one rules others, and no state imposes its laws without the free consent of the governed. Rather than human rights, Swaraj sees human duties: to Mother Earth and to our neighbors, both near and distant.7

3. Swadeshi

At the heart of Swadeshi is honoring and celebrating local economy, with people enjoying a right livelihood from the gifts of the natural resources of their own bioregions. The bread labor of

6 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-

paths-to-get-there

7 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-

each place, drawing on the genius of local knowledge and skills, generates a surplus to share with others. Swadeshi is people-centered economics—the soul of “small is beautiful.”8

4. Satyagraha

Satyagraha pronounced Sat-Yah-Graha is a compound of two Sanskrit nouns satya, meaning truth (from ‘Sat’ being with a suffix ‘Ya’), and agraha meaning, “firm grasping (a noun made from the agra, which has its root ‘grah’-‘Scize’ ‘grasp’, with the verbal prefix ‘a’-‘to’- wards). Thus satyagraha literally means devotion to truth, remaining firm on the truth and resisting untruth actively but violently since the only way for Gandhi getting to the truth is by Non-Violence (love), it follows that satyagraha according to Michael Naglerliterally means “clinging to truth’ and that was exactly how Gandhi understood it.

“Clinging to the truth that we are all one under the skin, that there is no such thing as a ‘win/lose’ confrontation because all our important interests are really the same, that consciously or not every single person wants unity and peace with every other put succinctly. Satyagraha means ‘truth force’, ‘soul force’ or as Martin Luther jr. would call it ‘love in action’. Satyagraha has often been defined as the philosophy of nonviolent resistance most prominently employed by Mahatma Gandhi, in forcing an end to the British domination. GeneSharp did not hesitate to define Satyagraha simply as “GandhianNon-Violence”.

Today as Nagler would say, when we use the word Satyagraha we sometimes mean that general principle, the fact that love is stronger than hatred and we can learn to use it to overcome hatred and further we mean more specifically active resistance by a repressed group, sometimes, even more specifically, we apply the term to a specified movement like salt Satyagraha etc. It is worthwhile looking at the way when Gandhi applied Satyagraha.

Gandhi’s view of Satyagraha

Satyagraha was not a preconceived plan for Gandhi. Even in his life culminating in his “Bramacharya vow”, prepared him for it. “Events were so shaping themselves in Johannesburg as to make this self-purification on my part a preliminary as it were to Satyagraha. I can now see that

8 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-paths-to-get-there

all the principal events of my life, culminating in the vow of Bramacharya were secretly preparing me for it.”

Satyagraha is a moral weapon and the stress is on the soul force over the physical force. It aims at winning the enemy through love and patient suffering. It deals with an unjust law, not by crushing, preventing or taking revenge against the authority by adopting coercive measures, but to convert and heal it. Though, initially it started as a struggle for political rights, thereafter, Satyagraha became in the long run a struggle for individual salvation, which could be achieved through love and sacrifice. Satyagraha is meant to overcome all methods of violence. Gandhi explained in a letter to Lord Hunter that Satyagraha is a movement based entirely upon truth. It replaces every form of violence whether direct and indirect, veiled and unveiled or in thought, words or deed.

Satyagraha is ornament of those people who are the strong in spirit. A person not having doubts regarding his convictions or a timid person cannot do it. Satyagraha teaches the art of living as well as dying. Love and unshakeable i.e. firmness are its indistinguishable constituents. It is uniformly apply to all, irrespective of age and sex. The most important training in Satyagraha is mental not physical. The concept of Satyagraha has some basic percepts which are being treated below.

The basic percept of Satyagraha

There are three basic percepts essential to Satyagraha: Truth, Non-Violence and self-suffering. These are called the pillars and foundation of Satyagraha. Failure to grasp them is a handicap and creates penumbra to the understanding of Gandhi’s Non-Violence. These three fundamentals correspond to Sanskrit terms:

Sat/Satya – Truth implying openness, honesty and fairness. Ahimsa/Non-Violence – refusal to inflict injury upon others. Tapasya – willingness to self-sacrifice.

I. Satya/Truth:

Satyagraha as stated above in its etymological sense means truth force. Truth is relative term. Knowing the absolute truth is beyond the reach and capabilities of a common. Satyagraha is a device and mode working steadily towards a discovery of the absolute truth and converting the opponent into a friend in the working process. What a person sees as truth may just as clearly be untrue for another. Gandhi made in his life a numerous experiments with truth. In holding to the truth, he claims to be making a ceaseless effort to find it.

Gandhi’s conception of truth is deeply rooted in Hinduism. The emphasis of Satya-truth is paramount in the writings of the Indian philosophers. “SatyannastiParodharmasti (SatyannastiParoDharmaasti)- there is no religion or greater than truth”, holds a prominent place in Hinduism. Reaching pure and absolute truth is attaining moksha. Gandhi holds that truth is God, and maintains that it is an integral part of Satyagraha. He explains it thus “The world rests upon the bedrock of Satya or truth, asatya or untruth also means “nonexistent” and satya or truth, means which is of untruth does not so much exist. Its victory is out of the question. And truth being “that which is’ can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha is a nutshell.”

II. Ahimsa:

In Gandhi’s Satyagraha, truth is inseparable from ahimsa. Ahimsa expresses as ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist ethical precept. The negative prefix ‘a’ plus himsa meaning injury make up the world normally translated ‘Non-Violence’. The term Ahimsa appears in Hindu teachings as early as the chandoyaupanishad, the Jain Religion constitutes Ahimsa as the first vow. It is cardinal virtue in Buddhism. Despite its being rooted in these Religions, the special contribution of Gandhi was:

To make the concept of Ahimsa meaningful in the social and political spheres by moulding tools for non-violent action is to use as a positive force in the search for social and political truths. Gandhi formed Ahimsa into the active social technique, which was to challenge political authorities and religious orthodoxy.

It is worth noting that this active social technique which was to challenge political authorities, used by Gandhi is none other than Satyagraha. Truly enough, the Indian milieu was already infused with the notions of ahimsa. Nevertheless, Gandhi acknowledged that it was an essential part of his experiments with the truth whose technique of action he called Satyagraha. At the root of Satya and Ahimsa is love while make discourses on the Bhagavad Gita, an author says:

Truth, peace, righteousness and Non-Violence, Satya, Shanti, Dharma and Ahimsa, do not exist separately. They are interrelated with each other and are essentially dependent on love. When love enters the thoughts it becomes truth. When it magnifies itself in the form of action it becomes truth. When love manifests itself in the form of action it becomes dharma or righteousness. When your feelings become saturated with love it become peace itself. The very meaning of the word peace is love. When you feel your understanding with love it is Ahimsa. Practicing love is Dharma, thinking of love is Satya, feeling love is shanti, and understanding love is Ahimsa. For all these values it is love which flows as the under current.

III.Tapasya (Self-suffering):

It remains a truism that the classical yogic laws of self-restraint and self-discipline are familiar elements and engrossed within Indian culture. Self-suffering in Satyagraha is a test of love. Gandhi distinguished self-suffering from cowardice. Gandhi’s choice of self-suffering does not mean that he undermined the value life. It is rather a sign of voluntary help and it is noble, spritually and morally enriching. He himself says; “It is not because I value life to I can countenance with joys voluntary looking their lives for satyagraha, but because I know that it results in the long run in the least loss of life, and what is more, it enables those who lost their lives and morally enriches the world for their sacrifices.”

Satyagraha is at its best when preached and practiced by those who would use arms but does not desire to invite suffering upon them. It is not easy for a western mind or non-oriented philosopher to understand this issue of self-suffering. In fact, in Satyagraha, the element of self-suffering is perhaps the least acceptable to a western mind. Yet such sacrifice may well provide the ultimate means of realizing that characteristic so eminent in Christian religion and western modern philosophy: The dignity of the individual.

The three elements: Satya, Ahimsa, Tapasya must move together for the success of any Satyagraha campaign. It follows that Ahimsa which implies love, leads in turn to social service. Truth leads to an ethical humanism. Self-suffering not for its own sake, but for the demonstration of sincerity flowing from refusal to injure the opponent while at the same time holding to the truth, implies sacrifice and preparation for sacrifice even to death.

Satyagraha in action

For Satyagraha to be valid, it has to be tested when the principles are applied to specific political and social action, the tools of civil disobedience, non-cooperation, non-violent strike and constructive actions are cherished. South Africa and India were “laboratories” where Gandhi tested his new techniques for compaign again social maladies. Satyagraha was a necessary weapon for Gandhi to work in South Africa and India keeping in view the prevailing circumstances there. Louis Fischer attests “Gandhi could never have achieved that what did in South Africa and India but for a weapon peculiarly his own. It was unprecedented indeed it was so unique he could not find a name for it until he finally hit upon Satyagraha.”

South Africa is the acclaimed birth place of Satyagraha. Satyagraha was employed to fight for the civil rights of Indians having pathetic condition in South Africa. In India, Gandhi applied Satyagraha in his socio-political milieu and carried out several acts of civil disobedience culminating in the salt March against British colonisation. Another wonderful way of describing Satyagraha in action is through the fasting of Mahatma Gandhi. Fasting was part and parcel of his philosophy of truth and Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi was an activist- a moral and spiritual activist. And fasting was “one of his strategies of activism, in many ways his most powerful.

Qualities of a Satyagrahi (Non-Violence activist)

Gandhi was quite aware that there was need to train people who could carry on with his Satyagraha campaigns. He trained them in his Satyagraha ashrams, here are some of the basic qualities of expected of a Satyagrahi:

a. A Satyagrahi should have a living and faith in God for him is his only Rock.

b. One must believe in truth and Non-Violence as one’s creed and therefore have faith in the inherent

goodness of human nature.

c. One must live a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of one’s cause to make sacrifice his life

and his belongings.

d. One must be free from the use any intoxicant, in order that his reason may be undivided and his mind

remains actively recipient.

e. One must follow from the core of one’s heart all the rules of discipline as may be laid down time to time.

f. One should abide by the jail rules unless they hurt one’s self-respect.

g. A satyagrahi must accept to suffer for a good cause i.e. in order to correct a situation. Concisely, Satyagraha is itself a movement intended to fight against social menaces and promote ethical values in the society. It is a whole philosophy of Non-Violence. It is undertaken only after all the other peaceful means have proven ineffective in a given situation seeking a solution. An attempt is made to convert or persuade or win over the conscience of the opponent. It involves applying the forces of both reason and conscience simultaneously, while holding aloof the indisputable truth of his/her position.

The satyagrahi also engages in the act of voluntary suffering in order mobilize the opinion of the other side. Any violence inflicted by the opponent is gracefully accepted without retaliation. The opponent only becomes morally bankrupt if violence continues to be inflicted indefinitely. Several methods can be applied in satyagraha campaign. Stephen Murphy gives primacy to ‘’non-cooperation and fasting’’ and Bertrand Russell has this to say about Gandhian method. As a rule, this method relied upon moral force for bringing it in reality.

Non-Violence and Democracy

Mahatma Gandhi has deep faith in Non-Violence and was of the opinion that all men made institutions are not free from risk, particularly a ‘State-like’ institution. He believed that in a state especially democracy can be survived only on the basis of Non-Violence. It cannot be evolved into its form until and unless if falls completely under the purview of Non-Violence. However, Gandhi himself was not sure about it. He admitted, “I am making efforts in this direction.”

For him, the correct approach was to improvise the working of the contemporary democracy and to strive towards a goal making sure that justice and freedom are availed of universally by all. Only then the true form of democracy can be established and fully materialized. This is what is known as Ram Rajya of his dreams. Naturally such a inspiring notion could not be confined to a particular country. But in context of India especially he believed that people had great inclination towards the application of nonviolence both in principle and in practice. Scholar commenting on Indian democracy says, “The most important phenomena of the post war era is the survival of the Indian democracy.”

This has been possible only because a great majority of Indians are more or less inclined towards nonviolence in practice. In a country like India which has unity in diversity, where people have remained committed to the divine value of nonviolence in practice and where the system of self-government lies deep rooted at the level of villages no form of government other than democracy can survive or work. That is why Gandhi himself said that it is most likely that even in democracy there may be misuse of power, the evils may creep in because it is a man-made not God made institution.

Democracy is essential therefore in a country like India. If we eliminate instances of misuse of democracy it can bring a real Ram Rajya or sincere efforts can be made to achieve that status. In this direction, Gandhiji put forward Non-Violence and satyagraha as the means to make a start from India and set an example before the other nations of the world. While talking about the development of a democratic system Gandhiji preferred economic issues and considered them to be the foremost. He affirmed, “ aNon-Violence system of government is clearly an impossibility, so long as the wide gulf between the rich and hungry millions persist.”

But to bridge the gap between the rich and poor use of violent methods were strictly prohibited according to Mahatma Gandhi. He relied in Non-violent methods for this purpose. Besides that he was against class war also. “the class wars were against the basic nature and also against the message that nonviolence conveys. Those who consider class war necessary have not understood the essential meaning of nonviolence, or have got to know it superficially.”

To remove the disparity between the rich and the poor he put forward the principle of Trusteeship which was within scope of nonviolence. By the nonviolent method, we seek not to destroy capitalists, we target capitalism. We invite the capitalist to regard himself as a Trustee for those on whom he depends for the making, the retention and increase of the capital. He wanted to change their hearts. Gandhi’s principles and proposals are based on the ethical and the moral values of life. But it would serve significantly and commendably not only in India but also in other nations of the world as a guideline.

Gandhi reformed the concept of democracy by devising means to involve the people in power. Gandhi was vehemently against the concentration power in the hands of the few. He was very particular about decentralization of power. Concentration of power means keeping the power in the hands of few, who may misuse the power as and when according to their advantage.9 “True democracy cannot work by 20 men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below by the people of every village.” In democracy all the people must have access to power, then only power can be able to function within the purview of morality. Though outwardly power will be functioning through representatives of the people, in reality, the people will be the sole authority to delegate the power. The accountability rests on their representatives in case of abuse of power because, it is the people who are the Guardian of democracy.10

Democracy can only be saved through Non-Violence, because democracy, so long as it is sustained by violence, cannot provide for all and protect the weak. My notion of democracy is that

9 Gandhi on Non-Violence by Mahatma Gandhi

10 The Global Vision Of Mahatma Gandhi by Ratan Das

under it, the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest. This can never happen except through Non-Violence …..Western democracy, as it functions today, is Nazism or fascism.11

Non-violent insurrections were twice as successful as those that used arm struggle in general nonviolence form of the resistance and most surprising they led to greater democratic freedoms, even when they “failed then arms struggles that succeed.” No perfect democracy is possible without adoption of a perfect Non-Violence policy.

Democracy with nonviolence are not just methods of struggle, they are ways of discovering truth- of allowing the truth of each individual to be registered in the whole. Equally rooted in the inalienable dignity of the human being that is the core of the “New theory of nonviolence with democracy that properly and destroyed each other. They are really two sides of the same coin we cannot have one without the other, we badly need both”12

Extent of applicability of Non-Violence

The concept of Non-Violence was not to be confined for mere individual practice but to be applied by the groups and the communities and the nations at large. Mahatma Gandhi had great dedication in trying to realize it. His faith helped him to discover new truths every day. He said Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practiced by everybody in all the affairs of life. If it cannot be executed in this spirit, it has no practical value. He believed that his faith in truth and Non-Violence was ever growing, and he was trying to follow them in all spheres of life. He felt growing with it every moment. He saw new implications about them.13

Are only the Indians suited for Non-Violence action?

There are the critics who say non-violent action worked fine in India, but they don’t think it would make sense to use it elsewhere. These critics believe that Indians are particularly suited to non-violent action, because of the ethic of Non-Violence built into their religion and inhibited in their personality. This is a very interesting myth for those who believe in it certainly possess a very selective filter. Gandhi’s philosophy of Non-Violence seems to has been consciously inspired firstly, by the New Testament-the Sermon, on the Mount. Only later, he found similar ideas in Hindu scriptures. Therefore, the concept was not originated in India. Though, it is surprising that we

11 www.Mettacenter.org

12 www.Non-Violencemag.com

13www.mkgandhi.org

too have an ethic of Non-Violence built into our society’s chief religion. We just do not happen to follow it.

But really, the easiest way to see that non-violent action is suitable outside India is simply to look at all the cases of nonviolent action outside India. Unless your filter is pretty murky, you can hardly miss them. It certainly can’t be easy to ignore the example of Martin Luther King, Jr., or to forget the Solidarity movement in Poland, or to overlook the coup of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

It is said non-violent action can work only against “easy” enemies like the British, and not against, say, the Soviets, or Central American dictators, or those villains of last resort, the Nazis. Here again, filters are in place, because non-violent action has been used with some success against all these.

In 1968, Czechoslovakian civilians non-violently held Soviet armed forces at bay for a full week and stopped the Soviet leaders from ever subjugating that country to the degree they had intended. In 1944, military dictators were ousted by resorting towards nonviolent techniques in both El Salvador and Guatemala. And during World War II, Norway nonviolently and successfully resisted Nazi attempts to reorganize its society along fascist lines.

Gandhi as Revolutionary Thinker

Every great thinker is a great revolutionary since each has a unique vision and original perspective which could change our thoughts in some way or the other. There are nevertheless a number of them who advocated for an effective change on monumental scale. Gandhi was one such political thinker who always wanted to make sea change in society at a comprehensive scale.Every revolution has its symbols, which are an index of its objectives. Gandhi gave us three symbols: (1) Community Prayer (2) The Spinning Wheel (3) The Broom-stick. Prayer stands for invoking the inner strength of men for the good of one another, the wheel for productive labour and the broom-stick for the abolition of social inequalities based on birth.

Community Prayer

To Gandhi, this world itself was the temple of God and not ‘Gods’. For when truth becomes denominational, it degenerates into dogma and freezes into a new orthodoxy. “Dogma” says Mao, “is worse than cow-dung. Cow-dung can be used as manure.” To seek to impose a certain ideology on men’s minds is to violate the soul. Prayer precludes all such indoctrination.

The Spinning Wheel

The spinning wheel stands for productive labour and for a face-to-face community. Society is after all relationship of man with man. The spinning wheel represents Gandhi’s conception of a new relationship between among men. He sought with all the earnestness he could command, to transform the existing relations of production and distribution. He was against anonymity, de-personalization and de-humanization in the process of production and distribution. Gandhi’s conception of de-centralized social order was thus essentially different from the decentralization as generally understood.

