Elusive Nonviolence

VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE SEEN THROUGH THE GANDHIAN PRISM Gandhi and non-violence are ubiquitous. But what was the precise nature of that definition as it played out in Gandhi’s own life and politics? The same man who spoke of turning the other cheek responded sympathetically to Hitler’s rule of Jewish annihilation. The ascetic who had few material needs and personified gentleness was remorseless in his need for complete obedience from his own family. What then constituted his notion of ahimsa? Where lay its genesis and how did his idea of peaceful protest become the central point of the national movement? Chronicling Gandhi’s journey through the fire of experience to initiate his most unflinching mission, the restatement of Hinduism, Jyotirmaya Sharma reopens the debate around ahimsa and its continued relevance―or irrelevance―in the modern world