First Impressions: The Indian Portrait 1560-1860

by Kathryn Hadley

‘The Indian Portrait’ opens today, March 11th, at the National Portrait Gallery. Bringing together 60 works from international private and public collections, including the V&A, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York, and the Institut Néerlandais in Paris, the exhibition charts the history of the Indian portrait over three centuries. The diversity of the portraits on display and the insights which they provide into the history of the Mughal Empire are fascinating.

The portraits are, first of all, hugely diverse, varying in subject matter, size, style and technique. They range from scenes of court life to individual portraits which depict Mughal emperors, courtiers and holy men, as well as women and Europeans living in India. The first Indian portraits date to the reign of the third Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605), who commissioned a series of portraits both of himself and of his courtiers. Abu’l Fazl, the historian of Akbar’s reign, recorded this innovation in Mughal court painting in his chronicle the Akbarnama: ‘portraits [surat] have been painted of all His Majesty’s servants, and a huge book [ketab] has been made’. Shah Jahan commissioned a similar ‘official manuscript’ of his reign, the Padshahnama (‘The Book of the Emperor’), which features 44 illustrations depicting events from his life. Another grandiose official portrait is the six-foot life-size image dating to 1617 of the fourth Emperor Jahangir holding a globe, which is believed to be the largest painting to come from the Mughal Empire.

However, the display also provides more intimate glimpses of the Mughal emperors, as well as moving insights into the lives of their courtiers. Alongside the stylised images of Akbar presented in the Akbarnama, for example, there is also a simple black and white ink drawing of the emperor which captures his mood and personality. Particularly sombre and moving are the drawing and accompanying finished painting of ‘Inayat Khan, one of Jahangir’s attendants, in his last days. The portrait was commissioned by Jahangir who recorded in his memoirs on October 10th, 1618, that ‘Inayat Khan ‘was addicted to opium, and when he had the chance, to drinking as well […] He appeared so low and weak that I was astonished… As it was a very extraordinary case I directed painters to take his portrait’.

The exhibition also reveals the evolution of Indian portraiture over three centuries, its richness and its complexity; it both influenced art in regions which gradually fell under Mughal control and was, in turn, influenced by European and British traditions. Art in the Deccan sultanates, which included the five Islamic kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur and Golconda on the Deccan Plateau in south-central India, became increasingly influenced by Mughal traditions as the region was conquered by the Mughal emperors from 1596 to 1686. The sultans increasingly commissioned portraits of themselves similar to those of the Mughal emperors. By 1614, the independent Hindu Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan and the Hill (Pahari) region north of Delhi had also been incorporated into Mughal territory. The conquered kingdoms similarly absorbed aspects of Mughal culture, which is reflected in portraits of time such as that of Kunwar (‘prince’) Anop Singh of the principality of Devgarh in the powerful Mewar kingdom riding with a falcon.

But Indian portraiture was also influenced by British and European traditions and increasingly so in the 18th and 19th centuries as India came under British control. A portrait of Jahangir triumphing over poverty believed to date to 1625 reveals, for example, how Indian portraiture increasingly came to incorporate elements of western art: two European cherubs are placing a crown on the emperor’s head, whilst a third is handing him the arrows which he is using to kill poverty. During the British period, Indian artists were employed to produce paintings of local scenes and people and some also received patronage from employees in the East India Company. Portraits from this period include a curious and amusing depiction of William Fullerton (c.1725-1805), a surgeon with the East India Company, who is portrayed in a totally Indian way reclining against a bolster on a terrace and smoking a huqqa.

A colourful, detailed, beautiful, and at times grandiose, insight into the history of the Mughal Empire from 1560 to 1860.


The Indian Portrait 1560-1860
March 11th – June 20th
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London WC2h 0HE
Telephone: 0207 306 0055
www.npg.org.uk

Images:

- Page from the Padshahnama: Jahangir receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer, Mughal, attributed to ‘Abid c.1635, Royal Collection

- Drawing of Akbar, c. 1595, The British Library

- Kunwar Anop Singh of Devgarh riding with a falcon, Devgarh, Mewar, Rajasthan, attributed to Bakhta, c.1776, Museum Rietberg Zurich. Gift of Dr. Carlo Fleischmann Foundation and acquisition

- William Fullerton seated on a terrace, Patna, Bihar, by Dip Chand, Victoria and Albert Museum

For further information on the Mughal Empire, read our article The Mughal Dynasties

To read more about the history of India, visit our India focus page.

