The second in Glass' trilogy about men who changed the world, Satyagraha's sub-text is politics.

The opera is semi-narrative in form and deals with Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa and his development of non-violent protest into a political tool. (Satyagraha is a Sanskrit word meaning 'truth force').

Each act is dominated by a single historic figure (non-singing role) overlooking the action from above: the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore in Act 1, the Russian author Leo Tolstoy in Act 2, the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in Act 3.

The music from the conclusion of Act 3 has been beautifully arranged and adapted for Organ solo by Michael Riseman and Donald Joyce.