Sarabhai family

The Sarabhai family was a prominent Indian family active in several fields. The patriarch, Ambalal Sarabhai, was a leading industrialist. While he created significant wealth, his children interested themselves in a wide variety of other endeavours, and the family is better known for those activities, rather than for industrial enterprise, which is now all but defunct.

Family history
The Sarabhai family are a major business family in India belonging to the Shrimal Jain Bania community.

Its twentieth century doyen Sheth Ambalal Sarabhai, was a Jain industrialist. He had five daughters and three sons who were involved in the family business as well as the Indian independence movement. After India's freedom, the family remained involved in developmental tasks undertaken by the government of India.

Ambalal Sarabhai was a prominent mill owner and also interested in philanthropic activities. His wife Sarladevi Sarabhai was impressed by the Maria Montessori philosophy and in the year 1922, Montessori sent E. M. Standing to India for the homeschooling of Sarabhai children.

Sarabhai Enterprises branched out after India's independence and many pioneer ventures were made in fields dominated by foreign companies. The manufacture of drugs and pharmaceuticals, chemicals and intermediates, dyes and pigments, industrial and household detergents, soaps and cosmetics, industrial packaging and containers, and later engineering and electronic products.

Family members
Prominent members of the Sarabhai family include:
 * Ambalal Sarabhai. Patriarch of the family. Born into a family of tradesmen, he invested the family wealth into various industrial enterprises in the early 1900s, including Sarabhai Textile Mills at Ahmedabad, which was one of the largest in India at that time.
 * Anasuya Sarabhai (sister of Ambalal Sarabhai), a trade unionist, activist and freedom fighter. Married young, she never cohabited with her husband.
 * Saraladevi Sarabhai (wife of Ambalal Sarabhai) and the mother of his eight children (three sons and five daughters)
 * Suhrid Sarabhai Sr. (son of Ambalal Sarabhai), industrialist
 * Manorama Sarabhai (wife of Suhrid Sarabhai), commissioned Villa Sarabhai
 * Anand Sarabhai (son of Suhrid Sr), molecular biologist, partner of Lynda Benglis, American sculptor and visual artist
 * Suhrid Sarabhai Jr (son of Suhrid Sr), industrialist
 * Asha Sarabhai, wife of Suhrid Jr, clothing designer
 * Sanjay Sarabhai (son of Suhrid Jr)
 * Samir Sarabhai (son of Suhrid Jr)
 * Gautam Sarabhai (son of Ambalal Sarabhai), industrialist, philanthropist, co founder & the architect of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
 * Kamalini Sarabhai (wife of Gautam Sarabhai), co founder of B.M. Institute of Mental Health
 * Mana Sarabhai Brearley (daughter of Gautam Sarabhai)
 * Mischa Gorchov Brearley (son of Mana Sarabhai Brearley with artist Robert Gorchov)
 * Lara Brearley (daughter of Mana Sarabhai Brearley with Mike Brearley)
 * Shyama Gautam Sarabhai (daughter of Gautam Sarabhai)
 * Anand Zaveri (husband of Shyama Gautam Sarabhai)
 * Shaan Zaveri (son of Shyama Gautam Sarabhai), real estate developer in Ahmedabad
 * Mridula Sarabhai (daughter of Ambalal Sarabhai), Indian independence activist and politician; unmarried
 * Vikram Sarabhai (son of Ambalal Sarabhai), co-founder of ISRO and IIM Ahmedabad
 * Mrinalini Sarabhai (wife of Vikram Sarabhai), dancer
 * Kartikeya Sarabhai (son of Vikram Sarabhai), educationist and environmentalist is married to Dr Prithi Nambiar, author, academic and Senior Program Director, CEE
 * Rajshree Sarabhai (former wife of Kartikeya Sarabhai), writer and director of Rajka Designs, a textile design studio
 * Samvit Sarabhai (son of Kartikeya Sarbhai), current director of Rajka Designs
 * Mohal Sarabhai (son of Kartikeya Sarbhai), managing director of Asence Pharma Pvt. Ltd., and Synbiotics Limited (a Sarabhai Family company incorporated in 1960)
 * Mallika Sarabhai (daughter of Vikram Sarabhai), a dancer and activist; briefly married to Bipin Shah, a publisher
 * Revanta Sarabhai (son of Mallika Sarabhai and Bipin Shah), dancer
 * Anahita Sarabhai (daughter of Mallika Sarabhai), performance artist & co-founder of QueerAbad
 * Leena Mangaldas (daughter of Ambalal Sarabhai), founder of Shreyas Foundation.
 * Madanmohan Mangaldas Girdhardas (husband of Leena Mangaldas), noted industrialist
 * Kamal Mangaldas (son of Leena Mangaldas), noted architect
 * Arjun Mangaldas (son of Kamal Mangaldas), architect
 * Abhay Mangaldas (son of Kamal Mangaldas), hotelier, founder of House of MG, a heritage hotel in Ahmedabad
 * Gira Sarabhai (daughter of Ambalal Sarabhai), co-founder of the National Institute of Design, the Calico Museum of Textiles
 * Gita Mayor (daughter of Ambalal Sarabhai), Indian musician; well known for her patronage in music
 * Satyadev Mayor, (husband of Gita Mayor)
 * Pallavi Satyadev Mayor (daughter of Gita Mayor)
 * Ajay Mayor (son of Pallavi Mayor)
 * Bharti Sarabhai, (daughter of Ambalal Sarabhai), unmarried
 * Christina Sarabhai, (daughter of Marcia Sullivan), married to Mohal Sarabhai
 * Mohal Sarabhai, (son of Kartikaha Sarabhai), married to Christina Sarabhai
 * Kavan Sarabhai (son of Mohal Sarabhai)

