Bruhat Katha kosha

Author(s): Harishen Acharya,
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 16

[A5] However, Babu Bahadur Singhji Singhi, worthy son of the worthy father, in order to fulfil the noble wish of the late Dalchandji Singhi, continued to help institutions like the Taina Pustaka Pracăraka Mandala, Agra; the Jaina Gurukula, Palitana; the Jaina Vidyabhavana , Udaipur etc.; and also patronized many individual scholars engaged in the publication of the Jaina literature. Besides, with a view to establishing an independent memorial foundation to perpetuate the memory of his father, he consulted our common friend, Pandit Sri Sukhlalji, Professor of Jainism in the Benares Hindu University, an unrivalled scholar of Jaina Philosophy, who had also come in close contact with the late Babu Dalchandji Singhi, and whom the latter had always held in very high esteem. In the meanwhile, Babu Bahadur Singhji Singhi incidentally met the Poet, Rabindranath Tagore, and learnt of his desire to get a chair of Jaina studies established in the
a-Bharati, Santiniketan. Out of his respect for the Poet, Sjt. Bahadur Singhji readily agreed to found the chair provisionally for three years in revered memory of his dear father, and invited me to take charge of the same. I accepted the offer very willingly, and felt thankful for the opportunity of
nding even a few years in the cultural and inspiring atmosphere of Viśva-Bhāratī, the grand creation of the great Poet Rabindranath.
During the period of 10 years of my principalship of the Gujarat Purătattva Mandir, Ahmedabad, and even before that period, I had begun collecting materials of historical and philological importance, and of folk-lore etc., which had been lying hidden in the great Jaina Bhandars of Patan, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Cambay, etc. I induced my noble friend Babu Bahadur Singhji Singhi, the great lover of literature and culture, also to start a Series which would publish works dealing with the vast materials in my possession, and also with other allied important Jaina texts and studies prepared on the most modern scientific methods. Hence the inauguration of the present Singhi Jaina Series.
Babu Bahadur Singhji Singhi is himself a great connoisseur and patron of art and culture. He has an unbounded interest in creative researches in antiquities, and has a very good collection of rare and historic paintings, manuscripts, coins, books, and jewellery. On many occasions the organisers of various exhibitions throughout India have had to call upon him for loan of his art collection, and he has gladly responded to their requests without fail. In 1931 he was the recipient of a gold medal from the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan as a mark of appreciation of his unique collection. H Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London); a member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, the Indian Research Institute, and many other similar institutions. He is also one of the Founder-members of the Bhāratiya Vidyā Bhavan, Bombay. He was one of the prominent working members of the Executive body of the "All-India Exhibition of Indian Architecture and Allied Arts and Crafts" held in Calcutta in February, 1935.
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