Hind Swaraj

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Overview

Hind Swaraj, or Indian Home Rule, is a short book by Mohandas Gandhi, written in Gujarati in 1909 and soon translated into English. It takes the form of a dialogue between a Reader, who favours violent resistance and imitation of Western progress, and an Editor, who speaks for Gandhi. The Editor argues that real freedom is self-rule, achieved through truth and non-violence, and that modern industrial civilisation is a moral danger and not a model. The book contains the seed of Gandhi's later practice of satyagraha and still divides readers: some see a profound moral critique, others see an impractical ideal.

Context

Gandhi wrote the book in late 1909 aboard a ship returning from London to South Africa, where he had been campaigning for the rights of Indians. In India, some nationalists were turning to political violence, and others admired British institutions. Gandhi had been reading Tolstoy and Ruskin and was developing ideas of passive resistance, later named satyagraha. The book was an answer to the nationalists he had met in London.