Using Non-Violence |
Gandhi believed in Non-Violence. He believed that using violence brought you nowhere, and that using violence would create more problems. He wanted to prove a point using no violence. "Ahimsa", the principle used in multiple religions was an inspiration to Gandhi. "Ahimsa" is another word for "no harm". Gandhi also believed in Hindu Mythology. Being born to a Hindu family, many of his beliefs were from Hindu Scriptures. He was mainly attached to the "Bagavad Gita". The "Bagavad Gita was a Poem, sacred to all Hindus. To promote Non-violence, Gandhi persuaded landlords to stop forcing tenant farmers to pay increased rent, and persuaded Indians to not purchase British salt.
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If you say, as you have said, that the civil disobedience must end in violence, history will pronounce the verdict that the British Government not bearing because not understanding non-violence, goaded human nature to violence, which it could understand and deal with.
Gandhi's letter to Lord Irwin Viceroy. May 4, 1930
Gandhi's
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Gandhi's mission was to obtain salt from the beach of Dandi, India, which was 240 miles AKA a "Satyagraha". "Satyagraha" is derived from the Sanskrit language. “Satya”, meaning "truth" and “agraha”, meaning "force".
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“Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever; and it always insists upon truth.
Gandhi's Autobiography, " My experiments with Truth"
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March 2, 1930, Gandhi sent a letter out to the Lord Irwin Viceroy, an englishman and leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement. The Viceroy had very similar opinions and beliefs as Gandhi did. The letter informed the Viceroy, Gandhi's plans about the "Satyagraha" and on why Gandhi found the British rule a "curse". |
"Why do I regard the British rule as a curse?
It has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration which the country can never afford."
Gandhi's letter to Viceroy, March 2, 1930
In another letter to the Viceroy, he asked him about the Salt taxes and the logic/plans behind it. The Viceroy wrote back saying that the British wouldn't change the Salt policy.
“ If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man's standpoint. As the Independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.[1] “
One of Gandhi's letters to Viceroy.
Preparing for the March |
The day before the "Satyagraha" consisted of prayers and meetings, and also one of Gandhi's famous speeches, at Sabarmati Sands, India.
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“ A Satyagrahi, whether free or incarcerated, is ever victorious. He is vanquished only, when he forsakes truth and nonviolence and turns a deaf ear to the inner voice. If, therefore, there is such a thing as defeat for even a Satyagrahi, he alone is the cause of it. God bless you all and keep off all obstacles from the path in the struggle that begins tomorrow. “
Section of Gandhi's speech, Evening prayer at Sabarmati Sands, Ahmedabad, India. March 11, 1930.