This Article is From Apr 02, 2012

Soil which Mahatma fell on after assassination to be auctioned

Soil which Mahatma fell on after assassination to be auctioned
London: Mahatma Gandhi's round-lensed spectacles, a personal prayer book and the soil upon which he fell when he was assassinated are among an incredible lot of items that will be sold at an auction in Britain.

Gandhi was shot at point-blank range on January 30, 1948 and moments later a bystander, P.P. Nambiar, collected the dirt and some blades of grass from where he had fallen.

Also on auction is a series of letters from Gandhi that spell out his philosophy. The spectacles were bought by Gandhi when he was studying law in London in the 1890s.

They are all to go for auction along with numerous other personal items and they are expected to fetch up to 80,000 pounds, Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

The archive has been consigned by a collector along with detailed provenance and is being sold by Mullock's auction house in Ludlow, Shropshire on April 17.

His prayer book for sale is written in his native Gujrati language and there are some important hand-written letters, some even signed as Bapu.

Other items include Gandhi's charkha (spinning wheel) that he had with him when he travelled to London for the second Round Table Conference in 1931, the Mail said.

 
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