GANDHI’S TELEGRAM ANNOUNCING AMTUL SALAAM’S ARRIVAL IN KARACHI
Telegram to Anand T. Hingorani, announcing the arrival of Amtul Salaam and instructing him to receive her. Wardha, 7 November 1940
Original Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department telegram form; in English; typed in red ink; addressed to:
ANAND HINGORANI
UPPER SIND COLONY
KARACHI SADAR
The sender’s name is typed at the conclusion as "BAPU", with Anand T. Hingorani’s annotated archival envelope identifying the telegram, date and text.
AMTUSSALAAM ARRIVING THERE NINTH AFTERNOON.
RECEIVE.
BAPU
Published in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 79, Telegram No. 367, p. 358. The published text records the telegram as deriving from a microfilm preserved through the National Archives of India and Anand T. Hingorani.
Retained within its original archival storage envelopes, annotated by Anand T. Hingorani with contemporaneous cataloguing information, including the recipient, language, format, page count, signature, writing medium, date, serial number, and related archival references.
THE SIGNAL FOR PEACE
Sent from Wardha on 7 November 1940, one day after Gandhi’s autograph letter concerning Amtul Salaam’s mission, this telegram reduces an urgent programme of communal intervention to its essential operational terms: her arrival, its timing and Anand Hingorani’s responsibility to receive her.
Typed in red upon an official Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department form, the telegram announces that “AMTUSSALAAM” will arrive in Karachi on the afternoon of 9 November. Gandhi’s instruction consists of a single imperative—"RECEIVE". The brevity of the communication gives the document unusual immediacy. There is no rhetorical elaboration and no discussion of political principle; the moral reasoning had already been set out in the preceding letter. What remained was action.
As an object, the telegram preserves the practical machinery through which Gandhi’s network operated across British India. A message sent from Wardha could activate a trusted associate in Karachi, arrange the reception of an emissary and transform an appeal for communal peace into a physical mission on the ground. The form consequently documents not merely correspondence but coordination: Gandhi’s wider political and ethical programme depended upon individuals capable of translating concise instructions into immediate local action.
The telegram’s survival within Anand Hingorani’s carefully annotated archive further strengthens its historical character. Hingorani’s archival envelope identifies the communication and preserves its text, demonstrating the care with which he retained Gandhi’s instructions. Separated from the later follow-up telegram of 9 November, the present document stands as a complete and self-contained record of the precise moment at which Amtul Salaam’s journey became an active mission.
Together with the related autograph letter of 6 November, now offered separately as Lot 68, the telegram forms part of an exceptional documentary sequence concerning Gandhi’s response to communal violence in Sindh. Independently, however, it possesses a distinct quality: where the letter expresses the moral purpose of the mission, the telegram captures the instant of mobilisation.
The present telegram should be read in conjunction with the preceding Lot 68, in which Gandhi first outlines Amtul Salam's mission to Sindh and entrusts Anand Hingorani with assisting her.
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as a reference for the condition of each lot.
Telegram to Anand T. Hingorani, announcing the arrival of Amtul Salaam and instructing him to receive her. Wardha, 7 November 1940
Original Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department telegram form; in English; typed in red ink; addressed to:
ANAND HINGORANI
UPPER SIND COLONY
KARACHI SADAR
The sender’s name is typed at the conclusion as "BAPU", with Anand T. Hingorani’s annotated archival envelope identifying the telegram, date and text.
AMTUSSALAAM ARRIVING THERE NINTH AFTERNOON.
RECEIVE.
BAPU
Published in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 79, Telegram No. 367, p. 358. The published text records the telegram as deriving from a microfilm preserved through the National Archives of India and Anand T. Hingorani.
Retained within its original archival storage envelopes, annotated by Anand T. Hingorani with contemporaneous cataloguing information, including the recipient, language, format, page count, signature, writing medium, date, serial number, and related archival references.
THE SIGNAL FOR PEACE
Sent from Wardha on 7 November 1940, one day after Gandhi’s autograph letter concerning Amtul Salaam’s mission, this telegram reduces an urgent programme of communal intervention to its essential operational terms: her arrival, its timing and Anand Hingorani’s responsibility to receive her.
Typed in red upon an official Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department form, the telegram announces that “AMTUSSALAAM” will arrive in Karachi on the afternoon of 9 November. Gandhi’s instruction consists of a single imperative—"RECEIVE". The brevity of the communication gives the document unusual immediacy. There is no rhetorical elaboration and no discussion of political principle; the moral reasoning had already been set out in the preceding letter. What remained was action.
As an object, the telegram preserves the practical machinery through which Gandhi’s network operated across British India. A message sent from Wardha could activate a trusted associate in Karachi, arrange the reception of an emissary and transform an appeal for communal peace into a physical mission on the ground. The form consequently documents not merely correspondence but coordination: Gandhi’s wider political and ethical programme depended upon individuals capable of translating concise instructions into immediate local action.
The telegram’s survival within Anand Hingorani’s carefully annotated archive further strengthens its historical character. Hingorani’s archival envelope identifies the communication and preserves its text, demonstrating the care with which he retained Gandhi’s instructions. Separated from the later follow-up telegram of 9 November, the present document stands as a complete and self-contained record of the precise moment at which Amtul Salaam’s journey became an active mission.
Together with the related autograph letter of 6 November, now offered separately as Lot 68, the telegram forms part of an exceptional documentary sequence concerning Gandhi’s response to communal violence in Sindh. Independently, however, it possesses a distinct quality: where the letter expresses the moral purpose of the mission, the telegram captures the instant of mobilisation.
The present telegram should be read in conjunction with the preceding Lot 68, in which Gandhi first outlines Amtul Salam's mission to Sindh and entrusts Anand Hingorani with assisting her.
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as a reference for the condition of each lot.