Photograph of Gandhi picking up salt at Dandi

What it is

This photograph, taken on 6 April 1930 by an unknown press photographer, shows Mahatma Gandhi bending down to pick up natural salt on the beach at Dandi, surrounded by people dressed in white.

Why it matters

The act of picking up salt broke British colonial law, which taxed salt and forbade Indians from making their own. This simple gesture, at the end of Gandhi's Salt March, became one of the most famous images of nonviolent civil disobedience and helped inspire mass participation in the independence movement.

Look closer

• Why would such a small physical act — picking up salt — matter so much politically?
• What do the people standing behind Gandhi in the photograph suggest about the event?
• Why might this moment have been considered important enough to photograph and preserve?