Dated the 14th of December 1908, A Letter to a Hindu was a letter written by Leo Tolstoy to Tarak Nath Das, a Bengali revolutionary and scholar, in response to a request for support for India's separation from British rule, which argued that the Indian people should seek to free themselves from British rule through non-violent protests and strikes, and other forms of peaceful resistance. The letter soon gained international attention after it was published in the Free Hindustan, and it came to the attention of the young Mahatma Gandhi. Drawing on a variety of sources, cultures and teachings, Tolstoy's letter was instrumental in forming Gandhi's views on non-violent resistance – as Gandhi himself acknowledges in his introduction: 'To me, as a humble follower of that great teacher whom I have long looked upon as one of my guides, it is a matter of honour to be connected with the publication of his letter'.

'One of the clearest thinkers in the western world, one of the greatest writers.' (Mahatma Gandhi) 'He is never dull, never stupid, never tired, never pedantic, never theatrical!' (James Joyce) 'The greatest of all novelists.' (Virginia Woolf) 'What he does serves to justify all the hopes and aspirations invested in literature.' (Anton Chekhov) 'What an artist and what a psychologist!' (Gustave Flaubert)

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) is one of the highest-regarded writers of all time, perhaps best known today for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina.