Indian Writing

A hundred years ago in Transvaal, South Africa, satyagraha was born:

It began with a meeting at the Empire Theatre packed with Indian delegates protesting against the compulsory registration of Asians. Adopting the famous Fourth Resolution, the Indians solemnly resloved not to submit to the ordinance in the event of its becoming law, and to suffer all the penalties that may follow. That pledge was the beginning of Satyagraha. Tolstoy later observed, “The Transvaal struggle was the first attempt at applying the principle of Satyagraha to masses or bodies of men.”

The term, ‘satyagraha’ did not figure in the resolution that was passed. Gandhi, in his newspaper, Indian Opinion, later announced a small prize to be awarded to the reader who invented the best term to describe the struggle. Maganlal Gandhi had suggested the word ‘sadagraha’, meaning firmness in a good cause. Bapu corrected it to ‘satyagraha’, a combination of ‘satya,’ or love, and ‘agraha,’ or firmness/force. Gandhi explained that “Satyagraha is the force born of truth and love or non-violence and is based on self-help, self-sacrifice and faith in God. Satyagraha renounces all fear… Jail was the pilgrims’ goal for a Satyagrahi which brought their struggle to a triumphant end”. The Satyagraha movement in South Africa ended in 1914, after the passing of the Indian Relief Bill. At Johannesburg, Gandhi asserted that it was a struggle for the vindication of the great truth that all men are born free and equal.

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