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Topic: Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

Introduction
Mohandas Karamchand, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, transformed freedom
struggle into a National movement with a mass character. He is best known as expert
strategist and a psychologist. He considered himself as a man of action and denied the
existence of Gandhism. He called his life as “experiments with truth”. He is rightly called as
the Father of the Nation.

Influences on Gandhi
➢ Gandhi was greatly influenced by his Mother who was deeply a religious woman. His
inclination towards religion comes from his mother.
➢ Besides Hinduism/Vaishnavism, he was influenced by Christianity, Jainism and
other religions. His thinking was influenced by various religious strands.
➢ The play Harishchandra left a profound impact on his mind. His faith in the
principles of truth and non-violence emanate from there.
➢ He was influenced by many scholars belonging to the school of Anarchism like Leo
Tolstoy, Thoreau, Emerson, etc.
➢ He was influenced by Edward Carpenter’s criticism of modern medicine on
human health.
➢ John Ruskin’s book ‘Unto this last’ had a great influence on Gandhi’s life. Ruskin as
a precursor of social economy influenced Gandhi’s ideas on Economy and
industrialization. He learnt the principle of Dignity of labor from Ruskin
➢ Leo Tolstoy’s ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ and ‘Christianity and
Patriotism’ influenced Gandhi. His ideal of ‘simplicity of life and purity of purpose’
deeply influenced Gandhi. The principles of Truth and Ahimsa came from Tolstoy.

Works of Gandhi
➢ Books:
• Hind Swaraj (1909) – here he expresses his views on Swaraj, mechanization and
modern civilization.
• The story of My Experiments with Truth (1927) – It is an Autobiography, where
he describes his struggle against racism, violence and colonialism. It is a window
to the evolution of his ideas over a period of time.
• Satyagraha in South Africa (1928)
• India of my Dreams (1947)
➢

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➢ Magazines:
• The Indian Opinion
• The Young India
• Harijan

Ideas of Gandhi

Non – Violence (Ahimsa)

Ahimsa

Philosophical Political

God = Truth= Goal of life God

➢ Ahimsa is the foundational principle of the Gandhian political thought.

➢ According to Gandhi, the goal of life is to come nearer to the Truth.
➢ He states, God is Truth .i.e. Self Existent or the Highest Consciousness.
➢ Gandhi never claimed that he knows the ultimate truth and his own life was
Experiments with the truth.
➢ He however held that, he can tell the path, following which, a person can reach the
truth.
➢ Why Ahimsa is the path?
• Gandhi believed in the continuity of Ends and Means. If End is God, then the
means cannot be Satanic.
• According to him, God is the symbol of love and sacrifice. Hence is not just
about not using violence, it has a much deeper meaning.
• Ahimsa is based on the concept of love and fraternity.
• Gandhi states, Ahimsa should not be considered as a weapon of weak, but as a
weapon of strong, the weapon of those who are strong spiritually and not just
physically.
• Gandhi held that he would prefer Ahimsa over Cowardliness.

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➢ According to him, Hinsa is the feature of the world of Animals, whereas, Ahimsa
is the feature of the world of Humans.
➢ Gandhi suggests practice of ahimsa in actions as well as thoughts.
➢ It should be practiced not only towards human beings but also towards animals and
environment.
➢ Ahimsa was a political weapon and strategy of Gandhi.
➢ For him the freedom struggle was the fight for the Truth. It is the fight against
the Evil.
➢ According to Gandhi, history has taught us that between Evil and Good, evil gets
defeated and the truth emerges as victorious.
➢ The person should accept his enemy. The fight is against the evil and not the evil doer.
➢ According to Gandhi, “Victory is not killing the enemy but making him as friend.”

