Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of

nonviolent resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, ...

civil resistance Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: it ...

. Someone who practises ''satyagraha'' is a satyagrahi. The term ''satyagraha'' was coined and developed by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

(1869–1948), who practised satyagraha in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal ...

and also during his earlier struggles in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

for Indian rights. Satyagraha theory influenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s and James Bevel's campaigns during the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in the United States, as well as Nelson Mandela's struggle against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

in South Africa and many other social justice and similar movements.

Origin and meaning of name

The terms originated in a competition in the news-sheet '' Indian Opinion'' in

in 1906. Mr.

Maganlal Gandhi Maganlal Khushalchand Gandhi (1883–1928) was a follower of Mohandas Gandhi. He was a first cousin, twice removed, of Mahatma Gandhi. Maganlal Gandhi is cited in many works of Mahatma Gandhi. It is he who suggested that the word Satyagraha ...

, grandson of an uncle of Mahatma Gandhi, came up with the word "Sadagraha" and won the prize. Subsequently, to make it clearer, Gandhi changed it to ''Satyagraha''. "Satyagraha" is a '' tatpuruṣa'' compound of the Sanskrit words ''

satya ''Satya'' (Sanskrit: सत्य; IAST: ''satya)'' is a Sanskrit word loosely translated as truth, essence. A. A. Macdonell, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Asian Educational Services, , pp. 330–331 It also refers to a virtue in Indian relig ...

'' (meaning "truth") and ''āgraha'' ("polite insistence", or "holding firmly to"). Satya is derived from the word "sat", which means "being". Nothing is or exists in reality except Truth. In the context of satyagraha, Truth, therefore, includes a) Truth in speech, as opposed to falsehood, b) knowledge of what is real, as opposed to nonexistent (asat), and c) good as opposed to evil or bad. This was critical to Gandhi's understanding of and faith in nonviolence: "The world rests upon the bedrock of ''satya'' or truth. ''Asatya'', meaning untruth, also means nonexistent, and ''satya'' or truth, also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question. And truth being that which is, can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of satyagraha in a nutshell." For Gandhi, satyagraha went far beyond mere "passive resistance" and became strength in practising non-violent methods. In his words: In September 1935, in a letter to P. K. Rao, Servants of India Society, Gandhi disputed the proposition that his idea of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". H ...

was adapted from the writings of

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and h ...

, especially the essay ''

Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". H ...

'' published in 1849. Gandhi described it as follows:

Contrast to "passive resistance"

Gandhi distinguished between satyagraha and passive resistance in the following letter:

Ahimsa and satyagraha

There is a connection between

ahimsa Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India � ...

and satyagraha. Satyagraha is sometimes used to refer to the whole principle of nonviolence, where it is essentially the same as ahimsa, and sometimes used in a "marked" meaning to refer specifically to

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

that is largely obstructive, for example in the form of civil disobedience. Gandhi says:

Defining success

Assessing the extent to which Gandhi's ideas of satyagraha were or were not successful in the Indian independence struggle is a complex task. Judith Brown has suggested that "this is a political strategy and technique which, for its outcomes, depends greatly on historical specificities." The view taken by Gandhi differs from the idea that the goal in any conflict is necessarily to defeat the opponent or frustrate the opponent's objectives, or to meet one's own objectives despite the efforts of the opponent to obstruct these. In satyagraha, by contrast, "The Satyagrahi's object is to convert, not to coerce, the wrong-doer." The opponent must be converted, at least as far as to stop obstructing the just end, for this cooperation to take place. There are cases, to be sure, when an opponent, e.g. a dictator, has to be unseated and one cannot wait to convert him. The ''satyagrahi'' would count this a partial success.

Means and ends

The theory of satyagraha sees means and ends as inseparable obtain an end are wrapped up in and attached to that end. Therefore, it is contradictory to try to use unjust means to obtain justice or to try to use violence to obtain peace. As Gandhi wrote: "They say, 'means are, after all, means'. I would say, 'means are, after all, everything'. As the means so the end. Separating means and ends would ultimately amount to introducing a form of duality and inconsistency at the core of Gandhi's non-dual (Advaitic) conception. Gandhi used an example to explain this: "If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have to fight for it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay for it; and if I want a gift, I shall have to plead for it; and, according to the means I employ, the watch is stolen property, my own property, or a donation." Gandhi rejected the idea that injustice should, or even could, be fought against "by any means necessary"—if you use violent, coercive, unjust means, whatever ends you produce will necessarily embed that injustice. However, in the same book Gandhi admits that even though his book argues that machinery is bad, it was produced by machinery, which he says can do nothing good. Thus, he says, "sometimes poison is used to kill poison" and for that reason as long as machinery is viewed as bad it can be used to undo itself.