East India Company bought by Indian businessman

by Kathryn Hadley

Sanjiv Mehta is a 48-year-old Indian businessman who for the past six years has worked to restore the formerly British-owned East India Company. In 2004, Mehta proceeded to buy all the company’s shares, mostly owned by British businessmen. He has spent the last six years travelling and talking to museum curators and historians in an attempt to gain a proper understanding of the heritage of the company. Mehta efforts are somewhat surprising given that the 400-year-old company acted as a vehicle for the expansion of British imperial rule in his homeland.

The East India Company was granted its first charter by Elizabeth I on December 31st, 1600. It was dissolved on January 1st, 1874, after the Government of India Act transferred the company’s powers to the Crown.

The flagship store of the revamped East India Company is due to open in Mayfair this spring. Mehta thereafter plans to open a second store in London, as well as stores in India, the Middle East, Japan, Russia and the United States. The stores will notably sell coffee, tea, spices, chocolate, leather goods and furniture.

For further information, read Adam Fresco’s article published on the website of The Times.

In 400 years of the East India Company Huw Bowen asks whether the East India Company was one of the ‘most powerful engines’ of state and empire in British history.

In The East India Company and the Emperor Aurangzeb Bruce Lenman charts the ambitious and abortive attempts made by East India Company entrepreneurs to challenge the might of the Moghul Empire.

Gandhi's ashes scattered in Indian Ocean

Gandhi’s ashes scattered in sea
To mark the 62nd anniversary of Gandhi’s death on January 30th, 1948, some of his ashes were recently sprinkled into the Indian Ocean off the South African coast. After his assassination, Gandhi’s body was cremated and his ashes were distributed amongst family, friends and followers. The ashes recently dispersed in the Indian Ocean were returned to Gandhi’s family last year, following the death of a family friend, Vilas Mehta, to whom they were given 62 years ago. The BBC reports.
In Makers of the Twentieth Century: M. K. Gandhi Judith M. Brown argues that Gandhi's lasting significance lies not so much in what he actually did, but what he stood for.

Diary of the 'Angel of Death' up for auction
In The Telegraph Allan Hall reports on the upcoming sale of Josef Mengele’s diary and letters by the auctioneers Alexander Autographs based in Stamford, Connecticut. The diary, which begins in 1960 when Mengele was 69, was recently discovered in police files in Brazil where he lived until his death in 1979. It is expected to fetch at least £40,000.

Globalisation in ancient Rome
Excavations at an ancient Roman cemetery in Vagnari, west of the city of Bari in southern Italy, have revealed that one individual buried on the site was of East Asian descent. Tracy Prowse, assistant professor of Anthropology at McMaster University, believes the East Asian man may have been a slave or worker on the site, which was a centre for iron smelting and tile production. Vagnari was an Imperial estate owned by the emperor in Rome and controlled by a local administrator. The discovery has raised important questions about human mobility, identity and diversity in Roman Italy. Read the report on the website of Science Daily.
For further information, visit our Ancient Rome focus page.

Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur

by Kathryn Hadley

‘Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur’ opened at the end of last week at the British Museum. Showcasing 54 paintings from the royal court of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan in Northwest India, the exhibition provides a vibrant glimpse of court life and its transformation under the three successive rules of Bakhat Singh, Vijai Singh and Man Singh, between 1725 and 1843. The paintings are on loan from the royal collection at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur, which was set up by the current maharaja, Gaj Singh II, in 1972. It is the first time that any of the works have been on display outside Europe.

The vibrancy and detail of the paintings are captivating. Beyond the scenes of lavish palace life and great Indian epics, however, also lays a deeper insight into the political climate and changing cultural influences in this north-western corner of India, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The paintings were created for the personal pleasure of the maharajas and reveal two different styles of court painting. The very title of the exhibition summarizes the two distinct cultural and aesthetic influences that are represented.

