Husain's painting Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12 was bought by an anonymous buyer at the auction of Asian Modern and Contemporary art by the Christie's on Thursday.

This was a world auction record for any contemporary Indian painting, said the Christie's which had valued the work at USD 600,000.

Husain's another work Mother Teresa, painted in 1997, was also among the top ten best sellers and went for USD 205,000 at the auction of Asian Modern and Contemporary art.

It fetched the ninth highest bid.

Husain's paintings were auctioned amid a noisy demonstration against him outside the venue. Supporters of the Indian American Intellectual Forum held the protest demanding withdrawal of the works of the noted artist from the auction, accusing Husain of depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in a "derogatory and vulgar" form.

"Shame on Husain," and "Husain - Fugitive from Law," read some of the placards carried by the protesters during the two-hour demonstration in which Hindu Janjagruti Samiti also joined.

Earlier, the auction house had rejected the demand of the Forum to withdraw Husain's paintings from the auction.

"Art and culture embraces multiple interpretations and re-interpretations of religious and ethnic symbols that are often highly individual expressions," Christie's spokesperson Sara Fox had said.

At Thursday's auction, Ram Kumar's Vagabond (1956) fetched USD 1.16 million, the second highest bid. This was the world auction record for the artist.

At the third place was Tyeb Mehta's Untitled (1981) which attracted a bid of USD 657,000. Francis Newton Souza's Untitled (1961) attracted the fourth highest bid at USD 385,000.

Syed Haider Raza's Bindu Pancha Tatva, 1999, was sold for USD 361,000, followed by TV Santhosh's, Traces of an Ancient Error, 2007 (USD 337,000), Rameshwar Broota's Traces of Man I, 1995 (USD 265,000), Atul Dodiya's Untitled, 2004 (USD 217,000) and Akbar Padamsee's Metascape, 2005 (USD 193,000).