Mohanlal Kameshwar Pandya was born on 21 June 1872 in Kathlal of Kheda District. He had primary and secondary education in Nadiad. He became a graduate of agricultural sciences from Mumbai University in 1902. Mohanlal joined as an officer in the agricultural department of Gondal state and later shifted to Baroda state. Later he joined the freedom struggle and remained underground from 1911 to 1915. During this period he organized secret activities. He was active in a group of revolutionaries of Gujarat. He established a printing press in the jungle and printed the literature for making bombs. Such books were named ‘Vanaspati ni Davao’ (Medicines of herbs) and ‘Sabubanavavanirito’ (How to make soap). He left the job in the Vadodara state in 1911. He participated in a political conference with Narhari Parikh in 1917.
Mohanlal played an important role in the Kheda satyagraha. He stole the onions from the farms seized by the government and became known as ‘Dungalichor’ (the onion thief). He handled the responsibility as a leader of 75 groups of volunteers of Gujarat in the Nagpur flag movement in 1923. He was imprisoned for a year. In 1927, he got engaged in flood relief work. In 1928, he worked as a commander in a camp of Bardoli satyagraha and was imprisoned. He worked with Ravishankar Maharaj in the Dandi March in 1930. He was imprisoned from 1930 to 1932. He Mohanlal was active with the Raniparaj Parishad of Bardoli Taluka. He died on 14th May 1935.
Source: Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (https://gandhiashramsabarmati.org/), Ahmedabad
Desai, Hitendra (Compiler) (1969) ‘Swatantrya Sangramnaladvaiya, Gujarat Rajya’, Ahmedabad. Ministry of Information, Gujarat Government Secretariat.