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Auction: 16043 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 143

Documents
India
Mahatma Gandhi
1946 (March) (c.) autograph notes written on the reverse side of a portion of a letter written to Gandhi from a young Western follower, George Mammen. Gandhi has penned some closely-written notes, he writes, in fountain pen ink "Our India will have need of you. You have had your training. You will give India the benefit of that training. It
would be sad only if after the trials and suffering ["of war" struck out] that our soldiers have been through, they forget the lessons of their eyes, the moment the peril is lifted. But one thing you should remember, under remunerations and national Govt, you won’t be pampered. You won’t have all those lavish privileges which a foreign Govt. bribe you with at the expense of India. India is destitute. You can serve her only by showing her destitution and poverty. Otherwise you will earn not the gratitude but the execration of your country. [Now writing at the top of the page:] You will, I know, fully share in this freedom, only to breathe the air of freedom with your countrymen". Pin holes and crease in upper corner. Written shortly before partition and independence in 1947. Photo

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma (Sanskrit: "high-souled", "venerable") was applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa,—is now used worldwide. He is unofficially called the Father of the Nation.

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Estimate
£5,000 to £6,000