Manilal Mohandas Gandhi (28 October 1892 – 5 April 1956) was the second son of Mohandas Gandhi and

Kasturba Gandhi Kasturbai Mohandas Gandhi (, born Kasturbai Gokuldas Kapadia; 11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She married Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, in 1883. With her husband and her eldest so ...

Biography

Manilal was born in Rajkot,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, the second of four sons of Mohandas Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. He had an older brother, Harilal, and two younger brothers, Ramdas and

Devdas ''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidd ...

. Manilal's early years were spent in Rajkot, and it was in 1897 he traveled to South Africa for the first time (his father having moved there several years previously). The family lived for a time in Durban and Johannesburg. Between 1906 and 1914, he lived at the

Phoenix Settlement Inanda or eNanda ( isiZulu: ''pleasant place'', also possibly, ''level-topped hill'') is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that is situated 30 km north-west of the Durban CBD; it forms part of eThekwini, the Greater Durban Metropolita ...

(in KwaZulu-Natal) and Tolstoy Farm (in Gauteng), both settlements established by his father. After a brief visit to India (accompanying his parents), Manilal returned to South Africa in 1917 to assist in printing the '' Indian Opinion'', a Gujarati- English weekly publication, at Phoenix,

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. By 1918, Manilal was doing most of the work for the press, and in 1920, he took over as editor. He remained editor of ''Indian Opinion'' until 1956, the year of his death. Manilal died from a cerebral thrombosis following a stroke. Like his father, Manilal was also sent to prison several times by the British colonial government after protesting against what he perceived as unjust laws. He was one of the initial 78 marchers to accompany Gandhi on the 1930 Salt March, for which he was imprisoned.

Personal life

In 1927, Manilal married Sushila (24 August 1907 – 1988), a woman from his own community and similar background, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. Sushila was the daughter of Nanabhai Mashruwala of

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. A ...

, Bombay State, and the niece of Kishorlal Mashruwala, a close associate of Gandhiji and a resident of

Sevagram Sevagram (meaning "A town for/of service") is a town in the state of Maharashtra, India. It was the place of Mahatma Gandhi's ashram and his residence from 1936 to his death in 1948. After Sabarmati, Sevagram Ashram holds immense importance d ...

ashram. Sushila, who had become partially deaf due to an overdose of quinine in childhood, was of gentle and ascetic disposition, and lived in Sevagram for long periods. It was Mahatma Gandhi who sought her hand for his second son; the match was arranged, and after the wedding, Sushila duly joined her husband in South Africa. Their marriage, which was entirely harmonious, was blessed with three children: *Sita (b. 1928), elder daughter * Arun Manilal Gandhi (b. 1934), son * Ela Gandhi Ramgobin (b. 1940), younger daughter

Legacy

Manilal's children Arun and Ela are also social-political activists. Uma D. Mesthrie, Sita's daughter, recently published a biography on Manilal.Uma Dhupelia Mesthrie, ''Gandhi’s Prisoner? The Life of Gandhi’s Son Manilal''. (Permanent Black: Cape Town, South Africa, 2003).

Notes

* Mesthrie, Uma Dhupelia. ''Gandhi’s Prisoner? The Life of Gandhi’s Son Manilal''. Permanent Black: Cape Town, South Africa, 2003.
Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Uma, "Writing the Life of Manilal Mohandas Gandhi," ''Journal of Natal and Zulu History'' 24 & 25 (2006-2007): 188-213.

References

External links

Interview of Ela Gandhi
* Th
African Activist Archive Project
website has a
Interview with Manilal Gandhi
conducted in South Africa in September 1954 by George M. Houser. At the time he was editor of newspaper Indian Opinion and ran the

, both established by his father. There is also a 1947 photograph o
Manilal Gandhi at the Community Church of New York
a September 1954 photograph o
Mr. and Mrs. Manilal Gandhi at Phoenix Settlement
and a 1954 photograph o
Chief Albert Luthuli and Manilal Gandhi.
Four issues of the newsletter Bulletin: Americans for South African Resistance has information about him
September 1952 issue
th
14 January 1953 issue
th
27 February 1953 issue
and th
1 March 1954 issue.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Manilal 1892 births 1956 deaths Manilal Gandhians Anti-apartheid activists People from Rajkot Deaths from cerebral thrombosis Prisoners and detainees of British India South African Indian Congress politicians South African people of Indian descent South African people of Gujarati descent Colony of Natal people South African editors People from Durban Emigrants from British India to the Colony of Natal