Mahatma Gandhi's Hind Swaraj

Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Hind Swaraj’ is an annotation of his fundamental elements of thought. He wrote this book back in 1909 in his native language, Gujarati while travelling from London to South Africa. Gandhi translated the book in English after the British government banned the Gujarati publication; the English version wasn’t imposed with legal restrictions.

With the Enlightenment Period and the discovery of the ‘New World’, there was a revised approach to the politics of society and the nature of man. The fundamental arbiters of change from the Old World to the New World were: Capitalism, Colonialism, Modernity and Nationalism. Hind Swaraj is a staunch critique of all these four concepts. In this text, he not only completely does away with modern civilization, but also critiques the individuality in civil society. He believed that India was being ground down, not by the British heel but under that of modern civilization; the end result of these means was that the people were turning away from God. I would like to draw attention to how the Gandhian theory of life

He pinned the issue of the spread of plague on railways stating that it took place due to the locomotion of people from one place to another; famines occurred as grains were carried out by railways for he purposed of trade; holy places in India became unholy due to the lack of true divinity; and it was only after the advent of railways did the people believe in distinctions. He dismissed the opinion of railways have helped instil the notions of nationalism by debating that it was only because India was one nation that the English were able to establish one kingdom and hence divide us. The idea of oneness was already established by our ancestors when they established places of pilgrimage in different parts of the country. It is also noted that good not only travels at snail’s speed but those who wish to impregnate people with good, require a long time to do