Besides the world famous pacifist Gandhi, India’s struggle for independence fostered another monumental landmark of peace: the first non-violent army in history. Created by Gandhi’s friend Badshah Kahn, a Muslim from the feared Afghan tribe the Pathan, the 100,000 man army was trained as rigorously as any other except that they carried no weapons and each vowed never to kill anyone. It is because of this that they became the most effective resistance against the occupying British forces, who they threatened not with death but with transformation. Their power lay in their engaging their adversary’s humanity rather than their hate.

The power of this image pivots on the cusp in our own hearts between seeing another out of eyes of fear as an object, or out of the eyes of love as a sentient being. If this sculpture impacts you it is because you know that place in your own heart.