Mahatma Gandhi's fundamental work - a key to understanding both his life and thought, and South Asian politics in the twentieth century.

Born out of a meditation on the ideas of the nation state and nationalism, and what the new power structures and centres mean for the very idea of India, Hindutva or Hind Swaraj is a manifesto -- written in the form of aphorisms, using shifting tones and styles to make a deep, elegant and heartfelt point about the human cost of radicalization. This last work of Jnanpith award winner and pre-eminent writer U.R. Ananthamurthy is a creative response to the rise of Hindutva nationalism in India. Juxtaposing V.D. Savarkar's idea of Hindutva with M.K. Gandhi's concept of Hind Swaraj, the book examines the two directions that were open to India at the time of Independence.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule in his native language, Gujarati, while travelling from London to South Africa onboard SS Kildonan Castle between November 13 and November 22, 1909. In the book Mahatma Gandhi gives a diagnosis for the problems of humanity in modern times, the causes, and his remedy. The Gujarati edition was banned by the British on its publication in India. Gandhi then translated it into English. The English edition was not banned by the British, who rightly concluded that the book would have little impact on the English-speaking Indians' subservience to the British and British ideas.

On Hinda Svarāja by Mahatma Gandhi, work on India's political situation during 1919-1947.

9/11 marked the beginning of a century that is defined by widespread violence. Every other day seems to be a furthering of the already catastrophic present towards a more disastrous tomorrow. With climate change looming over us, frequent economic instability, religious wars, and relentless political mayhem, life for what we have made of it seems more and more unsustainable. Douglas Allen insists that we look to Gandhi, if only selectively and creatively, in order to move towards a nonviolent and sustainable future. Is a Gandhi-informed swaraj technology, valuable but humanly limited, possible? What would a Gandhian world—a more egalitarian, interconnected, decentralized—of globalization look like? Focusing on key themes in Gandhi’s thinking such as violence and nonviolence, absolute truth and relative truth, ethical and spiritual living, and his critique of modernity, the book compels us to rethink our positions today.

Dennis Dalton's classic account of Gandhi's political and intellectual development focuses on the leader's two signal triumphs: the civil disobedience movement (or salt satyagraha) of 1930 and the Calcutta fast of 1947. Dalton clearly demonstrates how Gandhi's lifelong career in national politics gave him the opportunity to develop and refine his ideals. He then concludes with a comparison of Gandhi's methods and the strategies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, drawing a fascinating juxtaposition that enriches the biography of all three figures and asserts Gandhi's relevance to the study of race and political leadership in America. Dalton situates Gandhi within the "clash of civilizations" debate, identifying the implications of his work on continuing nonviolent protests. He also extensively reviews Gandhian studies and adds a detailed chronology of events in Gandhi's life.

Gandhiji believed that character building on the part of every single individual is the only sure foundation for nation building. Students of his philosophy of life who would like to have an idea of his Rule for self-culture would do well first of all to read Appendices A and B in this book. They should then pass on to a study of From Yeravda Mandir — Ashram Observances and of the present volume, and at last dip into Appendix C, which is Gandhiji's last will and testament in so far as Ashram life is concerned.