New Delhi: At an auction in Mumbai, a rare collection of Mahatma Gandhi’s handwritten notes was sold for Rs 16.2 crore, setting a record price for an Indian historical document.
The notes include 688 handwritten messages by Gandhi on non-violence, truth and self-restraint, written between 1944 and 1946.
The handwritten reflections were later compiled and published as a book titled ‘A Thought for the Day’. The collection offers a glimpse into Gandhi’s personal reflections.
The auction was conducted by Indian auction house Saffronart under the title, ‘Gandhi: From the Collection of Anand T Hingorani’.
Anand T Hingorani was a freedom fighter and a follower of Gandhi since the age of 13. He was also among the participants from Sindh who joined Gandhi’s historic 1930 Dandi March against the British salt tax.
Hingorani worked at Sabarmati Ashram and joined Gandhi during the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement.
Gandhi’s writings and personal reflections
After the death of Hingorani’s wife, Vidya, Gandhi wrote to him for around two years, offering consolation and encouragement.
The auction lot also included letters, manuscripts, photographs and personal objects that had been preserved by the Hingorani family.
“These reflections offer a rare insight into how Gandhi lived the principles he advocated publicly, making this an especially valuable record of his thought and practice,” said Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder of Saffronart.
Further, Gandhi’s notes on God and the Bhagavad Gita, a portable spinning wheel and two letters discussing the spiritual discipline of spinning, were among the other items at the auction.
The auction also featured several personal objects, including Gandhi’s Peti Charkha as well as his West End Watch.
“We, as the family of Anand T Hingorani, are honoured to share an extraordinary historical legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and his close bond with our father.”, the Hingorani family said.
The family said the artefacts, which had been “cherished and safeguarded” for generations, offered testimony to defining moments in India’s history and the freedom struggle. It described the auction as an opportunity to share Gandhi’s ideals and historically significant memorabilia with the world.
“This auction is not merely an offering of rare collectibles, but the sharing of historically significant memorabilia of India’s freedom struggle and Gandhi’s ideals with the world,” they added.
Saffronart has not disclosed the identity of the buyer.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)