‘Garden’ refers to the paintings created for Bakhat Singh (1725-1751) and for his son, Vijai Singh (1752-1793); ‘Cosmos’ to those commissioned by Man Singh (1803-1843), Bakhat Singh’s great-grandson. The first series of paintings depict the temporal pleasures of courtly life, with elaborate palaces and lush gardens, and illustrate great Indian epics such as the Ramayana. The Ramayana is the story of the Hindu god Rama’s 14-year exile during which he travelled to Larka to free his wife Sita, who had been abducted by Ravana, and fought to restore the harmony of the kingdom. Rama’s reign was considered perfect in the eyes of many Hindu kings and was notably an inspiration to Vijai Singh. The paintings are colourful, ornate and hugely detailed and depict scenes such as elephant combats or the celebration of the Hindu spring festival Holi, the festival of colours, during which people throw colours at each other.

‘Cosmos’ reveals a radical change from the mundanity of courtly life to something ‘supramundane’, beyond the tangibility of daily life, which is reflected in a series of cosmographic paintings. Nothing is certain and this second series of paintings created for Man Singh reflects, instead, an interior and spiritual world of philosophical speculation. The colours of the paintings are just as vibrant, but the spectrum is limited to two or three colours, which are used in blocks, in a surprisingly similar way to 20th century western art. The paintings contain fewer details and some depict geometrical figures and shapes.

Man Singh was a devotee of the Nath yogi Jallandharnath. The Nath tradition was a Hindu cult founded in the thirteenth century, which sought to uncover the mystery of existence and understand the concept of the ‘Absolute’ from which the universe allegedly emerged. Under Man Singh, the tradition became a state-sponsored religion. One fifth of the kingdom’s income was donated to the Nath cult and Man Singh commissioned over 1,000 paintings to illustrate metaphysical concepts and to establish the political legitimacy of the group.
The paintings depict Nath greatness and teachings and also attempt to illustrate the ‘Absolute’. Nath gurus are presented as superior to the Hindu gods and are physically painted above the Hindu gods in many of the works. In one particular painting the Nath yogi sits above the Hindu god Shiva and is lecturing Shiva. The superiority of the Naths is also reflected, once again, in a representation of the origins of the Ganges River. Whereas the river is traditionally depicted as flowing through Shiva’s hair, in this painting the Ganges flows from a Nath guru. The concept of the ‘Absolute’ remained a mystery, however, to many Nath gurus and the meaning of many of the paintings in this section is also a mystery.

Whilst the ‘Cosmos’ paintings may not help to solve the mystery of existence, they are a window onto the political changes and challenges of the time. During Man Singh’s rule, the sovereignty of the royal court of Jodhpur became increasingly threatened by British advances and Man Singh sought to use the Naths to deflect attention from British interference. The British notably sought to repress the Nath influence, which was viewed as increasingly corrupt. In 1843, they arrested two prominent Naths for allegedly kidnapping a Brahmin girl. Man Singh left his place in protest and lived as a hermit. He died shortly after and following his death, Nath influence gradually declined as their revenue decreased and many of their leaders were exiled. In 1858, just 13 years after, the death of Man Singh, British rule was formally established in India.

For further information on Indian art, read our article Art and Nationalism in India
For further information on the establishment of British rule in India, read our article The Making of the Hybrid Raj, 1700-1857

Pictures:

- Maharaja Bakhat Singh rejoicing during the Holi festival (1748-50) - Mehrangarh Museum Trust

- Cosmic Oceans. From the Nath Charit. (1823) - Mehrangarh Museum Trust

Gandhi's Letter to Hitler

by Kathryn Hadley

The soaring sales of Mein Kampf in India are somewhat worrying. The claims in the article on the website of The Telegraph that India and Nazi Germany influenced one another and that Gandhi corresponded with Hitler himself are also disturbing and shatter the image of Gandhi in popular imagination as a representative and fervent defender of justice and equality.

Yesterday's article does not, however, provide any details as to what the exchange of letters between Gandhi and the Fuhrer was about, nor how often the two men were in contact with one another.

Over Christmas, I visited Mani Bhavan, Mahatma Gandhi's residence in Mumbai between 1917 and 1934, where one of his original letters to Hitler was displayed. This letter was hugely significant... Written on July 23rd 1939, as Hitler's designs for German expansion in Eastern Europe became increasingly apparent, Gandhi urged Hitler to prevent the advent of the Second World War. On March 15th 1939, the German Army had notably invaded Czechoslovakia and a week later Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany. In April, Hitler renounced the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact and on May 22nd Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel, which reasserted cooperation between the two countries and encouraged a joint military and economic policy.

