India buys Mahatma Gandhi archives to halt auction

The Indian Government have spent over than one million dollars to buy thousands of documents relating to the father of Indian nation – Mahatma Gandhi in a private transaction ahead of a planned auction.

The Indian government has signed a contract with auctioneers Sotheby’s to purchase a large archive related to Mahatma Gandhi. The documents belonged to Hermann Kallenbach, the Jewish bodybuilder, who became a close friend of Gandhi during his stay in South Africa.

Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India, written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld and published last year, which documented Gandhi’s friendship with Hermann Kallenbach, said the book cited correspondence between the two men which suggested that they could have very close relationship.

India pays more than one mln dollars for Mahatma Gandhi’s letters, pappers and photographs

Most of the letters were written by family, friends and others, with very few written by the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India Mahatma Gandhi himself. Among the most illuminating of the documents are hundreds of letters written by Mahatma Gandhi’s sons, which provide details of his life in India, particularly in the period immediately after his return, when he lived in relative obscurity.

The Sotheby auctioneer said in a statement : ‘ Sotheby’s is pleased to announce that the Gandhi- Kallenbach archive, which had been scheduled for auction in Sotheby’s English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations Auction on July 10, 2012, has been sold in a private transaction to the Indian Government. ‘

All documents will go to the National Archives of India in New Delhi.

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