The Broom-stick

The broom-stick is an instrument of the most unclean and the most despised social service rendered by the sweepers of India. It is thus the symbol of social equality. It reminds us of our common humanity, our oneness with ‘the lowliest and the lost’. The fundamental unity of all men is the plinth and foundation of all human relationship and human intercourse. It ought to be the motive force behind all our efforts of social change.14

The legend of Mahatma Gandhi has it that he returned to India from South Africa in 1915, took control of and radically transformed the Indian nationalist movement, and led three great popular movements that eventually wore down the British government and led to Indian independence. These were the Non-Cooperation Movement, 1920-22, in conjunction with the Khilafat Movement for the restoration of the Caliphate in Turkey after the First World War (a coalition he proposed with Muslim political leaders in which he required his colleagues to accept him as Dictator – his word); the Civil Disobedience Movement, 1930-31 (unsuccessfully sought to be revived from 1932 to 1934); and the Quit India Movement of 1942.15

Relevance of Non-Violent Revolution in the present scenario

14 Philosophy of Sarvodaya, AcharyadadaDharmadhikari, Popular prakashan 2000

15 http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence

There was a time not long ago when any incident of violence was treated as a matter of great concern. But violence has become so pervasive in the world today that most of such incidents occurring on daily basis which attract scarce attention of the people. When something gruesome or shocking happens there is often debate about how to check violence. However, it has become a way with the world to treat evil with more evil. The whole issue of arms proliferation is based on the premise of promoting violence as a power and justifying use of weapons as a necessity to maintain peace, law and order. Is violence justified for a good cause? This is a critical question requiring a concrete answer today and most of people would support it by referring to crime related to terrorism, requisite for defense of vulnerable sections of society and so on.

But history has been the witness of the fact that violence begets more violence. We can subjugate an enemy by use of force but so far as eradication of hatred, resentment, mistrust and wickedness through force is concerned there is doubt regarding that aspect. The benefits of a non-violent culture are tremendous and enduring. If nations and their people adopt Non-Violence in their thinking, planning and in conduct, then there will be progress at all levels of human existence by leaps and bounds.

Nations will have no need for hoarding lethal weapons of mass destruction and to spend on defence to such a considerable amount. A world at war or violent conflict cannot progress when survival of basic human rights and security are threatened creating hurdles in the path of progress. Peace and Non-Violence are pre-requisites for the establishment of a developed world. Such a society or nation can devote itself to raising the bar to achieve the best in spirituality, science, commerce, art, education and other spheres of human activity. They can reach the highest level of human experience in terms of quality of work and relationship. Such a world is not a utopian dream but a reality that can be achieved in the present times. There was a period in human experience called Satyuga or heaven when people used to live with a completely non-violent attitude and believing in the policy of common brotherhood. In reality, today the entire human world has become hostage and in the grip of violent forces- vices such as lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego.

The Gandhian principles of Non-Violence were never irrelevant because Non-Violence is the fundamental belief. We cannot imagine this world without Non-Violence, because if everyone will become violent and cruel then they will fight against each other and high lofty aims of a country will end up in smoke ultimately danger to the existence of world. So his principle has to become the most important principle to practice to have a peaceful world. Gandhi’s non-violent revolution played an important role in the freedom movement. The great thought given by Gandhi during the time of freedom movement is also relevant in today’s life.

The world is filled with disguising terrorism, violence, discrimination, etc. The politicians ignite religion based war among people for money and power. So people are tired and bored of being patient and tolerant. It seems that Gandhian principles are slowly vanishing from human heart and tolerance power is decreasing gradually. Ernest Cheguevara, Leon Trotsky, Frantz Fanon and Subhash Chandra Bose were fervent critics of Non-Violence argued that Non-Violence and pacifism are an attempt to impose the morals of the bourgeoisie upon the proletariat, that violence is the necessary accompaniment to revolutionary change or that the right to self-defense is fundamental. For example, the complaint of Malcolm X that “I believe it’s a crime for anyone being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself.”George Orwell argued that Non-Violence resistance strategy of Gandhi could be effective in countries with “A free press and right of assembly” which could make it possible “Not merely to appeal to outside opinion, but to bring a mass movement into being, or even to make your intentions known to your adversary”, but he was skeptical of Gandhi’s approach being effective in the opposite sort of circumstances.

“Concept of Non-Violence is a false ideal. It presupposes the existence of compassion and a sense of justice on the part of once adversary. When this adversary has everything to lose and nothing to gain by exercising justice and compassion, his reaction can only be negative”. These political thinkers criticized Non-Violence as being ineffective racist, statist, patriarchal, tactically and strategically inferior to militant activism and deluded. They claimed traditional histories diluted the impact of Non-Violence, ignoring the involvement of militants in such movements as the Indian independence movement and civil rights movement.

They believed that sometimes Non-Violence can be effective but sometimes it can be dangerous to progressive movements. Non-Violence theory is troubled by moral dogma and mechanical logic. “Success is claimed for Non-Violence where failure occurred. Finally the insistence on non-violent politics has led to rigidity.”16

16 (Chapter –1)Gene Sharp, The Politics Of Non-Violent Action

George Orwell takes his criticism further. He claims that the imperialists themselves saw Gandhi as their right hand man. He made it easier for them to rule because he used his influence to make sure that no action was taken which would make a real difference. The British always treated Gandhi well and praise because they did not want him to die and perhaps be replaced by someone who believed less in force and more in bombs ‘’Soul force’’. They may have hated him for what he was doing-Raising the masses, but now they needed him for what he was doing-keeping those masses in control.17

Nonviolence, a potent force in the 1960s fight for civil rights, has become an “embarrassment, an instrument of the weak,” lamented Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch.18

Feminist criticized it by claiming that Non-Violence looks a lot like passivity and women have been expected to be passive in the face of violence. Nonviolence talks about accepting, suffering rather than inflicting it on others and this looks very much what women had been doing throughout the ages. They point out that while Gandhi asks for self-suffering to melt the heart of the opponent, in the case of women it has merely left them in a second class position. It can be noted that power is not given away, it has to be taken. They claim that public face of these campaign shows women as sacrificing martyrs- just what they have always been expected to be.

This argument is extended further stating that there is something inheritantly problematic with the very theory of power on which Gandhi and other nonviolent theorist found their activism. The claim is that the withdrawal of consent is not as easy as is implied by these theorists because in our society power is patriarchal and it excludes women.19

Ralph Summy adds that “a satyagraha that discounted the views and passions rife in its society and proceeded blindly on its own purist path was tantamount to pursuing merely personal redemption and not societal change.”20

17 George Orwell, ‘’letter to the Revered Iorworth Jones” in The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters

of George Orwell, Vol.2: My

Country Right or Left, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970, P.P.109-112, at p.111.

20 http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/nonviolence

19 Kate McGuiness, “Gene Sharp’s theory of power: A Feminist Critique of Consent”, journal of peace

research (1993), vol.30, pp- 101-115

20 Ralph Summy, Personal Communication

Gandhiji has always dreamt of the world where everyone is blessed with peaceful environment. Non-Violence is a peaceful phenomenon with utmost significance. It is the most innovative and inspiring solution to all kinds of problems and conflicts existing in the society, nation and the world. The antidote for violence is to promote a culture of ahimsa and Non-Violence. If Non-Violence is promoted as the highest ethic and way of life by all religious, political and social leaders, our world will become a paradise. The present scenario of violence and its related branch all over the world has once again made its importance significant.

Nations which are being the victim of corruption, communalism, dictatorship and power games are really in need to go back to Gandhi’s conviction of Non-Violence and truth as a last resort to escape from these maladies. By enforcing Non-Violence, these nations will surely get rid of social, political, economic and religious troubles. Beyond doubt, it can be said that social doctrine of Non-Violence promulgated by Mahatma Gandhi has now become the key to provide sustenance to the new social and political order and it is not a thing of the past but holds a bright future if enforced in proper manner all over world.

References :

V.R. Mehta, Foundation of Indian Political Thought
B.N. Ray, Tradition and Innovation in India Political Thought Dr. S.R. Myneni, Political Science Reprint: 2015
The Political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi by GN Dhawan Gene Sharp, The Politics Of Non-Violent Action
Gandhi on Non-Violence by Mahatma Gandhi RatanDas :The Global Vision Of Mahatma Gandhi
The philosophy of nonviolence and world revolution through world law by Glen.T.Martin Philosophy of Sarvodaya, AcharyadadaDharmadhikari, Popular prakashan 2000
George Orwell, ‘’letter to the Revered Iorworth Jones” in The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Vol.2: My Country Right or Left, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970 http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo22353631.html http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence http://www.mkgandhi.org/africaneedsgandhi/gandhi%27s_philosophy_of_nonviolence.htm http://www.importantindia.com/15320/essay-on-Non-Violence-of-mahatma-gandhi/ http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/king-of-kindness.html http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/nonviolence http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence www.Mettacenter.org
www.Non-Violencemag.com
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-
http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html
www.gandhiashram.org
www.history.com

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MAHATMA GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY ON NON-VIOLENCE

This paper demonstrates that the political theory of Mahatma Gandhi provides us a novel way to understand and arbitrate the conflict among moral projects. Gandhi offers us a vision of political action that insists on the viability of the search for truth and the implicit possibility of adjudicating among competing claims to truth. His vision also presents a more complex and realistic understanding, than some other contemporary pluralists, of political philosophy and of political life itself. In an increasingly multicultural world, political theory is presented with perhaps it’s most vigorous challenge yet. As radically different moral projects confront one another, the problem of competing claims of truth arising from particular views of the human good remains crucial for political philosophy and political action. Recent events have demonstrated that the problem is far from being solved and that its implications are more far-reaching than the domestic politics of industrialized nations. As the problem of violence has also become coterminous with issues of pluralism, many have advocated the banishing of truth claims from politics altogether. Political theorists have struggled to confront this problem through a variety of conceptual lenses. Debates pertaining to the politics of multiculturalism, tolerance, or recognition have all been concerned with the question of pluralism as one of the most urgent facts of political life, in need of both theoretical and practical illumination.

Related Papers

International Journal of Gandhi Studies

Farah Godrej

SMART M O V E S J O U R N A L IJELLH

The present paper discusses the philosophy of ‘nonviolence’ (ahimsa) of Mahatma Gandhi, which he devised as a weapon to fight the brute forces of violence and hatred, hailing it as the only way to peace. Gandhi based his philosophy of nonviolence on the principle of love for all and hatred for none. He thought violence as an act caused to a person directly or indirectly, denying him his legitimate rights in the society by force, injury or deception. Gandhi’s nonviolence means avoiding violent means to achieve one’s end, howsoever, lofty it might be, as he firmly believed that the use of violence, even if in the name of achieving a justifiable end was not good, as it would bring more violence. He firmly adhered to the philosophy of Gita that preaches to follow the rightful path, remaining oblivious of its outcome. Gandhi used nonviolence in both his personal and political life and used it first in South Africa effectively and back home he applied it in India against the British with far more astounding success, as it proved supremely useful and efficacious in liberating the country from the British servitude. However, he never tried to use it as a political tactic to embarrass the opponent or to take undue

Routledge:London

Prof. (Dr.) Sanjeev Kumar

‘Mahatma Gandhi has made a lasting contribution to political philosophy and this requires that succeeding generations of scholars interpret that contribution in ways that meet the needs of the changing times and intellectual trends. Gandhi and the Contemporary World meets this requirement very admirably: it presents Gandhi in a critical, lively and timely fashion. Enjoy this excellent addition to Gandhi literature’. Anthony J. Parel, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Calgary, Canada ‘This riveting collection of essays included in the volume throws valuable light on Mahatma Gandhi’s activist political philosophy and on some of its legacies today.Comprehensively discussed and examined are his ideas of truth and non-violence in their bearing on his conception of satyagraha and on his approach to the postcolonial Indian nation’. Thomas Pantham, former Professor at M S University of Baroda, Baroda, India

The volume examines diverse facets of Gandhi’s holistic view of human life – social, economic and political – for the creation of a just society. Bringing together expert analyses and reflections, the chapters here emphasise the philosophical and practical urgency of Gandhi’s thought and action. They explore the significance of his concepts of truth and nonviolence to address moral, spiritual and ethical issues, growing intolerance, conflict and violence, poverty and hunger, and environmental crisis for the present world. The volume serves as a platform for constructive dialogue for academics, researchers, policymakers and students to re-imagine Gandhi and his moral and political principles. It will be of great interest to those in philosophy, political studies, Gandhi studies, history, cultural studies, peace studies and sociology.

American Political Science Review

Karuna Mantena

Although Gandhi is often taken to be an exemplary moral idealist in politics, this article seeks to demonstrate that Gandhian nonviolence is premised on a form of political realism, specifically a contextual, consequentialist, and moral-psychological analysis of a political world understood to be marked by inherent tendencies toward conflict, domination, and violence. By treating nonviolence as the essential analog and correlative response to a realist theory of politics, one can better register the novelty of satyagraha(nonviolent action) as a practical orientation in politics as opposed to a moral proposition, ethical stance, or standard of judgment. The singularity of satyagraha lays in its self-limiting character as a form of political action that seeks to constrain the negative consequences of politics while working toward progressive social and political reform. Gandhian nonviolence thereby points toward a transformational realism that need not begin and end in conservatism, moral equivocation, or pure instrumentalism.

Journal of Social Philosophy

Mervyn D'Souza

International Review of Sociology

Tadd Fernée

This essay re-examines the democratic Enlightenment as a multi-dimensional, heterogeneous, non-Eurocentric and living heritage. Gandhi's political contribution to the Enlightenment heritage is assessed in terms of values, epistemology and practice. Practically, this concerns the French Revolutionary heritage as a paradigm of political action, and Gandhian innovations in terms of mass movements based on the philosophy and practice of non-violence. The essay contends that Gandhi, far from merely an heir to the Enlightenment tradition, also radically challenged, expanded and transformed it. This transformation belongs to a broader re-evaluation of Enlightenment in terms of growth over final ends, held in common with thinkers such as John Dewey. The article critiques predominant arguments that Gandhi was an ‘anti-modern’, whether in a heroic ‘post-modern’ posture or as an enemy of ‘scientific modernity’. It argues for a more sociologically nuanced and historically grounded view of Gandhi in the historical comparative perspective of modern independence struggles, civil society formation and nation-making.

International Journal on World Peace

Saskia L E Van Goelst Meijer

Conflicting global narratives on good or right living, based on conflicting truth-claims, can and often do lead to violence. We need not look far to find examples in contemporary religious, ethnic or ideological conflicts that confirm this. Yet, one of the central elements in the practice of nonviolence is that of satya, a Sanskrit term best translated as ‘truth’. In this paper I will address this paradox by arguing that satya points to a very specific conception of truth. By examining satya in the lives and work of both Mohandas Gandhi and Václav Havel, I will explore this notion as a practice of complexity handling. I explore this theme from the background of humanistic studies, a multi-disciplinary academic discipline that critically explores issues of (existential) meaning and humanization, or personal and social aspects of ‘good living’. In a globalising world in which people are confronted with conflicting global narratives on good living in an ever-increasing manner, and have no choice but to position themselves somewhere in this multiplicity of narratives, developing skills of handling complexity are crucial. I will argue in this paper that the theory and practice of nonviolence holds clues for how to do this. I use the term nonviolence here not only to point to the absence of violence in solving problems, but as a coherent set of ideas and practices that provide a framework for understanding (social) reality.

Dwaipayan Sen

Political and social movements in South Africa, the United States of America, Germany, Myanmar, India, and elsewhere, have drawn inspiration from the non-violent political techniques advocated by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during his leadership of the anti-colonial struggle for Indian freedom from British colonial rule. This course charts a global history of Gandhi's thought about non-violence and its expression in civil disobedience and resistance movements both in India and the world. Organized in three modules, the first situates Gandhi through consideration of the diverse sources of his own historical and ideological formation; the second examines the historical contexts and practices through which non-violence acquired meaning for him and considers important critiques; the third explores the various afterlives of Gandhian politics in movements throughout the world. We will examine autobiography and biography, Gandhi's collected works, various types of primary source, political, social, and intellectual history, and audiovisual materials. In addition to widely disseminated narratives of Gandhi as a symbol of non-violence, the course will closely attend to the deep contradictions concerning race, caste, gender, and class that characterized his thought and action. By unsettling conventional accounts of his significance, we will grapple with the problem of how to make sense of his troubled legacy.

Spicer Adventist University Research Articles Journal

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Essay on Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Freedom Struggle

Students are often asked to write an essay on Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Freedom Struggle in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Freedom Struggle

The birth of a leader.

Mahatma Gandhi was born in India in 1869. He studied law in England before returning to India. He later moved to South Africa, where he first used nonviolent resistance.

Gandhi’s Philosophy

Gandhi believed in ‘Satyagraha’, or truth-force. He thought peaceful protests were the best way to resist unfair laws. This was a new idea in the fight for freedom.

Gandhi and India’s Freedom Struggle

Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He led the Indian National Congress, guiding India towards independence. He organized nonviolent protests against British rule.

Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi’s nonviolent methods inspired many, and India gained independence in 1947. His ideas continue to influence people worldwide.

250 Words Essay on Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Freedom Struggle

Introduction, non-violent approach.

Gandhi’s primary weapon in the struggle was non-violence or ‘Ahimsa.’ His philosophy was grounded in the belief that moral superiority could not be achieved through violent means. This approach resonated with the masses and enabled widespread participation, thereby intensifying the struggle against the British Raj.

Mass Mobilization

Gandhi’s leadership was marked by his ability to mobilize the masses. His simple lifestyle and empathetic nature helped him connect with the common people. He initiated campaigns like the Non-Cooperation Movement, Civil Disobedience Movement, and Quit India Movement, which saw mass participation unprecedented in the history of the Indian freedom struggle.

Championing Swaraj

Gandhi’s concept of ‘Swaraj’ or self-rule was not just political independence but also economic and social self-reliance. He advocated for the boycott of British goods and promoted indigenous industries, enhancing India’s economic independence and providing a blueprint for post-colonial economic development.

Mahatma Gandhi’s role in India’s freedom struggle was transformative. His non-violent approach, ability to mobilize the masses, and vision for Swaraj were instrumental in shaping the course of India’s freedom struggle. His philosophies have left an indelible mark on India’s ethos and continue to inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the globe.

500 Words Essay on Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Freedom Struggle

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, famously known as Mahatma Gandhi, played a pivotal role in the Indian freedom struggle against British rule. His unique approach of ‘Satyagraha’ (insistence on truth) and ‘Ahimsa’ (non-violence) left an indelible mark on the world and significantly contributed to India’s independence.

Advent of Satyagraha

Non-cooperation movement.

Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress from an elitist party into a mass movement. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922) was the first large-scale initiative against British rule under his leadership. Gandhi called for a complete boycott of British goods and services, which included schools, courts, and government services. The movement stirred the nation, uniting Indians across regions, religions, and classes. Despite its abrupt end due to the Chauri Chaura incident, the movement marked the beginning of a nationwide struggle for freedom.

Civil Disobedience Movement

The Civil Disobedience Movement, initiated with the Dandi March in 1930, was another milestone in India’s struggle for freedom. Gandhi and his followers marched about 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi, where they made salt, defying the British salt laws. This act was a symbolic defiance of the British monopoly and a peaceful protest against their oppressive regime.