'It is quite clear to me that you are today the one person in the world who
can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must you
pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to
be?'

For more information on the period leading up to the Second World War see the 'Road to War' section of our focus page on the Second World War.

Record Sales of Mein Kampf in India

by Kathryn Hadley

An article published today, on the anniversary of Hitler’s birthday on April 20th 1889, on the website of The Daily Telegraph, reported rising sales of Hitler’s Mein Kampf in India. Over the past six months, over 10,000 copies were sold in New Delhi alone. Business students in particular are increasingly reading Hitler’s autobiography for advice on business management and booksellers allegedly told the newspaper that the book is considered in India as a management guide similar to Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese, rather than merely as an apologia for Hitler’s anti-semitism.

The Indian Jaico Publishing House told The Telegraph that it reprints a new edition of the book at least twice a year to meet growing demand. In the words of R H Sharma, Jaico’s chief editor:

‘We were the first company to publish the book in India and there are now six
other Indian publishers of the book, although we were first to take a chance on
it […] The initial print run of 2,000 copies in 2003 sold out immediately and we
knew we had a best-seller on our hands. Since then the numbers have increased
every year to around 15,000 copies until last year when we sold 10,000 copies
over a six-month period in our Delhi shops’.

According to academics in India, India and Hitler’s Nazis exerted mutual influence over one another. Mahatma Gandhi corresponded with the Fuhrer, pro-independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army allied with Hitler’s Germany and Japan during the Second World War and the Nazis drew on Hindu symbolism for their Swastika motif.

India is moreover not the only country where Mein Kampf is popular. In Turkey it sold 100,000 copies in just two months in 2005 and in Russia it has been reprinted three times since the de facto ban on the book was overturned in 1992.

Sale of Gandhi’s Glasses: The End?

by Kathryn Hadley

‘Antiquorum is pleased that the objects attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, one of the
greatest spiritual and political leaders of the 20th-century will be returning
to India. We know that this was the hope of the Indian people, as well as many
others around the world. As the world’s premier horological auction house for
the past 35 years, Antiquorum safeguards the interests of all involved –
consignors and buyers, alike. In the case of today’s high-profile auction of
Gandhi’s pocket watch and personal artifacts, which realized $2,096,000, our
commitment to this process and our reputation as auctioneers has insured a fair,
and we believe, positive outcome.’ (Robert Maron, Chairman of Antiquorum
Auctioneers)

Despite the controversy sparked by the sale of Gandhi’s personal belongings over the past few weeks and the order issued by the Delhi High Court against the auction on Tuesday, the sale went ahead yesterday in New York. The items (Gandhi’s pocket watch, glasses, sandals, bowl and plate) were purchased by the Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, one of India’s richest men and the Chairman of United Breweries, for a total sum of $2,096,000 (approximately £1.27m). Mr Mallya’s agent, Tony Bedi, claimed that the items would be returned to India.

Regretting the contention caused by the sale, the owner of Gandhi’s belongings, James Otis, allegedly decided, shortly before the auction, to withdraw the items from sale claiming that he:

‘never intended […] to cause such controversy. I pray the outcome is positive
and one that Gandhi would approve of.’

Nevertheless, amidst the confusion, it has now appeared that at the time of Otis’ demand the sale had already begun. The sale will not be finalised for another two weeks until these legal issues have been resolved.

The Indian government also allegedly intervened to help Mallya buy the items. Earlier in the week, the government refused Otis’ offer to return the items to India if the government agreed to increase its GDP expenditure allocated to India’s poor. It was also allegedly unable to take part directly in the bid due to the High Court’s order against the auction. Nevertheless, the Indian government has claimed to have helped Mallya buy the items. Culture Minister Ambika Soni explained how: ‘the government had procured the five personal articles through the services of Mr Mallya.’

Tony Bedi, speaking on behalf of Mallya, was quoted on the website of the BBC:

‘I am sure all Indians will be pleased that these Gandhi items will be coming
home […] Basically [Vijay Mallya] was bidding for the country.’

