Arun Manilal Gandhi (1934-2023) was a South African-born American writer and sociopolitical activist. He is the son of Manilal Mohandas Gandhi and the grandson of Indian lawyer and nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi. He died in 2023 at the age of 89 after a brief illness.
Wiki/Biography
Arun Manilal Gandhi was born on Saturday, April 14, 1934, in Durban, Natal, South Africa (age 89; time of death). His zodiac sign is Aries.
Arun Manilal Gandhi was born in this home in South Africa
Arun met his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi for the first time when he was five years old.
Childhood photos of Arun Manilal Gandhi and his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi
When he was 10 years old, he was discriminated against because of his skin color in South Africa and was bullied and beaten. He met Mahatma Gandhi for the second time in 1946, when he began living with his grandfather at the Sevagram Ashram in Maharashtra, India. During his spiritual practice at Sevagram, he was the most educated child among other children because he could not afford to go to school and had to work in the fields. His grandfather told him to play with the neighborhood kids after school and teach them what he learned in school every day. Soon, he was teaching groups of children and their parents. In 1948, he returned to the Union of South Africa from India just weeks before the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948. He later spent the rest of his childhood in South Africa.
The house where Arun Manilal Gandhi spent his childhood in South Africa
Studied at the University of Mississippi in 1987
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Hair color: gray
Eye color: black
family
He was born into a Hindu family in the Union of South Africa. However, his family originated in India.
Parents and siblings
His father, Manilal Mohandas Gandhi, served as editor of the Indian Opinion newspaper. He died of a stroke in Phoenix, South Africa, on April 5, 1956, at the age of 63.
manila gandhi
His mother Sushila Mashruwala died in 1956 at the age of 82.
Susila Mashruwala
His sister Sita Gandhi died in 1999 and Ela Gandhi is a peace activist and former politician.
Sita Gandhi
Arun Manilal Gandhi and Ella Gandhi
wife and children
In 1957, he married Sunanda Gandhi, a nurse, writer and researcher. He met her at the hospital. She died on February 21, 2007.
Arun Manilal with wife and children
sunanda gandhi
The couple left behind a son, Tushar Arun Gandhi, a writer, and a daughter, Archana Gandhi.
Arun Manilal Gandhi and 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 ethicist. He played an important role in India’s independence from British rule. He is also considered the father of India. He was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948, at Birla House in New Delhi.
mahatma gandhi
His grandmother Kasturba Gandhi was an Indian political activist. She was engaged to Mahatma Gandhi when she was seven and married him in May 1883, when she was 14.
kastba gandhi
Religion/Religious Views
He was born into a Hindu family; however, he was not a devout Hindu. According to him, he does not want to have a label on his religion and considers himself a Unitarian. In his words,
If you look closely, Hinduism is not a real religion. You don’t need to do anything except be born a Hindu. I am a Hindu by birth; I am a Hindu; no one can take away my rights as a Hindu. But I can practice in different ways. ”
Profession
author
In 1949, while working as a journalist in India, he published his first book, “A Patch of White.” In the book, he writes about his own experiences facing prejudice. In 1983, he published a book called The Morarji Papers: The Fall of the People’s Government, which described documents exchanged between leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party government between 1977 and 1980.
Cover of the book “The Morarji Papers – The Fall of People’s Government” by Arun Manilal Gandhi
In 1984, he co-authored the book Self-Help Experiments: Voices from an Indian Village with Sten E. Berg and Sunanda Gandhi. In 1998, he wrote a book called “Midnight’s Daughter – Gandhi’s Child Bride”, in which he wrote about Kapadia, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi.
Cover of the book “Midnight’s Daughters: Gandhi’s Child Bride” by Arun Manilal Gandhi
He has also written many children’s books, such as Grandfather Gandhi (2014) with Bethany Hegedus, Make a Change: The Story of Grandfather Gandhi (2016), and You, Me, Us: A Celebration of Peace and Community (2023), in which he writes about what he learned from his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi.
Cover of the book You, Me, Us – A Celebration of Peace and Community by Arun Manilal Gandhi
In 2023, he wrote a book on the life story of Kasturba Gandhi titled Kasturba Gandhi: A Biography.
sociopolitical activist
In 1987, he moved to the United States to conduct a study at the University of Mississippi that examined and compared prevalent prejudice in India, the United States, and South Africa. In the early 1990s, he and his wife moved to Memphis, Tennessee, USA, where he founded the MK Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence in 1991. In 1996, he co-founded the annual event “Season of Nonviolence” to celebrate the lives of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and remember their sacrifices. He signed the 2003 Third Humanitarian Declaration on “Humanism and its Aspirations”. In 2007, he was invited as the first guest to teach a course titled “Gandhi’s Personal Leadership and Nonviolence” under the Conflict Scholar in Residence program at Salisbury University in Maryland. In the same year, he was invited to give a guest lecture at the Center for Conflict Resolution at Salisbury University on the topic of “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, Rochester, USA
In a 2008 interview, he said of Israel and the United States that both countries had contributed significantly to a “culture of violence.” His comments were criticized by Christian Brothers University. He later apologized to the university; however, his apology was not accepted. The university asked him to leave the MK Gandhi Institute of Non-Violence, otherwise the institute would not be able to open. He resigned from the institute and is no longer a member of the institute. In 2009, he gave keynote speeches on peace at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tennessee. In 2011, he undertook a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, sponsored by the Barbara Artemus of the We Are One Foundation and the Gandhi International Peace Institute. During his visit, he gave lectures on the subjects of peace and non-violence in many schools and universities. In 2022, he will lecture at Augustana College in Illinois, USA.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Received the Peace Convent Courage of Conscience Award for “bringing Gandhi’s legacy to America” and founding the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in 1991
- Seven honorary doctorate recipients
- Former Board Member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, South Africa, Parliament of the World’s Religions and the Interfaith Alliance
- Long-time participant in Renaissance Weekend deliberations with former U.S. President and Rhodes Scholar
- Former leader of interfaith march in Washington, D.C.
die
He passed away in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, on May 2, 2023, at the age of 89, after a brief illness.
Facts/Trivia
- Arun Manilal Gandhi has been living in Rochester, New York since 2016.
- In 1982, the English biographical film “Gandhi” directed by the famous British film producer Richard Attenborough was released. The Indian government provided a $25 million subsidy for the film. Arun Gandhi wrote an article criticizing the Indian government’s subsidies for the film, arguing that they could have spent the money on better things. The article was widely accepted. Arun Manilal Gandhi was invited to a special screening of the film before its release. After watching the film, he said it accurately represented his grandfather’s character, philosophy and legacy. He was so moved by the film that he wrote another article reviewing the first article.
- He traveled around the world, including Israel, Palestine, Croatia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, China, Scotland and Japan, spreading his message of peace and non-violence.
- In 2009, he appeared in a documentary called “THE CALLING: Heal Ourselves Heal Our Planet.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education