Quit India Movement

Gandhi’s philosophy and its impact.

Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and truth was not merely a strategy for the freedom struggle, but a way of life. His principles of simplicity, self-reliance, and communal harmony continue to inspire millions around the world. His innovative methods of civil resistance have influenced numerous freedom struggles globally, including the civil rights movement in the U.S. led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the Indian freedom struggle was monumental. His non-violent resistance against British rule united the diverse Indian population and instilled in them a sense of national pride. His principles and methods, though criticized by some, proved to be effective in achieving India’s independence. Gandhi’s legacy continues to influence and inspire movements for civil rights and social change worldwide, making him a global icon for peace and justice.

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Mahatma Gandhi Essay

Below we have provided very simple written essay on Mahatma Gandhi, a person who would always live in the heart of Indian people. Every kid and children of the India know him by the name of Bapu or Father of the Nation. Using following Mahatma Gandhi essay, you can help your kids and school going children to perform better in their school during any competition or exam.

Long and Short Essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English

We have provided below short and long essay on Mahatma Gandhi in English for your information and knowledge.

The essays have been written in simple yet effective English so that you can easily grasp the information and present it whenever needed.

After going through these Mahatma Gandhi essay you will know about the life and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi; teachings of Mahatma Gandhi; what role did he played in the freedom struggle; why is he the most respected leader the world over; how his birthday is celebrated etc.

The information given in the essays will be useful in speech giving, essay writing or speech giving competition on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 1 (100 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is very famous in India as “Bapu” or “Rastrapita”. The full name of him is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was a great freedom fighter who led India as a leader of the nationalism against British rule. He was born on 2 nd of October in 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat, India.

He died on 30 th of January in 1948. M.K. Gandhi was assassinated by the Hindu activist, Nathuram Godse, who was hanged later as a punishment by the government of India. He has been given another name by the Rabindranath Tagore as “Martyr of the Nation” since 1948.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 2 (150 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is called as Mahatma because of his great works and greatness all through the life. He was a great freedom fighter and non-violent activist who always followed non-violence all though his life while leading India for the independence from British rule.

He was born on 2 nd of October in 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat, India. He was just 18 years old while studying law in the England. Later he went to British colony of South Africa to practice his law where he got differentiated from the light skin people because of being a dark skin person. That’s why he decided to became a political activist in order to do so some positive changes in such unfair laws.

Later he returned to India and started a powerful and non-violent movement to make India an independent country. He is the one who led the Salt March (Namak Satyagrah or Salt Satyagrah or Dandi March) in 1930. He inspired lots of Indians to work against British rule for their own independence.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 3 (200 words)

Mahatma Gandhi was a great and outstanding personality of the India who is still inspiring the people in the country as well as abroad through his legacy of greatness, idealness and noble life. Bapu was born in the Porbandar, Gujarat, India in a Hindu family on 2 nd of October in 1869. 2 nd of October was the great day for India when Bapu took birth. He paid his great and unforgettable role for the independence of India from the British rule. The full name of the Bapu is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He went to England for his law study just after passing his matriculation examination. Later he returned to India in as a lawyer in 1890.

After his arrival to India, he started helping Indian people facing various problems from the British rule. He started a Satyagraha movement against the British rule to help Indians. Other big movements started by the Bapu for the independence of India are Non-cooperation movement in the year 1920, Civil Disobedience movement in the year 1930 and Quit India movement in the year 1942. All the movements had shaken the British rule in India and inspired lots of common Indian citizens to fight for the freedom.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 4 (250 words)

Bapu, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was born in 1869 on 2 nd of October at Porbander in Gujarat, India. Mahatma Gandhi was a great Indian who led India with independence movement against British rule. He completed his schooling in India and went to England for further study of law. He returned to India as a lawyer and started practicing law. He started helping people of India who were humiliated and insulted by the British rule.

He started non-violence independence movement to fight against the injustice of Britishers. He got insulted many times but he continued his non-violent struggle for the Independence of India. After his return to India he joined Indian National Congress as a member. He was the great leader of the India independence movement who struggled a lot for the freedom of India. As a member of the Indian National Congress he started independence movements like Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and later Quit India Movement which became successful a day and help India in getting freedom.

As a great freedom fighter, he got arrested and sent to jail many times but he continued fighting against British rule for the justice of Indians. He was a great believer in non-violence and unity of people of all religions which he followed all through his struggle for independence. After his lots of struggles with many Indians, finally he became successful in making India an independent country on 15 th of August in 1947. Later he was assassinated in 1948 on 30 th of January by the Nathuram Godse, a Hindu activist.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 5 (300 words)

Mahatma Gandhi was a great freedom fighter who spent his whole life in struggle for the independence of India. He was born in the Indian Hindu family on 2 nd of October in 1869 in the Porbander, Gujarat. He lived his whole as a leader of the Indian people. His whole life story is a great inspiration for us. He is called as the Bapu or Rashtrapita as he spent his life in fighting against British rule for the freedom of us. While fighting with Britishers he took help of his great weapons like non-violence and Satyagraha movements to achieve freedom. Many times he got arrested and sent to the jail but he never discourages himself and continued fighting for national freedom.

He is the real father of our nation who really used his all power to make us free from the British rule. He truly understood the power of unity in people (from different castes, religions, community, race, age or gender) which he used all through his independence movement. Finally he forced Britishers to quit India forever through his mass movements on 15 th of August in 1947. Since 1947, the 15 th of August is celebrated every year as the Independence Day in India.

He could not continue his life after the independence of India in 1947 as he was assassinated by one of the Hindu activists, Nathuram Godse in 1948 on 30 th of January. He was the great personality who served his whole life till death for the motherland. He enlightened our life with the true light of freedom from British rule. He proved that everything is possible with the non-violence and unity of people. Even after getting died many years ago, he is still alive in the heart of every Indian as a “Father of the Nation and Bapu”.

Mahatma Gandhi Essay 6 (400 words)

Mahatma Gandhi is well known as the “Father of the Nation or Bapu” because of his greatest contributions towards the independence of our country. He was the one who believed in the non-violence and unity of the people and brought spirituality in the Indian politics. He worked hard for the removal of the untouchability in the Indian society , upliftment of the backward classes in India, raised voice to develop villages for social development, inspired Indian people to use swadeshi goods and other social issues. He brought common people in front to participate in the national movement and inspired them to fight for their true freedom.

He was one of the persons who converted people’s dream of independence into truth a day through his noble ideals and supreme sacrifices. He is still remembered between us for his great works and major virtues such as non-violence, truth, love and fraternity. He was not born as great but he made himself great through his hard struggles and works. He was highly influenced by the life of the King Harischandra from the play titled as Raja Harischandra. After his schooling, he completed his law degree from England and began his career as a lawyer. He faced many difficulties in his life but continued walking as a great leader.

He started many mass movements like Non-cooperation movement in 1920, civil disobedience movement in 1930 and finally the Quit India Movement in 1942 all through the way of independence of India. After lots of struggles and works, independence of India was granted finally by the British Government. He was a very simple person who worked to remove the colour barrier and caste barrier. He also worked hard for removing the untouchability in the Indian society and named untouchables as “Harijan” means the people of God.

Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi – Essay 7 (800 Words)

Introduction

Role of Non-violence in Indian Freedom Struggle

Champaran and Kheda Agitations

Non-cooperation Movement

Salt Satyagrah or Salt March

Quit India Movement

Long Essay on Mahatma Gandhi – Essay 8 (1100 Words)

Family and Life of Mahatma Gandhi

Birth and Childhood

Marriage and Education

Civil Rights Movement in Africa

Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Freedom Struggle

Why was Gandhi called Mahatma?

What are Gandhi’s accomplishments?

Fought against Racial Discrimination in South Africa

Face of the Indian Freedom Struggle

Uprooting the Evils of Society

What was Gandhi famous for?

These qualities of the great leader made him famous not only in India but also across the world and inspired global personalities like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

Mahatma Gandhi: What One Should Know Essay

To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
As a template for you assignment

The book, The Essential Gandhi, covers essential things about Mahatma Gandhi that one should know. It contains quotes from the writings of Gandhi that talks about his life, work and his convictions.

The author presents Gandhi’s stand on issues like spirituality, suffering, poverty, politics, non-violence, and civic disobedience among others. Gandhi’s biographer, Luis Fischer, did this by collecting pierces of Gandhi’s work with some explanatory head notes on each of these works.

The book shows Gandhi from his early life and talks about him in two parts: first, as the man; second, as the Mahatma himself. Gandhi married his wife at an early age of thirteen years and went to Britain to study law. When he finished and went back to India, Gandhi did poorly in his work as a lawyer.

A group of Indian Muslims hired him to serve as a lawyer of their community in South Africa. It is here that Gandhi started undergoing transformation. The author says that “Gandhi was a self made man and the transformation began in South Africa … His was a remarkable case of second birth in one lifetime” (Gandhi, pg. 32).

Gandhi went through various forms of prejudice, harassment and beating but he held onto what he was convinced of as right. He also expressed his concerns and made known to people what he knew was right. He witnessed and experienced instances of racism and prejudice in his place of work, travel and even in his residency.

While in South Africa, he learnt that the Indian merchants did not practice justice in their business deals. Gandhi believed that this was not true. He called a meeting of all Indians in the city of Pretoria on arrival where he presented his first public speech. In reaction to the beliefs and actions of the merchants, Gandhi said, “I strongly contested this position in my speech and awakened the merchants to a sense of duty” (Gandhi, pg. 33).

The book also shows that Gandhi had compassion and determination. When a mob attacked him, he did not sue them, even though he had all the right to do so. He had compassion on this mob and was determined to let them learn their wrongs.

Gandhi stated that he was sorry due to the Mob’s ignorance and narrowness. He argued that he was sure these people were convinced that what they were doing was right and he had “no reason therefore to be angry with them” (Gandhi, pg. 44).

The book also addresses the issue of non-violence. Gandhi was a man of anger and he learnt, through biter experience, that trying to solve issues through violence out of anger was not good and sometimes could not bear fruit. He said that, “anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world” (Gandhi, pg. xii). Gandhi believed that it was not possible to change the convictions of a person by use of violence.

He learnt this through his wife who resisted his constant verbal and physical abuses to force her to do what was against her convictions. Through this knowledge, he suggested that people could not force governments to change their policies through violence and power politics.

This conviction also helped him to lead the people of India to resist the rule of the British by use of non-violence means. Through his message of nonviolence, Gandhi advised all people to embrace truth and oneness and seek this truth in other ways apart from violence.

Together with nonviolence, courage and truth were important political principles of Gandhi. He called these principles Satyagraba. He learnt and practiced these principles throughout his life.

When he came back to India, Gandhi applied these principles and led other Indians in applying them to exert civil disobedience against the British and thus gain their independence. According to him, national independence alone was not enough to give a person peace and prosperity.

The Essential Gandhi also brings out the issue of religion and shows how Gandhi viewed its various forms. He did not despise any religion. He gave a deep discussion of many forms of religion and their defects. His view on religion helped him try to unite the Indian people who were being divided along religious lines.

This book also addresses other issues and ideas, which Gandhi not only believed but advocated for and encouraged people to embrace. The author argues that Gandhi believed that untouchability was evil against humanity. Even though this was the case, his view on humanity made him to live together with those the society considered as untouchables.

He also argues that Gandhi’s claim of British citizenship shows that his move towards forming a movement to lead India to independence was not out of sheer patriotism. He valued humanity and considered it his responsibility to protect both camps of the British and the Indians.

He said, “I felt that if I demanded rights as a British citizen, it was also my duty, as such, to participate in the defense of the British Empire” (Gandhi). Thus, what drove Gandhi to seek freedom for the Indians was not the desire for political supremacy or patriotism, but it was for humanity.

Works Cited

Gandhi, Mahatma. The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas. New York: Random House Inc., 2002. Print.

The Analysis of the passage from Sartre’s Nausea
Absurdity in Kafka's “The Trial” and Camus' “The Stranger”
Non-Violence Approach to Conflicts
Gandhi’s Thoughts on Inter-Religious Relations
Mohandus Gandhi’s leadership
The Individual, Faith, and Society
Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together
The Problem of People’s ‘Dangerous Evolutionary Baggage’
Kafka’s Stories "The Metamorphosis" and "A Hunger Artist"
Reflective Entry: “The stranger” by Albert Camus
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In Search of Gandhi: Essays and Reflections

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This chapter talks of Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence. It explains that though Gandhi was the greatest exponent of the doctrine of ahimsa or non-violence in modern times, he was not its author because ahimsa has been part of the Indian religious tradition for centuries. However, he was able to transform what had been an individual ethic into a tool of social and political action. The chapter provides examples of non-violent struggles over the past two decades, and acknowledges that Gandhi’s ideas and methods are still appreciated by only a small enlightened minority in the world.

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> Journals
> Modern Intellectual History
> Volume 20 Issue 1
> Unravelling the Myth of Gandhian Non-violence: Why...

Article contents

Introduction, gandhi's initial uses of the terms of ahiṃsā and “non-violence”, how did gandhi explain the central principle of satyāgraha in south africa, how did gandhi invent his nationalist notion of “ ahiṃsā ” in india, unravelling the myth of gandhian non-violence: why did gandhi connect his principle of satyāgraha with the “hindu” notion of ahiṃsā .

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2022

Supplementary materials
How did Gandhi invent his nationalist notion of “ahiṃsā” in India?

The purpose of this article is to unearth the genealogy of M. K. Gandhi's “non-violence,” the cardinal principle of satyāgraha . Previous works considered that Gandhi's concept of non-violence was essentially derived from the “ancient” Hindu–Jain precept of ahiṃsā (non-killing) common in the subcontinent. On the contrary, I will, by examining Gandhi's primary texts in Gujarati, Hindi, and English, demonstrate the following: (1) during Gandhi's sojourn in South Africa (1893–1914) where he led his first satyāgraha campaign, he never associated the term ahiṃsā with satyāgraha ; (2) his satyāgraha campaign was initially explained with the trans-religious and cosmopolitan concepts of Tolstoy and the nirguṇ bhaktas ; (3) Gandhi first began to use the term ahiṃsā as a nationalist slogan linked with satyāgraha immediately after his return to India in 1915; (4) the English translation of ahiṃsā as “non-violence” was eventually coined by Gandhi after 1919 during his all-India satyāgraha campaign.

It is well acknowledged that M. K. Gandhi (Mohandās Karamcand Gāndhī, 1869–1948), one of the most prominent political leaders in colonial India, promoted the Hindu–Jain traditional notion of ahiṃsā in his native tongues of Gujarati and Hindi/Hindustani, rendering it “non-violence” in English, throughout the nationalist struggle in the subcontinent. Footnote 1 Gandhi labelled his anticolonial campaign satyāgraha (truth-force). Footnote 2 This term, originally invented by Gandhi during his twenty-one-year South African sojourn, denoted a philosophy as well as a method of mass agitation that prohibited use of violent means. After 1915, Gandhi consistently argued that the principle of ahiṃsā was the very foundation of “Indian” or “Hindu” culture and therefore his all-India satyāgraha campaign against the British Raj must be firmly rooted in it.

To the best of my knowledge, it has been almost accepted as a truism that Gandhi's idea of ahiṃsā /non-violence, the cardinal principle of satyāgraha , essentially originated from his childhood experiences (1869–88) in the Princely States of Porbandar and Rajkot, the western and the central regions of the Kāṭhiyāvād peninsula respectively, both infused with the religio-cultural ethos of ahiṃsā . Footnote 3 Yet such genealogical understandings of Gandhi's notion of ahiṃsā /non-violence credulously internalize his nationalist self-narrative, which was invented after he reached his late forties. Footnote 4 Although it is impossible to completely deny the psychological impressions of Gandhi's childhood, which are substantially subjective matters, Footnote 5 it is crucial for us to acknowledge that he almost never underscored the positive value of the term ahiṃsā in both public and private spheres until around 1915.

Rather than dwell upon the influences of his early life obtained from the “ancient” culture common in his homeland, in this article I will emphasize that Gandhi's experiences in South Africa (1893–1914) were vital. There, Gandhi led his satyāgraha campaign (1906–14) for the first time and peacefully combated racial discrimination against Asian immigrants by cooperating with people of diverse religio-cultural backgrounds, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. During these years, Gandhi was exposed to trans-religious as well as universalist ideas. His principle of satyāgraha was by no means articulated using the word ahiṃsā or “non-violence” (although he did claim to deny the use of “violence.”) Footnote 6 Instead, it was chiefly expressed using concepts that appeared in the works of Leo Tolstoy and the late medieval nirguṇ bakhti poets. Finding a deep conceptual commonality between the putative “West” and “East,” Gandhi cherished his cosmopolitan vision. It was only later that Gandhi, now a matured politician of forty-five, first began to explain, while emphasizing its Hindu religiosity, the central virtue of satyāgraha by using ahiṃsā (and the term “non-violence” four years later). Although Gandhian-like ethico-humanist interpretations of ahiṃsā became prevalent among both scholars and civil rights activists after India's independence, “Vedic” and “Brahmanical” conceptions of the term, featuring aspects such as a high-caste vegetarian diet and cow worship and entailing communal implications, were conspicuously common among Hindu nationalist reformers in the pre-Gandhian era. Footnote 7 Gandhi's decision to utilize the word ahiṃsā immediately after his return to India in 1915 indicates his important intellectual evolution as a nationalist leader of the subcontinent. It also points to his tactical need to secure moral–financial support from primarily well-to-do vānīyās , the dominant Jain/Hindu mercantile caste in Ahmedabad, in order to establish and run his satyāgraha āśram in Kocrab. Footnote 8 Finally, from 1919 onwards, Gandhi began to translate the term ahiṃsā into the English and religiously neutral word “non-violence” during the beginning stage of his all-India nationalist campaign. This lesser-known genealogy behind Gandhi's self-narrative of ahiṃsā /non-violence will eventually provide us with a crucial insight, allowing us to relocate Gandhian thought from the Indian–Hindu nationalist framework to a broader global cosmopolitan context. Footnote 9 The multifaceted process of how Gandhi, in an apparently almost ad hoc manner, began to use the English rendering “non-violence” for ahiṃsā during the all-India nationalist campaign will also explain how he struggled to gain popular support from Indian Muslims.