Concept of Satyagraha
➢ Satyagraha is a technique of Revolution and Fighting based on Non-Violence,
resisting injustice.
➢ Satyagraha = Satya (Truth) and Agraha (Holding firmly to).
➢ Satyagraha is NOT same as Passive Resistance.
➢ Satyagraha demands:
• Sat
• Ahimsa
• Tapasya

Non Non
Truth Violence
Chastity Possession

Body Labor/ Control of Equal respect

Fearlessness for all
Bread labor the Palate religions

Economic
strategies Freedom from
(Boycotts, untouchability
Swadeshi)

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➢ It is a fight for the truth. Non violence is the essential feature of the strategy of
Satyagraha.
➢ Satyagraha gives a bigger picture to Gandhi’s struggle. It makes the freedom struggle
a DharmaYudha, the fight between the good and the evil.
➢ Thus Gandhi used Satyagraha to legitimize the political struggle.
➢ He experimented with the strategies of satyagraha. His first experiment was in South
Africa. Later on he experimented Satyagraha on a small scale. E.g. in Champaran,
Kheda and Ahmadabad in India.
➢ His first all India level Satyagraha was the one against the Rowlatt bills. Non
cooperation movement and the Civil disobedience movements were the other
agitations.
➢ He prescribed for individual Satyagraha as well as collective Satyagraha.

➢ Gandhi chalked out a difference between Satyagraha and Passive resistance.

Passive Resistance Satyagraha

Violence is not used because it may not be Complete rejection of Violence. Satyagraha is
appropriate to use violence in the given context. If deontological. It is an article of faith in Ahimsa.
situations favor, Violence can be used.

There is feeling of enmity towards other person. There is no evil feeling against the evil doer but
only against the evil. Purpose of satyagraha is to
help the evil doer become a better person.

➢ According to Gandhi, Satyagraha can be applied to all aspects of life – Economic,

Political, Social and even in Foreign Policy.
➢ In case of foreign aggression, he advises of making a Human Chain.

Swaraj
➢ Swaraj in the Indian concept means ‘Freedom’.
➢ Though, formally ‘Purna Swaraj’ became the goal of Indian National Congress in
1929 when Nehru called for Purna Swaraj, for Gandhi Swaraj is beyond political
freedom.
➢ His idea of swaraj comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.
➢ According to Gandhi, Political Independence was not an end in itself, but was the
first step for Swaraj.
➢ Swaraj means Self Rule and not self Governance. It is the rule of person on oneself.
Swaraj is controlling one’s desires.

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➢ Thus the Ideal state- Ramrajya is a stateless society. People will be controlling
their own desires. There is no need of external authority.
➢ Thus Gandhi’s Swaraj was not just liberation of people from the foreign rule, but to
give people Swaraj – a state of perfect freedom which is based on the concept of
Human Dignity.
➢ Gandhi talks about Swaraj at various levels:

Individual level Self Rule

Social level Swaraj means abolition of untouchabilty and

communalism

Political level Swaraj means self-sufficient village republics

based on Panchayati Raj

Economic level Swaraj requires revival of cottage industries.

Production by masses rather than mass
production.
Cultural level Swaraj means respecting one’s own culture
without disrespecting the culture of others.

➢ According to Gandhi, one should be open to accept good things of others without
losing one’s roots.
➢ He used to say’ “keep windows open and the door closed”.

Sarvodaya
➢ Gandhi’s concept of Sarvodaya is influenced by John Ruskin’s book ‘Unto this Last’.
➢ It is Gandhi’s approach towards socialism. It is a Non-violent Socialism, for
Distributive Justice.
➢ It is based on the concept of Unity of Existence.
➢ Components of Sarvodaya:
1) Bread Labor – ‘dignity of labor’
• According to Gandhi, everyone should perform some kind of physical
labor before taking his bread.
• That is how we can realize the pain and hardships of those who are
engaged in manual work.
• His objective was to give dignity to such people who are engaged in
manual work.
• According to Gandhi, all sorts of work should be treated with equal
respect as each work is equally important.

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• Work of a labor deserves equal importance as the work of a lawyer.
2) Trusteeship theory
• Gandhi rejected the Marxist concept of class struggle. He believed in the
Harmony between the classes.
• As per Gandhi, capitalists should not consider themselves as the owner
of the capital.
• Capital is social production. Capitalist should consider himself as the
trusty of the capital. He should keep the amount he thinks is necessary
to run the industry. Rest of the amount should be given for the well-
being of the workers and the society.
➢ Gandhi‘s sarvodaya implies upliftment of all.
➢ According to him, true Swaraj is where the poorest can live with dignity.
➢ He concede the right to private property to the extent it was necessary for the
physical, moral and mental well-being of the individual.

