The Essay

Professor Sunil Khilnani, author of The Idea of India, concludes his exploration of Gandhi's ideas and beliefs first set down in Hind Swaraj. 'My writings should be cremated with my body", Gandhi said in 1937, " What I have done will endure, not what I have said or written'. It's an intriguing statement, especially coming from someone whose collected writings amount to a hundred volumes: and it underlines Gandhi's belief that his greatest political text is in fact his life.