MUMBAI, India — An incongruous billboard has appeared high above Mumbai's slums: A thin Mohandas Gandhi, the ascetic father of India's independence, sits wrapped in simple white cloth above the image of a fat Montblanc pen.

German luxury penmaker Montblanc launched a limited-edition commemorative fountain pen in honor of Gandhi this week, just in time for the 140th anniversary of the birth of the Mahatma — or "Great Soul" — on Friday.

The price? $24,763.