Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 15

XIV
KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
of Bengal, and Lady Herbert participated, he donated Rs. 41,000/- for the Red Cross Fund.
Really speaking, he did not in the least hanker after name and fame even though he was a multi-millionaire and a big Zamindar, and even though he was a man of superior intellect and energy. He was by nature taciturn and a lover of solitude. Art and literature were the pursuits of his choice. He was very fond of seeing and collecting rare and invaluable specimens of ancient sculpture, painting, coins, copperplates, inscriptions, manuscripts, etc. He spent all his spare time in seeing and examining the rarities which he had collected in his room, as well as in reading. He was seldom seen outside and he rarely mixed with society and friendly circles. Wealthy persons like himself usually have a number of fads and hobbies such as seeing the games and races, visiting clubs, undertaking pleasure trips etc., and they spend enormously over them, but Singhiji had none of these habits. Instead of wasting money on such things, he spent large sums on collecting ancient things and valuable curios and on the preservation and publication of important literature. Donations to institutions and charities to individuals were, for the most part, given by him anonymously. I know it from my own experience that these gifts, donations and charities reach a very high figure at the end of every year. But he was so modest that on his being requested so often by me he did not show the least inclination to part with the names and whereabouts of the individuals and institutions that were the recipients of such financial aid from him. By chance I came to know of a very recent example, just now, indicative of this characteristic of his nature. In the year 1941 he shifted, like other innumerable inhabitants of Calcutta, his headquarters to Azimganj (Dist. Murshidabad) when the fear of the Japanese invasion was looming large, and decided to stay there with his whole family during war time. Taking into consideration the then grievous condition of the country as well as the excessive scarcity of grains in Bengal, he had stocked grains in large quantities with a view to distributing them gratis according to his capacity. Thereafter the problem of food became rather more serious and the prices had risen inconceivably high. Babu Bahadur Singhiji Singhi could have earned four to five lacs of rupees if he had, like many other miserly merchants, sold off the hoarded lot of grains, taking undue advantage of the prevailing conditions. But he resisted the temptations, and had been daily distributing freely the grains among thousands of poor people who showered blessings on him; and he enjoyed a deep self-satisfaction. This is the most recent example that puts us in adequate knowledge of his silent munificence.
Really he was a very silent and solid worker and he had no desire to take active part in any controversies, social or political, though he had sufficient fitness and energy to do so. Still, however, he was skilful enough to do what was proper at the particular time. The following incident will best illustrate this statement. It was in the fitness of things that a wealthy multimillionaire like him should give an appropriate contribution to the war funds. With this end in view he arranged in the second week of December, 1941, an attractive show, styled Singhi Park Mela in the garden of his residential place at Calcutta in which all the local people and officers of name and fame, including the Governor of Bengal, Sir John Arthur Herbert and lady Herbert as well as the Commander-in-chief (later the Governor-General) Viscount Wavell, had also taken part with enthusiasm. This show fetched thousands of rupees which were considered substantial financial help to the war funds.
As mentioned above, the Series was started, in 1931, A.D. when I worked as a Founder-Director of the Singhi Jain Chair in Viśvabhārati Shantiniketan, at Singhji's request. It was, then, our aspiration to put the Singhi Jain Chair and the Singhi Jain Series on a permanent basis and to create a centre at Viśvabharati for the studies of Jain cult in difference to the wishes of the late Poet Rabindranath Tagore. But unfor