Gandhi notes sell for record $1.7mn in India

MUMBAI: A collection of notes written by Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi has sold for $1.7 million in Mumbai, the highest ever price paid for an Indian historical document.

Mumbai-based auction house Saffronart said the collection was preserved by the family of Gandhi’s close associate and freedom fighter Anand T Hingorani.

The 688 notes were written by Gandhi to Hingorani after the death of Hingorani’s wife Vidya, and were compiled into a book titled “A Thought for the Day”.

The messages, written between 1944 and 1946, touch upon several subjects including truth, god and non-violence.

“A Thought for the Day… sold for $1.7 million, setting a world record for an Indian historical document sold at auction,” Saffronart said in a statement on Thursday.

The notes were the main attraction of the collection, titled “Gandhi: From the Collection of Anand T Hingorani”.

Other items in the lot included Gandhi’s portable spinning wheel and notes on the discipline of spinning.

“What makes this collection particularly compelling is the opportunity to see one of the most significant figures in India’s history through the lens of a close, personal relationship,” Saffronart’s co-founder Dinesh Vazirani said in a statement.

The sale underscores “the enduring interest in Gandhi’s life and legacy and the particular appeal of primary-source material that offers a connection to one of the defining figures of India’s freedom movement”, the auction house added.

Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in India’s history, led a non-violent movement against British rule and inspired similar resistance campaigns across the world.

He was assassinated in January 1948.