Satyagraha: Form of nonviolent resistance practised during British colonial rule in India

Gandhi used satyagraha in the Indian independence movement and also during his earlier struggle in South Africa.

Satyagraha helped shape Nelson Mandela's struggle in South Africa under apartheid, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaigns during the civil rights movement in the United States, and many other similar movements. Someone who does satyagraha is a 'satyagrahi.

He also used in his peculiar movements and numerous non - violent struggles in the motherland of India. Like Daandi March, Non - Cooperation Movement, Salt March; etc.

 

The word Satyagraha is from the Sanskrit words satya meaning truth and Agraha insistence", or "holding firmly to"). For Gandhi, Satyagraha went far beyond just "passive resistance" (resisting without taking action) according to him it was a moral force born of truth and non-violence. His non-violence also became his strength. He said that he chose the name because Truth means Love, and Insistence means Force, and the Sanskrit name showed it was a force born from Truth and Love (non-violence).

He also wrote that he liked the term "Civil Resistance" better than "Civil disobedience". Gandhi also translated it as "love force" or "soul force".

Main Points of Satyagraha

In Satyagraha', the goal, Gandhi said, is to change the mind of the wrong-doer, not to force him. Winning means getting along with the enemy to make what is wrong right again, which they might not realize is wrong. For this to happen, the enemy's mind must change to realize that he is stopping a goal that is right.

1. Nonviolence (ahimsa)
2. Truth — this includes honesty, but also means living fully for what is true, and agreeing with it
3. Not stealing
4. Chastity (brahmacharya) — this means keeping moral sexually, but also giving more attention to following truth than to satisfying urges.
5. Non-possession or nor owning (not the same as being poor)
6. Body-labor or bread-labor
7. Not eating much that is not good
8. Not being afraid
9. Equal respect for all religions
10. Fighting with boycotts (not spending or buying from those who are a problem)
11. Freedom from untouchability, or the idea of a caste (a group of people with the same amounts of money and power) that is so low that it "cannot be touched".

Another time, Gandhi gave seven important rules: A satyagrahi:

1. must have a living faith in God
2. must believe in truth and non-violence, and have faith in the goodness of human nature
3. must be leading a chaste (moral) life, and be willing to die or lose all he owns
4. must be a khadi wearer and spinner
5. must stay away from alcohol
6. must follow all other rules of discipline he gave them .
7. if he is put in jail, he must obay the jail rules, unless they are specially made to hurt his self-respect

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