- Restoration of Mughal road in J-K heads towards completion
- China wants a Chinese version of Tibetan Buddhism, says Dalai Lama
- Cultural heritage of Manipur showcased in Sikkim
- Dalai Lama hopes PM will discuss Tibet issue with the U.S. leadership
- 3 injured in fire at Jodhpur's handloom showroom
- Bamboo fencing on Nainital's hillside roads to prevent mishaps
Autographed letters of Gandhi auctioned in London
July 14: London’s leading auction house Sotheby’s has auctioned the Gandhi’s manuscript and handwritten letters in 45,600 pounds on Thursday July 12, 2007 in London.
-
E-mail Article 
Printer Friendly
Text-Size 
Another rare manuscript claims to be the last manuscript of Mahatma Gandhi was saved to go under hammer by the India House, as it could be able to obtain these letters.
The lot of Mahatma’s manuscript and letters that included 33 pages of handwritten drafts of a series of articles for ‘Young India’ from 1921 and 11 autographed letters written between the 1920s and the 1940s were auctioned by Sotheby’s auction house in 45,600 pounds. It is expected that the lot would be sold between 25,000 to 35,000 pounds, but it sold in much higher price.
The lot mounted in a 79-page album had included 12-autographed letters of Mohammad Iqbal, Sri Aurobindo and Sarojini Naidu and 11-autographed letters of ‘Bapu’, the father of the Nation.
Gandhi wrote the manuscript of Young India article in between 1920 to 1922 during the Satyagraha campaign of non-cooperation when he visited to Gujarat. The letter discussed a range of political and cultural subjects like the caste system, the khadi campaign, the colonial education system, non-violent protests and a temperance campaign.
There were also six letters included in the auctioned lot written by Gandhi to Badrul Hasan, a young congress activist working for Young India as it is assumed. Three other letters were for Badrul’s family in which one letter was written on the death of Hasan. There were also some letters written for Urdu Harijan in which Gandhi pleaded for tolerance of Muslims in India. He wrote these letters just before 19 days of his death.
In another matter, India House became successful to acquire the last manuscript written by Gandhi just before less then ten days of it’s auctioning. Leading auction house, Christie’s was going to auction it. After detailed negotiations Christie's had withdrawn a priceless Gandhi manuscript.