Gandhi in India’s Literary and Cultural Imagination

This book engages with the socio-cultural imaginings of Gandhi in literature history visual and popular culture. It explores multiple iterations of his ideas myths and philosophies which have inspired the work of filmmakers playwrights cartoonists and artists for generations. Gandhi’s politics of non-violent resistance and satyagraha inspired various political leaders activists and movements and has been a subject of rigorous scholarly enquiry and theoretical debates across the globe. Using diverse resources like novels autobiographies non-fictional writings comic books memes cartoons and cinema this book traces the pervasiveness of the idea of Gandhi which has been both idolized and lampooned. It explores his political ideas on themes such as modernity and secularism environmentalism abstinence self-sacrifice and political freedom along with their diverse interpretations caricatures criticisms and appropriations to arrive at an understanding of history culture and society. With contributions from scholars with diverse research interests this book will be an essential read for students and researchers of political philosophy cultural studies literature Gandhi and peace studies political science and sociology.