"The Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi's Legacy in South Asia" will be the title of the Gandhi Lecture, held annually at Yale in honor of the renowned Indian civil rights and political leader. Jayantha Dhanapala, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States, will present the talk 12:15-1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, in Rm. 127 of the Law School, 127 Wall St. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Committee on South Asian Studies Committee and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. Refreshments will be served.
Ambassador Dhanapala entered the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1965 and has held diplomatic assignments in London, Beijing, Washington, D.C. and New Delhi. In 1984, he was appointed ambassador and permanent representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, with concurrent accreditation to the U.N. agencies in Vienna. Three years later, he was appointed by the U.N. Secretary- General to direct the Geneva-based United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research UNIDIR. He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo in 1992 and served as additional foreign secretary until his appointment in 1995 as Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States.
In addition to representing his country at the U.N. General Assembly and at many Non-Aligned and Commonwealth conferences, Ambassador Dhanapala has chaired many international meetings, such as the recently concluded 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 1995 he was awarded the 15th "Jit" Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy by the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He was also a member of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
Ambassador Dhanapala will arrive on campus on Tuesday, April 1, and will meet with Yale students and invited faculty at a dinner being hosted by Dr. Bernard Lytton, master of of Jonathan Edwards College. The dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m. that day in the Jonathan Edwards College Senior Room. Students who wish to attend the dinner can make reservations by calling Pravin Bhatt at 281- 6208. Space is limited.
On April 2, the ambassador will also be the guest of honor at a dinner sponsored by the Friends of South Asian Studies Committee. The event will be held 6:30-9 p.m. at the Regal Inn in New Haven. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $15 for students. Reservations are required and may be made by calling Mr. Bhatt at 281-6208. Exhibit on Gandhi
"Where was Gandhi on the Day of Independence?" That question will be answered in an exhibition being presented March 31-May 2 in the Memorabilia Room of Sterling Memorial Library, 120 High St.
The display was organized by the South Asia Society, a student group, and the staff of the library's manuscripts and archives department. The student organizers are Sujatha Jahagirdar, Sonushya Mathai, Vivek Chandaria, Karna Basu and Rahul Rajkumar.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 1869-1948 was a successful lawyer who abandoned his practice to work in South Africa, where there was widespread oppression of Indian immigrants. It was during his 20 years in South Africa that Gandhi developed the policy of passive resistance for which he later became renowned. When he returned to India in 1918, Gandhi became the leader of the struggle to free the nation from the political and civil oppression of the British government. He also eschewed worldly possessions and adopted a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting and meditation. His followers revered Gandhi as a saint and began to call him "Mahatma," or "great-souled." The Indian leader was assassinated in 1948.