Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is one of the best-known proponents and participants of hunger striking. Born on October 2, 1869, into a family of merchants, he regularly engaged in political fasting in an effort to persuade others to practice his principles of non-violence during India's transition to freedom (Gandhi, 2008).

When he was 19, Gandhi read Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, which inspired his philosophy of non-violence (Homer, 1956). Gandhi engaged in several famous hunger strikes. In addition to hunger striking, Gandhi is known for fasting for spiritual reasons. He frequently wrote and spoke of the deep spiritual nature of fasting. He said, "A genuine fast cleanses the body, mind and soul. It crucifies the flesh and, to that extent, sets the soul free" (as cited in Rinehart, 2004, p. 359).

For Gandhi, fasting was an important method of exerting mental control over base desires. In his autobiography, he discussed his need to fast to eradicate his desire for certain foods (Gandhi & Desai, 1993/1959). He believed that fasting would diminish all of his appetites, bringing the body under the mind's control. When not fasting, he abstained from meat, alcohol, stimulants, salt and most spices, and was particular about how his food was cooked.

Gandhi believed that fasting could cleanse the spirit by stimulating the courage to withstand all impulses and pain. He recognized that fasting had the potential to put the body through unusual hardship, and said he knew that extreme fasting could result in death (as cited in Lelyveld, 2011, p. 228). According to Bhikhu C. Parekh (2001), Gandhi’s reasons for fasting were concise:

One had to touch their hearts and activate their consciences, and fasting was one of the most effective ways to do so. As Gandhi understood its nature and mechanism, the idea of fasting had two distinct sources, the Hindu practice of tapas (penance) and the predominantly Christian idea of suffering love. The fast was an act of self-impose suffering designed to purify oneself and to energize the consciences of those it addressed by it. (p. 15)

Upon initial examination, it might appear that Gandhi took part in different types of fasts. While this is not entirely untrue, Gandhi’s fasting generally had several purposes, and he considered his hunger strikes to have a strong spiritual nature. For example, he would take part in a hartal, a day of fasting and prayer, along with other Indian Nationalists in protest (Copeland, 2006). At other times, Gandhi would undertake one of his well-known political fasts, called fasting unto death (Gandhi & Desai, 1993). As the name implied, Gandhi stated that he was intent on fasting until he died or his political demands were met, whichever came first (as cited in Lelyveld, 2011, p. 228).

Gandhi’s advocation of hunger striking was so passionate that a term evolved to describe the type of fasting he did, known as the Gandhian fast (Ardley, 2002, p. 57). In describing the influence of political fasting, Gandhi said,

Non-violence in its positive aspect as benevolence . . . is the greatest force because of the limitless scope it affords for self-suffering without causing or intending any physical or material injury to the wrong-doer. The object is always to evoke the best in him. Self-suffering is an appeal to his better nature, as retaliation is to his baser. Fasting under proper circumstance is such as appeal par excellence. If the politician does not perceive its propriety in political matters, it is because it is a novel use of this very fine weapon. (as cited in Gandhi & Dalton, 1996, p. 88)

Gandhi’s first fast, in 1913, was to atone for the immoral behavior of his friends (Adamson, 2002). In 1918, he fasted to protest the low wages of workers in Ahmedabad, and, in 1919, he fasted to protest the violence in Satyagraha.

Much of Gandhi’s work and many of his hunger strikes were to help India gain independence form the United Kingdom. India was a British colony from 1850 to 1947 (Hindusim Today, 2010). As India drew closer to independence in the 1940s, dissention grew between Hindus and Muslims, both of whom disagreed vehemently about the democratic government they hoped to build (Lelyveld, 2011). Since the majority of Indians were Hindu, the Muslims feared not having any political power if there was an independent India. Because of this, the Muslims wanted the six provinces in northwest India (which already had a majority population of Muslims) to become an independent country. Gandhi opposed the idea of dividing India and tried to bring both sides together (Erikson,1060). Instead, massive violence broke out, which included raping, slaughter, and the burning of entire towns.

Although British Prime Minister Winston Churchill steadfastly opposed the idea of losing India as a British colony, Britain eventually was forced to concede. After becoming financially crippled by World War II and facing bankruptcy, Britain gave up India along with other colonies, including Burma and Ceylon.

India’s transition to freedom on August 15, 1947, brought with it terrible tragedy as Pakistan was partitioned from India on the basis of religion; Hindu versus Muslim (Hindusim Today, 2010). A huge relocation followed as 7.5 million Hindus and Sikhs fled Pakistan and an equal number of Muslims relocated there from India. Violence between the Hindus and Muslims ensued as Muslim refugees marched out of India on a long trek to Pakistan and Hindus - who suddenly found themselves in a Muslim Pakistan - packed up their belongings and walked to India (Read & Fisher, 1999). Among the estimated 15 million Indians uprooted from their homes, a million died along the way from illness, exposure, dehydration, attacks, and riots.

To stop the wide-spread violence, Gandhi once again went on a fast. He would only eat again, he stated, once he saw clear plans to stop the violence. His fast began on January 13, 1948. Realizing that the frail and 78-year-old Gandhi could not withstand a long fast, both sides worked together to create peace (Homer, 1956). On January 18, a group of more than a hundred representatives from both sides approached Gandhi with a promise for peace, thus ending his fast. Not everyone was happy with the peace plan. There were a few radical Hindu groups who believed that India should never have been partitioned and they blamed Gandhi for the separation (Read & Fisher, 1999).

On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was walking to a prayer meeting when a young Hindu named Nathuram Godse stopped before him, bowed, and proceeded to shoot him three times with a semi-automatic pistol. Gandhi had survived five previous assassination attempts, but this time, was not as fortunate. Godse claimed that he was angry at Gandhi for his involvement in the partitioning of India.

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