Manilal Gandhi

Manilal Mohandas Gandhi (28 October 1892 – 5 April 1956) was the second son of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. Manilal was born in Rajkot, British India. In 1897 Manilal traveled to South Africa for the first time, where he spent time working at the Phoenix Ashram near Durban. After a brief visit to India, in 1917 Manilal returned to South Africa to assist in printing the Indian Opinion a Gujarati-English weekly publication, at Phoenix, Durban. By 1918, Manilal was doing most of the work for the press and took over in 1920 as editor. Like his father, Manilal was also sent to jail several times by the British colonial government after protesting against unjust laws. He remained editor until 1956, the year of his death. Manilal died from a cerebral thrombosis following a stroke.

In 1927, Manilal married Sushila Mashruwala (1907-1988, and had two daughters, Sita (1928) and Ela (1940), and one son, Arun (1934). Arun and Ela are also social-political activists. Uma D. Mesthrie, Sita's daughter, recently published a biography on Manilal.