Critique of Modern Civilization

➢ Gandhi called Modern civilization as Satanic.
➢ He has criticized modern civilization in his book ‘Hind Swaraj’.
➢ The critic of modern civilization was Gandhi’s attempt to establish counter
hegemony. It was Gandhi’s war of position.
➢ He is critical of industrialization and mechanization because it results into
machines controlling man.
➢ He criticized modernity not just because it is western in origin, but because it is based
on the values of materialism, utilitarianism, consumerism, militarism and
individualism.
➢ According to him, imperialism and fascism are not different, rather two
manifestations of modernity.
➢ Modernity undermines human dignity. It has degraded human beings to the level
of animals. It emphasizes on the satisfaction of desires.
➢ According to Gandhi, true civilization is not one which makes us animals, but which
makes us better human beings.
➢ True civilization is not satisfaction of desires but minimization of wants.

Gandhi on State
➢ Gandhi described himself as a Philosophical Anarchist.
➢ Gandhi was against the state because state is not compatible with the ideals of
Ahimsa.
➢ According to him, even a limited state uses coercive force. Therefore state is a
reflection of our weakness as we cannot control our desires.

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➢ State cannot understand Ahimsa because it does not have soul.
➢ His Ramrajya is a stateless society.
➢ Ramrajya is based on decentralization keeping individual at the centre.

Gandhi on Means and Ends

➢ Gandhi was critical of Machiavelli’s approach of separating politics and ethics or
religion and politics.
➢ He is influenced by his political guru, Gokhale who talks about necessity of
spiritualization of politics.
➢ Gandhi emphasized on the purity of means. According to Gandhi, Politics without
religion is a ‘Death Trap’(Mrithyu Jaal)
➢ He believed that we cannot reach the right ends with wrong means.
➢ Gandhi has applied his ends and means theory in choosing the methods in freedom
struggle.
➢ If freedom struggle is to be Satyagraha, means applied has to be Non-violent.

Gandhi on rights and Duties

➢ His views on rights and duties are based on the philosophy of Gita.
➢ Gita emphasizes on Karma or duty without thinking about consequences or rewards.
➢ According to him, rights are inherent in the duty performed in embryonic sense.
➢ We automatically get rights when we perform duties.
➢ Rights cannot be independent of duties.

Gandhi on Education
➢ Gandhi gave the concept of ‘Nai Talim’. According to which, we must learn from the
book of life rather than learning about life from books.
➢ According to him, education is a life-long process.
➢ His scheme of education laid emphasis on the development of body, mind and soul.
➢ He suggested ‘Earning while learning’. He emphasized that the person should be
able to finance his own education rather than being dependent on others.
➢ He favored teaching home science, nursery, forestry, etc.

Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

➢ “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
➢ “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the
form of bread.”
➢ “Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
➢ “I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.”

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➢ “Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent
blood.”
➢ “Distinguish between real needs and artificial wants and control the latter.”

Conclusion
Gandhi’ spiritualization of politics and the decentralization of power as key concepts
have influenced in a generation of scholars. The supremacy of ethical values and the
purity of means for realizing the political objectives give a wide view to the moral aspect of
the human beings. His ideals are worth emulation in saving the civilization from its complete
eclipse.

Previous year questions

1. Match the List - I (Sources) and List - II (Ideas) which influenced Gandhi and select
the correct answer from the code given below: (July 2018)
List - I (Source) List - II (Major idea)
(a) Jainism (i) Catholicity of outlook
(b) Vaishnavism (ii) Contempt for industrial civilization and
(c) Ruskin and Tolstoy ideas on passive resistance
(d) Plato (iii) Idealism and concern for moral values
(iv) Emphasis on Non-violence
Code:
(a) (b) (c) (d)

(A) (i) (iii) (ii) (iv)

(B) (iv) (i) (ii) (iii)

(C) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)

(D) (iii) (ii) (iv) (i)

Answer: B

2. Gandhi described himself as a? (June 2012)

(A) Liberal
(B) Socialist
(C) Social Democrat
(D) Philosophical Anarchist
Answer: D

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