A remarkable set of 35 handwritten letters by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, along with 14 envelopes, was recently auctioned for Rs 5.9 crore, highlighting the continued reverence for his legacy.
Titled “Collectors’ Choice”, the auction was conducted by AstaGuru on June 26 and 27 last week, a Business Standard report said on Monday. The collection includes letters written by Tagore to his close associate—sociologist, musicologist, and confidant—Dhurjati Prasad Mukerji between 1927 and 1936, the report added. Notably, twelve of these letters bear letterheads from significant locations such as Visva-Bharati, his residence at Uttarayan, Glen Eden in Darjeeling, and even from aboard his houseboat, Padma.
AstaGuru noted that this sale was particularly noteworthy because the lot comprised manuscripts rather than visual artworks, yet it became the second-highest price ever realized for a Tagore creation at auction.
“This is more than just a literary collection—it’s a self-portrait of the Nobel Laureate in his own words,” said Manoj Mansukhani, Chief Marketing Officer of AstaGuru.
He added that the correspondence reveals an array of insights, from philosophical reflections and artistic discourse to deeply personal sentiments. According to Mansukhani, while occasional letters by Tagore do emerge in the market, an assemblage as expansive and intellectually profound as this is extremely rare. “Much of Tagore’s significant correspondence is preserved in institutional archives, making such offerings in the public domain highly uncommon,” he emphasised.
The collection originated from a private archive, with detailed provenance. Several letters from the set have been previously published in prominent journals and books.
Apart from the letters, the auction also featured the only known sculpture created by Tagore—“The Heart”—believed to be a tribute to Kadambari Devi, the wife of Tagore’s brother Jyotirindranath. Carved from quartzite and dating back to 1883 during a retreat in Karnataka’s Karwar, the piece was sold for approximately Rs1.04 crore. Tagore was just 22 years old at the time.
Both the letters and the sculpture were part of a broader offering of 77 lots. While the Tagore letters fetched the highest bid, the second most expensive piece was a painting by MF Husain from his Mother Teresa series, which sold for around Rs3.80 crore.
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