The books Mahatma Gandhi read
The books Gandhi names in his Autobiography, from the law books of his Bar exams to Ruskin's Unto This Last, which changed his life, and the books he recommended at the end of Hind Swaraj (1909).
54 books
Books by Mahatma Gandhi →The best-known books on the list
- The Bible
The Bible - On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
On the Duty of Civil DisobedienceHenry David Thoreau - Unto This Last
Unto This LastJohn Ruskin - The Light of Asia
The Light of AsiaSir Edwin Arnold - Heroes and Hero-Worship
Heroes and Hero-WorshipThomas Carlyle - A Joy For Ever (And Its Price in the Market)
A Joy For Ever (And Its Price in the Market)John Ruskin - History of the Indian mutiny, 1857-1858
History of the Indian mutiny, 1857-1858John William Kaye and G. B. Malleson - Life of Mahomet and His Successors
Life of Mahomet and His SuccessorsWashington Irving - What Is Art
What Is ArtLeo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God Is Within You
The Kingdom of God Is Within YouLeo Tolstoy - Village Communities
Village CommunitiesHenry Sumner Maine - Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad GitaVyasa - Analogy
AnalogyJoseph Butler - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliPatanjali - The Slavery of Our Times
The Slavery of Our TimesLeo Tolstoy - Defence and Death of Socrates
Defence and Death of SocratesPlato - Common Law
Common LawHerbert Broom - The Koran
The KoranGeorge Sale - India, what can it teach us? Indian edition by K.A. Nilakan
India, what can it teach us? Indian edition by K.A. Nilakantha SastryMax Müller - Legal Maxims
Legal MaximsHerbert Broom - Equity
EquityEdmund Henry Turner Snell - Real Property
Real PropertyJoshua Williams - The economic history of India
The economic history of IndiaRomesh Chunder Dutt - Hindu Law
Hindu LawJohn Dawson Mayne
All 54 books, by author
- The Bible · mixed feelings
But the New Testament produced a different impression, especially the Sermon on the Mount which went straight to my heart.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 20 "Acquaintance With Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), first-edition OCR reads "repression" for "impression", via mkgandhi.org) - AThe Light of Asia · Sir Edwin Arnold · loved it
I read it with even greater interest than I did the Bhagavad Gita.
(first edition, Navajivan 1927/1929, , Part I, ch. 20 "Acquaintance With Religions"; M. Desai translation, public domain; quoted in the first-edition wording (the later Navajivan text at https://www.mkgandhi.org/autobio/chap20.php differs slightly), via archive.org) - BBell's Standard Elocutionist · David Charles Bell
- The Key to Theosophy · Helena Blavatsky
This book stimulated in me the desire to read books on Hinduism
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 20 "Acquaintance With Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Common Law · Herbert Broom
For Broom's Common Law, a big but interesting volume, took up a good deal of time.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 24 "Called - But Then?", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Legal Maxims · Herbert Broom
I had read with interest 'Legal Maxims', but did not know how to apply them in my profession.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 25 "My Helplessness", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Manusmriti · G. Buhler
Manusmriti at any rate did not then teach me ahimsa.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 10 "Glimpses Of Religion", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Analogy · Joseph Butler · mixed feelings
Butler's Analogy struck me to be a very profound and difficult book, which should be read four or five times to be understood properly.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 11 "Christian Contacts", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), first-edition OCR has a page break inside the sentence, via mkgandhi.org) - CHeroes and Hero-Worship · Thomas Carlyle
- Civilisation, its cause and cure · Edward Carpenter
- Charaka · Charaka
- DThe economic history of India · Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Rajayoga · M. N. Dvivedi
- EReal Property · Edward
- GPersonal Property · Louis Arthur Goodeve
- ILife of Mahomet and His Successors · Washington Irving · loved it
These books raised Muhammad in my estimation.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 22 "Comparative study of Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - JReturn of Nature · Adolf Just · mixed feelings
Those who purchase Just's book on the strength of this chapter should not take everything in it to be gospel truth.
(Autobiography Part IV, ch. 7 "Experiments in earth and water treatment", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Justinian · Justinian
The reading of Justinian, therefore, helped me a great deal in understanding the South African law.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 24 "Called - But Then?", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - KRam Raksha · Budha Kaushika
- The Perfect Way in Diet · Anna Kingsford
Anna Kingsford's The Perfect Way in Diet was also an attractive book.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 15 "Playing The English Gentleman", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - The Perfect Way: Or, The Finding of Christ · Edward Maitland and Anna Kingsford
The book was a repudiation of the current Christian belief.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 15 "Religious Ferment", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - L[book on physiognomy] · Johann Caspar Lavater · disliked it
I read Lavator's book which I found more difficult than Snell's Equity, and scarcely interesting.
