CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -MK Gandhi was deeply inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s critique of institutional Christianity and belief in the love of the spirit. He came across Tolstoy’s article, “A letter to a Hindu”, which promoted a nonviolent strategy over the violent one that the Indian youth were seeking to use to free India.

Detailed explanation-2: -Tolstoy’s ideal of “simplicity of life and purity of purpose” influenced Gandhi deeply. The “love as law of life” and principles of non-violence, that is based on love for the entire mankind, were deeply embedded in the writings of Tolstoy. Both Gandhi and Tolstoy adopted the idea of love to solve problems of life.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1893, after Gandhi was thrown off the train at Pietermartizburg Station in South Africa, he read Tolstoy’s ‘Kingdom of God is Within You’, which talked about non-violence.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1908, Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindu outlining his belief in non-violence as a means for India to gain independence from colonial rule. In 1909, Gandhi read a copy of the letter when he was becoming an activist in South Africa.