A Letter to a Hindu

A Letter to a Hindu

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter to a Hindu, by Leo Tolstoy
#17 in our series by Leo Tolstoy
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Title: A Letter to a Hindu
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7176] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 21,
2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER
TO A HINDU ***

This eBook was produced by Chetan Jain at BharatLiterature.

A LETTER TO A HINDU
THE SUBJECTION OF INDIA--ITS CAUSE AND CURE
__With an Introduction by__ M. K. GANDHI

INTRODUCTION
The letter printed below is a translation of Tolstoy's letter written in
Russian in reply to one from the Editor of Free Hindustan. After having
passed from hand to hand, this letter at last came into my possession
through a friend who asked me, as one much interested in Tolstoy's
writings, whether I thought it worth publishing. I at once replied in the
affirmative, and told him I should translate it myself into Gujarati and
induce others' to translate and publish it in various Indian vernaculars.
The letter as received by me was a type-written copy. It was therefore
referred to the author, who confirmed it as his and kindly granted me
permission to print it.
To me, as a humble follower of that great teacher whom I have long
looked upon as one of my guides, it is a matter of honour to be
connected with the publication of his letter, such especially as the one
which is now being given to the world.
It is a mere statement of fact to say that every Indian, whether he owns
up to it or not, has national aspirations. But there are as many opinions
as there are Indian nationalists as to the exact meaning of that
aspiration, and more especially as to the methods to be used to attain
the end.
One of the accepted and 'time-honoured' methods to attain the end is

that of violence. The assassination of Sir Curzon Wylie was an
illustration of that method in its worst and most detestable form.
Tolstoy's life has been devoted to replacing the method of violence for
removing tyranny or securing reform by the method of non-resistance
to evil. He would meet hatred expressed in violence by love expressed
in self-suffering. He admits of no exception to whittle down this great
and divine law of love. He applies it to all the problems that trouble
mankind.
When a man like Tolstoy, one of the clearest thinkers in the western
world, one of the greatest writers, one who as a soldier has known what
violence is and what it can do, condemns Japan for having blindly
followed the law of modern science, falsely so-called, and fears for that
country 'the greatest calamities', it is for us to pause and consider
whether, in our impatience of English rule, we do not want to replace
one evil by another and a worse. India, which is the nursery of the great
faiths of the world, will cease to be nationalist India, whatever else she
may become, when she goes through the process of civilization in the
shape of reproduction on that sacred soil of gun factories and the
hateful industrialism which has reduced the people of Europe to a state
of slavery, and all but stifled among them the best instincts which are
the heritage of the human family.
If we do not want the English in India we must pay the price. Tolstoy
indicates it. 'Do not resist evil, but also do not yourselves participate in
evil--in the violent deeds of the administration of the law courts, the
collection of taxes and, what is more important, of the soldiers, and no
one in the world will enslave you', passionately declares the sage of
Yasnaya Polyana. Who can question the