(first edition, Navajivan 1927/1929, , Part I, ch. 25 "My Helplessness"; M. Desai translation, public domain; quoted in the first-edition wording (the later Navajivan text at https://www.mkgandhi.org/autobio/chap25.php differs slightly), via archive.org) - MVillage Communities · Henry Sumner Maine
- History of the Indian mutiny, 1857-1858 · John William Kaye and G. B. Malleson
- Hindu Law · John Dawson Mayne · loved it
read Mayne's Hindu Law with deep interest
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 3 "The First Case", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Life of Keshav Chandra Sen · Pratap Chandra Mazumdar
read it with great interest
(Autobiography Part III, ch. 19 "A month with Gokhale-III", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - The duties of man · Giuseppe Mazzini
- India, what can it teach us? Indian edition by K.A. Nilakantha Sastry · Max Müller
- NPoverty and un-British rule in India · Dadabhai Naoroji
- Paradoxes of Civilization · Max Nordau
- PThe Yoga Sutras of Patanjali · Patanjali
- Many Infallible Proofs · Arthur Tappan Pierson
The book had no effect on me.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 11 "Christian Contacts", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Defence and Death of Socrates · Plato
- RA Joy For Ever (And Its Price in the Market) · John Ruskin
- Unto This Last · John Ruskin · loved it
I determined to change my life in accordance with the ideals of the book.
(Autobiography Part IV, ch. 18 "The magic spell of a book", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - SThe Koran · George Sale
- A plea for vegetarianism · Henry S. Salt · loved it
I read Salt's book from cover to cover and was very much impressed by it.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 14 "My Choice", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - The white slaves of England · Robert Harborough Sherard
- Equity · Edmund Henry Turner Snell · mixed feelings
Snell's Equity was full of interest, but a bit hard to understand.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 24 "Called - But Then?", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - TLife without principle · Henry David Thoreau
- On the Duty of Civil Disobedience · Henry David Thoreau
- Letter to a Hindu · Leo Tolstoy
- The First Step · Leo Tolstoy
- The Gospels in brief · Leo Tolstoy · loved it
The Gospels in Brief, What to Do? and other books made a deep impression on me.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 22 "Comparative study of Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - The Kingdom of God Is Within You · Leo Tolstoy · loved it
Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You overwhelmed me.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 15 "Religious Ferment", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - The Slavery of Our Times · Leo Tolstoy
- What Is Art · Leo Tolstoy
- What to do? · Leo Tolstoy · loved it
The Gospels in Brief, What to Do? and other books made a deep impression on me.
(Autobiography Part II, ch. 22 "Comparative study of Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Ramayana of Tulasidas · Tulasidas · loved it
Today I regard the Ramayana of Tulasidas as the greatest book in all devotional literature.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 10 "Glimpses Of Religion", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - VRāja-yoga · Swami Vivekananda
- Bhagavad Gita · Vyasa · loved it
I regard it today as the book par excellence for the knowledge of Truth.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 20 "Acquaintance With Religions", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org) - Bhagavat · Vyasa
Today I see that Bhagavat is a book which can evoke religious fervour. I have read it in Gujarati with intense interest.
(first edition, Navajivan 1927/1929, , Part I, ch. 10 "Glimpses Of Religion"; M. Desai translation, public domain; quoted in the first-edition wording (the later Navajivan text at https://www.mkgandhi.org/autobio/chap10.php differs slightly), via archive.org) - WThe ethics of diet · Howard Williams
- Real Property · Joshua Williams · loved it
Williams' book read like a novel.
(Autobiography Part I, ch. 24 "Called - But Then?", M. Desai translation (Navajivan), public domain; same wording in the 1927/1929 first edition (archive.org gandhisautobiogr01gand / 02gand), via mkgandhi.org)
Titles we couldn't find (15)
These are on the list too, but they have no page here yet.
- A New Crusade · Blount · no copy found online
- Commentary · Dr. Parker of the City Temple · no copy found online
- Dharma Vichar · Narmadashanker · loved it · Internet Archive scan (Digital Library of India)
- Harishchandra · loved it · no copy found online
- History of the Kheda Satyagraha · Shankarlal Parikh · no copy found online
- How I Became a Theosophist · Mrs. Besant · no copy found online
- How Shall We Escape? · Leo Tolstoy · no copy found online
- Ma-ne Shikhaman · Dr. Tribhuvandas · loved it · no copy found online
- Shravana Pitribhakti Nataka · loved it · no copy found online
- Tamil Self-Teacher · no copy found online
- The Fallacy of Speed · Taylor · no copy found online
- The New Interpretation of the Bible · Edward Maitland · no copy found online
- The Sayings of Zarathustra · no copy found online
- Theory of Utility · Bentham · no copy found online
- Upanishads · Open Library (candidate)