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Ganesh Chand. It is known that the ancestral village of Shri Ganesh Chand was Kalash near Pind Dadan Khan (now in Pakistan). Shri Ganesh Chand held a respectable post in the army of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and is said to have been posted at Hari-ke-pattan, the confluence of the two rivers Sutlej and Bias, with one thousand men under his command. Later on, it appears, he gave up his job and we find him in indigent circumstances. The cause of this change is not fully known, but the general belief held is that this change was brought about by one Shri Attar Singh Sodhi. It happened like this. Shri Ganesh Chand and Shri Attar Singh Sodhi were friends and the latter used to frequent the house of Shri Ganesh Chand. When Shri Atmaramji was still a child, Shri Attar Singh studied his body features and had a prognostication that this child would become a great man in future. As Shri Sodhi was without an issue, he requested Shri Ganesh Chand to give Atmaramji to him for adoption. This request was turned down by Shri Ganesh Chand and so the two fell out. As Shri Attar Singh Sodhi was a powerful man having an access to the powers that be, he managed to implicate Shri Ganesh Chand in dacoity cases, got him declared an out-law, and had him imprisoned. But he did not succeed in getting Shri Atmaram. Shri Ganesh Chand could well foresee the bitter consequences, which the enmity of Shri Sodhi would entail, and so he entrusted Shri Atmaram to Shri Jodhamal an Oswal of Zira, who was well known to him. Shri Jodhamal proved a friend indeed and undertook to bring up Shri Atmaramji as one of his own sons and so at the young age of 12, Shri Atmaramji came to Zira, under the loving care of Shri Jodhamal. It remains to be added that Shri Ganesh Chand was not Jain. He was Khatri of Kapur clan. But as Shri Jodhamal was a Jain, Shri Atmaramji was naturally influenced by Jainism and so when the time came, he took up Jain Diksha i.e. renunciation of the world as is done by Jain monks.
BOYHOOD It appears that Shri Atmaramji did not get regular schooling in the sense it is understood now-a-days. But he was a precocious boy with good health. He could easily draw pictures and maps on the ground as is borne out by the following incidents. Playing cards were new in those days at Zira and Shri Atmaramji prepared a pack of cards himself and used to play with his friends. Once when they were doing so, an English soldier
A Brief Life Of Atma Ramji Mahraj
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