A Letter to a Hindu

by Leo Tolstoy

"A Letter to a Hindu" by Leo Tolstoy is a letter written in 1908 in response to an Indian activist seeking support for independence from colonial rule. Tolstoy argues that only through the principle of love and nonviolent resistance could India gain freedom. The letter prompted young Mohandas Gandhi to reach out to Tolstoy for guidance, profoundly influencing Gandhi's philosophy of peaceful protest that would eventually lead to Indian independence in 1947.