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37. Dr. Nemichandra Shastri
Dr. Nemichandra Shastri was a sea of knowledge in real sense. He has been a devotee of the goddess of learning (Saraswati) for the whole of his life. He was a master in Indian philosophy, Astrology, ancient and middle age history of Jainism, grammar of Prakrit and Sanskrit languages and literature. He is considered to be an outstanding personality of the Jain world of present age.
Birth and Childhood: The Dhaulpur village of Rajakhed District in Rajasthan is the meeting place of Vedic and Jain cultures. Rajasthan is particularly known for giving great warriors and famous kings. Shri Ratanlalji was well known in the surrounding are for his religious fervor and piety. His son Shri Balvirlalji was leading happy family life with his Shri Javitribai. A brilliant child was born to them in the morning in 1915 AD. The child was the only issue to the couple and hence he was very much loved in the family. The father Shri Balvirlalji, however, expired when this child was of only two years of age and hence his maternal uncle Dayaram brought up the child. The child was very clever in study. He was especially skillful in arithmetic. After completion of his secondary, it was decided to send the boy to Kashi for further study. The boy faced many troubles but did his study well. He obtained degrees in the oriental studies of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Religion, literature, spiritual logic, astrology etc at the age of only 24. He was now holding the degrees of Nyaya Tirth, Jyotish Tirth and Kavya Tirth.
Family Life and Teaching Activities: He married to Sushilabai, daughter of Shri Chiranjilal, resident of Agra in 1939 after having been betrothed in 1936. He had now the responsibility of maintaining the family. One gentleman named Mangalsen appointed him as a teacher in night school of Aara to teach religious subjects at the salary of Rs.30 per month. Here, he could get the advantage of the company and spiritual discourses with celibate Chandabai. He had triple duties of perform here: Teaching Sanskrit at Jain Balashram in daytime, teach religious subjects at night in one Pathshala (school for religious learning) and then to work as the Head of library at Siddhanta Bhavan.
Government Service and Resignation: He was performing these triple duties very well and hence he was much popular in the whole village. By and by he increased his own studies and made sure his basis of future greatness. With the advice of some of his friends, he accepted service in the Education Department of Bihar Government and now he had to stay at Sultanpur near Bhagalpur. Nemichandraji was a man of self-respect and he could not suit himself with the domination of officers and routing work of office. He, therefore, resigned from the service and came back to his original field at Aara. He engaged himself day and night in Siddhanta Bhavan to finish his remaining life work.
Devotion for Learning and Service to Literature: Nemichandraji studied continuously and obtained the degrees of Shastri, Jyotish-Acharya, Sahitya Ratna, M.A., Ph.D., and D.Litt. He was, thus, truly a sea of knowledge by now. He was appointed Head Professor at the Jain College of Aara in 1955. He was nor determined to propagate the Jain principles with the help of his wide knowledge. In this work he could get full co-operation and help from Dr. Rajaram Jain and Pandit Bhujbali Shastri and then the Jain Siddhanta Bhavan of Aara in Bihar became a famous research and study place of all-India culture, art and literature. A grand diamond jubilee celebration of this Siddhanta Bhavan of Aara was held in 1963 with the inspiration and encouragement of Dr. Nemichandra Jain.
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