Satya — Truth
Truth was not merely factual accuracy but the ultimate reality. Gandhi described his life as experiments in discovering and living truth.
Ideas put into action
Ideas & Philosophy
Gandhi treated politics, economics, religion and everyday conduct as parts of one ethical experiment.
Ahimsa — Non-violence
More than refusing physical violence: active love, courage and refusal to humiliate an opponent. It demanded discipline rather than passivity.
Satyagraha — Truth-force
Civil resistance based on persuasion, self-suffering and openness. A satyagrahi accepted punishment without hatred and sought transformation, not revenge.
Swaraj — Self-rule
Political independence and personal self-mastery. Gandhi warned that replacing British rulers without changing exploitative habits would not create real freedom.
Swadeshi & Khadi
Local production and voluntary simplicity were answers to colonial economic dependence. The charkha joined daily labour to national action.
Sarvodaya
The welfare of all, especially the last and least powerful. Gandhi drew the term from his Gujarati rendering of John Ruskin's Unto This Last.
Trusteeship
Wealth-holders should treat property as a trust for society. Critics considered it too dependent on voluntary moral change; Gandhi saw it as a non-violent alternative to class war.
Constructive Programme
Communal unity, removal of untouchability, khadi, village industries, sanitation, basic education, women's participation and economic equality.
Nai Talim
Basic education through productive craft, linking the hand, heart and mind rather than separating school from community life.
Religion
A devout Hindu who read many faiths, Gandhi argued that religions offered different approaches to truth. His public prayers drew from Hindu, Muslim and Christian traditions.
Ideas in debate
Gandhi's positions changed over time and were challenged by B. R. Ambedkar on caste, Subhas Chandra Bose on political strategy, feminists on patriarchy, and industrial thinkers on village economics. His ideas are best understood alongside these disagreements, not outside them.