Jain Journal 1976 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 11

JANUARY, 1976
but inevitable that he would see his dream fructified in his son. Puran Chand was given his first education at home on Jaina precepts and rituals, along with vernacular training, which was the fashion of the day. Having completed this initial education, Puran Chand joined his father's school as a young scholar and passed the Entrance Examination of the Calcutta University in 1891. In 1893, he passed the First Arts from Baharampur College and in 1895 he took the B. A. degree from the Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1903, he took his degree in Law and joined the Bar at
arampur. Needless to mention that Puran Chand was the first graduate and first lawyer from the Jaina Community of Bengal. In 1908, he passed the M.A. Examination in Pali and became an examiner and paper setter in Hindi for Matriculation, I.A. and B.A. examinations of the Calcutta University.
In 1908, young Puran Chand shifted to Calcutta and joined the District Court of 24 Parganas. With a view to follow the profession of Solicitor in the Original side of the High Court, he became an articled clerk under Hon'ble Bhupendra Nath Basu. Finally, however, he decided for the Appellate side, passed the Chamber Examination and was enrolled as a Vakil of the High Court in 1914. But the legal profession could not absorb him for the whole time and gradually Vakil Puran Chand drifted to the wider field of reform and learning where he made himself most useful. It is interesting to note here that there was hardly any institution in the field of education and research at that time with which he was not associated or of which he was not a member. To name a few such institutions, they were Court of the Benares Hindu University ; Calcutta University ; Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona ; Jaina Swetambar Education Board, Bombay ; Jaina Sahitya Samsodhak Samaj, Poona ; Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland ; Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta ; Bangiya Sahitya Parisad, Calcutta ; Nagri Pracarini Sabha, Benares ; Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Patna ; Kamrup Anusandhan Samiti, Assam , India Society, London ; Sanskrit Mahamandal, Calcutta ; Sanskrit Parisad, Calcutta ; Sangit Parisad, Calcutta ; Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta ; Bharat Kala Parisad, Benares ; Archaeological Department and Historical Records Commission (1923). After the death of Puran Chand in 1936, Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee wrote on July 6, 1936, in the proceedings of the monthly meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal :
"Mr. Nahar's erudition was recognised far and wide... His favourite studies were in connection with the history and civilisation of ancient India in general and Jainism in particular, and in consequence