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Puran Chand Nahar
K. C. LALWANI
Just as the glistening surface of the monoliths of Asoka reflects the heart of the pious Buddhist king or the Taj of unsurpassed fame enshrines the pure love of Shah Jehan's heart, so the rare collection of ivory works, paintings, sculptures and books and manuscripts speaks eloquently of Mr. P. C. Nahar's great love of Indian Culture.
-Benimadhab Barua
Family is like a plant which, in the course of its growth, yields, at a certain stage, a bumper crop. The bumper crop of the Nahar family was Puran Chand Nahar who shone forth simultaneously from several fields. To the men of his own generation, he was a rare combination of scholarship with nobility, erudition with quality which goes forth in the making of a man; to the people of subsequent generations, he has become a legendary figure. Like other families of the Oswal sect (so called because the sect is said to have been born at a place named Osia in Marwar) of the Jainas, even the Nahar family is said to have originated from the Rajputs. The founder of the Nahar family is said to be one Pramar, from whom the late Puran Chand was 82nd in descent. In course of time the family broke up into branches, and the 35th descendant Ashdharji was the first to assume the title of 'Nahar' at the time of his conversion to Jainism.
Jain Education International
The family is said to have changed its seat from time to time. Ashdharji is said to have settled at Mahanagar in Bikaner where his conversion took place (660 A. D.). At its 47th generation, the family is said to have shifted to Marwar, and once again to Degan in the State of Bikaner. At its 78th generation, the head of the family, Khadag Singh incurred the wrath of the local ruler for violating a social convention at his marriage. To save his life, he was forced to flee with his young bride and settle at Agra at a safe distance. But he was not to live at Agra for long, and at the invitation of Jagat Seth (World-banker) of Mahimapur, Murshidabad, who happened to be a Jaina of the Oswal Sect and who was the treasurer of the Nawabs of Bengal and had the
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