Editing Mahatma Gandhi (section)

=== Nonviolence ===
[[File:Gandhi at Darwen with women.jpg|thumb|Gandhi with textile workers at [[Darwen]], Lancashire, 26 September 1931]]

Although Gandhi was not the originator of the principle of nonviolence, he was the first to apply it in the political field on a large scale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asirvatham |first=Eddy |title=Political Theory |publisher=S.chand |isbn=81-219-0346-7 |year=1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Parel |first=Anthony J. |title=Pax Gandhiana: The Political Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMGSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 |pages=202– |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-049146-8 |access-date=21 July 2019 |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721073651/https://books.google.com/books?id=bMGSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 |url-status=live |quote=Gandhi staked his reputation as an original political thinker on this specific issue. Hitherto, violence had been used in the name of political rights, such as in street riots, regicide, or armed revolutions. Gandhi believes there is a better way of securing political rights, that of nonviolence, and that this new way marks an advance in political ethics.}}</ref> The concept of nonviolence (''[[ahimsa]]'') has a long history in Indian religious thought, and is considered the highest dharma (ethical value/virtue), a precept to be observed towards all living beings (''sarvbhuta''), at all times (''sarvada''), in all respects (''sarvatha''), in action, words and thought.<ref>{{cite book |author=Christopher Chapple|title=Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y00Q0_mOkAC |year=1993|publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=978-0-7914-1497-2|pages=16–18, 54–57}}</ref> Gandhi explains his philosophy and ideas about ''ahimsa'' as a political means in his autobiography ''[[The Story of My Experiments with Truth]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gandhi |first=Mohandis K. |date=11 August 1920 |journal=Young India |publisher=M. K. Gandhi |page=3 |title=The Doctrine of the Sword |url=https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/datalink/files/ghp_journals/journal_image_3/young_india_vol2_img251.jpg |access-date=3 May 2017 |url-status=live |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019152536/https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/datalink/files/ghp_journals/journal_image_3/young_india_vol2_img251.jpg}} Cited from {{harvp|Borman|1986|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U6DE9OUvrTEC&pg=PA253 253]}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Faisal |last=Devji |title=The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=2012}} {{ISBN?}}</ref>{{sfnp|Johnson|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dRQcKsx-YgQC&pg=PR11 xi]}}<ref name="Stein20102">{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Burton |title=A History of India |pages=289– |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-2351-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=GBS.PA289 |quote=Gandhi was the leading genius of the later, and ultimately successful, campaign for India's independence. |author-link=Burton Stein |access-date=21 July 2019|archive-date=21 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721074132/https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=GBS.PA289 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although Gandhi considered non-violence to be "infinitely superior to violence", he preferred violence to cowardice.<ref name="Gupta">{{cite web | last=Gupta | first=Sourabh | title=Gandhi Jayanti: Why non-violent Mahatma Gandhi preferred violence to cowardice | website=India Today | date=2 October 2013 | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/featured/story/gandhi-jayanti-non-violent-mahatma-gandhi-preferred-violence-over-cowardice-212996-2013-10-01 | access-date=6 August 2023 | archive-date=6 August 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806103121/https://www.indiatoday.in/featured/story/gandhi-jayanti-non-violent-mahatma-gandhi-preferred-violence-over-cowardice-212996-2013-10-01 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Jahanbegloo 2020"/> Gandhi added that he "would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor."<ref name="Jahanbegloo 2020">{{cite book | last=Jahanbegloo | first=R. | title=Mahatma Gandhi: A Nonviolent Perspective on Peace | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Peacemakers | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-000-22313-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBIHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 | page=69 | access-date=6 August 2023 | archive-date=6 August 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806124828/https://books.google.com/books?id=BBIHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 | url-status=live }}</ref>