When asked whether the items were worth their sale price, Bedi replied:

‘Absolutely. I think it's well worth it, and a lot more. If you look at the
heritage of Mahatma Gandhi and what Mahatma Gandhi was teaching it is well worth it.’

Gandhi’s great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, was also quoted on Indian television:

‘I am delighted, absolutely delighted that Vijay Mallya bought these things and
they will now come back to India. I won't say that I was very surprised. I think
at the back of my mind I was hoping that something like this will happen because
I always believed that miracles do happen and I think this is a miracle that has
happened.’

Another Gandhi Update!

by Kathryn Hadley

James Otis, one of the owners of some of Gandhi’s possessions and a documentary maker and peace activist based in Los Angeles, is due to negotiate with the consul general of India in New York today about the auction of the items organised by Antiquorum Auctioneers. Yesterday, the Delhi High Court also issued an order against the sale, following on a petition put forward by Navjivan, a public trust founded by Gandhi in 1929, which has claimed the ownership of the possessions. According to an article published yesterday by AFP, Otis rejected an initial offer made through India’s New York consulate and argued that the sale would go ahead unless he received a more serious offer. Otis allegedly told AFP by telephone form Los Angeles that:

‘They made an offer I can't disclose, because I don't want to embarrass them:
it's that low’.

He stated that his intention was not, however, to cause a dispute and that he merely wanted the Indian government to undertake positive action to improve the welfare of the Indian population in return for the objects, to do ‘something positive for the Indian people'.

‘The point was never to cause anger to India or Indians or anyone over this
auction. We all want the same thing: to support, to promote Gandhi's works […]
Nothing would make me happier if the Indian government made a generous offer to
help its poor. I would donate these items immediately’.

Earlier yesterday, Ambika Soni, India's culture minister, also reportedly told the Press Trust of India that the foreign ministry would ask the US State Department to prevent the sale.

‘The Ministry of External Affairs is going to take up with the US State
Department the issue with the aim of stalling the auction […] Whatever is
required to bring back those items will be done’.

Gandhi’s Glasses: Chapter 3

by Kathryn Hadley

With the auction of Gandhi’s spectacles, pocket watch, sandals, bowl and plate, due to take place in New York tomorrow, here is a last update on the current state of affairs. Last week, Tushar Gandhi, a great-grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, launched a popular appeal to Indians to raise the necessary funds to buy the items in order to place them in a national museum. Following initial disappointment with the response of the government, his appeal now appears to have borne fruit. According to reports by the Press Trust of India, India’s leading news agency, at the end of last week, a culture ministry official had intervened and asked the owners of the items to give them to the government. The owners include the daughter of one of Gandhi’s nieces, who authorised a German collector to sell the items, and James Otis, who is based in Los Angeles.

On Friday, the culture minister Ambika Soni allegedly told to the Press Trust of India:

‘Whatever can be done is being done to ensure that articles are not auctioned...
involving all concerned stakeholders’.

Anand Sharma, the minister of state for external affairs, is also reported to have claimed:

‘We will acquire all those assets of Mahatma Gandhi.’

On Sunday, The Financial Times reported that James Otis feared that the Indian government would stop the auction, through a court order or an appeal to the US state department, and had offered to sell the possessions to India. He is believed to have offered to negotiate with the Indian government for the collection to return to India for public display and stated his intention to donate the proceeds of the sale to charitable funds in support of non-violent action in the developing world and to help improve the lives of India’s people.

‘Indians deserve healthcare. About 1 per cent of GDP is spent on healthcare. If
it was increased considerably, I would be honoured to make a deal with the
auction house to give them to [India]’.

The situation remains, however, unclear. Despite pledges by Indian officials and the culture minister’s words to the Press Trust of India on Friday, Otis told The Financial Times that no offer had yet been made to him or to the auction house.

The current campaign to prevent the auction has also sparked further demands for the return of other objects to India, which allegedly similarly form part of India’s heritage. Yesterday, an article on the website of The Times thus claimed that Tushar Gandhi had also called for Britain to return the Koh-i-noor diamond to India, once the largest known diamond in the world, which originated from the state of Andhra Pradesh on the Southeast coast of India and was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850.

‘The Koh-i-noor diamond is something that rightfully belongs to India […] If the
jewels of Windsor were held by an Arab sheikh, then Britain wouldn't really like
that. I'd love to see it back in India. Returning it would be atonement for the
colonial past.’

