A Letter to a Hindu: Tolstoy and Indian independence movement

"A Letter to a Hindu" was a letter written by Leo Tolstoy to Tarak Nath Das on 14.12.1908. The letter was written in response to the letters sent by Das, seeking support from the famous Russian author and thinker for India's independence from British colonial rule. The letter was published in the Indian newspaper Free Hindustan. The letter caused the young Mohandas Gandhi to write to the world-famous Tolstoy to ask for advice and for permission to reprint the Letter in Gandhi's own South African newspaper, Indian Opinion, in 1909. Mohandas Gandhi was stationed in South Africa at the time and just beginning his lifelong activist career. Gandjiji then translated the letter himself, into his native Gujarati.

In "A Letter to a Hindu", Tolstoy argued that only through the principle of love could the Indian people free themselves from colonial British rule. Tolstoy saw the law of love espoused in all the world's religions, and he argued that the individual, nonviolent application of the law of love in the form of protests, 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.

This letter, along with Tolstoy's views, preaching, and his book "The Kingdom of God Is Within You", helped to form Mohandas Gandhi's views about nonviolent resistance.

Tolstoy chose poverty and denial of the will

After reading Schopenhauer's "The World as Will and Representation", Tolstoy gradually became converted to the ascetic morality avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, for religious reasons. In Chapter VI of A Confession, Tolstoy quoted the final paragraph of Schopenhauer's work. It explains how a complete denial of self causes only a relative nothingness which is not to be feared. After reading passages such as the following, the Russian nobleman chose poverty and formal denial of the will:

But this very necessity of involuntary suffering (by poor people) for eternal salvation is also expressed by that utterance of the Savior (Matthew 19:24): "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Therefore, those who were greatly in earnest about their eternal salvation, chose voluntary poverty when fate had denied this to them and they had been born in wealth. Thus Buddha was born a prince, but voluntarily took to the mendicant's staff; and Francis of Assisi, the founder of the mendicant orders who, as a youngster at a ball, where the daughters of all the notabilities were sitting together, was asked: "Now Francis, will you not soon make your choice from these beauties?" and who replied: "I have made a far more beautiful choice!" "Whom?" "La povertà (poverty)"

:whereupon he abandoned every thing shortly afterwards and wandered through the land as a mendicant.

In 1884, Tolstoy wrote a book called What I Believe. He affirmed his belief in Jesus Christ's teachings and was particularly influenced by the Sermon on the Mount, and the injunction to turn the other cheek, which he understood as a "commandment of non-resistance to evil by force" and a doctrine of pacifism and nonviolence.

Based on Christ's teachings, Tolstoy derived the philosophy "Non-resistance during conflict". This idea in Tolstoy's book "The Kingdom of God Is Within You" directly influenced Mahatma Gandhi and therefore also nonviolent resistance movements to this day.

The Last Station: Preaching in the Final Hours

In his last days, Tolstoy spoke and wrote about dying. Renouncing his aristocratic lifestyle, he left home one winter night.

After a day's train journey south, Tolstoy reached Astapovo railway station (Russia). Tolstoy fell ill (pneumonia) at the Astapovo station and died here on November 7, 1910. Tolstoy died in 1910, aged 82. Later, the station was renamed Lev Tolstoy in 1918. The police tried to limit access to his funeral procession, but thousands of peasants lined the streets.

According to some sources, Tolstoy spent the last hours preaching love, non-violence, and Georgism to fellow passengers on the train.

Based on Christ's teachings, Tolstoy derived the philosophy "Non-resistance during conflict". This idea in Tolstoy's book "The Kingdom of God Is Within You" directly influenced Mahatma Gandhi and therefore also nonviolent resistance movements to this day.

Spiritual awakening -The Kingdom of God is Within You

• In the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work "A Confession" (1882). His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian.
• Tolstoy's concept of non-violence or Ahimsa was bolstered when he read a German version of the "Tirukkural".
• Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God Is Within You" also helped to convince Gandhi of nonviolent resistance, a debt Gandhi acknowledged in his autobiography, calling Tolstoy "the greatest apostle of non-violence that the present age has produced".
• In 1908, Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindu outlining his belief in non-violence as a means for India to gain independence from British colonial rule.
• After reading passages such as the following, which abound in Schopenhauer's ethical chapters, the Russian nobleman chose poverty and formal denial of the will:

But this very necessity of involuntary suffering (by poor people) for eternal salvation is also expressed by that utterance of the Savior (Matthew 19:24): "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Therefore, those who were greatly in earnest about their eternal salvation, chose voluntary poverty when fate had denied this to them and they had been born in wealth. Thus Buddha Sakyamuni was born a prince, but voluntarily took to the mendicant's staff; and Francis of Assisi, the founder of the mendicant orders who, as a youngster at a ball, where the daughters of all the notabilities were sitting together, was asked: "Now Francis, will you not soon make your choice from these beauties?" and who replied: "I have made a far more beautiful choice!" "Whom?" "La povertà (poverty)": whereupon he abandoned every thing shortly afterwards and wandered through the land as a mendicant.

• In 1884, Tolstoy wrote a book called What I Believe, in which he openly confessed his Christian beliefs. He affirmed his belief in Jesus Christ's teachings and was particularly influenced by the Sermon on the Mount, and the injunction to turn the other cheek, which he understood as a "commandment of non-resistance to evil by force" and a doctrine of pacifism and nonviolence. In his work The Kingdom of God Is Within You, he explains that he considered mistaken the Church's doctrine because they had made a "perversion" of Christ's teachings.
• Tolstoy also became a dedicated advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy of Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing, particularly 'Resurrection'.
• Tolstoy opposed private land ownership and valued chastity and sexual abstinence, ideals also held by the young Gandhi.
• Tolstoy died in 1910, aged 82. Just before his death, his health was a concern of his family, who cared for him daily. In his last days, he spoke and wrote about dying. Renouncing his aristocratic lifestyle, he left home one winter night. Tolstoy died of pneumonia at Astapovo railway station, after a day's train journey south. According to some sources, Tolstoy spent the last hours preaching love, non-violence, and Georgism to fellow passengers on the train.