The Fourth Lion-Essays For Gopalkrishna Gandhi

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The Fourth Lion, a festschrift in honour of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, consists of twenty- six essays contributed by individuals drawn from various walks of life and from across the globe. Organized into thematic sections Literature and Culture, History, Environment, Politics and Public Affairs, and Memoirs the essays speak to concerns, interests, and sensibilities that animate our lives.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi has been an administrator, diplomat, author, and public intellectual of distinction for over four decades. His writings have spanned diverse genres, showcasing both his deep scholarship as well as a profound engagement with issues of politics, history, literature, and culture. He is respected not only for his statesmanship, but also admired as an exemplar of a fading ideal of our republic, one that placed ethics and the pursuit of the common good at the core of our public life.

Administration, diplomacy, governance-Gopalkrishna Gandhi has served in these domains of statecraft with distinction for over four decades. His writings too have spanned diverse genres, embodying deep scholarship as well as a profound understanding of politics and history, literature and culture. Respected for his statesmanship and judgement, admired for his learning and craft, Gopalkrishna- known to many as Gopal-is also an exemplar of a fading ideal of our republic, one that placed ethics and the pursuit of the common good at the core of our public life. Most notable and important, however, is his ineffable warmth and compassion.

Born on 22 April 1945, Gopalkrishna Gandhi was the youngest of the four children of Lakshmi and Devadas Gandhi. After studying English Literature at St Stephen's College in Delhi, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1968. Serving in the Tamil Nadu cadre, he held various positions, including the editorship of the Gazetteers of Tamil Nadu in which capacity he produced the first gazetteer of the district of Pudukkottai. His most important contribution to the state, however, pertained to a crucial yet under- appreciated facet of its modern history and politics-migration. During the colonial era, a large number of Tamils had migrated to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), primarily to labour in the tea gardens. Following the independence of India and Ceylon, the fate of these workers and their descendants became a major political question. In 1964, the two countries signed an accord, whereby India was to accept and rehabilitate more than half-a-million 'plantation' Tamils. Gopal worked on this difficult and sensitive process, initially as Tamil Nadu's director of rehabilitation and then in the Indian High Commission's office in the Sri Lankan city of Kandy.