Just as the current situation appears unclear, the outcome of Tushar Gandhi’s campaign and tomorrow’s sale also remain an enigma. I will be following the events closely and write the fourth chapter of the tale of Gandhi’s glasses as soon as the end is revealed!

For more information on Gandhi's legacy and ideals, read our article Makers of the Twentieth Century: M. K. Gandhi

Sequel to Sale of Gandhi’s Spectacles

by Kathryn Hadley
The auction of Gandhi’s glasses, pocket watch and sandals, as well as a bowl and plate, by Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York on March 4th and 5th was announced a couple of weeks ago. The sale of the personal belongings of a man renowned for his ascetic lifestyle and life philosophy sparked, however, considerable controversy. The announcement fuelled opposition in India, where some of Gandhi’s followers have requested that the buyer put the objects in the public domain and a group of MPs have demanded their return to India. One minister suggested that the government should enter the auction and buy the items arguing that they formed part of India’s heritage.

Tushar Gandhi, a great-grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, has, however, recently launched a ‘people’s initiative’, a popular appeal to Indians to raise the necessary funds to buy the objects in order to thereafter preserve them in a museum. He has argued, on similar grounds to some Indian ministers and followers of Gandhi, that the objects constitute part of Indian heritage and should not be sold to wealthy collectors.

‘These objects are very close identities of someone we call the 'Father of the
Nation' […] We have to bring them back’.

The director of the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi, Varsha Das, further agued:

‘[Gandhi] was never in favor of this kind of commercialism...and I think if we
become so possessive about Mahatma Gandhi he would only be pained’.

It is expected that Gandhi’s glasses alone will fetch £30,000 (approximately $43,000) and the winning bid may well be higher. Tushar Gandhi has so far raised $3,010, just over £2,000, a mere fifteenth of the expected sale price, and has expressed his disappointment with the response from the government and corporate sector. Although he believes that the government can finance the purchase, he wishes the money to come primarily from popular initiative, in keeping with the ‘Gandhian spirit’.

‘The government can easily do it but if we were to do this through a people's
initiative it would be a much more Gandhian thing to do’.

Also in keeping with his great-grandfather’s attitude, Tushar Gandhi, believes that he may still be able to raise the necessary funds:

‘I'm an incurable optimist. Miracles happen’.

Gandhi’s Glasses For Sale

by Kathryn Hadley

Mahatma Gandhi’s iconic round spectacles are to be sold at auction in New York by Antiquorum Auctioneers on March 4th and 5th. Gandhi’s sandals and pocket watch as well as a bowl and plate are also up for sale. It is expected that his glasses will fetch £30,000, although the winning bid may well be higher. All the possessions are owned by an unnamed collector and have letters of authenticity.

Gandhi gave his spectacles to the Indian army Colonel H A Shiri Diwan Nawabin in the 1930s following his request for Gandhi’s advice, allegedly saying that they ‘gave [him] the vision to free India’. According to the auctioneers, the glasses were passed down through the colonel’s family and have a letter of provenance from his grandson. Gandhi is believed to have given his sandals to a British army officer in 1931 before talks in London about Indian self-rule to thank the officer for taking some photos of him. His Zenith pocket watch made in about 1910, his bowl and plate were all gifts to Gandhi’s grand-niece Abha Gandhi, who was his assistant for six years and in whose arms he died after he was shot.

Particular attention has been drawn to the auction because Gandhi had so few possessions. In an interview for The Telegraph Michelle Halpern from Antiquorum Auctioneers explained:

‘He didn't have much, so anything of his that comes up for sale is worth that
much more […] He's a hero not just in India but across the world for his
peaceful methods and the changes he made [...] The items were put together by a
collector who is now selling them and there has already been a great deal of
interest. I am sure the items will sell for more than the estimate.’

In October, the auction house, which specialises in timepieces, notably sold Albert Einstein’s Longines wristwatch for almost £352,000, twenty times the expected price.

In India, however, the sale has sparked considerable controversy. Some of Gandhi’s followers have requested that the buyer put the objects in the public domain and a group of MP’s have called for their return to India. One minister claimed Gandhi’s possessions were part of India’s heritage and suggested that the government should enter the auction and buy the items.

