UK/FILE: Huge archive of letters, papers and photographs that shed new light on Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his time in South Africa will be auctioned in London next month

Record ID: 837932

  • Title: UK/FILE: Huge archive of letters, papers and photographs that shed new light on Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his time in South Africa will be auctioned in London next month
  • Date: 26th June 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - JUNE 14, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF SOTHEBY'S BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS SPECIALIST DR GABRIEL HEATON LAYS OUT ARCHIVE ON TABLE CLOSE OF HEADED NOTEPAPER SAYING 'M.K. GANDHI ATTORNEY' GANDHI'S SIGNATURE ON LETTER
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom India
  • Topics: Business,International Relations,History,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAC7INYJ8KK88PGP69COYDSNOAI
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  • Story Text: A huge archive of letters, papers, photographs and artefacts that shed new light on Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his time in South Africa will be auctioned in London next month and is expected to fetch 500,000-700,000 pounds ($800,000-$1.1 million).
    The documents, numbering several thousand and arranged in 18 files, belonged to Hermann Kallenbach, who became arguably Gandhi's closest friend after they met in Johannesburg in 1904.
    Although relatively few are in Gandhi's own hand, the wealth of material from family, friends, associates and Kallenbach himself make the collection a key biographical source for one of the 20th century's most revered figures.
    "This is a tremendous and very rich collection that contains material that belonged to Gandhi's very close friend Hermann Kallenbach. It includes letters by Gandhi to Kallenbach and many letters from Gandhi's sons and also sons to Kallenbach - very intimate and personal letters covering many decades actually," said Dr Gabriel Heaton, a books and manuscripts specialist at Sotheby's auctioneers which is selling the archive.
    The documents will go under the hammer as a single lot on July 10 at the English Literature and History sale.
    Sotheby's also handled the sale in 1986 of the main series of Gandhi's letters to Kallenbach, when they raised 140,000 pounds. Together, the two batches represent the vast majority of the Kallenbach family's Gandhi collection.
    The appetite for Gandhi memorabilia has shown few signs of abating over time.
    In one of the more bizarre sales in recent years, samples of soil and blades of bloody grass purportedly from the spot where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 sold for 10,000 pounds at a British auction in April, while a pair of his glasses fetched 34,000 pounds.
    Kallenbach met Gandhi in 1904 in South Africa, where the Indian leader spent more than 20 years of his life before returning to India permanently in 1915.
    Gandhi's time in Africa, ostensibly as a lawyer, had a profound influence on his thinking as he joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for Indians living there.
    Kallenbach, a German-born Jewish South African, was an architect who fell under the influence of Gandhi and his ideas, and the two men became lifelong friends.
    He gifted a large piece of land to his mentor which he named Tolstoy Farm, in honour of Russian author and philosopher Leo Tolstoy whose ideal of peaceful resistance influenced Gandhi.
    In the letters, Gandhi addressed Kallenbach as 'my dear lower house' and signed off 'with love, upper house', a valediction which alludes to the closeness between them.
    "Well it shows it was a very important intimate relationship between the two. They were fellow travellers if you like. Kallenbach was one of the first people to understand what an extraordinary individual Gandhi was," said Dr Heaton.
    Heaton rejected what he called 'sensationalist' claims that the documents could suggest there was a very intimate relationship between the two men -- something alluded to in a book called 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle with India' by Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld, although Lelyveld denied claims he called Gandhi bisexual in his book.
    "There is nothing in this archive that substantiates some of the sensationalist claims that have been made about the relationship. What this does show is that this was a tremendously important relationship for the development of both men and that it's one that was founded on their shared political, spiritual and philosophical beliefs," he said.
    Among the most illuminating of the documents on sale are the dozens of letters written by Gandhi's sons which provide details of Gandhi's life in India, particularly after his return when he lived in relative obscurity.
    "Father is becoming more and more awful," read one incomplete letter probably written by Harilal, his eldest son, who was deeply troubled.
    "It would not be strange if a time may come one of these days when either those who are living with Father might have to go or he might leave us all not being able to stand our life."
    Heaton believed Gandhi's family felt able to speak more freely to Kallenbach than just about anyone else.
    "It sheds an important new biographical light on Gandhi. This is only a small portion of the entire archive so it's a very substantial group of papers relating to one of the most important times of Gandhi's life and also one of his closest friends and followers."
    Another revealing letter was written by Gandhi to Kallenbach in March 1914 when he was about to return to live in India, having been in South Africa for two decades.
    "Perhaps I should tell you that as a preparation for India I do all my writing squatting on the ground and eat invariably with my fingers. I don't want to look awkward in India and I do want to avoid chairs and tables. With love, Upper House," the letter said.
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