Before moving on to a genealogical analysis of Gandhi's concept of ahiṃsā /non-violence, I should note one essential reason for the lack of scholarship on this subject. An almost insurmountable amount of historical materials pertinent to the topic exist and require multilingual analysis. There are voluminous documents written by Gandhi primarily in three languages (Gujarati, Hindi, and English), Footnote 10 amounting to more than 100,000 published pages, including editors’ translations, compiled in the three versions of Gandhi's Collected Works . These are, namely, the eighty-two volumes of the Gujarati version of the Collected Works entitled Gāndhījīno Akṣardeh: Mahātmā Gāndhīnāṃ Lakhāṇo, Bhāṣaṇo, Patro Vagereno Saṅgrah (1967–92, hereafter GA ); the ninety-seven volumes of the Hindi version entitled Sampūrṇ Gāndhī Vāṅgmay (1958–94, hereafter SGV ); and the hundred volumes of the English version entitled The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (1956–94, hereafter CWMG ). Footnote 11 Most previous works, barring a few exceptions, Footnote 12 have failed to examine when, where, or in what context the terms ahiṃsā and “non-violence” exactly appeared in Gandhi's writings. Footnote 13 To earnestly confront this absence in past scholarly works, this article will chronologically examine all the materials available in GA , SGV , and CWMG in order to demonstrate the terminological as well as conceptual genealogy of Gandhi's idea of ahiṃsā /non-violence.

* Note. More precisely, in this speech Gandhi used the expression “abstention from himsa” instead of using the word “ahimsa.”

Additionally, as can be seen in Table 1 , the English term “non-violence” was first used by Gandhi on 18 April 1919, the day on which he announced the temporary suspension of the first all-India satyāgraha campaign, known as the Rowlatt Satyāgraha or haḍtāl , due to the outbreak of a series of riots in north and western India. Footnote 14 From this day onwards, he began to use the word “non-violence” as an English rendering of ahiṃsā during the anticolonial nationalist struggles. According to H. Bodewitz, Gandhi's use of the term ahiṃsā as “policy of rejecting violent means” is a purely modern interpretation. “Non-injury” or “non-killing” rather than “non-violence” is a more common translation for the term ahiṃsā from a philological perspective. It should be noted that the word “non-violence” cannot be found in English dictionaries published before the Gandhian era. Footnote 15 It is possible to say Gandhi was the most influential, perchance the first, person to consciously coin the English term “non-violence,” and translated the Sanskrit word ahiṃsā into it.

Below, Gandhi's use of the word ahiṃsā / ahiṃsak in each document in his South African period will be explored, but first I would like to look at Gandhi's initial ten references to the term in Hind Svarāj . Hind Svarāj was Gandhi's first and only book to provide an exhaustive exposition of his understanding of the essence and philosophy of satyāgraha . Excluding the preface, the book contains twenty chapters. Along with the idea of satyāgraha , the book also deals with Gandhi's wide-ranging critical views on modern civilizations, colonial political economy, communalism, and national education in order to show why he considered satyāgraha the only true means to achieve Indian svarāj (home rule, self-rule).

What is most striking in terms of our ongoing discussion is that Gandhi never used the word ahiṃsā in Chapter 17, entitled “Satyāgraha: Ātmabaḷ,” Footnote 16 which is considered to be “the most important chapter in the whole book.” Footnote 17 In it Gandhi straightforwardly explains the core meaning and significance of satyāgraha and its contributing concepts (as further considered in the next section of this article). If the word ahiṃsā was not used in this chapter, where in Hind Svarāj did Gandhi deploy it? The word appears once towards the end of Chapter 9, “The Condition of India (Cont.): Train” (“Hindustānnī Daśā [Cālu]: Relveo”), Footnote 18 where he critically examines the modern scientific revolution (particularly the invention of the train) in England during the nineteenth century. After this, the word appears nine times in Chapter 10, “The Condition of India (Cont.): Hindus and Muslims (“Hindustānnī Daśā [Cālu]: Hindu-Muslmān”), Footnote 19 in the context of a discussion on Hindu–Muslim communal tension in India. Footnote 20

Let us see how exactly the word is used in these two chapters. Hind Svarāj is written as a supposed dialogue between a “reader” (a radical Indian revolutionary) and an “editor” (Gandhi himself) of the weekly journal Indian Opinion , which was published by Gandhi in South Africa. Footnote 21 While the former aims to achieve Indian svarāj by radical military means, the latter tries to persuade the former that violent methods are improper for achieving the “true” Indian svarāj . In the ending section of Chapter 9, there is a discussion about the communal conflict in India and the reader questions the editor as follows: “It is said that Hindus and Muslims have bitter enmity ( hāḍver ) … Hindus worship the cow, [and] Muslims kill ( māre ) her. [Therefore,] Hindus are ahiṃsak , [and] Muslims are hiṃsak [the adjective form of the term hiṃsā (killing, injury) which also means “practitioner(s) of hiṃsā ”]. Thus, in every step, there are differences [between them], and how are these [problems] resolved and how can India become one [nation]?” Footnote 22 The editor answers, saying, “Thinking fundamentally, no one is ahiṃsak , because we [all] harm living beings ( jīvnī hāni ) … [If we] think ordinarily, many Hindus are meat-eaters ( māṃsāhārī ), therefore, they are not regarded as ahiṃsak … If such, it is completely odd [to say] that the one is hiṃsak and the other is ahiṃsak , therefore, they cannot be together.” Footnote 23 As can be seen here, Gandhi referred to the word ahiṃsak in relation to the Hindu customs of vegetarian diet and cow protection. He explained that these customs were generally acknowledged as the cause for the communal tension between Hindus and Muslims.

As a matter of fact, such communal debates revolving around the customs of Hindu vegetarianism and cow protection were prevalent particularly among the nineteenth-century Indian intellectuals associated with Arya Samaj. For instance, Dayānand Sarasvatī, a founder of Arya Samaj, wrote in his 1875 book Gokaruṇānidhi that cow protection was the essential tradition of Vedic Hinduism. Although Dayānand did not use the word ahiṃsā , he identified a Hindu as a rakṣak (protector) and a Muslim as a hiṃsak (killer) because of the latter's meat consumption when he elaborated upon Hindu–Muslim tensions. Footnote 24 A decade after the death of Dayānand, Arya Samaj split into two parties due to conflict between the members concerning the relevance of maintaining a vegetarian diet. Those members who held a secularist perspective in favor of meat-eating were acknowledged as the “cultured” or “college” party, whereas those against it were regarded as the mahātmā party, the special epithet given to revered saints or sages. Footnote 25 Gandhi's discussion of cow protection ( gāynī rakṣā ) in Hind Svarāj reflects the prevalence of this issue at the time. Footnote 26

In the other documents covered, as mentioned above, there were only two which included the word ahiṃsā in Gandhi's South African period. Both of these were Gujarati private letters written in 1914. These letters were addressed to Gandhi's uncle's grandsons, named Chaganlāl Gāndhī (hereafter Chaganlal) and Maganlāl Gāndhī (hereafter Maganlal). Chaganlal and Maganlal were residents of the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa and central members of Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign. The letter to Chaganlal written on 11 March 1914 reads, “Milk is believed to be a sacred thing [ pavitra vastu ], that should be taken; however, [it] should be regarded as unsacred [ apavitra ] … at least knowing this, [we should] forsake [it]. Such an idea that it is a pure flesh [ śuddh māṃs ] and against the duty of ahiṃsā [ ahiṃsādharm ] was never gone out of my mind.” Footnote 27 The letter to Maganlal written during 1914 reads, “From [my] experience, I came to know that as we have spent our life simply and have been firmly determined in our search for the awareness of the ātmā [ ātmānubhūti ], our desire [ icchā ] for eating many types of food will vanish away … Twenty years ago in London, too, I must have done so and I could have lived on an ahiṃsak diet [ ahiṃsak khrāk ].” Footnote 28 In these letters, Gandhi used the word ahiṃsā in relation to his daily diet for reducing desires. What should be noted here is that Gandhi, as can be seen in the letter to Chaganlal, viewed the habit of drinking milk as being as harmful as meat-eating. Such an idea was contrary to the general Hindu perception of milk as a sacred drink. Footnote 29 The discussions in both letters are focused on Gandhi's personal concerns; he never raised topics such as satyāgraha or other political issues in these missives, although his dietary or personal interests were intrinsically connected to his ideas of the body politic. Footnote 30

So far, we have seen how the term ahiṃsā was used in Hind Svarāj and two private letters. It is clear that a careful examination of Gandhi's South African writings reveals that he only used the word in relation to practicing vegetarianism or cow protection. It is highly significant that Gandhi never officially employed the term ahiṃsā to explain the virtues of satyāgraha in South Africa. Moreover, the letters cited above were both written during the last year of Gandhi's South African sojourn. This strongly indicates that throughout his twenty-one-year stay in South Africa, the concept of ahiṃsā did not occupy a central place in either his public or private experimentations ( prayogo ).

The previous section demonstrated that Gandhi never used ahiṃsā / ahiṃsak in relation to satyāgraha during his South African period. If this was the case, then what words or concepts did he employ to promote his satyāgraha campaign?

The most crucial source for addressing this question is again Hind Svarāj . As has already been pointed out, Gandhi explained the meaning and significance of satyāgraha in Chapter 17 of the work. It begins with a question from the reader: “Do you have any historical evidence for satyāgraha or ātmabaḷ [the force of ātmā (soul, spirit, self)] that you are talking about? … It is still confirmed that without physical violence [ mārphāḍ ] an evildoer does not live righteously.” To answer this, the editor explains as follows:

A poet Tulsīdās jī sang as follows:

“ Dayā [compassion, mercy, pity] is the root of dharam [the Avadhī equivalent of dharm ( a )], Body ( deh ) is the root of pride ( abhimān ),

Tulsī [says], do not abandon dayā ,

as long as [your] breath/life ( prān [ prāṇ ]) is in [your] body/pot ( ghaṭ )”

To me, this line seems to be a maxim ( śāstravacan ) … Dayābaḷ [the force of compassion], it is ātmabaḷ , and it is [also] satyāgraha . And, the evidence of this baḷ [force] is visible in every step. Footnote 31

Here, Gandhi quotes Tulsīdās's popular poem and explains the fundamental principle of satyāgraha using the concept of dayā . Footnote 32 Indeed, the word dayā was one of the central concepts employed to explain the ideological basis of Gandhi's satyāgraha in South Africa in both the Gujarati and Hindi languages. Footnote 33 Gandhi, more often than not, insisted that “ dayā is the root of all religions” and emphasized the uttermost importance of the concept. Footnote 34 Other than dayā , Gandhi also used the word prem (love, affection, kindliness) or prembaḷ (the force of prem ) as an alternative concept for dayā , dayābaḷ , and ātmabaḷ . Footnote 35 An analogous idea of dayā expressed in the lines quoted above can also be found in Mokṣamāḷā (1887), a book written by Jain ascetic Śrīmad Rājcandra that Gandhi read extensively during his South African sojourn. Footnote 36 Yet Gandhi never mentions the influence of Rājcandra or Jainism in Hind Svarāj .

As argued in the introduction to this article, Gandhi possessed a good command of three languages: Gujarati, Hindi, and English. Gandhi himself translated and published the English translation of Hind Svarāj under the title Indian Home Rule (1910) just after the publication of the original. This English translation is essential to understanding how Gandhi translated the Gujarati concepts of dayā and prem into English. He consistently replaced the words dayā and prem with the English word “love,” Footnote 37 and the terms ātmabaḷ and prembaḷ with “soul-force” and “love-force” respectively. Footnote 38

In the appendices of both Hind Svarāj Footnote 39 and Indian Home Rule , Footnote 40 Gandhi listed twenty books and essays which fundamentally impacted him before he wrote Hind Svarāj / Indian Home Rule . The first six works are all by Leo Tolstoy. The concepts of “love-force” and “soul-force” are, as far as Gandhi acknowledged, core principles in Tolstoy's writings. Footnote 41 En route to India in 1914, he explained the relationship between the essence of his South African satyāgraha campaign and Tolstoyan thought as follows:

[I] endeavoured to serve my countrymen and South Africa, a period covering the most critical stage that they will, perhaps, ever have to pass through. It marks the rise and growth of Passive Resistance, [ Footnote 42 ] which has attracted world-wide attention … Its equivalent in the vernacular [i.e. satyāgraha ], rendered into English, means Truth-Force. I think Tolstoy called it also Soul-Force or Love-Force, and so it is. Footnote 43

Among all Tolstoy's works, The Kingdom of God Is within You (1894) and “A Letter to a Hindoo” (1908) had a particularly significant impact in Gandhi's thought formation. Footnote 44 Gandhi later confessed that the former book became one of the three crucial sources that influenced his life most. Footnote 45

The fact that Gandhi directly corresponded with Tolstoy just before writing Hind Svarāj should not be disregarded. Footnote 46 From July to November 1909, Gandhi was staying in London as a member of the Indian delegation and lobbied for South Asian resident rights. In the imperial capital, Gandhi met young Hindu revolutionaries associated with the India House established by Śyāmjī Kṛṣṇa Varmā. Gandhi dismissively recognized those who resorted to revolutionary violence to fight against British colonialism as “anarchists” and “modernists.” Footnote 47 It is historically momentous that among these Hindu fundamentalist revolutionaries, Gandhi met V. D. Sāvarkar, who is widely believed to have persuaded Madanlāl Ḍhīṅgrā to murder Sir Curzon-Wyllie on 2 July 1909, just eight days prior to Gandhi's arrival in London. Footnote 48 Numerous public discussions among these revolutionaries seeking to justify Ḍhīṅgrā's assassination followed. Footnote 49 Gandhi was “both shocked and profoundly stirred” as he talked with these young Indians in London. Footnote 50 Simultaneously, Gandhi also read Tolstoy's “A Letter to a Hindoo,” which was printed in Free Hindustan , a political journal edited by Tāraknāth Dās, a prominent Indian intellectual residing in Canada. Gandhi was deeply impressed by Tolstoy's ideas of “non-resistance” (Tolstoy never used the word “non-violence”) and the “law of love.” Gandhi was convinced that his satyāgraha campaign should solely depend upon such Tolstoyan principles. After reading the essay, he immediately wrote a letter to Tolstoy, introducing his campaign in South Africa and asking Tolstoy for permission to translate the essay into Gujarati and publish it in Indian Opinion . Footnote 51 Then, while returning to South Africa from London on board the steamship RMS Kildonan Castle between 13 and 30 November 1909, Gandhi dashed off Hind Svarāj within ten days and also completed the Gujarati translation of “A Letter to a Hindoo.” Footnote 52 This series of events clearly shows how present Tolstoy's influence was in the writing of Hind Svarāj . Footnote 53

What is striking here is that Gandhi's understanding of both dayā and prem enjoys an intimate mutual translatability with the Tolstoyan idea of love, not only from a terminological view point, but also in terms of a deep conceptual affinity. During Gandhi's South African residence, Gandhi discovered, along with Tulsīdās, the importance of premodern ( nirguṇ ) bhaktism , whose nature was universally ethical, non-communal, egalitarian, and non-elitist. Footnote 54 He became particularly acquainted with the ideas of Kabair, Footnote 55 Narsiṃh Mahetā, Footnote 56 and Mīrābāī. Footnote 57 Various ideas associated with dayā or prem feature much more frequently in the writings of these poets than the principle of ahiṃsā . Footnote 58 Gandhi saw a conceptual commonality between the ideas of the premodern nirguṇ bhaktas and Tolstoy, in whose works anti-elitist, folkish/peasantry, and/or trans-religious dispositions were salient. Footnote 59

Besides, it should also be noted that the concepts of dayā and prem , which were rendered by Gandhi into the English terms “compassion/mercy/pity” and “love” respectively, were equally common in Christian, Islamicate, and Jewish cultures. Footnote 60 Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign in South Africa consisted of members of diverse religious backgrounds, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Most notably, wealthy Muslim merchants played a central role in Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign in South Africa. Footnote 61 Considering the nature and the socio-economico-cultural context of Gandhi's campaign undertaken in South Africa, the ubiquitous concepts of dayā /compassion and prem /love were fairly appropriate for his political agenda. Footnote 62 Contrarily, the concept of ahiṃsā , commonly understood as the “non-killing” of cows and practice of vegetarianism by Gandhi's contemporaries, was too specific in Hindu culture and barely possible to translate literally into Islamicate, Jewish, or Christian phraseologies. Footnote 63 It is difficult to find any plausible reason for Gandhi to use the word ahiṃsā in South Africa.

In this section, I will explore specifically how and why Gandhi added the “new” word of ahiṃsā to his previous cosmopolitan lexicon represented by dayā and prem after his return to India, and how and why the former eventually came to occupy a central place in his satyāgraha philosophy.

As shown in Table 1 , Gandhi's first reference to the word ahiṃsā after his return to India in 1915 appears in a private Gujarati letter addressed to his relative Mathurādās Trikamjī, a son of Gandhi's sister. In this letter, written a month after his arrival, Gandhi wrote, “ satya , brahmacarya , ahiṃsā , asteya , and aparigrah —observing [these] five yamas is mandatory for all spiritual aspirants [ mumukṣu ].” Footnote 64 Although his gradual interest in yamaniyamas in general was visible during his last few years in South Africa (including during his journey at sea), Footnote 65 this letter is the first document in which Gandhi refers to the specific content of each yama , including ahiṃsā .

The second reference to the idea of ahiṃsā after Gandhi's return can be found in his English speech at the Students’ Hall, College Square, in Calcutta, under the presidency of P. C. Lyons. Footnote 66 In this speech, Gandhi was reported to have spoken upon the principle of “abstention from himsa ” as follows:

[H]e [Gandhi] must say that misguided zeal [among students] that resorted to dacoities and assassinations could not be productive of any good. These dacoities and assassinations were absolutely a foreign growth in India … The religion of this country, the Hindu religion, was abstention from himsa , that was to say, taking animal life. That was he believed, the guiding principle of all religions. Footnote 67

The context of the above speech was this. Shortly after his arrival in India, Gandhi was strictly keeping his promise to G. K. Gokhale; he promised to travel around the subcontinent for a year without engaging in any political action or speech, instead only acquiring firsthand knowledge of his homeland. During the initial phase of his travel, he encountered young enthusiastic students at College Square in Calcutta, whom he regarded as radical “anarchists” fired by the prevailing Hindu fundamentalist zeal. Gandhi was vastly apprehensive about this “misguided youth,” who believed that violent resistance to the Raj was a primal duty for them. Gandhi could not but deliver the above address, temporarily putting aside his promise to Gokhale in order to direct the students away from using such “nefarious means” incompatible with the essence of “Hindu religion.”