Ramachandra Rahi, secretary of the Gandhi Memorial Foundation in Delhi, told the Indo-Asian News Service:

‘All of Gandhi's things should be ideally placed in a museum or place where the
public has access to it. It should be available to future generations to see and
draw inspiration from.’

Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer told the Times of India:

‘It would be a pity if these items were to pass into private hands abroad and
leave India bereft of an important part of his legacy.’

The public auction of Gandhi’s few possessions appears ironically out of line with his modest lifestyle and almost disrespectful of his beliefs and ascetic philosophy. It is unlikely that Gandhi would have approved of the sale. There is still hope, however, that the objects may be withdrawn from sale. In 2007, Indian authorities notably successfully persuaded auctioneers to cancel the sale of a manuscript of an article written by Gandhi.

For more information on Gandhi’s legacy, read our article Makers of the Twentieth Century: M. K. Gandhi
For more information on Gandhi and Nehru’s visions of India at the time of independence, read our article Gandhi and Nehru - Frustrated Visionaries?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi lives on

by Kathryn Hadley

‘History is replete with instances of men who by dying with
courage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violent
opponents.’ (Gandhi)

61 years ago today, Gandhi was shot whilst taking his evening public walk around the grounds of Birla House in New Delhi. The assassin was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu radical who had links with the Hindu extremist group Hindu Mahasabha, which notably blamed Gandhi for weakening India and sacrificing Hindu interests by insisting upon payment to Pakistan. He immediately surrendered himself to the police and was put on trial. He was sentenced to death for murder and hanged at Ambala Jail, on November 15th 1949.

On the night of Gandhi’s assassination, President Pandit Nehru broadcast a radio address to the nation:

‘Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country.’

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi or ‘Great Soul’, an honorific allegedly first given to him by the poet, playwright, novelist and composer Rabindranath Tagore. Gandhi is also referred to in India as Bapu ‘Father’ and is honoured as the Father of the Nation.

Although 61 years ago to this day India may have been plunged into darkness, the light of Gandhi still shines brightly. In India, January 30th is observed as Martyr’s Day in remembrance of those who gave their lives in service of the Indian nation. His birthday, on October 2nd, is also commemorated as a national holiday in India. In June 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted October 2nd as an International Day of Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi was named 1930 Man of the Year by Time magazine and, in 1996, the government of India introduced the Mahatma Gandhi series of currency notes. Statues have been erected in his memory all over the world. There is notably a statue in Tavistock Square, near University College London, where he studied law.

There exists a wide variety of resources devoted to Gandhi in India and worldwide. Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s residence in Mumbai from 1917 to 1934, has an extensive library with a large collection of books both read and written by Gandhi. It also has a very comprehensive website.
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya19
Laburnum Road
Gamdevi, Mumbai

www.gandhi-manibhavan.org

Another recommended website is that of the Gandhi Book Centre, which includes a bibliography, quotations, photographs, a selection of articles written about Gandhi, as well as links to other websites and Gandhi centres and institutions.
www.mkgandhi.org

Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi (1982) is also well-worth watching.

For more information on Gandhi’s assassination, read Richard Cavendish’s article in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of his death
Mahatma Gandhi is Shot
See also David Bates’ article written for the 50th anniversary of his death
Mahatma Gandhi Assassinated
For more information on Gandhi and his legacy, read our article
Makers of the Twentieth Century: M. K. Gandhi

Visions of India past and present

by Kathryn Hadley

Colourful, chaotic and charming; India is also an enchanting and overawing country of extremes, with an immensely rich history and cultural diversity. Vasco de Gama landed on the Malabar coast in the south-western state of Kerala in 1498. The prospects of developing trade links with India sparked considerable European interest in India. Throughout the sixteenth century, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Danish and English traders increasingly set up coastal trading centres exporting commodities such as textiles, sugar, indigo, saltpetre, tea and opium.

The British East India Company was founded on December 31st 1600 following Queen Elizabeth I’s signature of a Royal Charter, which granted a group of London merchants a monopoly of all trade East of the Cape of Good Hope and West of the Straits of Magellan for an initial period of fifteen years. The Company first landed in Surat (Gujarat) on the East coast approximately two hundred kilometres North of Bombay in 1608 and gradually established trading posts in Madras (1639), Bombay (1660) and Calcutta (1690). Perceptions of India in Europe at the time were largely based on accounts and paintings by European travellers who published or exhibited their works upon their return.

