Sovereignty and Blood
Sovereignty and Blood
This chapter enters a neglected corner of Gandhi's political thought—his preoccupation with blood. Here, blood indexed a past and present colonial violence, as well as the future possibility for an ascetic transcendence of both politics and the body. The chapter then goes on to discuss how past, present, and future bloodsheds are evoked simultaneously in the iconography of fallen freedom-fighter martyrs. In this genre, heroes of India's independence struggle who shed their blood for the nation are depicted in portraits composed of human blood in the present. This aimed to inspire others to willingness to shed their blood, and that of others, in the future for the nation.
Keywords: Mahatma Gandhi, sovereignty, bloodshed, colonial violence, freedom-fighter martyrs, Indian independence
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