Promptly after this speech, Gandhi wrote a letter to Maganlal Gandhi in Gujarati, declaring that he “came to know in an extremely clear manner in Calcutta” that “the foundation of satyāgraha [ satyāgrahano pāyo ] is ahiṃsā .” Footnote 68 The letter demonstrates that the above speech in Calcutta was a transformative moment in Gandhi's intellectual evolution where he first developed a firm conviction that ahiṃsā was the cardinal precept of his religious politics. From this juncture onwards, Gandhi began to increasingly promote the concept of ahiṃsā , which had previously only been used by his contemporaries to denote the cultural habit of vegetarianism or cow worship, explaining it as the core of Hinduism, professedly the national religion. By so doing, he attempted to replace the rampant Hindu fundamentalist belief in revolutionary violence with his new pacifist interpretation of ahiṃsā . Footnote 69

Yet an additional point with regard to the above speech requires further consideration. As we have seen in the previous section, in one of his critical moments in London, Gandhi met young “anarchists” fueled by Hindu rebellious fervor. However, at that stage, in order to counter their arguments, Gandhi, while writing Hind Svarāj , promoted the universalist and egalitarian concepts of dayā and prem represented by Tolstoy or the late medieval nirguṇ bhaktas , which were considered to be equally translatable into various religious traditions. In contrast, when Gandhi encountered the students in Calcutta in 1915, inspired by Hindu fundamentalism, he advocated the notion of ahiṃsā , whose “Hindu” disposition was underlined. Indeed, after 1915, Gandhi began to insist that “ ahiṃsā is the root of all religions.” This sentence exactly echoes his previous expression using the word dayā in South Africa: “ dayā is the root of all religions.” Footnote 70 He further insisted that dayā was in fact merely a “limb/part [ aṅg ]” of the cardinal principle of ahiṃsā , emphasizing the latter's supreme position. Footnote 71 Why did Gandhi not continue to use the terms dayā and prem as the ultimate virtues of satyāgraha , Footnote 72 instead beginning to deploy the term ahiṃsā ? In 1909, when he encountered analogous Hindu radicals, he still relied on the former terms to explain satyāgraha , not the word ahiṃsā .

In order to answer this question, it is essential to examine various entangled historical contexts. One reason for the terminological and conceptual shifts can be explained through Gandhi's growing awareness of a national language and religion. In January 1915, Gandhi reached Bombay from South Africa. Swiftly after his arrival, Gandhi, who had already earned his name as an acclaimed patriot, Footnote 73 obtained a number of invitations to speak at welcome meetings convened by various intellectuals, politicians, entrepreneurs, and religious leaders in the subcontinent. Footnote 74 One of the most important receptions was a garden party presided over by M. A. Jinnah, then the president of the Gurjar Sabha, in Bombay on 14 January 1915. Footnote 75 Once present, Gandhi was displeased to find that all the participants, including Jinnah himself, were giving their speeches solely in English. When his turn came, Gandhi, dressed in a traditional Kāṭhiyāvāḍī garment, daringly gave his speech in Gujarati and Hindi, insisting that the svarāj movement must be undertaken using their mother tongue(s) and be rooted in “Indian” culture. Footnote 76 It is intriguing to note that during Gandhi's South African years, he consistently wore the style of dress of an indentured laborer. Upon returning to India, he promptly amended this fashion, arraying himself instead in Kāṭhiyāvāḍī clothes that conveyed his willingness to represent the “beautiful manners and customs of India.” Footnote 77 Gandhi emphasized that it was essential to “proceed to our goal [of svarāj ] in our own eastern ways and not by imitating the West, for we are of the East.” Footnote 78

Furthermore, Gandhi became perceptively aware of the fermenting spirit of the contemporary “Hindu” nationalism whose nature had been gradually communalized around the time of the Government of India Act of 1909. Footnote 79 The fact that Gandhi, with Svāmī Śraddhānand, an Arya Samaji sanyāsī , participated in the first All-India Conference of Hindus, in conjunction with the Kumbh Parva held in Haridwar in April 1915, Footnote 80 should not be underestimated. Footnote 81 At the conference, the Sarvadeśak Hindū Sabhā was established as a “ground front” with a “flourish of trumpets” to represent the Hindu community. Footnote 82 Although the conference at this stage was not as radically right-leaning as the later Hindu Mahasabha of the 1920s, it is still important to remember that Gandhi was “strongly supportive” of the formation of the Hindu Sabha, where “Hindu solidarity” in aid of national reforms such as Nagari and cow protection were officially promoted. Gandhi's recognition of the surging air of Hindu nationalism in India was arguably one of the key factors behind his promotion of the concept of ahiṃsā after 1915. Footnote 83 The purportedly “ancient” and ascetic precept of ahiṃsā presented the perfect vehicle for Gandhi to infuse his nationalist agenda with a stronger “Hindu” character, increasing the popularity of his project.

Finally, other than the growth of such nationalist sensitivities, Gandhi's moral–financial considerations should not be disregarded either. As Makrand Mehta, a renowned social and business historian of Gujarat, has accurately pointed out, “saintly Gandhi was also a man of practical wisdom—a tactician.” Footnote 84 Mehta has highlighted Gandhi's masterly synthesis of his personas as a “shrewd politician” Footnote 85 and a “ homo religiosus .” Footnote 86 It is, in this respect, fairly inappropriate to apply the Weberian framework based upon the dichotomic hypothesis between “oriental spirituality” as “otherworldly” or “irrational” and modern economics as “this-worldly,” “practical,” or “secular” affairs. Footnote 87 Gandhi's idea of moral economy which was encapsulated in his use of the term “trusteeship” in his later years was by no means “otherworldly” nor “non-spiritual.” Footnote 88 Below, I would like to examine how Gandhi's financial concerns were intimately connected to his terminological/conceptual shift.

Before his return to India, Gandhi planned to establish a new communitarian settlement with approximately forty members, most of them previous inmates of the Phoenix Settlement and the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa. Footnote 89 Gandhi needed to carefully choose the most appropriate place to establish his settlement and secure financial backing to live together with his forty members. Having informed Gokhale of his plan around the time of his return to India, the latter had promised to provide Gandhi with all the necessary money from his India Servant Society. Footnote 90 Gandhi's feelings of joy and relief at this juncture were immense: “My heart swelled. I thought that I was released from the business [ dhandho ] of collecting money, so I became very happy [ rājī ], and now I would not have to live with those responsibilities.” Footnote 91 However, an unexpected incident occurred. Gokhale abruptly passed away during a fainting fit on 15 February 1915, only a month after extending his generous offer.

Gandhi began to look for a new patron. In his search, he considered locations such as Haridwar, Calcutta, and Rajkot before eventually deciding to establish his communitarian settlement in Ahmedabad. Footnote 92 He justified his choice on the ground that in Gujarat he would, being a Gujarati himself, “be able to make a full-fledged service to the country through Gujarati language.” Footnote 93 Yet, if this was his only reason, why did he not choose Rajkot or Porbandar, where he had actually grown up? Except for a short trip to take a matriculation examination during his boyhood, Gandhi had no experience of staying in Ahmedabad. Footnote 94 Indeed, as Riho Isaka has pointed out, these Princely States in Kāṭiyāvāḍ had a distinct linguo-cultural history apart from north Gujarat whose center was Ahmedabad. Footnote 95 Gandhi's core motive for choosing Ahmedabad was, as Gandhi wrote, that it was the “capital” of Gujarat and the center of commerce. He confessed that “there was a hope that wealthy people [ dhanāḍhay loko ] here will be able to give more monetary help [ dhannī vadhāre madad ].” Footnote 96

Indeed, Gandhi's first contact in his search for donations was Śeṭh Maṅgaḷdās Girdharlāl, a well-known Ahmedabad mill owner and a member of the Ambālāl family, the wealthiest and most successful Gujarati Jain plutocracy. Footnote 97 Gandhi sent him a detailed estimate of expenditure amounting to approximately six thousand rupees per year. Footnote 98 Other than Girdharlāl, Gandhi had also sought financial and moral support from businessmen and people like Govindrāo Āpājī Pāṭīl and Jīvaṇlal Varajlāl Desāī in Gujarāt Sabhā. Footnote 99

When considering the meaning and implication of Gandhi's need for financial backers, it is essential to bear in mind that his potential patrons were vāṇīyās who held an economically as well as politically dominant position in Ahmedabad. Additionally, these vāṇīyās , in tandem with brāhmaṇs in the area, were intimately linked with Vaiṣṇav Hindu cultural traditions, particularly Svāminārāyaṇ and Jainism, in which the principle of ahiṃsā was a central doctrine. Footnote 100 In this respect, Makrand Mehta has pointed out that by embracing the slogan of ahiṃsā , “Gandhi had cultivated cordial relations with Ahmedabad millowners, particularly the banias [ vāṇīyās ] belonging to his caste and sect.” Footnote 101

Yet Gandhi was not only keen to lean into the philosophical aspect of the Ahmedabadis’ religious doctrine; he was also highly flexible when it came to adapting religious ceremonies familiar to his supporters. For instance, according to Gandhi's Gujarati diary entry for 20 May 1915, just five days prior to the establishment of the āśram , he performed vāstu , a common ritual performed among Gujarati Hindus when they move to a newly built house. Footnote 102 In the ritual, a pot is filled with water and carried to the house by either an unmarried girl or a woman whose husband is alive. During the house construction, which requires digging operations, people believe that numerous insects are killed. Therefore they perform the ritual so that the gods will forgive their sin. Gandhi was flexible in the face of his new environment and willing to undertake religious ceremonies which, as Mehta wrote, “must have delighted all the Ahmedabad Hindus.” Therefore “Gandhi's strong commitment to Hinduism and ahimsa won for him the cooperation of the rich Hindu and Jain sections of Ahmedabad.” Footnote 103

However, his successful acts of assimilation do not mean that Gandhi was immune to the difficulties inherent in dealing with these donors, since they were, in some respects, very conservative, orthodox, and even communalistic. Footnote 104 Their strong prejudice, for instance, towards members of untouchable castes was apparent and explicitly incompatible with Gandhi's basic moral sensitivity. Gandhi thus had to defend the conceptual gap between his own humanist understanding of ahiṃsā and the prevalent cultural perceptions of it among Hindus and Jains in Gujarat. Footnote 105 There was a time of crisis just a few months after the establishment of the āśram when Gandhi completely lost his financial support due to his reception of untouchables into his āśram . Girdharlāl was inflamed by this incident, considering the āśram “polluted.” Since Gandhi did not want to change his attitude, he finally decided to leave the āśram and live in the untouchable colony in town. Yet, on the verge of shutting down the āśram , Gandhi was saved by an anonymous industrialist who was later revealed to be Ambālāl Sārābhāī. Footnote 106 Despite the fact that Gandhi's manifestation of varnaśram , one of his āśramvrat (vows of āśram ), which indicates his incorporation of the four- varṇa system, was seen as the outcome of his compromising association with conservative Hindus/Jains, Footnote 107 Gandhi's firm belief in anti-untouchability never swayed throughout his life. Footnote 108

What, then, about his attitude towards Muslims? I think the most controvertible aspect when considering Gandhi's terminological/conceptual shift was that there was, compared to the terms of “compassion” ( dayā ) and “love” ( prem ), no shared common or fixed phraseologies for ahiṃsā among Urdu Muslims, despite the fact that there had been a rich and long tradition of Muslim–Hindu–Jain synthesis during the early Mughal dynasty. Footnote 109 Gandhi was well aware of this purported untranslatability, as I will discuss below.

Indeed, Gandhi was invariably very careful when he needed to choose a new key term for his political struggle. For instance, during his South African years, Gandhi gave both of his communitarian settlements English names, i.e. the Phoenix Settlement and the Tolstoy Farm respectively. While writing Hind Svarāj on the Kildonan Castle , Gandhi wrote a Gujarati letter to Maganlal on 24 November 1909, explaining the reason for utilizing English names as follows: “And even when giving a name, we will have to search for a common word [ madhyasth śabd ] in which a question of [the distinction between] Hindus [and] Muslims should not arise. Maṭh or āśram is perceived as particularly a Hindu word; therefore, they are not [to be] used, [but the name of] Phoenix is easily attainable, [and] a nice word. Since … it is neutral [ taṭasth ].” Footnote 110

Achyut Yagnik and Suchitra Sheth have aptly pointed out that when Gandhi named his new settlement in Ahmedabad āśram , he noticed a communal implication which potentially contradicted his view of religious neutrality. Footnote 111 The same deliberation can be applied to the term ahiṃsā , which also raised the communal issue. One of the feasible reasons for Gandhi to use the terms such as ahiṃsā , āśram , and varṇāśram in 1915 was the fundamental demographic situation in terms of religious population ratio in Gujarat, where Muslims played a much lesser role in Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign compared to that in South Africa. Footnote 112

What, then, were the consequences of Gandhi's terminological/conceptual shift in India? Although Gandhi, at first sight, skillfully employed the term ahiṃsā as the ideological basis of satyāgraha , contemporaneously serving both his nationalist sensitivities and his tactical financial concerns, the decision became almost untenable shortly after his political presence expanded beyond the linguo-cultural boundary of Gujarat. As Gandhi was, almost too rapidly, transformed into a national leader representing the two largest religio-political forces of the subcontinent, he became well aware that “it would be on the question of Hindu Muslim unity that my ahimsa would be put to its severest test.” Footnote 113

On the first day of the Rowlatt Satyāgraha campaign in Bombay on 6 April 1919, Gandhi held a huge mass meeting in the Sonapur Masjid compound where no less than five thousand Muslims gathered. Gandhi urged the audience to take “the vow of Hindu–Muslim unity” by embracing “a feeling of pure love” and “eternal friendship.” Footnote 114 It is notable here that he did not refer to the word ahiṃsā at this meeting. Following the outbreak of a series of riots in northern and western India, Gandhi immediately suspended the campaign and in a makeshift manner began to translate the word ahiṃsā into the English word “non-violence” (instead of “non-killing,” which might have recalled the communal debate on cow slaughter, as discussed above). Footnote 115 He then, reportedly, struggled to find equivalent phraseologies for ahiṃsā in Urdu as well as introducing his new method of mass boycotting of foreign cloth in his native tongues. Gandhi wrote, “I found that I could not bring home my meaning to purely Moslem audiences with the help of the Sanskrit equivalent for non-violence.” Footnote 116 However, he did not succeed in finding an appropriate alternative in Urdu. Footnote 117

Despite consistently insisting upon the importance of national religion and language, Gandhi, when faced with the questions surrounding the communal alliance between Hindus and Muslims, could not entirely avoid depending upon the English framework of the colonial master. In the end, such English renderings hardly conveyed the ethico-spiritual connotation of satyāgraha , which should have been starkly distinguished from the mere materialistic method of “passive resistance.” Footnote 123

In this article, I have chronologically examined Gandhi's writings in three languages and explored the genealogy of Gandhi's concept of ahiṃsā /non-violence, a cardinal precept of satyāgraha . By so doing, I have demonstrated four points. (1) The principle of Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign in South Africa was never associated with the “Hindu” notion of ahiṃsā . The idea of ahiṃsā was then considered to entail communal questions. (2) Gandhi's first satyāgraha campaign was chiefly promoted by the trans-religious, non-elitist, and egalitarian concepts of dayā /compassion and prem /love, as inherited from Tolstoy and the late medieval nirguṇ bhaktas . (3) The major reasons for Gandhi's deployment of the term ahiṃsā to explain “the foundation of satyāgraha ” and “the religion of this country” or “the Hindu religion” after his return to India were intimately related to his awareness of the rising spirit of the contemporary Hindu nationalist movement and his tactical concerns for securing moral–financial support from local well-to-do vāṇīyās in Ahmedabad. (4) Gandhi first coined the term “non-violence” as a religiously “neutral” English rendering of ahiṃsā immediately after the suspension of the first nationwide satyāgraha campaign in 1919, due to his hasty recognition of the difficulty of using ahiṃsā alone.

The processes and reasons behind Gandhi's deployment of ahiṃsā /non-violence strongly indicate that Gandhi's emphasis on his childhood influences in the Princely States located in the western and central regions of Kāṭiyāvāḍ peninsula was a later retrospective interpretation. The extant historical documents demonstrate that he did not regard the positive value of the term ahiṃsā and by no means promoted it as a nationalist slogan before 1915. On the contrary, the cardinal principle of satyāgraha before India, which might be tentatively termed “proto-non-violence,” expressed with the terms dayā or prem , was invented while Gandhi was deftly cooperating with people from multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious, and multilinguistic backgrounds in order to fight against racial discrimination in South Africa. In this respect, Gandhi was, in Judith Brown's terms, undeniably a “critical outsider” of the subcontinent who primarily cherished his ideas as quite distinct from his nationalist contemporaries. Footnote 124

Finally, I believe that the historical findings in this article, which show the cosmopolitan genealogy behind Gandhi's nationalist self-narrative, allow us to gain an essential insight into David Hardiman's fundamental question proposed in his book Gandhi in His Time and Ours (2003): “why [do] Gandhi's ideas continue to resonate in the world today?” Footnote 125 Despite the lament that Gandhian thought has been largely obliterated in his home country, Footnote 126 it has left an indelible mark beyond the subcontinent, in Anglo-Saxon Protestant countries, South Africa, and Myanmar particularly. Footnote 127 Once the lesser-known global, though invariably peripheral or dissenting, genealogy of Gandhi's ahiṃsā /non-violence is unfolded, it comes as no surprise that the deep moral reverberations of his thought have reached people all across the world. Footnote 128

Acknowledgments

I must convey my deepest gratitude to the late Professor Haruka Yanagisawa who kindly supervised me at the beginning stage of this research in 2008. During the completion of this article, I was helped by many people and received various invaluable comments. I particularly would like to show my sincere gratitude to Professor Peter van der Veer, Professor Vinay Lal, Professor Akio Tanabe, and Professor Riho Isaka, as well as to the three reviewers of this manuscript, including Professor Ajay Skaria. I am also very thankful for Mr Anant Rathod, who always helped me find historical materials in Gujarat and verified subtle nuances in my Gujarati translations. If there is any error or inaccuracy in this article, all responsibility is solely my own.

Supplementary Material

The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479244322000014 .

1 In this paper, I will use the abbreviations for the following materials by N. K. Gandhi. GA for Gāndhījīno Akṣardeh: Mahātmā Gāndhīnāṃ Lakhāṇo , Bhāṣaṇo, Patro Vagereno Saṅgrah , 82 vols. (Amdāvād, 1967–92); SGV for Sampūrṇ Gāndhī Vāṅgmay , 97 vols. (Naī Dillī, 1958–94); CWMG for The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , 100 vols. (New Delhi, 1956–94); HS for Hind Svarāj (Amdāvād, 1979), a facsimile of the original handwritten manuscript; AK for Satyanā Prayogo athvā Ātmakathā (Amdāvād, 1947); DASI for Dakṣiṇ Āphrikānā Satyāgrahano Itihās (Amdāvād, 1950); IO for Indian Opinion (Phoenix, 1904–14), YI for Young India (Ahmedabad, 1919–31); NJ for Navjīvan (Amdāvād, 1919–32); “IHR” for “Indian Home Rule” (1910), in M. K. Gandhi's Hind Swaraj: A Critical Edition , ed. Suresh Sharma and Tridip Suhrud (Hyderabad, 2010), 1–102. In this article, English translations of all quotes from Gandhi's Gujarati and Hindi original texts are mine, with the exceptions in notes 113, 116.

