Gandhi's notes fetch $A2.4 million at auction

A collection of daily notes by Mahatma Gandhi has fetched more than $A2 million at an auction in the Indian city of Mumbai.

Never before has an Indian historical document been sold at auction for a sum of $US1.7 million ($A2.4 million) anywhere in the world, according to auction house Saffronart.

Gandhi, who lived from 1869 to 1947, led India to independence through non-violent resistance against British colonial rule.

The auction house said the notes come from the collection of the family of Anand T Hingorani, who was a close associate of Gandhi.

They comprised "writing as moral reflection and personal guidance" which Gandhi had written down for Hingorani over a period of almost two years.

"These reflections offer a rare insight into how Gandhi lived the principles he advocated publicly, making this an especially valuable record of his thought and practice," said Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder of Saffronart.

He also took part in the Salt March, through which Gandhi and thousands of supporters sought peacefully to break the British salt monopoly.

Gandhi announced the end of the resistance when the British government acceded to the demands for Indian independence towards the end of World War II.

At Wednesday's auction, Gandhi's manuscripts, two letters from him on the "Spiritual Discipline of Spinning" as well as photographs and personal items from the Hingorani collection, were also sold.