Which Tolstoy book, published in 1894, influenced Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy?

The Kingdom of God Is Within You is the Tolstoy book published in 1894 that influenced Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy.

Tolstoy published The Kingdom of God Is Within You in 1894. The book argues for a Christian ethic centred on love, nonresistance to evil, and rejection of violence. It criticizes the alliance of state power, organized religion, and military force, while presenting moral conscience as more important than obedience to coercive authority.

The Russian government banned the book in Russia, but it circulated internationally. Gandhi read it in 1894 while working in South Africa and later identified it as a major influence on his thinking about nonviolence and civil resistance. Gandhi and Tolstoy exchanged letters in 1909 and 1910.

The title comes from Luke 17:21, although translations differ between “within you” and “among you.” It should not be confused with Tolstoy’s later religious summaries or with his 1884 work My Religion.