2 Satyāgrah ( a ) is Gandhi's neologism which etymologically means āgraha (“holding firm”) onto satya (“truth”) in Gujarati, Hindi, and Sanskrit. From the 1920s onwards, Gandhi started to translate the concept into the English words “non-violent (civil) disobedience” and “non-violent resistance.”

3 Bondurant , Joan , Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict ( Princeton , 1958 ), 111 Google Scholar . See also Basham , A. , “ Traditional Influences on the Thought of Mahatma Gandhi ,” in Kumar , Ravindra , ed., Essays on Gandhian Politics ( Oxford , 1971 ), 17 – 42 Google Scholar ; Zydenbos , Robert , “ Jainism as the Religion of Non-violence ,” in Houben , Jan and van Kooij , Karel , eds., Violence Denied: Violence, Non-violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History ( Leiden , 1999 ), 185–210, at 186 Google Scholar ; Erikson , Eric , Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence ( New York , 1969 ), 111 –12 Google Scholar ; Gandhi , Rajmohan , The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi ( New Delhi , 1995 ), 33 –6 Google Scholar ; Devanesen , Chandra , The Making of the Mahatma ( Madras , 1969 ), 44 Google Scholar .

4 AK , 5–10, 15–16, 29–30, 183, 202–3, 528–30; DASI , 11–12; CWMG , 15: 244.

5 Erikson, Gandhi's Truth ; Kakar , Sudhir , Intimate Relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality ( New Delhi , 1990 ), 85 – 128 Google Scholar ; Rudolph , Lloyd and Rudolph , Susanne , Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma ( Chicago , 1983 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; Lorimer , Rowland , “ A Reconstruction of the Psychological Roots of Gandhi's Truth ,” Psychoanalytic Review 63 / 2 ( 1976 ), 191 – 207 Google Scholar .

6 See note 20 below.

7 See notes 24, 25, 26, 58 below. The development of the ethical meaning of ahiṃsā as “abstention from killing/injuring animals/living beings” was generally considered to have originated in anti-Brahmanical movements such as Buddhism and Jainism and appeared around the fifth century BCE. These movements opposed the slaughter of animals in Vedic rituals. See Lambert Schmithausen, “Aspects of the Buddhist Attitude towards War,” in Houben and van Kooij, Violence Denied , 45–68, at 33–8; Schmithausen, “A Note on the Origin of Ahiṃsā,” in Ryutaro Tsuchida and Albrecht Wezler, eds., Harānandalaharī (Reinbek, 2000), 253–82, at 253; and Hanns-Peter Schmidt, “The Origin of Ahiṃsā,” in Louis Renou, Mélanges d'Indianisme à la mémoire de Louis Renou (Paris, 1968), 625–55. There seems to be, however, a semantic transition as the principle and custom popularly infiltrated the subcontinent during the medieval period. As it became assimilated into mainstream Hinduism, the concept of ahiṃsā , though understood differently in various Hindu sects, seems to refer primarily to vegetarian diet as a higher-status attribute, as well as to “the protection of Mother Cow” ( gau-rakṣā ). See van der Veer , Peter , Gods on Earth: The Management of Religious Experience and Identity in a North Indian Pilgrimage Centre ( London , 1988 ), 131 Google Scholar ; Van der Veer, Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India (California, 1994), 43–4; Madelaine Biardieu, “Ancient Brahmanism, or Impossible Non-violence,” in Denis Vidal, Gilles Tarabout, and Eric Meyer, eds, Violence/Non-violence: Some Hindu Perspectives (New Delhi, 2003), 85–104; D. F. Jatavallabhula, “Raṇayajā: The Mahābhārata as a Sacrifice,” in Houben and van Kooij, Violence Denied , 69–103.

8 It should be noted that although Jainism was initially developed as an anti-Brahmanical movement (see note 7 above), as time passed, the former was incorporated into the complex caste systems of orthodox Hinduism. Particularly in the western part of India where Jain cultural influences were strong in spite of the relatively small population, Jain vāṇīyās are regarded as being as high in status as brāhmaṇs due to their socioeconomic prominence in the region. See Thorat , Amit and Joshi , Omkar , “ The Continuing Practice of Untouchability in India: Patterns and Mitigating Influences ,” Economic & Political Weekly 55 / 2 ( 2020 ), 36–45, at 40 Google Scholar ; Cort , John , “ Jains, Caste and Hierarchy in North Gujarat ,” Contributions to Indian Sociology 38 / 1–2 ( 2004 ), 73 – 110 CrossRef Google Scholar .

9 Many previous historiographies have discussed Gandhian thought within the “elitist” nationalist framework, often connecting it with Hindu religiosity. See Seal , Anil , The Emergence of Indian Nationalism ( Cambridge , 1968 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; Washbrook , David , The Emergence of Provincial Politics ( Cambridge , 1976 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; Bipan Chandra, “Study of the Indian National Movement,” Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies 1, 22–40; Chandra , Bipan , Mukherjee , Aditya , and Mukherjee , Mridula , India after Independence 1947–2000 ( New Delhi , 1999 ) Google Scholar ; Chatterjee , Partha , Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse ( London , 1993 ) Google Scholar ; Ranajit Guha, “On Some Aspects of the Historiography,” in Guha, ed., Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society , vol. 1 (New Delhi, 1982), 1–8; and Gyan Pandey, “Peasant Revolt and Indian Nationalism: The Peasant Movement in Awadh, 1919–22,” in ibid., 143–97.

10 During his sojourn in South Africa, he published his weekly journal Indian Opinion in Gujarati, English, Tamil, and Urdu. Gandhi had a certain level of command of Sanskrit and Urdu as well. He further tried to learn Telugu and Bengali. See Suhrud , Tridip , Reading Gandhi in Two Tongues ( Shimla , 2012 ), 2 Google Scholar .

11 Tridip Suhrud has cautiously reported that in the revised and digitized version of CWMG and SGV published in 1999, there can be found hundreds of omissions, non-transparent reediting, and flaws. See Suhrud , Tridip , “ ‘Re-editing’ Gandhi's Collected Works ,” Economic and Political Weekly 39 / 46–47 ( 2004 ), 4967 –9 Google Scholar . Considering these, in this article I will solely rely upon the previous versions of CWMG and SGV published between 1956/1958 and 1994. I have also confirmed the authenticity of these older versions in my personal email correspondence with Suhrud on 20 Dec. 2015.

12 As far as I am aware, there are three works which have explored the terminological origin of Gandhi's concept of ahiṃsā . These are Hazama , Eijiro , “ The Origin of Political Ahiṃsā : A Study of Gandhi's Thought and Experience from 1909 to 1915 ,” Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies 23 ( 2011 ), 7 – 30 Google Scholar ; Hardiman , David , “ Ahimsa: Shifting Meanings in Indian History ,” in Hardiman, Nonviolence in Modern Indian History ( Telangana , 2017 ), 8 – 33 Google Scholar ; and Hardiman, The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom, 1905–19 (London, 2018), 159–70. The present article is owing to Hazama's article which differs from Hardiman's with respect to the following three points explained in the next, the third, and the fourth sections: (1) exactly when Gandhi began to employ the concepts of ahiṃsā and non-violence, (2) what were the central concepts other than ahiṃsā to explain Gandhi's satyāgraha in South Africa, (3) why and how Gandhi started to use the word ahiṃsā in both private and public documents. See also notes 14, 58, 66 below.

13 Although the importance of using Gandhi's Gujarati materials has already been noted by Erikson, Gandhi's Truth , 60; and Parekh , B. , “ Gandhi and His Translators ,” Gandhi Marg 8 ( 1986 ), 163 –72 Google Scholar ; Parekh, Gandhi's Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination (Notre Dame, 1989), 7, there are still only a few works which have utilized Gandhi's Gujarati writings, such as Suhrud, Gandhi in Two Tongues ; Skaria, Unconditional Equality ; Anthony Parel, ed., “Hind Swaraj” (Cambridge, 1997); Gandhi's Philosophy and the Quest for Harmony (Cambridge, 2006); Hardiman, “Ahimsa”; Hardiman, The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom .

14 The word simultaneously appears in the “telegram to G. A. Natesan” and the “press statement on the suspension of civil disobedience” written in English on 18 April 1919. CWMG , 15: 243–4. In the latter material, Gandhi explained the meaning of the term “ahimsa” (in Roman letters) with the word “non-violence” in parentheses. This is the first occasion where Gandhi translated the word “ahimsa” into the English “non-violence.” Yet Hardiman, “Ahimsa,” 8, has pointed out that Gandhi's first instance of using the English term “non-violence” was considered to be Gandhi's article published in 1920. The article is likely to be Gandhi's “The Doctrine of the Sword” (11 Aug. 1920) in Young India . However, the English word “non-violence/non-violent” can be found forty-five times at least in CWMG from 18 April 1919 to 11 Aug. 1920. Hardiman nevertheless also provides a note about Gandhi's reference to the term on 18 April 1919 in a footnote of his newer book of 2018. Hardiman, The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom , 159 n. 1.

15 Henk Bodewitz, “Hindu Ahiṃsā and Its Roots,” in Houben and van Kooij, Violence Denied , 17–44, at 17.

16 HS , 182–209.

17 Parel , Anthony , “ Gandhi's Idea of Nation in Hind Swaraj ,” Gandhi Marg 13 ( 1991 ), 261 –81, at 274 Google Scholar .

18 HS , 91–8.

19 HS , 99–118.

20 It is striking to note that the words ahiṃsak in these two chapters were translated by Gandhi himself into the English “non-killing,” or he simply used “Ahinsa” in Roman letters in “Indian Home Rule” (1910) (he did not use the spelling “ahimsa” in the first edition). “IHR,” 43, 47. Moreover, throughout the whole book Gandhi never connects the English concept of “violence” with the Gujarati term hiṃsā . When Gandhi explained the superiority of satyāgraha as the “soul-force” ( ātmabaḷ ) to any “violent” means such as armed force promoted by Indian revolutionaries, he used various Gujarati words such as mārāmārī , mārī , mārphāḍ ( HS , 170–72, 180, 182, 188); humlo ( HS , 186); śarīr baḷ ( HS , 187, 193); dārūgoḷo ( HS , 249); hathiyār ( baḷ ) ( HS , 178, 180, 181, 185, 200); hāni ( HS , 178); dārūgoḷā ( baḷ ) ( HS , 179, 249); topbaḷ ( HS , 195–6, 261); and talvārnā baḷ ( HS , 201).

21 As we will see in the next section, Hind Svarāj was written on the return journey to South Africa after Gandhi's four months of lobbying activity in London in 1909. Gandhi met young Indian revolutionaries whom he called “anarchists” in London. When writing the perspective of the “reader” in Hind Svarāj , Gandhi was surely mindful of his encounter with them.

22 HS , 97–8.

23 HS , 112–13.

24 Svāmīdayānandsarasvatīnirmitḥ, Ath Gokaruṇānidhi (Dillī, 1875), 5–9.

25 The Imperial Gazet of India , vol. 20 (Oxford, 1908), 290–91. See also Swami Shraddhanand, The Arya Samaj and Its Distractors: A Vindication (n.p., 1910).

26 HS , 110. It should be noted that Vivekananda also referred to the doctrine of “non-killing” in his best-known work Raja Yoga (1896), which Gandhi read intensively both in South Africa and in India, but only in relation to the five yamas in the Yogasūtras of Patañjali , a cannon text of the Yogadarśana , one of the major schools of the orthodox Vedic philosophy. Vivekananda , Swami , Raja Yoga ( Calcutta , 1908 ), 14, 140, 142 Google Scholar .

27 GA , 12: 330.

28 SGV , 97: 20. Since GA was suspended at vol. 82, the original Gujarati text here, which should have been included in its subsequent volumes, is presently inaccessible. I use the Hindi translation present in SGV , vol. 97.

29 Gandhi first learnt the idea that drinking milk would cause human sexual desire from Śrīmad Rājcandra, a Jain ascetic and Gandhi's contemporary. For the details see Hazama , Eijiro , “ The Making of a Globalized Hindu: The Unknown Genealogy of Gandhi's Concept of Brahmacarya ,” Global Intellectual History 6 / 5 ( 2019 ), 712–31, at 713–17 Google Scholar ; Hazama, “The Paradox of Gandhian Secularism: The Metaphysical Implication behind Gandhi's ‘Individualization of Religion,’” Modern Asian Studies 51/5 (2017), 1394–1438, at 1411.

30 Eijiro Hazama, Gandhi's Sexuality and Nationalism: The Independence Movement as “Experiments with Truth” (Japanese) (Tokyo, 2019); Alter , Joseph , Gandhi's Body: Sex, Diet, and the Politics of Nationalism ( Philadelphia , 2000 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; Vinay Lal, “Nakedness, Nonviolence, and Brahmacharya: Gandhi's Experiments in Celibate Sexuality,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 9/1–2 (2000), 105–36.

31 HS , 182.

32 It should be noted that in Tulsīdās's poems, the terms dayā and prem are far more frequently used than ahiṃsā . For instance, in Rāmcaritmānas , the word ahiṃsā appears in only one line in the “Uttar Kāṇḍ” as an ancient Vedic principle, as follows: “The highest religion in the Vedas is known as ahiṃsā [ Param dharm Śruti bidit ahiṃsā ]” (Uttar Kāṇḍ, 120: 11). Tulsīdās's digitized texts of Dohāvalī , Kavītāvalī , Gītāvalī , Vinay-Patrikā , and Rāmcaritmānas are available on websites created by Professor Hiroko Nagasaki of Osaka University at http://hin.minoh.osaka-u.ac.jp/etext.html , and at GRETIL at http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil.html#Kavya . I am grateful to Professor Nagasaki and Professor Kiyokazu Okita for information about various available e-texts.

33 IO , 23 Feb. 1907, 11 May 1907, 3 Aug. 1907, 26 Nov. 1910, 9 Aug. 1913; GA , 12: 105–6, 317–18.

34 IO , 3 Aug. 1907, 26 Nov. 1910, 9 Aug. 1913; GA , 12: 105–6, 317–18. It is noticeable that such an expression seemed to be common among not only north Indian Vaiṣṇav saints, but also south Indian Liṅgāyat saints. The twelfth-century saint Basav, the founder of Liṅgāyatism, said in Vacanas : “What is that religion wherein there is no mercy? It is mercy that is wanted for all creatures. It is mercy that is the root of religion.” P. G. Halkatti, trans., “Vachanas Attributed to Basava,” Indian Antiquary: A Journal of Oriental Research 51 (1922), 7–12, at 10. See also note 36 below.

35 HS , 184–5.

36 Hazama, “The Making of a Globalized Hindu,” 713–17; Ajay Skaria, “‘No Politics without Religion’ of Secularism and Gandhi,” in Vinay Lal, ed., Political Hinduism: The Religious Imagination in Public Spheres (New Delhi, 2009), 173–210, at 178. It is striking to note that Rājcandra, who is considered to have inspired Gandhi's life significantly, stressed dayā much more frequently than he did ahiṃsā . See Śrīmad Rājcandra, Mokṣamāḷā (Agās, 2010), 70–71, 81–3, 116–17. Most saliently, Rājcandra expressed the first Jain mahāvrat by using the word dayā instead of ahiṃsā (ibid., 81–3, 200). He only once referred to the word ahiṃsā (i.e. ahiṃsādik ) in this book (ibid., 115). With regard to the five letters addressed to Gandhi from Rājcandra during the 1890s, the latter only used the words ahiṃsā (i.e. ahiṃsādī dharm ) once in the first letter. M. Kalārthī, ed., Śrīmad Rājcandra ane Gandhījī (Amdāvād, 2000), 202.

37 “IHR,” 69–70, 72–3, 98.

38 “IHR,” 72, 74, 76–7, 92, 98.

39 GA , 10: 66.

40 “IHR,” 99.

41 However, in the works of Tolstoy listed by Gandhi in Hind Svarāj , there cannot be found the terms “soul-force,” or “love-force” either. Tolstoy instead uses expressions such as “the spiritual force(s),” “the force of the consciousness,” “moral force,” “law of love,” and “a dim consciousness in his soul of the higher law of love towards God.” Leo Tolstoy, “The Kingdom of God Is within You,” in Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays , trans. Aylmer Maude (London, 1960), 1–460. Tolstoy repeatedly contrasts these forces with “physical/animal force” and “armed force.” Gandhi's exposition on the dichotomic understanding between satyāgraha as “soul-force”/”love-force” and “violent means” as “physical force”/”armed force” (see note 20 above) in Hind Svarāj is vastly analogous to Tolstoy's.

42 Gandhi initially used the English term “passive resistance,” but he later declared that the name was inappropriate ( IO , 11 Jan. 1908). Gandhi emphasized that the participants in his campaign were by no means “passive” due to their strong reliance on the “active” force of inner most “soul/ ātmā .” See DASI , 131.

43 IO , Golden Number, 1914.

44 Tolstoy, “The Kingdom of God”; Leo Tolstoy, “Letter to a Hindu,” in Peter Mayer, ed., The Pacifist Conscience (Harmondsworth, 1966), 166–75. See Green , Martin , Tolstoy and Gandhi, Men of Peace ( New York , 1983 ), 85 – 97 Google Scholar ; Devanesen, Making of the Mahatma , 261–4.

45 AK , 137; NJ , 16 Sept. 1928.

46 Gandhi and Tolstoy corresponded from October 1909 to September 1910. The letters are compiled in B. S. Murthy, ed., Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters (Long Beach, 1987), 24–39.

47 Bhatt , Chetan , Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies and Modern Myths ( New York , 2001 ), 83 Google Scholar ; Visana , Vikram , “ Savarkar before Hindutva: Sovereignty, Republicanism, and Populism in India, c. 1900–1920 ,” Modern Intellectual History 18 / 4 ( 2020 ), 1106–29, at 24 Google Scholar .

48 Dhingra assassinated Sir Curzon Wyllie at the reception of the National Indian Association in Jehangir Hall, London.

49 Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism , 83; Jaffrelot , Christophe , The Hindu Nationalist Movement ( New York , 1996 ), 26 Google Scholar .

50 Devanesen, Making of the Mahatma , 367.

51 Murthy, Letters , 24–7.

52 After returning to South Africa, Gandhi consecutively published Hind Svarāj in the 11 and 18 Dec. 1909 issues of Indian Opinion . The Gujarati translation of Tolstoy's “Letter to a Hindoo” entitled in Gujarati “Rūśiyānā Umarāv Ṭolsṭoīno Ek Hindu uparno Kākaḷ” was published in Indian Opinion on 25 Dec. 1909, and on 1 and 8 Jan. 1910.

