As Gandhi fell, his faithful timepiece struck the ground, and the hands of the watch came to a standstill. They showed, as they had done before, the precise time: 5:12 P.M.
Posthumous Legacy
Gandhi’s intellectual influence on his countrymen was considerable. Though only a few accepted all his ideas, none rejected them all either. Some were attracted by his emphasis on political and economic decentralisation; others by his insistence on individual freedom, moral integrity, the unity of means and ends, and social service; still others by his satyagraha and political activism. Not even such Marxists as Manabendra Nath Roy could resist the appeal of some of his ideas. For some students of India, Gandhi’s influence is responsible for its failure to throw up any genuinely radical political movement. For others it successfully inoculated India against the virus of Hindu communalism, cultivated a spirit of non-violence, encouraged the habits of collective self-help, and helped lay the foundations of a stable, morally committed, and democratic government. Gandhi’s ideas have also had a profound influence outside India, where they inspired non-violent activism and movements in favour of small-scale, self-sufficient communities living closer to nature and with greater sensitivity to their environment.