Kanu Gandhi

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For the scientist, see Kanu Gandhi (scientist).

Kanu Gandhi
Born1917 (1917)
Died20 February 1986(1986-02-20) (aged 68–69)
FamilyGandhi family

Kanu Gandhi (1917 – 20 February 1986) was an Indian photographer. He was a grandnephew of

ashrams and was a member of his personal staff. He is best remembered as Gandhi's photographer, recording many moments of Gandhi's life on film from 1938 until his assassination in 1948. Following Gandhi's death, Kanu and his wife Abha moved to Rajkot where they ran a rural centre named after Kasturba Gandhi. Abha was one of the companions with Gandhi at Birla House Delhi, when Godse shot Gandhi .[1][2]

Early life

Kanu was born to Narandas Gandhi, a nephew of the Mahatma's and a manager at his Sabarmati Ashram, and Jamuna Gandhi in 1917. Kanu spent his early life with his parents in the ashram at Sabarmati – where his parents moved to when he was only two – and, later, at Wardha. He received his education at the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.[3][4]

With Gandhi

Only 15, he was jailed for his participation in the

Civil Disobedience Movement. Although he wanted to be a doctor, that was not to be and he joined Gandhi's personal staff at Wardha where he supervised clerical, correspondence and accounting functions from 1936 till 1948.[3]

Kanu was nicknamed "Bapu's Hanuman" and was close to the Mahatma. In 1944, on Kasturba's wishes and Gandhi's blessings, he married Abhaben Chatterjee, who had been adopted by the Gandhis and had been with them since she was 13 and who came to be known as "one of Gandhi's walking sticks".[5]

Gandhi's photographer

It was Shivaji Bhave,

GD Birla, an associate of Gandhi's gave Kanu ₹ 100 to buy his camera, a Rolleiflex, and a roll of film. From 1938 until Gandhi's death ten years later, Kanu took many personal photographs of the Mahatma.[6][7]

Gandhi allowed Kanu to photograph him on three conditions: that he use no flash, that he never be asked to pose and that his photography would not be funded by the Ashram.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from him.[3] He also sold some of his photographs to newspapers and over time he began to produce images on a daily basis. Kanu also made films of Gandhi including one of his march in Noakhali in 1947.[7][9]

Kanu however was forbidden by Gandhi from capturing Kasturba's last moments as she lay dying on his lap during his incarceration at the

Noakhali where Gandhi had ordered him to stay.[5] Kanu's interest in photography came to an end with Gandhi's assassination although he did undertake a few assignments including one in famine affected Bihar in the 1950s.[7]

Having had no formal training in photography, Kanu learnt the art on the job. There is variation in the quality of his work which chronicles many of the events, both momentous and mundane, in the life of Gandhi and the Ashram. His work thus forms what

German collector, Peter Ruhe, in the 1980s who traced similar material and began to market them. In 2007, Ruhe proposed to sell his collection of photographs and film to the Sabarmati Ashram Trust for ₹ 5 million. These again came up for a private sale in 2012. The attempts to auction off Gandhi memorabilia generated much controversy in India.[11][12]

After Gandhi

Following Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Kanu and Abha Gandhi shifted to Rajkot where they ran the Kasturbadham and Rashtriyashala institutes.

heart attack on 20 February 1986 while on a pilgrimage in Madhya Pradesh.[7]

Legacy

Although Kanu's photographs of Gandhi are renowned in India and printed in many books on Gandhi, the man himself remained out of the limelight and largely uncredited for a long while with only one exhibition in Delhi displaying them under his own name.

Pyarelal did to immortalise Gandhi through their memoirs and biographical writings".[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Kanu Gandhi". Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  2. ISBN 9780143104117
    .
  3. ^ a b c "The Mahatma as his muse". The Hindu. 13 March 2005. Archived from the original on 1 April 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  4. ISBN 9788178241166
    .
  5. ^ a b "Mahatma: An Intimate View". Outlook. 2 February 1998. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Rare portraits of the Mahatma". Hindustan Times. 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Mahatma Gandhi – Our Father" (PDF). Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  8. ^ "Gandhi – A Photo Biography". Phaidon. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  9. ^ "MAHATMA GANDHI NOA KHALI MARCH (Archive)". Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Exhibitions Kanu Gandhi's Mahatma". The Independent. London. 27 July 1995. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  11. ^ a b Shah, Bhavesh (25 October 2012). "4,600 rare Gandhi photos offered for Rs 4.3 crore". DNA. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  12. ^ Mahurkar, Uday (7 January 2010). "Harvesting a legacy". India Today. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  13. ^ "Documenting history". The Hindu. 5 May 2002. Archived from the original on 6 November 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2013.

External links

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