Gandhi: Truth and Non-Violence - Sugden Oration 2023

At a time when various parts of the world are experiencing war or the threat of war revisiting the message of Gandhi on non-violence on the 75th anniversary of his death is timely.

In this lecture our 2023 Sugden Fellow, Professor Bindu Puri of JNU, New Delhi, will explore views on Satya, or truth implying openness, honesty and fairness.

Satya is inseparable from Ahimsa which is an ancient Indian concept best expressed as non-violence. Gandhi made these concepts his own “by moulding tools for nonviolent action to use as a positive force in the search for social and political truths. Gandhi formed Ahimsa into the active social technique, which was to challenge political authorities and religious orthodoxy.”

Gandhi had many heroes in his pursuit of non-violence and drew particularly from the Russian author, Leo Tolstoy. He said of Tolstoy’s, The Kingdom of God Is Within that it overwhelmed him. “Before the independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness of this book,” he wrote, “all books seemed to pale into insignificance.”

Ultimately, while influenced by Tolstoy, Professor Puri will argue that Gandhi’s thinking on non-violence was rooted in ancient Indian philosophy. Gandhi’s relevance for our times is confirmed by the thought that today, seventy five years after his death, the call for ahimsa/non-violence seems both relevant and timely.

Professor Bindu Puri
Bindu Puri is a professor of Indian Philosophy at the Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her main interests are in the areas of contemporary Indian philosophy and moral and political philosophy.