In the pantheon of global liberation heroes, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has pride of place. Leaders like man de LA have lauded him and a popular sentiment in South Africa goes: ‘India gave us Mohandas, and we returned him to you as Mahatma’. against this background, the South African Gandhi: stretcher- bearer of empire unravels the complex story of a man who, throughout his stay on African soil (1893–1914), remained true to empire while expressing disdain for Africans. For Gandhi, whites and Indians were bound by an Aryan bloodline that had no place for the African and the Indian indentured. The authors show that Gandhi never missed an opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty to empire, with a particular penchant for war. He served as stretcher-bearer in the war between Brit and Boer, demanded that Indians be allowed to carry fire-arms, and recruited volunteers for the imperial Army in both England and India during the first World War.