India saved Gandhi Archive from being sold

            

            Mahatma Gandhi’s various precious prizes, documents and photographs, including some photographs on his most controversial relationship with the architect Hermann Kallenbach, were saved from being sold in an auction, as India bought these treasures for $1.28 million.

                  The archive belonged to Kallenbach, who was a very close friend of Gandhi, and German Jewish bodybuilder. Eventually the auction was to happen at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, but it was cancelled, as Indian government talked off the record with the auction house and the family members of Kallenbach. This helped India to take the possession of the rare documents.

              The documents will now be preserved at the National Archives of India in New Delhi. An agreement is finalized in consultation with Ministry of External Affairs and National Archives of India. The agreement was signed by three parties. The parties were Government of India, Sotheby’s and the family of Isha Sarid, the grandniece of Kallenbach. “The acquired material would be housed in the National Archives of India”, Culture Minister Kumari Selja said in press statement in the capital.

                  Eventually the Sarid family, which owns the treasures, quoted $5 million as price for the archives, but India managed to cut it down, and finally an amount of $1.28 million was paid. “The payment of 825,250 pounds ($1.28 million) has been released to Sotheby’s and the lot has been withdrawn from auction and sold to the Government of India,” the statement added.

              The archive includes a few letters which highlight on the relationship between Gandhi and Kallenbach. This relationship was a matter of utter controversy. Kallenbach was one of the foremost associates and friends of Gandhi during his young days in South Africa.