Institutions built by Sarabhai family

 * 1) Calico Mills - Ambalal Sarabhai
 * 2) Jubilee Mills - Ambalal Sarabhai
 * 3) Kasturba Gandhi Rashtriya Smarak Trust - Sarladevi Ambalal Sarabhai
 * 4) Majoor Mahajan - Anasuyaben Sarabhai
 * 5) Jyoti Sangh - Mridulaben Sarabhai
 * 6) Vikas Gruh - Mridulaben Sarabhai
 * 7) Shreyas Foundation & School - Leenaben Mangaldas
 * 8) B.M. Institute of Mental Health - Gautam Sarabhai
 * 9) The Psychotherapy Study Group - Gautam Sarabhai
 * 10) National Institute of Design - Gautam Sarabhai and Gira Sarabhai
 * 11) Darpana Academy of Performing Arts - Mrinalini & Vikram Sarabhai
 * 12) Calico Museum of Textiles - Gira Sarabhai
 * 13) Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises, Baroda - Gautam Sarabhai, a commercial (corporate) venture
 * 14) Centre for Environment Education - Kartikeya Sarabhai
 * 15) VIKSAT - Kartikeya Sarabhai
 * 16) CHETNA - Kartikeya Sarabhai
 * 17) Sangeet Kendra - Geeta Mayor
 * 18) Darpana for Development - Mallika Sarabhai
 * 19) Mapin Publishing - Mallika Sarabhai and her husband Bipin Shah Gautam Gira Sarabhai Square.jpg, Ahmedabad. Earlier known as Nayak Square. ]]

Major institution building efforts of Vikram Sarabhai (1947-1971)
• # Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA)

• # Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad

• # Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

• # Community Science Centre (CSC), Ahmedabad

• # Nehru Foundation for Development (NFD), Ahmedabad

• # Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA), Ahmedabad

• # Sarabhai Chemicals, Baroda

• # Sarabhai Glass, Baroda

• # Suhrid Geigy, Baroda

• # Synbiotics, Baroda

• # Sarabhai Merck, Baroda

• # Sarabhai Engineering Group, Baroda

• # Operations Research Group (ORG), Baroda

• # Sarabhai Research Centre (SRC), Baroda

• # Systronics, Ahmedabad

• # Swastik Oil Mills, Bombay

• # Standard Pharmaceuticals, Calcutta

• # Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Trivandrum

• # Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC), Trivandrum

• # Shriharikota Rocket Range (SHAR), Sriharikota

• # Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station (ESCES), Ahmedabad

• # Satellite Communication System Division (SCSD), Ahmedabad

• # Electronics System Division (ESD), Ahmedabad

• # Microwave Antenna Systems Engineering Group (MASEG), Ahmedabad

• # Audio Visual Instructional Division (AVID), Ahmedabad

• # Remote Sensing and Meteorological Division (RSMD), Ahmedabad

• # Indian Scientific Satellite Project (ISSP), Bangalore

• # Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), Ahmedabad

• # Indian National Satellite (INSAT) Satellite Launching Vehicle (SLV) Trivandrum

• # Satellite Communication Earth Station,

• # Arvi Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR), Kalpakkam

• # Nuclear Centre for Agriculture, New Delhi

• # Variable Energy Cyclotron Project (VECP), Calcutta

• # Electronic Prototype Engineering Laboratory (EPEL), Bombay

• # Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL), Hyderabad

• # Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL), Jaduguda, Jharkhand

No.4 was renamed the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre after Dr. Sarabhai’s death in 1971. No.18 & 19 were merged under the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre after Dr. Sarabhai’s death in 1971. Nos.21,22,23,24,25 and 26 were merged under the Space Applications Centre after Dr. Sarabhai’s death in 1971. No. 31 was renamed Vikram Earth Station after Dr. Sarabhai’s death in 1971.