Gandhi, Sardar Patel letters to writer Swami Anand now to be preserved by National Archives of India
Anand was a Gandhian activist who managed Mahatma Gandhi's publications such as Navajivan and Young India and inspired him to write his autobiography, ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’.
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Gujarati novelist Dinkar Joshi gifted these 76 original correspondences to the NAI compiled under the title ‘The Dinkar Joshi Papers’, for permanent preservation. (File photo) As many as 76 original letters addressed to Gujarati writer Swami Anand by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gandhi’s personal secretary Mahadev Desai and first President Rajendra Prasad have now been added to the collection of the National Archives of India (NAI) in Delhi.
Anand was a Gandhian activist who managed Gandhi’s publications such as Navajivan and Young India and inspired him to write his autobiography, ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’. He wrote sketches, memoirs, biographies, philosophy and travelogues, besides translating some works.
Recently, Gujarati novelist Dinkar Joshi gifted these 76 original correspondences to the NAI compiled under the title ‘The Dinkar Joshi Papers’, for permanent preservation, which were released by the organisation on March 1.
All the letters are in Gujarati language except one by Rajendra Prasad, officials at NAI say. The Dinkar Joshi Papers, include 21 letters from Gandhi to Anand, 28 from Patel to Anand, 12 from Desai to Anand and one in Hindi from Rajendra Prasad.
Officials say that the NAI already has a fairly large collection of private papers of several eminent personalities including Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, M R Jayakar, Dadabhai Naoroji, P D Tandon, Sarojini Naidu, and Mulkraj Anand. These are preserved scientifically and have been made available for consultation for the research scholars.
Thes Dinkar Joshi documents would now become part of the private collections of other similar documents of these national heroes which are already with NAI.
Joshi has written more than 160 books including novels, short story collections, essay collections and columns. He had a long association with Anand through his edited works, including Aambavadiyun (articles of Swami Anand, 1996), Amaratvel (articles of Swami Anand, 1996), Ugamani Dishano Ujas (letter correspondences of Swami Anand, 1996) and Dhodhamar (letter correspondences of Swami Anand, 1996).
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