MANSUKHLAL HIRALAL NAZAR

It was in the dark days of December 1896 that Mansukhlalal Hiralal Nazar landed in Durban , a perfect stranger. He intended to live a quiet life, but a patriot of his type was not able to sit still when he saw his countrymen needing the help of a guiding hand during those trying times. The Durban Demonstration was then brewing. Meetings were held in the Town Hall to protest against the immigration of Indians . . . Not a soul knew who he was, but his magnetic personality and the authoritative manner in which he spoke about the duty of the people at the time, attracted the leaders to him immediately, and it is difficult to say what the Indian community would have done had Mr. Nazar not arrived at the time . . . From that day to the date of his death, Mr. Nazar placed the public cause before his own; his dream of leading a private life was never realised, and though people were never allowed to know it, for the cause of his countrymen Mr. Nazar has died a pauper . . . Not having succeeded so well as he wished to in his commercial affairs in Europe, all over which he had traveled more than once, he migrated to South Africa. The story of his work in Natal , which he made his home, is soon told. Instead of developing his commercial work, he threw himself heart and soul into public work. In 1897, he was sent to England as a special delegate to voice the grievances of the British Indians . . . His most imperishable work was all done behind the scenes, and it consisted in nourishing the tender plant of mutual understanding between the two communities in South Africa . He served as a link between the two. He was a politician of a high order. There was nothing of the agitator about him. His work was all quiet. He interpreted the best traits of each community to the other. Whilst he advocated strongly the rights of his countrymen, in season and out of season, he placed before the latter their responsibilities, and always counseled prudence and patience. He was pre-eminently a friend of the poor. The poorest class of Indians found in him a faithful adviser and friend. When the Natal Indian Ambulance Corps was raised, everybody advised him, because of the heart-disease from which he then suffered that it was not necessary for him to take an active part in the work of the Corps but he would not listen, and volunteered his services as a member, and it was there that he used his knowledge of medicine to good purpose.

Mohandas K. Gandhi, “Mansukhlal Hiralal Nazar”, Indian Opinion , January 27, 1906.