"A Letter to a Hindu" (also known as "A Letter to a Hindoo") was a letter written by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Tarak Nath Das Taraknath Das (or Tarak Nath Das; 15 June 1884 – 22 December 1958) was an Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. He was a pioneering immigrant in the west coast of North America and discussed his plans with Tolstoy, while organi ...

on 14 December 1908. The letter was written in response to two letters sent by Das, seeking support from the Russian author and thinker for India's independence from

colonial rule Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

. The letter was published in the Indian newspaper '' Free Hindustan''. The letter caused the young

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to write to Tolstoy to ask for advice and for permission to reprint the ''Letter'' in Gandhi's own South African newspaper, ''

Indian Opinion The ''Indian Opinion'' was a newspaper established by Indian lawyer and future anti-colonial activist M. K. Gandhi (later known as the Mahatma). The publication was an important tool for the political movement led by Gandhi and the Natal Indian ...

'', in 1909. Gandhi was living in South Africa at the time and just beginning his activist career. He then translated the letter himself, from the original English copy sent to India, into his native

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

. In "A Letter to a Hindu", Tolstoy argued that only through the principle of love could the

Indian people Indians or Indian people are the Indian nationality law, citizens and nationals of India. In 2022, the population of India stood at over 1.4 billion people, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most p ...

gain independence from colonial rule. Tolstoy saw the law of love espoused in all the world's religions, and he argued that the individual,

nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

application of the law of love in the form of

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...

s, strikes and other forms of peaceful resistance were the only alternative to violent revolution. These ideas ultimately proved to be successful in 1947 in the culmination of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. In this letter, Tolstoy mentions the works of Swami Vivekananda. This letter, along with Tolstoy's views, preaching, and his 1894 book ''

The Kingdom of God Is Within You ''The Kingdom of God Is Within You'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Царство Божие внутри вас, Tsárstvo Bózhiye vnutrí vas) is a non-fiction book written by Leo Tolstoy. A Christian anarchist philosophical trea ...

'', helped to form Mohandas Gandhi's views about nonviolent resistance. The letter introduced Gandhi to the ancient

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

moral literature the

Tirukkuṟaḷ The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven ...

, which Tolstoy referred to as 'Hindu Kural'. Gandhi then took to studying the Kural while in prison.

References

External links

A Letter To A Hindu, by L. Tolstoy, with introduction by M. Gandhi

A Letter To A Hindu
by L. Tolstoy, with introduction by M. Gandhi {{DEFAULTSORT:Letter to a Hindu, A Letters (message) 1908 documents Works by Leo Tolstoy Cultural depictions of Mahatma Gandhi Tolstoyan movement

See also

References

External links