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No. 11
A Noble Server of the Noble Cause
and highly ancient system with its votaries distributed all over the land and amongst all classes. In every age, they have had contributed their own quota to the cultural advancement of the country and to the building up of its history.
After the great Indian struggle for Independence in 1857, there was a general awakening in India. A new era had dawned bringing in its train movements for social and religious reforms, political conciousness, civic sense, education and literacy, the need of popularising studies of ancient literature, preservation, restoration and publication of old manuscripts and monuments, and encouraging deeper studies, investigation and research work in the various branches of Indian learning and culture. Fortunately, the Jains too did not lag behind their fellow countrymen in this revolutionary epoch of reconstructing the nation's destiny, and in keeping pace with the march of time. The credit really goes to about a dozen or 80 towering personalities who in the first half of the last hundred years made the present Jaina community what it is. No doubt, they were also the product of their own age, and a horde of lesser men too made their contributions which were by no means small or insignificant. Yet if we survey the history of the Jaina community in the past hundred years, it will easily be found to resolve itself into the biographies of those few eminent servers of the cause of progress.
And the late Babu Deokumar of Arrah occupies a very promi. nent place in that galaxy of the makers of present Jaina community. He came of a highly respectable Zamindar and Rais family of Arrah (Bihar). His grandfather was the wellknown Pt. Prabhudas and his father's name was B. Chandra Kumar. B. Deokumar was born in 1876 and of an early age inherited his patrimony. But unfortunately he could not enjoy a long life and met a premature death when he was barely thirty one years of age, in 1907. Though he died 80 young, the things that he achieved in 80 short a span of life are marvellous and bear testimony to his ardeous zeal, selfless devotion and high intellectual powers. He was ordinarily well educated and was quite at home in English, Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu and Hindi. He was such an ardent lover of education that he wanted to get an example through his beloved younger brother Dharma Kumar but
