Letters - Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy (1987) (81p) [Inua].pdf

Title: Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters
Author: Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy
Paperback
Publisher: Long Beach Pubns (September 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0941910024
ISBN-13: 978-0941910026

Description:
There is always an aura of mystery and curiosity when we open a book of letters. The correspondence between great minds are landmarks in the development of the history of ideas. The letters of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Count Leo Tolstoy are no exception. The general public is seldom aware of the correspondence between Gandhi and Tolstoy are no exception. The general public is seldom aware of the correspondence between Gandhi and Tolstoy, their admiration for each other philosophy of life, and the profound influence Tolstoy had upon Gandhi. These letters, few though they are, testify to that relationship.

In 1908, when Gandhi was pioneering his passive resistance experiments in South Africa, Tolstoy wrote A Letter To A Hindu. A Letter To A Hindu was a reply to C.R. Das, a revolutionary representative of Indians in Europe, who had challenged Tolstoy’s philosophy of non-resistance. Gandhi read A Letter To A Hindu and was so intrigued by it that he sought Tolstoy’s permission to publish the letter in South Africa. Tolstoy wholeheartedly approved the project and also consented to have his writings translated into Indian dialects.

To read the correspondence between Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy and fathom the thinking of these two literary giants is to capture the common threads running through Eastern and Western thought. Too often, we forget the fundamental unity of all religions as we plumb for their differences.