Delhi museum to contact Hingorani family after Gandhi auction

The National Gandhi Museum in Delhi plans to contact the Anand T Hingorani family after Mahatma Gandhi’s writings and personal artefacts sold for Rs 16.2 crore at a Mumbai auction on August 19.

The 86-lot collection, titled *A Thought for the Day*, included 688 handwritten reflections by Gandhi. The auction house described the sale as a world record for an Indian historical document sold at auction. It said the buyer was from India and that the manuscript would remain in the country, but did not disclose the buyer’s identity.

Museum director A Annamalai said the originals should be preserved as part of India’s shared historical record. The museum holds more than 40,000 Gandhi-related documents and artefacts, including letters, manuscripts, prayers, speeches and personal belongings.

The Hingorani lots included Gandhi’s peti charkha, which sold for Rs 1.02 crore, and letters, telegrams and postcards on economic independence, which fetched Rs 57.6 lakh. Annamalai urged families holding Gandhi material to donate originals to the museum while retaining copies.