53 IO , 5 June 1909; NJ , 16 Sept. 1928.

54 The bhakti movement is essentially characterized by its “anti-scholastic” and egalitarian attitude. For example, in a famous couplet by Kabīr, it is said that “in Bhakti real Pundit is one who knows the ‘ dhai akshar ’ or two-and-half letter word prema and not the one who has spent his life pouring over ‘ pothis ’ or books.” This line is quoted from Sachin Ketkar, “Translation of Narsinh Mehta's Poems into English with a Critical Introduction” (unpublished PhD thesis, South Gujarat University, Surat, 2001). I am grateful to Professor Sachin Ketkar for allowing me to use his unpublished work. Furthermore, the poem “Damodar Lake, near Girnar Hill” (“Giritḷeṭīne Kuṇḍ Dāmodar”) by Narsiṃh Mahetā explicitly exemplifies his thoughts consisting of divine love ( prem ), compassion ( dayā , karūṇā ), and an egalitarian attitude towards untouchable castes ( ḍheḍ varaṇ ). “There is,” sings Narsiṃh, “no [caste] partisanship [ pakṣāpakṣī ] [in] supreme reality [ parameśvar ], for all are equal [ sadr̥ṣṭine sarv samān ] … You care not for caste [ nāt ], you care not for creed [ jāt ], you care nothing for discrimination [ vivek vicār ]!” Quoted from Ketkar, “Translation of Narsinh.” I have changed some words according to the original Gujarati text compiled in Sāvaliyā, Narsiṃh Mahetānī Uttam Padāvli , 83–4.

55 IO , 18 March, 1, 15, April 1905; GA , 6: 354.

56 IO , 13 July 1907; 20 Nov. 1909; GA , 11: 81–2, 163, 168–9; 12: 452.

57 IO , 2 Oct. 1909; GA , 10: 169; 12: 452–3.

58 It should be noted that in works by bhakti saints such as Tulsīdās (see my note 32 above), Kabīr, Narsiṃh Mehatā, and Mīrābāī, who influenced Gandhi significantly, there can hardly be found a reference to the word ahiṃsā . At least, there is no reference in the digitized texts of Kabīr's Bījak in Winand M. Callewaert and Bart Op de Beeck, eds, Devotional Hindī Literature , 2 vols. (New Delhi, 1991); or in the other essential texts compiled by Charlotte Vaudeville in The Millenium Kabīr-Vānī (Pondicherry, 1982), although the words dayā and prem are both present (I am grateful that Professor Hiroko Nagasaki has kindly sent me this electronic data). Instead, as J. S. Hawley has pointed out, Kabīr's concept of “the human capacity for love ( prem , prīti )” is particularly important in understanding his nirguṇa bhaktism . Hawley , J. S. , Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours ( Delhi , 2005 ), 316 Google Scholar ; J. S. Hawley and G. S. Mann, “Mirabai in the Pothi Prem Ambodh,” Journal of Punjab Studies 15/1–2, (2014), 199–225, at 201. The same can be said of Narsiṃh Mahetā. I could not find a single reference to the word ahiṃsā in Narsiṃh's Gujarati poems. I also consulted Professor Neelima Shukla-Bhatt about this. She informed me that the term ahiṃsā was not found in Narsiṃh's poetry. Instead, there are more “active terms” such as prem , vahāl , and upkār , which are found in many places. Personal email correspondence with Professor Neelima Shukla-Bhatt, 12 Sept. 2021; I am very grateful for her generous imparting of her expertise. Furthermore, Mīrābāī's thought also, as illustrated in Prema Abodh , contains the concepts of love/ prem and “compassion.” See Hawley, “Mirabai,” 199–225; Mukta , Parita , Upholding the Common Life: The Community of Mirabai ( New Delhi , 1994 ), 79, 167, 212 Google Scholar .

59 Tolstoy argued that “the law of love” is the foundation of all religions. See Tolstoy, “Letter to a Hindu,” 167–8. Such an idea correlates with Gandhi's description of “the religion which resides in all religions [ e badhā dharmmāṃ je dharm rahyo che ]” in HS , 81.

60 Between 1908 and 1914, seventy-five poems written in Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi, and English were published in Indian Opinion in order to encourage participation in Gandhi's satyāgraha campaign. From a literary perspective, many of these poems followed two poetic forms: one was the “ bhakti (devotional) poetry of medieval saint-poets in regional Indian languages upholding love for the divine and fellow devotees as a supreme religious value. The other was ghazal , originally a form of Arabic love poetry … that had travelled to South Asia via Persia.” S. Bhana and N. Shukla-Bhatt, eds., A Fire That Blazed in the Ocean: Gandhi and the Poems of Satyagraha in South Africa, 1909–1911 (New Delhi, 2011), 37. Besides, an Urdu ghazal by Sheik Mehtab, a Muslim childhood friend of Gandhi, was published in the Indian Opinion of 6 May 1911, where the concept of “compassion” was used as an important quality of both Allah and Yahweh in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions. Gandhi later said in 1916, “In Islam's [sacred] book, it has been said dayā should be stressed.” GA , 13: 183.

61 Mahida , Ebrahim , History of Muslims in South Africa: A Chronology ( Durban , 1993 ), 39 – 42 Google Scholar ; Bhana , Surendra and Vahed , Goolam , The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–1914 ( New Delhi , 2006 ), 73 – 92 Google Scholar ; Brown , Judith , Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics 1915–1922 ( Cambridge , 1972 ), 9 Google Scholar ; Bhikhu Parekh, Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An Analysis of Gandhi's Political Discourse , revised edn (New Delhi, 1999), 186; Chatterjee , Margaret , Gandhi and His Jewish Friends ( London , 1992 ) CrossRef Google Scholar .

62 See my note 60 above. Such a cosmopolitan perspective was shared by his Muslim supporters. AK , 113–16; Bhana and Shukla-Bhatt, A Fire That Blazed , 21–3, 30–34.

63 See notes 24, 25, 26 above and 117 below. Recent scholarships on early modern South Asia have, however, revealed that during the reign of the Mughal dynasty, classical Sanskrit texts such as the Mahābhārata and various Upaniṣads were widely translated into Persian. Jainism was also generously patronized. See Gandhi , Supriya , The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India ( Cambridge, MA , 2020 ) CrossRef Google Scholar ; Truschke , Audrey , Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court ( New York , 2016 ) Google Scholar ; Truschke, The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of a Muslim Past (New York, 2021). Yet none of the works, as far as I am aware, have yet discussed whether there was any fixed Persian translation for ahiṃsā . I have personally consulted Professor Supriya Gandhi regarding this matter. She has told me that at the end of the Chāndogyopaniṣad in Dara Sukhoh's Persian translation, ahiṃsā is rendered as something like “not killing and not doing harm.” She has also taught me that in the modern context, the Urdu-speaking Muslims who engaged with Gandhi would have perhaps been more familiar with a concept such as sulḥ-i kull rather than any specific equivalent of ahiṃsā . I am very grateful that she has generously imparted her expertise to me. Our email correspondence was from 3 to 4th Nov. 2021.

64 GA , 13: 17.

65 GA , 11: 443; 12: 367, 453.

66 This speech was originally given in English on 31 March 1915 and the report was published in Amrita Bazar Patrik of 1 April 1915. This material should be considered the first occasion when Gandhi used the concept ahiṃsā as the core nationalist principle. Hardiman, “Ahimsa,” 27–8, however, has written work that the first instance of Gandhi applying the term ahiṃsā after his return to India could be attributed to his speech at a reception hosted by his own caste, the Modh Baniyas, in Bhavnagar on 9 Dec. 1915. Yet in Hardiman's newer The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom , 164–5, without any reference to his earlier argument, he writes differently that Gandhi's speech at St Stephens College in Delhi on 13 April 1915 was the first instance. Both dates are at any rate inaccurate, as shown in Table 1 . Gandhi had already begun to employ the idea of ahiṃsā , as evidenced in his speech at the Students’ Hall, College Square, in Calcutta, which was at least two weeks prior to the speech in Delhi, as I will argue below.

67 CWMG , 13: 45.

68 GA , 13: 36.

69 CWMG , 13: 50, 65–6, 224, 228–9, 231; GA , 13: 33–4, 69, 88.

70 CWMG , 13: 45, 65–6, 228–9; GA , 13: 33–4, 69, 88.

71 GA , 13: 36. See also Gandhi's Gujarati article entitled “Ahiṃsā versus Dayā” in Navjīvan ( NJ , 31 March 1929).

72 Gandhi did continue to use dayā and prem throughout his life, but the emphasis changed.

73 Gandhi's civil rights struggle in South Africa had been enthusiastically reported on in a Gujarati local newspaper, Prajābandhu . Mehta , Makrand , “ Gandhi and Ahmedabad ,” Economic and Political Weekly 40 / 4 ( 2005 ), 291–9, at 294–5 Google Scholar .

74 CWMG , 13: 5–10, 13, 24, 35–6, 58, 62–3, 67–71, 81–3; GA , 13: 12–13, 15–6.

75 CWMG , 13: 9–10; AK , 399–400. See also Riho Isaka, “Gandhi and the Problem of Language,” Odysseus 5 (2000), 132–45, at 132–3.

76 AK , 400.

77 CWMG , 13: 24.

79 Gordon , Richard , “ Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, 1915–1926 ,” Modern Asian Studies 9 / 2 ( 1975 ), 145–203, at 148–50 CrossRef Google Scholar ; Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement , 18.

80 Gordon, “Hindu Mahasabha,” 150.

81 CWMG , 13: 46–7.

82 Bapu , Prabhu , Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915–1930 ( London , 2013 ), 20 Google Scholar .

83 Later, in 1917, Gandhi gave a public speech on the necessity of cow protection in Bettiah, Bihar. While emphasizing not invoking anti-Muslim sentiment among Hindus, he uttered that cow protection was a “very sacred” ( bahu pavitra ) thing, and “doing cow protection is the primal work for every Hindu.” GA , 14: 1.

84 Mehta, “Gandhi and Ahmedabad,” 297, emphasis added.

85 Sharp , Gene , Gandhi as a Political Strategist ( Boston , 1979 ), 87, 184 Google Scholar .

86 Erikson, Gandhi's Truth , 118, 395–409.

87 Asad , Talal , Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam ( Baltimore , 1993 ), 140, 150 CrossRef Google Scholar ; Formation of the Secular (Stanford, 2003), 62–3; Peter van der Veer, “Ritual and Anti-ritual,” unpublished paper presented at the Max Planck Institute conference on 28 Sept. 2020, at www.mmg.mpg.de/events/26664/47565 .

88 Kazuya Ishii, “Gandhi's Theory of Trusteeship,” Gandhi Marg 42/3 (2020), 135–55; A. K. Dasgupta, Gandhi's Economic Thought (London, 1996).

89 SGV , 97: 11–12; GA , 13: 80–83; AK , 401–3.

90 AK , 401–2.

91 AK , 402.

92 AK , 422.

94 AK , 37; Guha , Ramachandra , Gandhi before India ( New York , 2014 ), 30 Google Scholar .

95 Riho Isaka, “Gujarati Elites and the Construction of a Regional Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century,” in Crispin Bates, ed., Beyond Representation: Colonial and Postcolonial Constructions of Indian Identity (New Delhi, 2006), 151–76, at 165.

96 GA , 13: 80–83.

97 AK , 422; GA , 13: 80–83.

98 More specifically, Śeṭh Maṅgaḷdās Girdharlāl was the husband of Līnā Maṅgaldās, daughter of Ambālāl Sārābhāī.

99 Mehta, “Gandhi and Ahemdabad,” 296.

100 See note 8 above. Williams, Introduction , 24, 159; Williams and Trivedi, Swaminarayan Hinduism , 43.

101 Mehta, “Gandhi and Ahemdabad,” 296.

102 GA , 13: 158; Mehta, “Gandhi and Ahmedabad,” 296.

103 Mehta, “Gandhi and Ahmedabad,” 296.

104 See also notes 7, 8 above. For the details of the somewhat exclusive historico-cultural perceptions among Gujarati elites see Riho Isaka, “Gujarati Intellectuals and History of Writing in the Colonial Period,” Economic & Political Weekly 37/48 (2002), 4867–72; Isaka, “Language and Dominance: The Debates over the Gujarati Language in the Late Nineteenth Century,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 25/1 (2002), 1–19; Isaka, “Gujarati Elites,” 151–76.

105 Mahādev Desāī, Mahādevbhāīnī Ḍāyrī , vol. 4 (Amdāvād, 1950), 166–7; AK , 418, 472–7.

106 AK , 422; Yagnik , Achyut and Sheth , Suchitra , The Shaping of Modern Gujarat ( New Delhi , 2005 ), 169 –70 Google Scholar .

107 GA , 13: 89–90; AK , 424–7.

108 Yagnik and Sheth, Shaping of Modern Gujarat .

109 See note 63 above.

110 GA , 10: 70.

111 Yagnik and Sheth, Shaping of Modern Gujarat , 169–70.

112 According to the Census of India (1921), Hindus constituted 68.56 percent and Muslims constituted 21.74 percent of the whole population. J. T. Marten, Census of India, 1921 , vol. 1 (Calcutta, 1924), 110.

113 M. K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth , vol. 2, trans. Mahadev Desai (Ahmedabad, 1929), 446. Here I intentionally used Desai's English translation. The Gujarati original sentence can be literally translated as: “my test of ahiṃsā and its grand experiment would take place in this [questions of communal] unity [ aikya ].” AK , 569. I believe that the intended meaning is clearer in the English version here. I also would like to highlight that there were many Muslim individuals who had supported Gandhi and stood against the Muslim League. There was, needless to say, no single fixed essentialized identity among Muslims. Ali Usman Qasmi, ed., Muslims against the Muslim League (Cambridge, 2017); David Gilmartin, ed., Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia (Gainesville, 2000); Barbara Metcalf, Islamic Contestations (New Delhi, 2004).

114 YI , 5 July 1919; CWMG , 15: 189–9.

115 See note 14 above.

116 Gandhi, Story of My Experiments , 577–8. The Gujarati original sentence can be literally translated as: “Only at meetings of Muslim brothers, I could not explain what I [wanted to] explain by the word ‘peaceful’ [ śāntimay ].” AK , 524. In the original chapter where this sentence appears, Gandhi, except on one occasion in the second paragraph, never uses the word ahiṃsā or ahiṃsak , but he recurrently uses the word śāntimay . I assume that this reflects, as argued above, Gandhi's deliberate consideration in Muslim meetings of paraphrasing his use of the term ahiṃsā with various other expressions.

117 At this juncture, Gandhi asked Maulānā Śaukatalī for his help with new phraseologies. The latter suggested to Gandhi bāaman for ahiṃsā or śānti and tark mavālāt for “non-cooperation” ( asahkār ). AK , 524.

118 CWMG , 16: 306–12; GA , 18: 186–8, 198–9, YI , 1 Sept. 1920; CWMG , 18: 224; YI , 15 Sept. 1920.

119 CWMG , 16: 307.

120 AK , 508. In Desai's English translation, the original phrase “Urdu or Gujarati word” is translated into “Hindi or Urdu word.” Gandhi, Story of My Experiments , 538.

121 AK , 505–9, 524.

122 CWMG , 19: 159, 190, emphasis added. In the Gujarati version of his Autobiography (i.e. Ātmakathā ), Gandhi translated the English words “all legitimate” into the Gujarati word satya . AK , 527. Moreover, Gandhi obviously intended to convey his idea of ahiṃsā when he wrote the English words “peaceful means” here.

123 See note 42 above. Gandhi lamentably confessed in his last years that he had realized that what he had believed himself to have been doing was not satyāgraha , but the “passive resistance” of the “weak” and of “cowards.” The dramatic confessions regarding Gandhi's last years are most clearly depicted in Sudīr Candra, Gāndhī: Ek Asambhav Sambhāvnā (Nayī Dillī, 2014), Ch. 3.

124 Judith Brown, “The Making of a Critical Outsider,” in Judith Brown and Martin Prozesky, eds., Gandhi and South Africa: Principles and Politics (Pietermaritzburg, 1996), 21–33.

125 Hardiman, Gandhi in His Time , 5.

126 Suhrud , Tridip , “ Modi and Gujarati ‘Asmita’ ,” Economic and Political Weekly 43 / 1 ( 2008 ), 11 – 13 Google Scholar . “I suspect,” said Ashis Nandy, “that our inability to recognise this has led to the fact that Gandhism as a force, or Gandhian thought as a force in Indian politics has declined. Of the greatest Gandhians today—probably the three greatest that I consider the most important—none is, strictly speaking, Indian. None is Hindu, and none Gujarati. They are Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Aung-San Su Kyi.” See, Ashis Nandy, “Speaking of Gandhi's Death,” in Tridip Suhrud and P. R. deSouza, eds., Speaking of Gandhi's Death (Hyderabad, 2010), 1–10, at 7.

127 See note 126 above. John Hick, “Foreword,” in Margret Chatterjee, Gandhi's Religious Thought (London, 1983), ix–xii, at ix; Mark Juegensmeyer, “Saint Gandhi,” in John Hawley, ed., Saints and Virtues (Berkeley, 1987), 187–203; Fox , Richard , “ Passage from India: How Westerners Rewrote Gandhi's Message ,” Humanities 19 / 1 ( 1998 ), 24 –7 Google Scholar ; Claude Markovits, The UnGandhian Gandhi: The Life and Afterlife of the Mahatma (London, 2004), 15–23; John Haynes Holmes, My Gandhi (London, 1954); Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, eds., , The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (New York, 2011), 116.

128 Nandy , Asish , The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism ( New Delhi , 1983 ) Google Scholar ; Rudolph , Lloyd I. and Rudolph , Susanne Hoeber , Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in the World and at Home ( New Delhi , 2008 ), ix Google Scholar ; Gandhi , Leela , Affective Communities: Anticolonial Thought, Fin-de-Siècle Radicalism, and the Politics of Friendship ( Durham , 2006 ) Google Scholar ; Bilgrami , Akeel , Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment ( Cambridge, MA , 2014 ) Google Scholar .

Table 1. References to ahiṃsā (, अिहंसा) in GA and SGV , and ahimsa and “non-violence” in CWMG (1884–1919)

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Volume 20, Issue 1
Eijiro Hazama (a1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479244322000014

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Relevance of Gandhian Principles in the 21st Century

Relevance of Gandhian Principles in the 21st Century Blogs Home

04 Oct 2023

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, the relevance of timeless wisdom often gets lost in the shuffle. However, the principles advocated by Mahatma Gandhi , also known as the Father of the Indian Nation, continue to shine as beacons of hope and wisdom in the 21st century.

With simplicity, non-violence , truthfulness, self-reliance , and compassion at their core, Gandhian principles offer valuable insights into addressing contemporary global challenges. In this comprehensive exploration, we will delve deeply into why these principles remain essential and how they can contribute to a more harmonious and sustainable world.