Satyagraha versus duragraha

The essence of satyagraha is that it seeks to eliminate antagonisms without harming the antagonists themselves, as opposed to violent resistance, which is meant to cause harm to the antagonist. A satyagrahi therefore does not seek to end or destroy the relationship with the antagonist, but instead seeks to transform or "purify" it to a higher level. A euphemism sometimes used for satyagraha is that it is a "silent force" or a "soul force" (a term also used by Martin Luther King Jr. during his famous "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

" speech). It arms the individual with moral power rather than physical power. Satyagraha is also termed a "universal force," as it essentially "makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe."Gandhi, M.K. “Some Rules of Satyagraha” ''Young India (Navajivan)'' 23 February 1930 (''The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi'' vol. 48, p. 340) Gandhi contrasted satyagraha (holding on to truth) with "duragraha" (holding on by force), as in protest meant more to harass than enlighten opponents. He wrote: "There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause." Civil disobedience and non-cooperation as practised under satyagraha are based on the "law of suffering", a doctrine that the endurance of suffering is a means to an end. This end usually implies a moral uplift or progress of an individual or society. Therefore, the non-cooperation of satyagraha is in fact a means to secure the cooperation of the opponent that is consistent with truth and justice.

Large-scale usage of satyagraha

When using satyagraha in a large-scale political conflict involving civil disobedience, Gandhi believed that the satyagrahis must undergo training to ensure discipline. He wrote that it is "only when people have proved their active loyalty by obeying the many laws of the State that they acquire the right of Civil Disobedience." He therefore made part of the discipline that satyagrahis: # Appreciate the other laws of the State and obey them voluntarily # Tolerate these laws, even when they are inconvenient # Be willing to undergo suffering, loss of property, and to endure the suffering that might be inflicted on family and friendsGandhi, M. K. “Pre-requisites for Satyagraha” ''Young India'' 1 August 1925 This obedience has to be not merely grudging but extraordinary:

Principles

Gandhi envisioned ''satyagraha'' as not only a tactic to be used in acute political struggle but as a universal solvent for injustice and harm. He founded the Sabarmati Ashram to teach ''satyagraha. He asked satyagrahis'' to follow the following principles (Yamas described in Yoga Sutra):Gandhi, M.K. ''Non-violent Resistance (Satyagraha)'' (1961) p. 37 #

Nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

(

) # Truth – this includes honesty, but goes beyond it to mean living fully in accord with and in devotion to that which is true # Not stealing # Non-possession (not the same as poverty) # Body-labour or bread-labour # Control of desires (gluttony) # Fearlessness # Equal respect for all religions # Economic strategy such as boycotts of imported goods (''

swadeshi The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

'') On another occasion, he listed these rules as "essential for every Satyagrahi in India": # Must have a living faith in God # Must be leading a chaste life and be willing to die or lose all his possessions # Must be a habitual khadi weaver and spinner # Must abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants

Rules for satyagraha campaigns

Gandhi proposed a series of rules for ''satyagrahi''s to follow in a resistance campaign: # Harbour no anger. # Suffer the anger of the opponent. # Never retaliate to assaults or punishment, but do not submit, out of fear of punishment or assault, to an order given in anger. # Voluntarily submit to arrest or confiscation of your own property. # If you are a trustee of property, defend that property (non-violently) from confiscation with your life. # Do not curse or swear. # Do not insult the opponent. # Neither salute nor insult the flag of your opponent or your opponent's leaders. # If anyone attempts to insult or assault your opponent, defend your opponent (non-violently) with your life. # As a prisoner, behave courteously and obey prison regulations (except any that are contrary to self-respect). # As a prisoner, do not ask for special favourable treatment. # As a prisoner, do not fast in an attempt to gain conveniences whose deprivation does not involve any injury to your self-respect. # Joyfully obey the orders of the leaders of the civil disobedience action.

American Civil Rights Movement

Satyagraha theory also influenced many other movements of

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

and civil resistance. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about Gandhi's influence on his developing ideas regarding the

in the United States:

Satyagraha in relation to genocide

In view of the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Germany, Gandhi offered satyagraha as a method of combating oppression and genocide, stating: When Gandhi was criticized for these statements, he responded in another article entitled "Some Questions Answered": In a similar vein, anticipating a possible attack on India by Japan during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Gandhi recommended satyagraha as a means of national defense (what is now sometimes called "Civilian Based Defense" (CBD) or " social defence"):

References

External links

'Satyagraha 100 Years Later'
– a retrospective with Arun Gandhi from Democracy Now!
The Story of Satyagraha by Dr. Jyotsna Kamat

GandhiPoetics.com
– a site that analyzes and previews the poetry associated with Gandhi's Satyagraha movement.
Satyagraha in South Africa
{{Indian Independence Movement Activism by type Ethical schools and movements Gandhism * Pacifism in India Truth