If there’s anything that India’s most reknowned freedom fighter, Mahatma Gandhi, is known for, it is his non-violent approach and principles of Satyagraha and non-cooperation that drive the British oppressors out of the country. However, did you know that his principles were inspired by another revolutionary thinker of our generation whom he never had the chance to meet.
Russian author and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy wrote a letter known as “A Letter to a Hindu” to Tulak Nath Das, the editor of the Indian newspaper, Free Hindustan. It was in response to two earlier letters sent by Das, in which he sought Tolstoy’s support for India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.
The letter was read by Mahatma Gandhi, who would later go on incorporate Tolstoy’s teachings in India’s freedom struggle. He also had the letter printed in his own “Indian Opinion” newspaper in South Africa.
The Distortion of the Inherent Law of Love
In the letter, Tolstoy argued the reason behind the Indians’ predicament being their inability to grasp the inherent “law of love” present in humanity because they had led their lives through violence.
“If the people of India are enslaved by violence, it is only because they themselves live and have lived by violence, and do not recognize the eternal law of love inherent in humanity.”
He pointed out the flawed way that civilization has been governed since the beginning, which is by contradicting this fundamental law of love by resisting the alternative with violence. He pointed out that while humans have always lived communally in “special groups of families, tribes, and nations”, they always felt the need to willingly subjugate to a small group of persons for governance, which in turn employ “pseudo-religious” and “pseudo-scientific” methods to initiate a pattern of coercion.
He argued that the majority often submitted to the rule of a small minority. Despite this long-standing social structure based on coercion, a recurring idea has emerged across different cultures: every individual possesses a spiritual element that seeks unity through love.
But while the truth of love has been established and preached by the people, the means of governance directly contradicts that principle, which is “the enduring of injuries, insults, and violence of all kinds without resisting evil by evil”.
Tolstoy’s “law of love” is a universal principle that transcends religious and cultural boundaries. It advocates for unconditional love and non-violence as the highest moral standards. However, he observed that societies often disregard this principle, choosing instead to unite incompatible ideas: the virtue of love and the practice of restraining evil through violence. This contradiction undermines the true essence of love and perpetuates cycles of violence and oppression.
Indians gave them the country
Tolstoy argued that the chief cause behind the Indian’s subjugation was that the they did not attach any significance to the religious teachings of the greats of India, which proliferated peace, love and non-violence.
“…most of the leaders of public opinion among the [Indian] people no longer attach any significance to the religious teachings that were and are professed by the peoples of India, and recognize no possibility of freeing the people from the oppression they endure except by adopting the irreligious and profoundly immoral social arrangements under which the English and other pseudo-Christian nations live to-day.”
Tolstoy pointed out that Indian leaders were no longer valuing the religious and spiritual teachings that have been integral to Indian culture. These teachings, which emphasized principles like non-violence, truth, and moral integrity, are being overlooked.
In their quest for liberation from British rule, these leaders are adopting Western social and political models. Tolstoy views these models as fundamentally flawed because they are based on materialism, coercion, and moral compromise.
Furthermore, he emphasized the absurdity of a commercial entity like the East India Company managing to colonize a country of two hundred million capable and vigorous people. He further implied that it is the folly of the Indians that led to their “enslavement”.
“A commercial company enslaved a nation comprising two hundred millions. Tell this to a man free from superstition and he will fail to grasp what these words mean. What does it mean that thirty thousand men, not athletes but rather weak and ordinary people, have subdued two hundred million vigorous, clever, capable, and freedom-loving people? Do not the figures make it clear that it is not the English who have enslaved the Indians, but the Indians who have enslaved themselves?”
Gandhi echoed Tolstoy’s sentiments in his book, the Hind Swaraj, writing that “The English have not taken India; we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them.”
Satyagraha and its true meaning
Tolstoy made a clear distinction between the “law of love” propagated by all religions and the common disregard for this principle in practice. Tolstoy criticized the way people often accept the idea of love as a virtue while simultaneously endorsing the use of violence to restrain evil. He saw this as a fundamental contradiction and a failure to truly live by the law of love.
Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Satyagraha, often translated as “passive resistance,” is a profound philosophy that goes beyond mere non-violent protest. Gandhi himself acknowledged that “passive resistance” is an imperfect translation because Satyagraha embodies a much deeper spiritual and moral commitment. The term “Satyagraha” combines the Sanskrit words “Satya” (truth) and “Agraha” (firmness or insistence), thus meaning “insistence on truth” or “holding onto truth.”
Gandhi embraced Tolstoy’s distinction and integrated it into his own philosophy. He argued that true Satyagraha must reject all forms of violence, not just physical but also emotional and psychological. For Gandhi, the power of Satyagraha lies in its ability to appeal to the conscience of the oppressor, awakening their sense of justice and humanity through the demonstrable commitment to love and truth.
Gandhi was so profoundly influenced by Tolstoy’s philosophy that he, along with his friend Hermann Kallenbach, named their farm in South Africa “Tolstoy Farm”. The inhabitants of this farm lived self-sufficiently, dedicating themselves to hard manual labor and embracing the principles of truth, love, non-possession, non-violence, and chastity.
Gandhi’s time at Tolstoy Farm later played a significant role in shaping his Swadeshi movement, which emphasized the use of locally made goods. The Swadesh movement was the driving force behind the Non-Cooperation movement and encouraged Indians to withdraw their cooperation from the British government by boycotting British goods, institutions, and honors.
Gandhi was so inspired by the Russian’s philosophy that he wrote to Tolstoy requesting permission to reprint “A Letter to a Hindu” in his own “Indian Opinion” newspaper in South Africa. The exchange evolved into a year-long correspondence that lasted until Tolstoy’s death in 1910.
The influence of Tolstoy’s teachings undoubtedly played a significant role in the freedom struggle that led to India’s independence. “Undoubtedly Tolstoy has profoundly influenced him (Gandhi),” later wrote Reverend Joseph Doke in his biography of Gandhi. “The old Russian reformer, in the simplicity of his life, the fearlessness of his utterances, and the nature of his teaching on war and work, has found a warmhearted disciple in Mr. Gandhi.”
Manbilas Singh is a talented writer and journalist who focuses on the finer details in every story and values integrity above everything. A self-proclaimed sleuth, he strives to expose the fine print behind seemingly mundane activities and aims to uncover the truth that is hidden from the general public. In his time away from work, he is a music aficionado and a nerd who revels in video & board games, books and Formula 1.
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