Born on 22 February 1892, at Nadiad, then a centre of literary activities, in Gujarat, Indulal was the first son (and the second was Dr. Ramanlal, an emient educationist of Gujarat) of Kanaiyalal Yagnik, a Nagar Brahmin.

Kanaiyalal died in his youth, while studying at the Grant Medical College, Bombay. But Indulal inherited many of the traits of independent thinking, courage and reformist zeal from his father. Indulal’s mother, Manigauri, was quiet and affectionate by nature. Indulal married Kumud, the daughter of Tansukhram Mansukhram Tripathi, in 1914. National and social service made him completely indifferent to his married life. His wife died in 1929.

Brought up in orthodox surroundings, Indulal had his primary and secondary education at Nadiad. In 1906 he stood first in the Matriculation examination in the whole of Nadiad and was awarded a scholarship. From his childhood he was brought up in a religious atmosphere. In 1907 he joined the Gujarat College, Ahemedabad, and after the Intermediate, the St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. He stood first in the B. A. examination from the College and was awarded a Dakshina Fellowship. In 1912 he took his LL. B.

During his studies in Bombay, he was associated with the ‘Gurjar Sabha’ (an intellectual association of the young Gujaratis) along with K. M. Munshi. He read the works of Mill, Spencer, Tolstoy, Mazzini and others, and was deeply stirred by the articles and books of Aurobindo and Annie Besant.

As a gifted journalist form his student days, he wrote short articles for the Bombay Samachar, during 1912-13. As the legal profession did not suit his temperament, he started writing articles for the Hindustan (a daily published from Bombay).

In 1915, he started the Navjivan Ane Satya (a Gujarati monthly) and edited it until he entrusted it to Gandhiji in 1919. Also, he, along with Shankarlal Banker, started the Young India, a weekly. In the same year, he joined the Servants of India Society.

For some time in 1919, he was at the Nagpur branch of the Servants of India Society and wrote articles for the Hitavada, an English weekly. In the same year to serve Gujarat, he came to Ahmedabad, and encouraged by Thakkar Bapa and Ranajitram Vavadhai, he organised the Gujarat Education Conference.

In 1917he went to Mesopotamia, as one of the eight (four Europeans and four Indias) Press representatives, to get first-hand information regarding the condition of the Indian soldiers.

After his return form Mesopotamia, he resigned form the Servants of India Society and joined the Home Rule Movement in Gujarat. He organised the Second Gujarat Education Conference at Broach (October 1917), and the first Gujarat Rajakiya Parishad (November 1917), and the first Gujarat Rajakiya Parishad (November 1917) at Godhara (Panchamahals district) over which Gandhiji presided. He was the Secretary of the Gujarat Education Association and the Gujarat Rajakiya Mandal and a Committee member of the Gujarat Sabha, Ahmedabad.

In 1918, during the Kaira Satyagraha, he participated in the no-tax campaign. Along with Vallabhbhai Patel, he prepared a Famine Report of Gujarat. In 1919 he organized famine relief work in the Panchamahals district of Gujarat and joined a compaign to oppose the Rowlatt Act.

In 1920 he spread the message of swadeshi and the non-cooperation movement and, along with Kishorlal Mashruwala, evolved a plan for the Gujarat Vidyapeeth. His ceaseless efforts made it possible to start the Navi Gujarati Shala and the Mahila Pathashala at Ahmedabad.

In 1921, as one of the Secretaries of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, he organized the 5 th session of the Gujarat Rajakiya Parishad at Broach. But due to serious differences of opinion with Vallabhbhai Patel he resigned from all the Committees.

In January-February 1922, he and Thakkar Bapa organized famine relief work in the Panchmahals. He started some schools for the Bhil children, one of them was Mirakhedi Bhil Ashram.

