Gandhi’s Post

Artefacts related to Mahatma Gandhi have always aroused interest,especially since they serve as a key biographical source for his life. Now,an upcoming auction in London will shed some light on the time Gandhi spent in South Africa,as seen through documents owned by Hermann Kallenbach,who was “arguably Gandhi’s closest friend”. “Many thousand letters and documents” have been offered for sale by Sotheby’s English Literature,History,Children’s Books and Illustrations section on July 10 and is estimated to fetch up to $1.1 million (approximately Rs 6 crore). The collection,arranged in 18 files “housed in green document wallet”,comes after another series of Gandhi’s letters to Kallenbach,which was sold in 1986 by Sotheby’s. Documents to go under the hammer include business letters,papers related to his time in South Africa,correspondence with his family,Kallenbach’s letters related to Gandhi’s campaigns and 287 photographs of Gandhi in South Africa.