A GARLAND FOR GANDHI TO SELL AT AUCTION FOR £30,000
9th December 2024
A GARLAND FOR GANDHI
A GARLAND PRESENTED TO AND WORN BY MAHATMA GANDHI DURING THE DANDI MARCH IN INDIA, CIRCA 1930 Estimate: £20,000 - £30,000
Lyon & Turnbull Auction: 11 December 2024 from 10:00 GMT
This garland was presented to Mahatma Gandhi to mark an auspicious beginning to the Salt March, a major non-violent protest in India in March–April 1930. For sale by the Scottish Aucyion house, Lyon&Turnbull on 11th December it is estimated to sell for £20,000 - £30,000.
The Salt March was one of the most successful campaigns in Gandhi’s struggle against British rule in India to win equal rights and freedom for Indians. Starting at his ashram (religious retreat) at Sabermati (near Ahmadabad), the march reached Dandi after a journey of some 240 miles. On the morning of April 6, Gandhi and his followers picked up handfuls of salt from along the seashore. In so doing, they technically “produced” salt and broke the law.
At the time, the British Empire had a stranglehold on salt in India. The essential mineral was heavily taxed by the colonial power, and Indians could even be jailed for daring to make salt themselves. For Gandhi, the issue encapsulated the wicked tyranny of colonialism. ‘Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life,’ he said, believing a mass protest over the salt laws would help invigorate the Indian independence cause.
Kristina Sanne, of Lyon & Turnbull’s Indian and Islamic Department, comments: “This garland is one of the exceptionally rare items associated with Gandhi and linked to one of the key moments in his life where by his non-violent actions he fought against the power of the British in India. As such, it is an object of great importance that would be of interest to every museum that carries items from the Mahatmas life.”
The necklace is composed of a large teardrop shaped medallion of pink cloth backed on card applied with silver and gold thread and sequins in an elaborate decorative pattern, edged with gold tinsel, with four smaller rectangular medallions and two triangular medallions similarly decorated, all connected with gold threads and forming a necklace, in folded paper wrappers inscribed in Gujarati. Dimensions -60cm (23 5/8in)
The necklace was formerly, from the collection of the late Dr Balvantrai N. Kanuga of Ahmedabad and then passed on down through his family. Dr Kanuga had been Gandhi’s personal physician as far back as 1918, and the two remained friends until the time of Gandhi’s death. Both Balvantrai N. Kanuga (1878-1949) and his wife Nanduben were also determined satyagrahi (a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resisters) who were willing to face imprisonment for the cause of Independence and spent extensive periods at Gandhi’s ashram.
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Photograph caption:[with:] Vintage print (105 x 80mm) of an amateur photograph of Gandhi being presented with the garland, inscribed on the reserve (“Gandhiji Nanduben Kanuga. On the day of Dandi March. At Bungalow 12th March 1930”).
The photograph accompanying this lot shows Nanduben Kanuga placing the garland around Gandhi’s neck. The Kanugas were not amongst the marchers but they lived in Ahmedabad, where Sabarmati Ashram was also located.
The caption on the reverse of the photograph suggests that the garland was presented to Gandhi when the procession passed near their home. Although slightly faded, the distinctive triangular and rectangular medallions of the garland appear to be visible in the photograph. The item was subsequently returned to the Kanugas after the march. A few weeks later, Dr Kanuga further contributed to the cause by paying 1600 Rupees (c. $750 US) for the grains of salt that Gandhi had made at Dandi.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Kristina Sanne
07932 776025