The Satyagraha Ashram: (Also known as the Sabarmati Ashram) was founded on the 25th of May, 1915, and registered in 1926. In the 1930s Mahatma Gandhi re-named it the Harijan ashram, as he foreswore his followers to continue his battle against untouchability.
"Satyagraha" means insistence and adherence to truth, in a non-violent manner. Initially the term "passive resistance" was used to describe non-violent protest but Gandhi insisted that Satyagraha was more than that. Satyagraha was a way of life, an evolving technique to bring change without violence. "Ahimsa" (non-violence) to Gandhi was imperative as a search for truth involved fighting injustice. Fighting injustice required one to love fellow beings and this love demanded non-violence. Gandhi believed it was necessary to first feel for the oppressed then fight for justice, thus making Satyagraha a "truth" and "justice" seeking force.
Facing any brutality without resorting to violence demanded exceptional self-control and courage. But Gandhi insisted that a Satyagrahi could only oppose an unfair act, never a person. Compassion for the suffering and constructive work were necessary ingredients of satyagraha. The success of Satyagraha can be explained that anyone with a true desire could perform a Satyagraha with/without a leader. A single person could fast in protest, a group could go on strike, women could picket shops selling foreign goods etc. Thus all Gandhi's Satyagrahas were open to everybody, irrespective of caste, creed, sex or age. While performing Satyagrahas, Gandhi was an expert at symbolism. In 1930, when the Civil Disobedience movement was launched, Gandhi chose to break the salt law. The image of this frail man, holding aloft a handful of salt swept India into a flurry of civil action against the British authorities, simply because the salt issue affected every single Indian. Similarly, popularization of the "Charkha" or spinning wheel was due to its practical use of spinning “khadi” (a raw cotton weave) and as a symbol of economic independence. Methods of Satyagraha included prayers, fasts, penance, strikes, defying certain civil laws, spreading literacy, removal of social inequalities etc.