On the Salt March : The Historiography Of Mahatma Gandhis March To Dandi

Gandhi's 1930 Salt March to the seaside village of Dandi and the following Civil Disobedience of the British Empire, are among the most significant events in contemporary Indian political history, yet precious little has been written about the actual March itself. The published texts generally confine themselves to a few paragraphs reporting that on 12 March Gandhi and his selected followers (with considerable confusion as to their actual number) left the Mahatma's Sabarmati Ashram, walked for three weeks (again with much confusion as to the distance and route) and then broke the iniquitous salt laws on 6 April. None of the sources bring the central event to life. There is nothing of the exploits or intrigues that occurred during those weeks, no glimpse into the day to day workings of Gandhi's mind and no attempt to tell the story of the great adventure that the event actually was.