Elusive Non-violence: The Making and Unmaking of Gandhi's Religion of Ahimsa – By Jyotirmaya Sharma (Author)

Deconstruct the comfortable, idealized myths surrounding India's most ubiquitous historical figure to reveal the complex, often contradictory machinery of his philosophy. In Elusive Non-violence, distinguished political scientist Jyotirmaya Sharma delivers a brilliant, unflinching intellectual critique of Mahatma Gandhi’s core doctrine. This screen-free academic masterwork reopens the historical debate around ahimsa (non-violence), tracing its genesis not as a simple political strategy, but as a deeply radical, sometimes absolute religious restatement of Hinduism.

Sharma meticulously examines the sharp, unsettling paradoxes that defined Gandhi's life and politics. He contrasts the global icon of peaceful resistance—who famously advocated for turning the other cheek—with the historical figure who responded with jarring sympathy to Hitler’s early rule during the annihilation of European Jews. The book explores the internal friction of an ascetic who personified gentle humility on the world stage, yet remained remorseless and absolute in demanding total obedience from his own immediate family. Rather than a standard biographical retelling, Elusive Non-violence chronicles Gandhi’s journey through the fire of practical experience, framing his political life as an intense spiritual experiment. Published by Context, this sharp volume challenges readers to question the absolute relevance—or eventual irrelevance—of Gandhian ahimsa in navigating the fractured politics of the modern world.

Rather than letting its dense philosophical arguments and historical critiques merge into a heavy wall of text, Elusive Non-violence structures its investigative analysis into four scannable thematic pillars: