Mahatma Gandhi titled his 1908 Gujarati adaptation of John Ruskin’s *Unto This Last* “Sarvodaya.” The word means “uplift of all” or “progress of all,” expressing Gandhi’s ideal of social welfare extending to every person.
Gandhi read Ruskin’s book during a train journey in South Africa in 1904. Its criticism of economic inequality and its argument that all honest work has equal value deeply influenced him. He later translated and adapted the work into Gujarati, rather than simply reproducing it word for word.
The ideas in *Sarvodaya* helped shape Gandhi’s thinking about village industries, self-reliance, simple living, and nonviolent social change. “Sarvodaya” is broader than “swadeshi,” which refers chiefly to the use and support of locally made goods, while “satyagraha” names Gandhi’s method of nonviolent resistance.