In October 1922, he started the Yugadharam, a Gujarati monthly.In January 1923 he became the

Secretary of the Antyaj Seva Mandal, with Thakkar Bapa as its President. As a Secretary of the Satyagraha Committee in Gujarat, he recruited Satyagrahi volunteers, and in April 1923 he was arrested and imprisoned for one year. For nearly ten months, he was put in Yaravada Jail along with his idol, Gandhiji.

But after his release from jail (March 1924), he became a critic of some of Gandhiji’s political and economic ideas. He left Ahmedabad, settled in Bombay and accepted the editorship of the Hindustan (a Gujarati daily) and the Advocate of India (an English daily). During 1926-27, he was also an Assistant Editor of the Bombay Chronicle.

In 1928 he resigned from the Hindustan and entered the film world, as a story writer, director and a studio owner, but he failed in this venture.

For nearly five years (from 1930 to 1935) he was in Europe, first in Germany and from where he proceeded to London in July 1931. In London, he circulated a small weekly to propagate the Indian struggle for freedom. During his stay in Dublin (1932-33) he organized an India-Ireland Friendship Association.

In 1935 he returned to India. Influenced by the Irish nationalism, he started a campaign for a national dress, national sports and a national language.

From 1936 onwards, he was actively associated with the Kisan Sabha work in 1939, he organized the first Gujarat Kisan Parishad. During 1940-41 he was imprisoned for his antiwar propaganda. In June 1942, he persided over the annual session of the Akhil Hind Kisan Sabha. He started the Nutan Gujarat, a daily, in July-August 1942.

In 1943, he presided over the third annual conference of the Gujarat Kisan Sabha. He organized the co-operative movement among the peasants of Gujarat, and during 1942-44, he was the Chairman of the Kaira District Sales and Purchase Co-operative Union.

In 1943 he organized several schools and Ashrams in various parts of Gujarat. From 1944 to 1956, he stayed and worked at Nenpur Ashram, in Kaira district.

In 1952, he visited China and Soviet Russia.In 1956, he took the lead in the Maha Gujarat Movement for a separate Sate and became the Founder-President of the Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad.

Since 1957, he continued to represent the Ahmedabad constituency in the Lok Sabha till his death in 1972.Quite indifferent towards his dress and appearance, Indulal was majestic in his rags. He had a pair of piercing eyes rarely to be seen in Indian public life. With the austerity of a Sannyasi, Indulal was open to all experiences of life.

He was convinced that women were entitled to an equal share in public life. Deeply religious in the true sense of the term, he found his God in the poor and the pariah.He was a vigorous advocate of nationalistic education both for boys and girls.Though associated with Gandhiji’s non-violent movement he was not averse to revolutionary methods.

Though Gujarat remained the main field of his activities, he had always maintained an all-India outlook.A believer in Swadeshi, he favoured the industrial development of the country on modern lines with the minimum of exploitation.With a humanitarian outlook and transparent sincerity, Indulal had become an integral part of all that had happened in Gujarat for the last fifty years in the fields of social, political, educational, literary and journalistic activities.

To promote national consciousness, he edited newspapers and journals of high eminence and contributed innumerable articles. He wrote some books in English, namely, ‘Mahatma Gandhi As I Know Him’, ‘Shyamji Krishna Varma’, ‘Peasants’ Revolt’, ‘Irish Athletic Movement’, ‘Life of Ranchhoddas Lotwala,’ ‘Fight for Swadeshi’, etc., and also some in Gujarati, namely, ‘Gandhijina Sahavasman’, ‘Kumarnan Striratno Swadeshi Shamate?’, ‘Badavakhor Pitani Tasvir’(a biography of James Connolly), ‘Shahidno Sanesh’, etc., and few plays like ‘Ranasangram’, ‘Asha Nirasha’, ‘Dukal’, etc.

Loyal to his elan, he was not a meek follower of Gandhiji and Sardar Patel. But, unfortunately, never sticking to any public positoin or institution, his dedicated life was like a fast train. A man without any wordly possession, Indulal was a lonely traveller.