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It is with great eclat, alacrity and enthusiasm that I write about Shri Bhanwarlal Nahata, a savant and sage, and a store-house of knowledge on Jainism. Shri Nahata has the history about himself by his sheer study and critical acumen and honesty, and by his industry, perseverance and achievements. But the fame of Shri Bhanwarlal Nahata is not confined to the above things alone, he is also credited with a number of works and articles amounting to nearly 3000 composed by him for the scholarly world. He is a great connoisseur of art and culture and has an unbounded interest in creative activities.
I met Shri Bhanwarlal Nahata more than 35 years ago in his gaddi'. A tall, bald-headed man of mid-century with bright eyes and sharp looks, but gentle and sobre, received me well with his ever smiling face that tells the personality of a man. Being enchanted and bewildered by his demeanour which is inundated with commanding beauty of person and great vigour of mind, we began to talk on a subject which he handled so easily that he could be compared with any master-minded scholars of the world. I was working then on a Rajasthani manuscript, entitled 'Kanhada Kathiyara-ri Caupai'. He helped me so much in editing and getting the meaning of text that I could not express his decuman knowledge of the subject in eloquent terms. I discovered that he was a good manuscriptologist. He reads manuscripts faster than a printed book. He is a good calligraphist as well. If one has not seen him reading manuscripts, one cannot believe it. He has contributed so much from manuscripts that Jainism owes its indebtedness to him for centuries more. He has done the works of hundred scholars by himself alone.
I have been to his place thousand times for acquiring knowledge on Jainism and I have learned so much from him that I do not hesitate to call him my Jaina-siksa-guru'. It is said
ekam apy aksaram yastu guruh sesye nivedayet prthivyam nasti tad dravyam yad datva so'nrni bhavet
He is out and out a businessman and studies are his pastime pleasure job: abeunt studia in mores ( studies become ways of life ). He used to say to me that he had no formal education. By that he meant that he had no University degrees. I found him more than that. Gradually I have also discovered that a man like him does not need any University degrees. Though, it is true, he has no formal education in the University sense of the term, he has combined in himself the learning of an oriental pandit with the argus-eyed critical faculty of a modern scholar. I have seen that the University degree-holders have studied under him for solving various problems.
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