ABSTRACT
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is extraordinary in the depth of his faith in non-violence and in the simplicity of his mode of resistance. He stands apart because of the nature of his faith, from which accrues its depth, in non-violence. He rejects as illusory the pervasive human faith in the efficacy of violence. Violence, he sees, only breeds more violence and can resolve nothing. Humans always have freshly cobbled or well-worn justifications for violence. The violence they resort to is always 'just' or 'necessary' or 'unavoidable' or pre-emptive. Violence is unlikely to be abolished through violence. Whatever little chance there is of arresting the fast acceleration of violence is solely through non-violence. Non-violence can at best be only aspirational, awaiting progressive realisation in the future. Gandhi's kind of faith in non-violence must for long remain beyond average humans. One of them had promised to provide what he called 'African Replies' to practices of violence and non-violence.
