Satish Kumar

Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936)[1] is an Indian British activist and editor.
Satish Kumar
He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate, pacifist,[3] and is the
current editor of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. Now living in England,
Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College
international centre for ecological studies, and of The Small School. His most
notable accomplishment is the completion, together with a companion, of a
peace walk of over 8,000 miles in 1973–4, from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris,
London, and Washington, D.C., the capitals of the world's earliest nuclear-armed
countries.[4] He insists that reverence for nature should be at the heart of every
political and social debate.

Defending criticism that his goals are unrealistic, he has said,

Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war
and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and
wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed
hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell
people who call me "unrealistic" to show me what their realism Satish Kumar in 2009
has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly Born 9 August 1936
exaggerated concept.[5] Sri Dungargarh,
Rajasthan, India[1]
Residence Hartland, Devon,
England, United
Contents Kingdom
Early life Occupation Editor
Peace walk Organization Resurgence &
Professional career Ecologist
Editor
Known for Founder,
We Are One
Schumacher College
Family life & The Small School
Politics
Movement Nuclear
Books
disarmament;
References Environmental
External links Sustainability
Board
member of RSPCA[2]
Early life
Partner(s) June Mitchell
Kumar was born in Sri Dungargarh, Rajasthan, India. At the age of 9, he left his
Children Mukti Kumar
family and became a Jain monk.[6] At 18, after reading a book by Mahatma
Mitchell, Maya
Gandhi, he ran away from the mendicant order, to become a student of Vinoba
Kumar Mitchell
Bhave, an eminent disciple of Gandhi and his nonviolence and land reform Awards Honorary Doctorate
ideas.[7] in Education,
Plymouth University;

Peace walk Honorary Doctorate

in Literature,
Inspired by Bertrand Russell's civil disobedience against the atomic bomb, in University of
1962 Kumar and his friend E.P. Menon decided to dedicate themselves to Lancaster; Honorary
undertaking a peace walk from India to the four capitals of the nuclear world: Doctorate in Law,
Moscow, Paris, London, and Washington D.C. and decided to carry no money on University of Exeter;
their trip. They called it a 'Pilgrimage for peace'. Jamnalal Bajaj
International
Vinoba Bhave gave the young men two 'gifts'. One was to be penniless wherever
Award[2]
they walked. The other was to be vegetarian. They first travelled through
Pakistan, where they met great kindness from a country with a huge historic
conflict and antipathy towards India. Leaving Pakistan via the Khyber Pass, they continued through Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia,
Georgia, and the Caucasus Mountains. They visited Moscow, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C. Travelling on foot and
carrying no money, Kumar and his companion would stay with anyone who offered them food or shelter.

While on their way to Moscow they met two women outside a tea factory. After
explaining what they were doing one of the women gave them four packets of
tea, one to be delivered to each of the leaders of the four nuclear powers and to
also deliver a message, "when you think you need to press the button, stop for a
minute and have a fresh cup of tea". This further inspired their journey and
became in part the reason for it. They eventually delivered 'peace tea' to the
leaders of four of the nuclear powers.[8] The journey is chronicled in Kumar's
book, Path without Destination.

Professional career

Editor
Kumar is editor of Resurgence & Ecologist (combining the former Resurgence
magazine, which had been described as the artistic and spiritual flagship of the
green movement, with The Ecologist). He contributed an essay to The Society for
Curious Thought entitled "Focus on Food".[9] He has also been a contributor to Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence,
the BBC's "Thought for the Day" strand on the Today programme, and also at The Convention on Modern
appeared on Desert Island Discs. Kumar was interviewed by Richard Dawkins in Liberty, London, 28/2/2009

his 'Slaves to Superstition' episode of the documentary The Enemies of Reason,

investigating the prevalence of unscientific beliefs in modern society. He also made a film, Earth Pilgrim, for BBC2's Natural
History Series.

