Mahatma Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj in Gujarati during a 1909 voyage from London to South Africa.
The work is presented as a dialogue between an Editor and a Reader. Gandhi used it to criticize modern industrial civilization, imperial rule, and violent revolutionary methods while explaining his ideas about self-rule, moral discipline, and nonviolent resistance. The Gujarati title is commonly translated as Indian Home Rule.
Gandhi wrote the text aboard the ship Kildonan Castle in November 1909. The colonial government in India later banned the Gujarati edition, though an English translation was published soon afterward. The book became an important statement of Gandhi’s political philosophy, even though his ideas and practical strategies continued to develop over subsequent decades.
Hind Swaraj is frequently confused with Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. The autobiography recounts his personal and ethical development, whereas Hind Swaraj is a short political and philosophical dialogue focused on civilization, self-rule, and resistance.