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Panaji: Taking Indo-Lithuanian friendship to a new level, two life-sized bronze statues, in tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach, will be unveiled at Rusn (Kallenbach's native city), western Lithuania, on October 2, "The Times of India" daily reports.

The same comes a month after a marble stone was laid in Old Goa to commemorate the arrival of the first Lithuanian, Andrius Rudamina, to India in the early 17th century.

Kallenbach, a German-Jewish architect, was one of Gandhi's foremost and closest associates.

The statues will be unveiled in the presence of Lithuania's PM Algirdas Butkeviius, Indian MoS for agriculture Mohanbhai Kundariya, ambassador of Lithuania to India Laimonas Talat-Kelpša, his Indian counterpart, Ajay Bisaria and Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi.

Designed by renowned Lithuanian architect Romas Kvintas, Gandhi's sculpture depicts him in his signature dhoti and shawl, wielding a walking stick.

The statues will be erected on the banks of the River Nemunas, at the point where Lithuania's largest river meets the Baltic Sea.

The unveiling will be preceded by a public lecture 'Soulmates: Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach. A cross-cultural encounter and its unique historical significance', delivered by Israeli researcher Shimo Lev of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This will take place at the historical palace of grand dukes of Lithuania at the old city of Vilnius, a UNESCO-protected site.

The entire programme will be telecast live by Lithuania's national public television LRT. Kallenbach met Gandhi in South Africa in 1904, where he was practicing as an architect and they soon became good friends. Six years later, Kallenbach donated his 1,000-acre farm near Johannesburg to Gandhi.

The 'Tolstoy Farm' came to be known as Gandhi's first ashram and Kallenbach stayed with him right through the satyagraha struggle in South Africa till 1914.

The two stayed in touch even after they were separated by World War I and Gandhi's return to India.

When Kallenbach passed away in 1945, he left a considerable portion of his estate for South African Indians, donating a bulk of it for the benefit of Zionism.

This friendship is recounted in Joseph Lelyveld's 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle with India' (2011), Shimon Lev's 'Soulmates: The story of Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach' (2012), and portrayed in Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning 'Gandhi' (1982).

Gandhi's means of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience that led India to independence, inspired civil rights movements and freedom struggles in other parts of the world.

Lithuania and other Baltic states also followed Gandhi's principles during their freedom movement from 1988 to 1991. The monument set to be unveiled on Friday in Lithuania seeks to strengthen Indo-Lithuanian friendship and underscore the global importance of the Lithuania-born Jewish community.

Source: Times of India