We Are One
Kumar was one of the contributors for writing the book, We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, released in October
2009.[10] The book explores the culture of peoples around the world, portraying both its diversity and the threats it faces. It
contains a collection of statements from tribal people, photographs, and essays from international authors, campaigners,
politicians, philosophers, poets, artists, journalists, anthropologists, environmentalists and photojournalists. The royalties from the
sale of this book go to the indigenous rights organisation, Survival International.[11]
Family life
Kumar, a recipient of the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award,[12] settled in England in 1973. He lives a simple life in Hartland,
Devon, with his partner June Mitchell, their son Mukti Kumar Mitchell, and their daughter Maya Kumar Mitchell.[13]

Politics
Prior to the 2015 UK general election, he was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green
Party's Caroline Lucas.[14]

Books
No Destination: Autobiography of a Pilgrim (2014) [2004] [1978], Green Books, ISBN 978-0857842619
You Are, Therefore I Am: A Declaration of Dependence (2002), Green Books, ISBN 978-1903998182
Images of Earth and Spirit: A Resurgence anthology Edited by John Lane and Satish Kumar (2003), Green
Books, ISBN 978-1903998298
The Intimate and the Ultimate Vinoba Bhave, Edited by Satish Kumar (2004), Green Books, ISBN 978-
1903998397
The Buddha and the Terrorist: The Story of Angulimala (2006), Algonquin Books, ISBN 978-1565125209
Spiritual Compass: The Three Qualities of Life (2008), Green Books/Finch Publishing, ISBN 978-1876451943
Earth Pilgrim in conversation with Echann Deravy and Maya Kumar Mitchell (2009), Green Books, ISBN 978-
1900322577
Soul, Soil, Society: a new trinity for our time (2013), Leaping Hare Press, ISBN 978-1782400448

References
1. Kumar, Satish. 2000. "Path without destination: The long walk of a gentle hero", Belief.net. (http://www.beliefnet.c
om/Wellness/2000/04/Path-Without-Destination.aspx) Accessed: 20 July 2012.
2. "About Satish", Resurgence. (http://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/) Accessed: 16 June 2012.
3. Cullen, Tom A. (19 May 1969). "Indian Pacifist Preaches Guerrilla War on Violence" (https://news.google.com/ne
wspapers?nid=1356&dat=19690516&id=2T0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_wUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6823,2947808). Star-
Banner. Ocala, Florida, United States: Halifax Media Group. p. 8. ISSN 0163-3201 (https://www.worldcat.org/iss
n/0163-3201).
4. Vidal, John (16 January 2008). "Soul man" (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jan/16/activists). The
Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
5. Sica, Giulio (16 January 2008). "What part does spirituality play in the green movement?" (http://blogs.guardian.c
o.uk/ethicalliving/2008/01/what_part_does_spirituality_pl.html). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
6. Kumar 2000, pp. 18–19
7. "Walking the World for Peace," Context Institute. (http://www.context.org/iclib/ic17/kumar/) Accessed: 15
September 2012.
8. BBC World Service radio broadcast, BBC Outlook, 2015 October 25, 0830-0900 GMT, United Kingdom.
9. " 'Focus on Food' " (http://www.thesocietyforcuriousthought.com/contributors.php?WEBYEP_DI=15&OPENTREE
S=WYMUTREE_0_14).
10. " 'We Are One: a celebration of tribal peoples' published this autumn" (http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/4
981). Survival International. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
11. "We Are One" (http://www.survivalinternational.org/weareone). Survival International. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
12. "Jamnalal Bajaj Award" (http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2001/international/dr-satish-kum
ar). Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
13. "It Takes a Genius to be Simple" (http://ascentmagazine.com/articles.aspx%3FarticleID=92&page=read&subpage
=past&issueID=9.html). Ascent Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
14. Elgot, Jessica (24 April 2015). "Celebrities sign statement of support for Caroline Lucas – but not the Greens" (htt
ps://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/24/celebrities-sign-statement-support-caroline-lucas-not-green-
party). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 July 2015.

External links
Biography on the Resurgence website (http://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar)
Interview on the In Context website (http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC17/Kumar.htm)
Satish Kumar's presentation as a part of the Royal Institute of British Architects International Dialogues:
Architecture and Climate Change (https://web.archive.org/web/20110524115101/http://www.gleeds.tv/index.cfm?
video=267)
The E F Schumacher Centenary Lecture (https://temenos.thelincolncentre.co.uk/20110913/) at the Temenos
Academy, 13 September 2011.

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