A collection of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi’s handwritten notes has sold for a record $1.7 million in Mumbai.

This is the highest price ever paid at auction for any Indian historical document.

According to Mumbai-based auction house Saffron Art, the collection was preserved by the family of Gandhi’s close associate Anand T Hingorani.

The collection includes 688 notes written by Gandhi to Hingorani’s wife Vidya after her death, which were later compiled into a book titled A Thought for the Day.

These notes were written between 1944 and 1946 and contain Gandhi’s views on various topics including truth, God and non-violence.

A Thought for the Day sold for $1.7 million, a world record for an Indian historical document at auction, Saffron Art said in a statement.

Entitled Gandhi from the Collection of Anand T Hingorani, the collection also contained Gandhi’s personal notes on the discipline of a replicable spinning wheel.

According to Dinesh Wazirani, co-founder of Neelam Ghar, the special feature of this collection is that it gives an opportunity to see one of the most important figures in Indian history in the context of their close and personal relationship.