Question

How did Gandhi follow Ahimsa?

Answer 1

Ahimsa (the ‘m’ is nasal, like dans in French, the ‘a’ is long) is the ancient Sanskrit term usually translated as, and possibly the model for, ‘nonviolence.’  The translation is unfortunate, however, in that such negative compounds in Sanskrit were more positive in effect than the corresponding, literal translations in English.  Abhaya, for example, literally ‘non-fear’ actually was the word for ‘courage.’  This has caused endless confusion in English, where ‘nonviolence’ or worse, ‘non-violence’, is already mistaken for a negative — the absence of violence — where it really stands for ‘love in action.’