TRIBUTE has been paid to a peace activist and artist who lived in Edmonton and worked with Mahatma Gandhi during the era leading up to India's independence from Great Britain.

Devi Prasad was born in Dehradun, in India, in 1921, and studied as an artist at the school of Bengali Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan, in India, between 1938 and 1944.

He became an art teacher at Gandhi’s ashram, in a village called Sevagram, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in 1944, and was active in the Quit India Movement working for the country's independence from Great Britain.

Mr Prasad moved to Edmonton with his wife, Janaki, in 1962, when he took up the post of general secretary of anti-war organisation, War Resisters' International (WRI), up until 1972.

He was the first Asian general secretary of the group and was later the organisation's chairman from 1972 to 1975.

He set up a pottery studio when he moved back to Delhi with his second wife, Bindu, in 1983. Mr Prasad died after a long illness, aged 89, in Delhi on June 1.

Apart from being a potter Mr Prasad was a renowned painter, designer and photographer, who took part in Enfield Art Circle exhibitions and also in the Chelsea Arts and Crafts Fair.

He has three children including sons Sunand, 61, an architect, Udayan, 58, a film director and physiotherapist daughter, Ammani, 51.

His eldest son, Sunand, said: “We were aware of the two sides to him growing up, as the activist and the artist.

“He moved to England in 1962 to take up the post at War Resisters’ International and we were first living in Bush Hill Park.

“We then moved to Sutherland Road, in Edmonton, in 1963. I remember in the back garden of Sutherland Road my dad built a shed for a kiln.

“He used to fire and make pots right there in the back. He actually gave up some of his time from the arts side to become an activist so it was good to see that side of him.”

Mr Prasad worked with pacifist Gandhi in the Forties at the height of the struggle for Indian independence from Great Britain.

He shared Gandhi’s non-violent stance, later adopted by Martin Luther King, to achieving the goal of independence, which eventually led to the partition of India and the birth of Pakistan in 1947.

Sunand added: “He worked with Gandhi and was at Shantiniketan but that was just a part of his life.

“He was there during the struggle for independence, which was an important time for the country.

“My brother Udayan and I went to Edmonton School and our sister Ammani went to Latymer School so we remember the area well.

“My mother who worked part-time as a librarian at Enfield Tech died in Edmonton in 1969. We have a lot of memories from there.

“My brother has followed our father into the art world by becoming a film-maker and I would like to think I have too by becoming an architect. We were obviously all very influenced by him and his work.”

Family friend and potter, Wali Hawes, 59, from Palmers Green, first met Devi Prasad in Delhi during the visit of a group of Japanese potters.

He said: “I found him to be a very engaging person and given the status and respect he had to be somebody that was very down to earth and accessible.

“He was full of curiosity about the things we were doing and he very kindly filled us in with so many things that were part of the fabric of not only contemporary and historical Indian ceramics but also within the wider context of his work having studied at Shantiniketan and later having worked with Mahatma Gandhi.

“He was also a great educator and saw the importance of transmitting the great values of a non-violent tradition and respect for humanity to the young.”

Mr Prasad is survived by his second wife, Bindu, two sons, Sunand and Udayan, daughter, Ammani, and seven grandchildren.