# List of fasts undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, informally The Father of the Nation in India, undertook 18 fasts during India's freedom movement. His longest fasts lasted 21 days. Fasting was a tool used by Gandhi as part of his philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence) as well as satyagraha.

## Fasts

| Number | Date | Duration | Place | Reason and demands | Reaction to fast | Result |
| 1 | 1913 (13–20 July) | 7 days | Phoenix, South Africa | First penitential fast | | |
| 2 | 1914 (February) | 1 day | Phoenix, South Africa | A Phoenix teacher had violated Ashram rules by eating pakodas with some students but denied it. Gandhi began an indefinite fast of atonement. | She confessed a day later. | Gandhi ended the fast. |
| 3 | 1914 (2 May – 16 May) | 14 days | Phoenix, South Africa | Second penitential fast | | |
| 4 | 1918 (15–18 March) | 3 days | Ahmedabad | Striking mill workers in Ahmedabad were dejected and losing hope of getting their needed raise. Gandhi announced an indefinite fast until it was resolved. | Mill workers agreed to stay on strike. | Mill workers and owners agreed to arbitration; the workers got their raise. |
| 5 | 1919 (14-17 Apr) | 72 hours | Ahmedabad | First anti-violence fast: against the attempted derail of a train at Nadiad. | | |
| 6 | 1921 (19-22 Nov) | 3 days | Bombay | Second anti-violence fast: indefinite fast until peace was made in Bombay, after violence broke out on the occasion of the Prince of Wales' arrival | Community leaders went around the city to "restore and preserve peace." | After a peaceful night, broke his fast with "a frugal fruit repast." |
| 7 | 1922 (12-17 Feb) | 5 days | Bardoli | Third anti-violence fast: for atonement for violence done in Chauri Chaura incident. | | |
| 8 | 1924 (18 Sep – 8 Oct) | 21 days | Delhi | First Hindu-Muslim unity fast | Interest of Hindu-Muslim unity after the first non-cooperation movement | Ended fast while listening to the Quran and Gita being read. |
| 9 | 1925 (24 Nov – 1 Dec) | 7 days | | Third penitential fast. | | |
| 10 | 1932 (20-26 Sep) | 149 hours | Poona | First anti-untouchability fast: Communal Award of separate electorates and separate reservation of seats for depressed classes | Fast undertaken at Yerwada Central Jail. National leaders assembled in Pune. | British Government withdrew the clauses in the Communal Award against which Gandhi was protesting |
| 11 | 1932 (3-4 Dec) | 1 day | | Second anti-untouchability fast: sympathetic to Appasaheb Patwardhan | | |
| 12 | 1933 (8 May – 29 May) | 21 days | | Third anti-untouchability fast: for the improvement of Harijans' condition | Released unconditionally from prison on 8 May 1933, and observed the fast at Lady Thackersey's home in Poona. | |
| 13 | 1933 (16-23 Aug) | 7 days | | Fourth anti-untouchability fast: to obtain privileges (while in prison) that would enable him to carry on his fight in behalf of the Harijans | Released unconditionally from prison on 23 August 1933, for health reasons | |
| 14 | 1934 (7-14 Aug) | 7 days | | Fourth anti-violence fast: against a violent young Congressman | | |
| 15 | 1939 (3-7 March) | 99 hours | Rajkot | Establishment of a political reform committee and release of satyagraha prisoners. | The British Viceroy brokered a deal to end the fast. | Gandhi's wife was freed, but the committee was never formed. |
| 16 | 1943 (10 Feb – 3 Mar) | 21 days | Delhi | Objecting to six months of detention without charges by the British. | | The British ignored him; nothing changed. |
| 17 | 1947 (1-4 Sep) | 73 hours | | Second Hindu-Muslim unity fast | | |
| 18 | 1948 (13-18 Jan) | 123 hours | | Third Hindu-Muslim unity fast for restoration of communal peace. Gandhi was reading the dreadful news of the Kashmir war, while at the same time fasting to death because Muslims could not live safely in Delhi. Meeting Maulana Azad, Gandhi laid down seven conditions for breaking his fast. These were: The annual fair (the Urs) at the Khwaja Bakhtiyar shrine at Mehrauli, due in nine days time, should take place peacefully; The hundred odd mosques in Delhi converted into homes and temples should be restored to their original uses; Muslims should be allowed to move freely around Old Delhi; Non-Muslims should not object to Delhi Muslims returning to their homes from Pakistan; Muslims should be allowed to travel without danger in trains; There should be no economic boycott of Muslims; Accommodation of Hindu refugees in Muslim areas should be done with the consent of those Muslims already in these localities. | Politicians and leaders of communal bodies had to agree for a joint plan for restoration of normal life. Nathuram Godse assassinated Gandhi. | A large number of important politicians and leaders of communal bodies agreed to a joint plan for restoration of normal life in the city |