Arun Manilal Gandhi (1934–2023) was a South African-born American writer and socio-political activist. He was the son of Manilal Mohandas Gandhi and the grandson of Indian lawyer and nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi. In 2023, he died from a brief illness at the age of 89.
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Wiki/Biography
Arun Manilal Gandhi was born on Saturday, 14 April 1934 (age 89 years at death) in Durban, Natal Province, South Africa. His zodiac sign is Aries.
Arun Manilal Gandhi was born in this house in South Africa
When Arun was 5 years old, he first met his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi.
Childhood photo of Arun Manilal Gandhi with his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi
When he was 10 years old, he faced discrimination based on his skin color in South Africa and was bullied and beaten. In 1946, he met Mahatma Gandhi for the second time, when he stayed with his grandfather at the Sevagram Ashram in Maharashtra, India. While living at Sevagram Ashram, he was the most educated child among other children, who was not able to go to school and work in the fields. His grandfather told him to play with the neighborhood children after school and teach them what he learned in school every day. Soon, he started teaching crowds of children and their parents. In 1948, he returned from India to the Union of South Africa, a few weeks before the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948. Later, he spent the rest of his childhood in South Africa.
The house where Arun Manilal Gandhi spent his childhood in South Africa
In 1987 he studied at the University of Mississippi, USA
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Color: Gray
Eye colour: black
Family
He was from a Hindu family in the Union of South Africa; However, his family has roots in India.
parents and siblings
His father, Manilal Mohandas Gandhi, worked as the editor of the Indian Opinion newspaper. He died of a stroke on 5 April 1956 in Phoenix, South Africa, at the age of 63.
Manilal Gandhi
His mother, Sushila Mashruwala, died in 1956 at the age of 82.
Sushila Mashruwala
She had an elder sister named Sita Gandhi, who died in 1999, and a younger sister named Ila Gandhi, who is a peace activist and former politician.
Sita Gandhi
Arun Manilal Gandhi with Ila Gandhi
wife and children
In 1957, he was married to Sunanda Gandhi, a nurse, writer and researcher. He met her in a hospital. He died on 21 February 2007.
Arun Manilal with his wife and children
Sunanda Gandhi
The couple have a son, Tushar Arun Gandhi, who is a writer, and a daughter, Archana Gandhi.
Arun Manilal Gandhi with his son Tushar Arun Gandhi
Arun Manilal Gandhi’s daughter and wife
other relatives
His grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political moralist. He played a major role in India’s independence from British rule. He is also considered the Father of the Nation in India. On 30 January 1948, he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse at the Birla House mansion in New Delhi.
Mahatma Gandhi
His grandmother Kasturba Gandhi was an Indian political activist. At the age of seven, she became engaged to Mahatma Gandhi and got married in May 1883 at the age of 14.
Kasturba Gandhi
religion/religious views
He was born in a Hindu family; However, he was not a practicing Hindu. According to him, he did not want to put any label on his religion and considered himself a Unitarian. In his words,
If you look at it, Hinduism is not really a religion. You don’t need to do anything except be born a Hindu. I was born a Hindu; I am a Hindu; No one can deprive me of being a Hindu. Yet I can practice it differently.
livelihood
Author
In 1949, while he was working as a journalist in India, he published his first book, ‘A Patch of White’. In the book, he wrote about his experiences with prejudices. In 1983, he published a book titled ‘The Morarji Papers: Fall of the Janata Government’, in which he wrote about documents exchanged between the leaders of the Janata Party government in India from 1977 to 1980.
Cover of Arun Manilal Gandhi’s book ‘The Morarji Papers – Fall of the Janata Government’
In 1984, he co-authored the book ‘Experiments in Self-Help: Voices from Indian Villages’ with Stan E. Berg and Sunanda Gandhi. In 1998, she wrote a book titled ‘Daughter of Midnight – The Child Bride of Gandhi’ in which she wrote about Kastur Kapadia, who was the wife of Mahatma Gandhi.
Cover of Arun Manilal Gandhi’s book ‘Daughter of Midnight – The Child Bride of Gandhi’
He also wrote several books for children, such as ‘Grandfather Gandhi’ with Bethany Hegedus (2014) and ‘Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story’ (2016), and ‘You, Me, We: A Celebration of Peace and Community’ (2023) in which he wrote about the things he had learned from his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi.
Cover of Arun Manilal Gandhi’s book ‘You, Me, We – A Celebration of Peace and Community’
In 2023, she wrote a book on the life story of Kasturba Gandhi titled ‘Kasturba Gandhi: A Biography’.
socio-political activist
In 1987, he moved to the United States to conduct a study at the University of Mississippi, in which he examined and compared the prejudices prevalent in India, the US, and South Africa. In the early 90s, he moved with his wife to Memphis, Tennessee, United States, where he founded the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in 1991. In 1996, he co-founded ‘Season for Nonviolence’, an annual event. He signed the Third Humanist Manifesto 2003 ‘Humanism and its Aspirations’ to celebrate the lives and remember the sacrifices of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. In 2007, he was invited as the first guest to teach a course titled ‘Gandhi On’. Personal Leadership and Nonviolence by the ‘Conflict Scholar in Residence’ Program at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. In the same year, he was invited to give a guest lecture at Salisbury University Center for Conflict Resolution where he spoke on the topic ‘Nonviolence in the Age of Terrorism’. After his wife’s death in 2007, he moved the MK Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence from Tennessee to Rochester, New York.
MK Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence in Rochester, United States
In 2008, in an interview, he spoke about Israel and the US, saying that both countries contributed immensely to a ‘culture of violence’. Christian Brothers University criticized him for saying this. He later apologized to the university; However, his apology was not accepted. The university asked him to leave the MK Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence otherwise the institute would not open. He resigned from the institute and is no longer a part of the institute. In 2009, he spoke on the topic of peace at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tennessee. In 2011, he went on a tour to Honolulu, Hawaii, sponsored by Barbara Altemus of the We Are One Foundation and the Gandhian International Institute for Peace. During his tour he gave speeches on the subjects of peace and non-violence in many schools and universities. In 2022, he lectured at Augustana College in Illinois, United States.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for “bringing Gandhi’s legacy to America” and founding the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in 1991.
- Recipient of seven honorary doctorate degrees
- Former board member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in South Africa, the Parliament of the World’s Religions and the Interfaith Alliance
- Multi-year participant in Renaissance Weekend discussions with former US Presidents and Rhodes Scholars
- Former leader of the interfaith march in Washington DC
Death
On 2 May 2023, he died from a brief illness at the age of 89 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Since 2016, Arun Manilal Gandhi was living in Rochester, New York.
- In 1982, the English-language biographical film ‘Gandhi’ directed by renowned English filmmaker Richard Attenborough was released. The Indian government gave a subsidy of $25 million to the film. Arun Gandhi wrote an article criticizing the Indian government for subsidizing the film and argued that they could spend that amount on better things. This article was widely accepted by the people. Arun Manilal Gandhi was invited to a special screening of the film before its release. After watching the film, he said that his grandfather’s character, philosophy and legacy have been accurately depicted in the film. He was so impressed by the film that he wrote another article reminiscent of the first article.
- He traveled to many countries around the world including Israel, Palestine, Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, China, Scotland and Japan to spread the message of peace and non-violence.
- In 2009, he appeared in the documentary film ‘The Calling: Heal Ourselves Heal Our Planet’.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn