The author offers a South Asian perspective on the evolution of the modern concept of nonviolence as a political strategy. In the 15th century, Etienne de La Boétle questioned voluntary servitude by the masses to the will of a single Individual, King Francis I of France, and promoted noncompliance, in late 17th century in UK, Percy Bysshe Shelley suggested civil disobedience for the farmers to counter the power of land-owners, in the 19th century USA, Henry David Thoreau, through the Transcendental Movement, saw divine revelations in nature. Joseph John Gurney shifted the pacifism of The Quakers towards evangelism. By mid-19th century, The Quakers arrived in India. About that time, Leo Tolstoy, having witnessed the horrors of the Crimean War and a public hanging, promoted passive resistance to tyranny.
He read a German translation of the ancient book, Thirukkral, and became familiar with the Hindu concept of ahimsa. In the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi developed innovative approaches to enhance the effectiveness of nonviolence as a political strategy.
KRISHNA S. DHIR, a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, earned a PhD from the University of Colorado, Born in a Punjabi family In Bengal, he schooled in Uttar Pradesh, married in Kerala, and worked in Australia, Hungary, India, Switzerland, UK and USA, in the cement, plastics, and pharmaceutical industries; and also in the academia. He taught at various universities, including the University of Denver, The Citadel, and Pennsylvania State University, and served as Dean at Berry College and the University of Hawaii in Hilo.
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