A set of 35 handwritten letters written by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore to sociologist and musicologist Dhurjati Prasad Mukerji are set to go beneath the hammer at AstaGuru’s ‘Collectors’ Selection’ public sale that might be held on-line on June 26-27.
Belonging to a non-public Kolkata-based assortment, the set of letters written between 1927 to 1936, are estimated to fetch Rs 5 to 7 crore. The lot additionally contains 14 envelopes.
Labeled as ‘Nationwide Artwork Treasure’, which can’t be taken out of India, the letters replicate the connection shared between Tagore and Mukerji, who was his shut confidante. “These letters transcend mere communication; they provide a glimpse into Tagore’s interior world throughout a interval of profound inventive evolution. Inside them, we witness the poet, the painter, the thinker — expressing himself throughout letterheads that hint his journey from Santiniketan to Darjeeling to his houseboat, Padma. The provenance, too, is outstanding. This set is a uncommon convergence of literary, cultural, and philosophical significance. These should not simply letters — they’re portals right into a altering India, a poet’s unfolding imaginative and prescient, and the very ethos that formed Santiniketan,” notes Manoj Mansukhani, CMO, AstaGuru Public sale Home.
Written in Bengali on pages with completely different letterheads — together with Visva-Bharati, his Uttarayan residence and Glen Eden in Darjeeling — the discussions between the 2 span quite a few topics, together with cultural actions, poetry and Visva-Bharati College, based by Tagore in 1921 in Santiniketan.
One letter, as an example, has the polymath discussing his poems in ‘Punascha’ and ‘Shesh Saptak’ and the way critics obtained them. “The rhythm of silence,” he famous, “is a part of the poem.” One other letter has him appreciating artist Nandalal Bose, who anchors what Tagore describes as “Nandanology”.
A coronary heart formed letter
Whereas a number of of those letters have beforehand been printed in literary magazines akin to Parichay, and books like Sangeet Chinta and Chhanda, AstaGuru notes that no less than 4 of those are unpublished.
The public sale additionally features a 1883 quartzite stone sculptural work by Tagore. Titled ‘The Coronary heart’, it’s estimated to fetch Rs 55 to 70 lakh. A word by AstraGuru states that the sculpture was made by Tagore when he was in his 20s, throughout a go to to Karwar, Karnataka. It additionally mentions that the work is believed to have been devoted to Kadambari Devi, his sister-in-law. Engraved by Tagore on it are the phrases: “Having reduce my coronary heart of stone, I’ve engraved (the phrases) with my very own hand. Will it (the writing) be ever effaced by the circulation of tears?”
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The opposite highlights of the public sale embody a MF Husain canvas from the ‘Mom Teresa’ sequence (estimated at Rs 2-3 crore), A Ramachandran’s Visions of Ramdev – Ahalya in Purple (estimated Rs 1.2-1.6 crore), and a Nandalal Bose panorama in watercolour and ink (estimated Rs 25-35 lakh).