How did the first Europeans arriving in India view and depict the new world which they discovered? An exhibition currently on show in Mumbai attempts to answer this question. The show at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya museum provides an important insight into European views of India from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. It is organised in collaboration with London’s Victoria and Albert Museum from which many of the paintings by British artists are on loan. The display includes works by both professional and amateur artists, by artists who travelled to India to paint first hand accounts, as well as by artists in Europe who based their depictions on Mogul works of art, written accounts by European travellers or who copied other artists’ works.

Artists painted scenes of some of the architectural and natural wonders of India which were entirely unknown to their European publics. However, in their depictions of such novel and previously unknown subjects they remained influenced by the changing artistic influences popular in Europe at the time. The chronological display of paintings, prints and sketches highlights the evolution of European artistic trends, from Romanticism from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards, to the Realism of the end of the nineteenth century.

European painters first began to travel to India to paint first hand accounts of the landscapes and monuments which they visited in the eighteenth century. William Hodges (1744-1797) was the first English professional landscape painter to travel to India. He had previously accompanied Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific from 1772 to 1775. Hodges was granted permission to travel to India by the East India Company and arrived in Madras in 1780. He travelled for three years around the North of India and upon his return to London in 1783, he published a collection of 44 prints under the title Select Views in India.

Six years later, two other British artists, Thomas Daniell (1749-1840) and his nephew William Daniell (1769-1837), followed in Hodges’ footsteps. They arrived in Calcutta in 1786 where they set up a printing studio and then embarked on a tour of northern India. Returning to Calcutta in 1791, they then toured southern India for a further eight months. Their unprecedented collection of 144 prints was published in England between 1795 and 1808 under the title Oriental Scenery and saw considerable commercial success.

From the 1860s onwards, with the arrival of photography, European representations of India gradually changed. Subjects shifted from landscapes and architectural wonders to depict everyday and ‘real’ life, including the Indians themselves and their customs. This evolution of European artistic influences is particularly prominent in the works of John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) and John Griffiths (1837-1918). Both artists arrived in Bombay in 1864 where they were appointed to teach at the Bombay Jeejeebhoy School of Art. Griffiths became Principal of the school in 1865; Kipling was commissioned by the British government in 1870 to tour the North-West Provinces and to sketch the Indian craftsmen of the area. In 1875, he became Principal of the Mayo School of Arts in Lahore in British India (now the National College of Arts in Pakistan).

For more on British views of India, read our article
British Views of India

Here are the full details of the exhibition in Mumbai:

Indian Life and Landscape: paintings and drawings from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century
Until February 8th
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India)
159/161 Mahatma Gandhi Road
Fort, Mumbai 400 023

A fascinating insight into the initial perceptions of the unknown and alien country and culture which European travellers to India discovered, into the evolution of such perceptions and into how the visions of European artists in turn shaped views of India in Europe.

The lost Scots of Kolkata

by Kathryn Hadley

On November 8th, a team of archaeologists, architects and members of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the Scottish Highlands Council travelled to Kolkata to survey its Scottish cemetery and to begin a restoration project.

The cemetery is dependant on St Andrew’s Church, which was the first Church of Scotland to be built in Kolkata. The cemetery has become derelict, overgrown and snake-infested and many of the tomb stones are damaged.

The headquarters of the East India Company were based in Calcutta in the eighteenth century and the city was the capital of India until 1911. Many Scots played a prominent part in the work of the company and in the administration of British India. It is estimated that over 80% of the headstones in the cemetery mark the graves of Scots who worked in Kolkata as tea planters, sea captains, jute traders, missionaries and civil servants, for example. Studies of the Register of Interments reveal a majority of recognisably Scottish names such as Anderson, Campbell and Ross. Many other graves belong to Christian Bengalis. James Wilson, who introduced paper money in India and founded The Economist magazine is also believed to be buried in the cemetery.

The principle aims of the project are to restore the cemetery buildings and tombstones, establish a computerised record of those buried there, to maintain the site as a green area for the benefit of the local residents of Kolkata and to found a local centre for building skills necessary for the future maintenance of the site.

For more information on the British in Calcutta, read our The Ghosts of Calcutta