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📜 Rabindranath Tagore’s Letter to Mahatma Gandhi (1919)

📝 Background​

  • Date: April 12, 1919
  • Context: Written after the Rowlatt Act (1919) and just before Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919).
  • Tagore writes to Gandhi about truth, morality, and the struggle for India’s freedom.
  • Tagore believed freedom should be gained through moral courage, not through violence or blind power.

✉️ The Letter (Full Text)​

Shantiniketan, April 12, 1919

Dear Mahatmaji,

Power in all its forms is irrational — it is like a horse without a rider. The rider of power is morality. When morality is not there, power is misused, it is unbridled, it is a danger.

Passive resistance is not always moral. It can be used for good, but it can also be used for evil. It is a force, and like all forces, it needs the guidance of truth.

Evil begets evil. Violence creates more violence. We cannot get out of a cycle of hatred by adding more hatred.

India’s freedom cannot be a gift from the British. True freedom must be earned by India herself, through truth and sacrifice. If freedom comes as charity, it will not last.

Our struggle should prove that we are morally greater than those who oppress us. Only then will freedom be real and permanent.

Yours sincerely,
Rabindranath Tagore

🔑 Key Ideas (Simplified with Examples)​

  1. Power without morality is dangerous

    • Power = horse 🐎, Morality = rider 👨
    • Example: British had power but no morality → misuse.

  2. Passive resistance is a tool, not truth itself

    • Can be used for good (justice) or bad (selfish gain).
    • Example: A strike can demand fair wages OR create chaos.

  3. Violence breeds violence

    • Evil creates evil → endless cycle of revenge.
    • Example: Terrorism vs counter-terrorism → both sides suffer.

  4. Freedom must be earned

    • Not charity, but deserved through sacrifice.
    • Example: India must show moral superiority → then freedom will have value.

📖 Summary (Easy English)​

Rabindranath Tagore tells Gandhi that power without morality is dangerous. He warns that passive resistance is not always moral, and that violence will only bring more violence. He stresses that India’s freedom should not be given as charity by the British but earned through truth, sacrifice, and moral strength.

👉 In short: True freedom = Moral strength + Sacrifice, not violence.

❓ Questions & Answers​

Q1. Who wrote the letter to Gandhi in 1919?
➡️ Rabindranath Tagore

Q2. What is the rider of power, according to Tagore?
➡️ Morality

Q3. What does Tagore say about violence?
➡️ Violence creates more violence; evil begets evil.

Q4. Why does Tagore reject freedom as charity?
➡️ Because true freedom must be morally deserved, not gifted.

Q5. What was the historical context of this letter?
➡️ After the Rowlatt Act (1919), before Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

📝 MCQs for Practice​

1. Rabindranath Tagore’s letter to Gandhi was written in:
a) 1917
b) 1918
c) 1919 ✅
d) 1920

2. In the letter, Tagore compares power to:
a) A lion
b) A horse without a rider ✅
c) A weapon
d) A bird in a cage

3. According to Tagore, the rider of power is:
a) Wealth
b) Morality ✅
c) Strength
d) Courage

4. What, according to Tagore, does violence create?
a) Love
b) More violence ✅
c) Justice
d) Freedom

5. What kind of freedom did Tagore want for India?
a) Freedom as charity from British
b) Freedom through war
c) Freedom earned through truth and sacrifice ✅
d) Freedom through negotiations only