Indian history enthusiasts are in for a momentous week as photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and mid-19th century Karnataka will be auctioned in London on Tuesday. The sale of the photographs comes just before two auctions this week of artefacts linked to Tipu Sultan, Tiger of Mysore.
A collection of 21 photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, taken in Bombay on August 7, 1942, the day he launched his call for the Quit India Movement in his speech to the All India Congress Committee at Gowalia Tank Maidan, will be auctioned by Bonhams during its “India and Beyond” sale at Knightsbridge in London on Tuesday. The Congress Party had on August 8, 1942 overwhelmingly supported the Quit India Movement.
The photographs by Jayant Lalan show Mahatma Gandhi at an informal indoor gathering and taking an early morning walk at Juhu Beach. The whole lot is estimated to sell for £1,000-1,500.
Along with photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian freedom fighters, the auction also features an album of very early photographs of important ancient cultural sites in Karnataka by celebrated British pioneer photographer Andrew Neill. The lot of 15 photographs, including a three-part panorama of the temples at Hampi, taken between 1854 and 1855, is likely to sell for £4,000-6,000.
Neill, who was attached to the Indian Medical Service at Madras, also photographed the famous giant statue of Narasimha between Hampi and Kamalapur.
Bonhams is also selling an album of over 70 photographs taken during the controversial British Mission to Tibet in 1903-04.