The Essence of Gandhian Principles

Before we delve into their contemporary relevance , let's briefly understand the essence of Gandhian principles.

Non-violence (Ahimsa) : Gandhi's unwavering commitment to non-violence goes beyond physical harm; it extends to avoiding emotional, psychological, and societal violence. It emphasises resolving conflicts through dialogue and understanding rather than resorting to aggression.
Truthfulness (Satya): Truthfulness forms the bedrock of Gandhian philosophy. Embracing honesty and transparency in our personal and public lives can help build trust and promote genuine dialogue.
Simplicity (Simplicity) : Gandhi's advocacy for simplicity reminds us to live with fewer possessions and a smaller ecological footprint, reducing stress and promoting meaningful experiences.
Self-Reliance (Swaraj): Gandhi championed self-reliance as a means of empowerment. It encourages us to take charge of our own destinies and be resilient in the face of challenges.
Compassion and Service (Seva): Compassion and service to others lie at the heart of Gandhi's teachings. Embracing these principles can foster empathy and unity.

Non-violence (Ahimsa)

"In a gentle way, you can shake the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

Historical Significance:

The Indian independence movement led by Gandhi serves as a monumental example of non-violence as a powerful force. Through peaceful protests, boycotts, and civil disobedience , India gained independence from British rule in 1947. This event showcased the transformative potential of non-violent resistance on a global scale.

Contemporary Relevance:

Think of the global protests for peace and social justice, where peaceful resistance and non-violent civil disobedience have sparked change. Movements like Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion exemplify the enduring power of Ahimsa. The words of Martin Luther King Jr. echo Gandhi's principles when he said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Truthfulness (Satya)

"Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained." - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's own life was a testament to truthfulness. Acts of civil disobedience, including the famous Salt March in 1930, exposed the injustices of the time, grounded in truth.

In today's world, where misinformation and fake news proliferate, Gandhi's emphasis on truth is more relevant than ever. Responsible journalism, with its rigorous fact-checking standards, embodies the commitment to truthfulness.

These institutions have learned from Gandhi that the truth must always prevail.

Simplicity (Simplicity)

"Live simply so that others may simply live." - Mahatma Gandhi

During the Indian independence movement, Gandhi famously lived a simple life, wearing khadi (handspun cloth) and promoting self-sufficiency through local production. His personal commitment to simplicity inspired millions to follow suit.

The Tiny House Movement , where people downsize their living spaces to reduce their environmental impact, is a modern expression of simplicity. It echoes Gandhi's belief in living with only what is essential. Embracing simplicity can also lead to a more sustainable and less consumer-driven society.

Self-Reliance (Swaraj)

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's call for self-reliance extended to economic self-sufficiency. He promoted cottage industries and self-sustaining rural communities , emphasising the importance of local production.

In an era marked by globalisation and technological advancements, Gandhi's principle of self-reliance takes on new meaning. The open-source software movement, with its emphasis on collaboration and community-driven development, reflects the spirit of self-reliance. It's a modern echo of Gandhi's call for individuals and communities to be self-sufficient.

Compassion and Service (Seva)

"The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's commitment to service extended to the upliftment of the marginalised. He dedicated his life to fighting untouchability and promoting social justice, showing that true leadership involves serving those in need.

In a world marked by social inequality and division, embracing compassion and service can foster empathy and unity. Charitable organisations like Doctors Without Borders exemplify the spirit of compassion and service. They provide medical care to those in need, regardless of their background, embodying the Gandhian idea of selfless service.

The Modern Challenge: Embracing Gandhian Principles

While these principles remain as relevant as ever, the challenge lies in their application in today's complex and interconnected world. How can we, as individuals and societies, embrace Gandhian principles to address the pressing issues of our time?

1. Non-violence in a Digital Age

In the digital age, non-violence extends beyond physical actions to online interactions. The rise of cyberbullying , online harassment, and the spread of hate speech calls for a renewed commitment to Ahimsa. Social media platforms can play a role in fostering respectful discourse by enforcing policies against hate speech and promoting positive online interactions.

2. Truthfulness in the Era of Disinformation

The battle against disinformation and fake news requires a collective effort. Media literacy education, critical thinking skills, and fact-checking initiatives are essential to upholding the value of truthfulness. Responsible journalism remains a cornerstone in this fight, emphasising accurate reporting and ethical standards.

3. Simplicity and Sustainable Living

Gandhi's call for simplicity finds resonance in the global movement towards sustainable living. From reducing single-use plastics to embracing minimalism, individuals are making conscious choices to reduce their environmental footprint. Governments and businesses can support these efforts through policies that promote sustainable practices and eco-friendly products.

4. Self-Reliance in a Globalised World

The principle of self-reliance takes on new dimensions in a globalised world. While international cooperation is essential, encouraging local entrepreneurship and supporting small businesses can enhance self-reliance at the community level. The open-source movement and collaborative innovation demonstrate that self-reliance can coexist with global interconnectedness.

5. Compassion and Service as a Unifying Force

In an increasingly polarised world, compassion and service can bridge divides. Community service programs play a pivotal role.

Volunteer initiatives and empathy-building education can foster a sense of unity and shared humanity. Leaders in politics, business, and civil society can set an example by prioritising social responsibility and inclusive policies.

As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, Mahatma Gandhi's principles of non-violence, truthfulness, simplicity, self-reliance, and compassion remain not only relevant but also essential. They offer a roadmap towards a more peaceful, sustainable, and harmonious world. Historical events and modern examples demonstrate that these principles are not confined to the past; they continue to shape our present and future.

Gandhi's wisdom resonates through time, urging us to strive for a better world. Let us heed his call to action, embracing these principles as guiding lights in our journey towards progress and harmony. In doing so, we honour the legacy of a man whose vision transcends generations.

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

https://www.mkgandhi.org/main.htm

https://indiaculture.gov.in/gandhian-heritage

https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/district-reopsitory-detail.htm?4159

Harsh Raj, a Mechanical Engineer and dedicated blogger, possesses a passion for modern art. Alongside his creative pursuits, he is steadfastly preparing for the UPSC examination, driven by a commitment to public service and governance.

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Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi

Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhiji came on this earth with his message of truth and non-violence (ahimsa) at a time when the forces of aggression and violence reigned supreme on earth. Mahatma Gandhi taught us what Christ and Buddha had longed to teach long ago. He became an immortal spirit who guides us through the path of peace and non-violence.

Gandhiji was born in a middle class orthodox Hindu family of Gujarat, at Rajkot. Having received his early education in India, he went to London where he qualified himself as a barrister-at-law.

Ahimsa or Non-violence: Mahatma Gandhi was the exponent of the cult of Ahimsa or Non-violence. Like the Buddha, Christ and Chaitanya he too believed in the ultimate victory of Non-violence over violence.

Force or violence, according to him, is madness which cannot sustain. ‘So ultimately force or violence will bow down before non-violence’. He had waged war not only against British imperialism; rather he declared war on all the forces of unrighteousness, untruth and injustice, all the world over.

Gandhi in South Africa: Having tried his luck in India, as a barrister, Gandhiji went to south Africa, were he set up a substantially sound legal practice. But soon he left practice and got himself engaged in social and political reformation. It was then that the racialism in South Africa was at its climax. The non-Whites were subject to worst form of torture. Gandhiji protested against this wrong attitude of the White government towards the Black peoples of Africa.

Gandhi demonstrated acts of truth and non-violence in South Africa. The non-violent protest of Gandhi got huge popularity. It was here that he cultivated in him the idea of ‘Satyagraha’, which he was to put into practice afterwards, both in South Africa and India. In South Africa, Gandhiji endeavored hard to secure for the colored people, including Indians who were domiciled there, equal rights with the White People. In this context he had to court imprisonment several times.

Also read: Gandhian Philosophy on Truth and Non-violence (Ahimsa)

Gandhi arrived India: After arriving India, Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian National congress, which was at that time more or less a social institution. He made Congress an organization, which was to play its vital role in the winning of the country’s independence. Before he joined the Congress and took its reins in his hands, it was predominantly an organization of the Upper Middle Class people.

Mahatma Gandhi changed it into a mass-organization, in which the peasants began to take an active part. He firmly believed that freedom can be achieved in a peaceful manner. He wanted all his followers to always maintain truth and integrity. The principles of Ahimsa was practiced in all of the independence movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Non-cooperation movement got massive support and became the popular non-violence movement. The Indians were requested to avoid using imported goods.

The Civil disobedience movement was a non-violent resistance against the British tax regime.

On 8th August, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi called for immediate independence and launched the Quit India Movement. It remains an important event in the history of India independence.

Religious views: He studied Bhagwad Gita, the Holy Quran and the bible. ‘I see the same God in Gita whom I see in the Bible or whom I want to see in the Quran’. According to him, the best religion of the world is one which contains the best elements of all the creeds of the world.

His religion was peace and non-violence. His sword and the shield, both were love which was based upon non-violence and truth.

Conclusion: Gandhiji was an angelic being, a source of inspiration to his people. He was a messiah for the tortured and oppressed humanity. He is a spirit of non-violence, peace and love.

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Essay On Mahatma Gandhi In 1000+ Words

Essay On Mahatma Gandhi

Hello, My Dear Friends, Jai Hind , In this Essay on Mahatma Gandhi we will read about his journey from Mohandas to Mahatma Gandhi in detail. So…

Let’s Start…

Gandhi Ji was born in Porbandar (Gujarat), on 2 Oct 1869. He was the son of Putli Bai and Karamchand Gandhi.

The father of Mahatma Gandhi became the Deewaans of the state. he gets services mainly from Porbandar and Rajkot. at this time, Gandhi Ji got married to Kasturba.

In 1888, Gandhi Ji goes to London and follows the Anglicised approach.

In 1889, Eventually, Gandhi Ji studies towards religion. it is also known as the enlightenment phase of Mahatma Gandhi’s life.

In 1891, he completes his education and comes back to India and practiced in the High court. he does a lot of struggle but finally, they don’t get any case, so he shifts from Bombay to Rajkot.

The first time, In 1893 Gandhiji was gone to South Africa. he was called by Gujarati businessman Dada Abdullah to settle some issues as a lawyer.

In South Africa, Gandhi landed in a place called Durban. Durban is a port of Africa.

On 7th June 1893, during traveling from the train the incident of racism Gandhiji takes place in South Africa.

In 1894, the Natal Indian Congress was the first body that was established by Gandhi Ji. And he was the first Indian Person who enrolled at the African supreme court.

In 1896, he come back to Rajkot and published “The Green Pamphlet” which shows the conditions of the Indian Community in South Africa.

In 1897, Gandhi Ji sails back to South Africa and participate in the Boer war (between French and British).

In 1899, he has established the ambulance corps and he was also awarded by medal by the British.

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In 1901 Gandhiji sails back to India. In Dec of this year, he attends the congress Calcutta session and raises Indian issues in South Africa.

In 1902, he come in contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale was also known as the political guru of Mahatma Gandhi.

during this time he was called back to South Africa, due to the anti-Asiatic act(It is a form of ID Card which is required to carry by the Indian community).

In 1903, he established a transversal British India association in South Africa and started to publish a newspaper called Indian opinion.

In 1904, Mahatma Gandhi read john Ruskin’s book called Unto this last.

And he established phoenix Indian Settlement and also published an article called a guide to health.

In 1905, when the participation of Bengal took place then mahatma Gandhi criticized Lord Curzon as a part of Indian opinion(Newspaper). And said Curzon was wrong, the Bengali people had the right to the determination whether they want to divide or not.

In 1906, this phase is known as the transformation phase of Mahatma Gandhi. since now he is disinterested in worldly possessions and adopts the Brahmacharya vow and decides that He will protest the British by passive resistance oath.

During 1907-1908, he writes a series of 8 articles in Gujarati on “ethical religion”. at this time ‘Satyagrah’ was used instead of ‘Passive resistance’.

In 1909, Gandhiji sails to England, in this time Gandhiji writes to ‘Tolstoy’ on passive resistance and Tolstoy personally replied to Mahatma Gandhi on the basis of this reply Gandhiji established ‘Tolstoy Farm’. It says that it was the

ashram system was established by Gandhi when they came back to India.

The period of (1911-14) is very much important because Gandhi Ji started so many ‘Satyagraha.

In 1912, Gopal Krishna Gokhale visits south Africa with mahatma Gandhi and at this time. Gandhi Ji gives up the western dress.

During 1913-14, two main Satyagrah is started by Mahatma Gandhi.

one of them is against the supreme court judgment in South Africa. the supreme court of South Africa says that any marriage which is not according to the Christian rituals is nullifying.

and the second one is that Gandhiji starts satyagraha against poll taX (3 pounds) indentured laborers and also protest against inter-state migration.

In Jan 1915 Gandhi reaches Indian and this day is called India Pravasi Bhartiya divas.it is celebrated every two years.

In May 1915, Gandhi Ji makes Asharam on Ahmedabad, and later it was shifted to Sabarmati (1917).

During (1915-16) Gandhi visits the whole of India called ‘Bharat Darshan’.

In april 1917, he started Champaran satyagrah.

In 1918, Gandhiji started Champaran Satyagraha(mill worker) and Kheda Satyagraha (peasant).

On 6 April 1919, he started Rowlett satyagraha, the Rowlett Satyagrah is also known as ‘Himalayan Blunder.

The massacre of Jallianwala bagh happened on 13 April 1919.

In 1920, he started the khilafat movement. during this period, Gandhiji established Gujarat Vidyapeeth.

In 1921, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was dead at the time of the Non-cooperation movement. Gandhiji formed a fund called Tilak Swaraj Fund.

During the Non-Cooperation movement, Gandhiji visits Madurai (Tamilnadu) and discards their full clothes.

In 1922, the Chauri-Chaura incident take place in Gorakhpur(UP), Gandhiji was arrested and sent to jail(Yerwada) Pune, for six years.

In 1924, Gandhiji was released from jail due to ill health. during this period Gandhiji was the president of the congress at the Belgaum session (1924).

In 1925, Gandhiji started published its 2nd newspaper called ‘Young India’ in which he talked about 7 sins. at this time he also established the All India Spinners Association.

In 1928, he encouraged Anti Simon Protest.

In 1929, during the Lahore session of congress gives slogans of Purna swaraj.

On 12th March 1930, Gandhiji started salt satyagraha and on 6th April 1930, he has broken the salt law.

In March 1931, the meeting held between Gandhiji and viceroy Irwin in Delhi called the Gandhi-Irwin pact. it is also known as the Delhi pact.

In Sep-Nov 1931, Gandhiji attend second round table conference

In Jan 1932, the civil disobedience movement (2.0) start due to communal awards. for its Gandhiji fasting in jail. later on, the pact between Gandhiji and Bhimrao Ambedkar was called Poona Pact.

In 1936, Gandhiji settle the Sevagram ashram in central India (Wardha).

In 1939, Gandhiji fasts in Rajkot against their own princely state.

In 1940-42, Gandhiji criticized Cripps’s mission said that it is a post-dated cheque.

On 8th-9th Aug 1942, he started Quit India Movement.

The leader of the Indian National Army (INA) Subashchandra Bose addressed Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘Bapu’ on the radio.

And the title of ‘Mahatma’ was given by Rabindranath Tagore to Gandhiji.

In Aug 1942, Gandhiji writes ‘around me is utter darkness.

During this period the riots in the whole of India become increases mainly in Bengal.

In Sep 1947, Gandhiji against fasting in Calcutta, and the riots become stopped because of his appeal. it is also known as the ‘Calcutta Miracle’.

On 12th Jan 1948, Fasting leads to the establishment of the Central Peace Committee called peace pledge.

On 20 January(10 days before his death) a person named Madan Lal throws a Bomb on Gandhiji During prayer at Birlahouse.

On 30th June 1948, in the morning Gandhiji said that Congress renamed Congress Seva Sangh. But, Unfortunately at evening prayer, he was assassinated on way…. by Nathuram Godse.

Later on, the thought of Nathuram Godse was published as a book called ‘May it Please Your Honour’.

At last, Nathuram Godse was hanged at Ambala jail.

If you have any queries regarding the Essay on Mahatma Gandhi , so please mention it in the comment section.

Finally, Thanks For Reading “ Essay On Mahatma Gandhi “.

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Gandhi's initial uses of the terms of ahiṃsā and "non-violence". This section shows when, where, and how the words ahiṃsā and "non-violence" appeared in Gandhi's writings in the three languages; that is to say, Gujarati, Hindi, and English. According to GA, SGV, and CWMG, except ten references in Hind Svarāj written in 1909, the word ahiṃsā (or its adjective form ahiṃsak ...
Gandhi on non-violence : Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869-1948 : Free Download
Contains selected texts from the writings of Mahatma Gandhi in which he expressed his philosophy of non-violence and non-violent action, and includes an introductory essay by editor Thomas Merton "Selected texts from Mohandas K. Gandhi's Non-violence in peace and war." Includes bibliographical references and indexes commitment to retain 20151204
Relevance of Gandhian Principles in the 21st Century
In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, the relevance of timeless wisdom often gets lost in the shuffle. However, the principles advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, also known as the Father of the Indian Nation, continue to shine as beacons of hope and wisdom in the 21st century. With simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness, self-reliance, and compassion at their core, Gandhian principles offer ...
Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhiji came on this earth with his message of truth and non-violence (ahimsa) at a time when the forces of aggression and violence reigned supreme on earth. Mahatma Gandhi taught us what Christ and Buddha had longed to teach long ago. He became an immortal spirit who guides us through the path of peace and non-violence.
Essay On Mahatma Gandhi In 1000+ Words » ️
Essay On Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi Ji was born in Porbandar (Gujarat), on 2 Oct 1869. He was the son of Putli Bai and Karamchand Gandhi. The father of Mahatma Gandhi became the Deewaans of the state. he gets services mainly from Porbandar and Rajkot. at this time, Gandhi Ji got married to Kasturba. In 1888, Gandhi Ji goes to London and follows the ...

10 Inspiring Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi, Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi in 800 Words

Here are 10 quotes of Mahatma Gandhi that help inspire a healthy and fruitful living:

Essay on Non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi in 800 Words for class 4,5,6,7 and 8

Nonviolence's Role in the Indian Freedom Struggle

Agitations in Champaran and Kheda

Movement Against Non-Cooperation

Salt Satyagraha, also known as the Salt March

Quit India Campaign

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Essay on Mahatma Gandhi – Contributions and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi

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ARTICLES : Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence

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Family & Education:

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Fight for India’s Independence:

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Gandhi’s Vision: The Goals Behind Non-Violence and Truthful Resistance

Ahimsa: The bedrock of Gandhi’s philosophy

Satyagraha: The force of truth and firmness

A moralized politics

Building a society grounded in justice and equality

Challenges in the path of non-violence

The global impact of Gandhi’s vision

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Gandhian Philosophy

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Resistance and results

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