Risht Samucchaya

Author(s): Durgadevacharya, A S Gopani
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 20

( 5 ) studious and introspective by nature. He devoted all his spare time to study and cultural development. He acquired an excellent command over several languages. Art and literature were the subjects of his choice. He was very fond of collecting rare and invaluable specimens of ancient sculpture, paintings, coins, copperplates and inscriptions. His manuscript collection contained a large number of rare works of historical and cultural importance, among which mention must be made of a unique manuscript of the Koran which was handed down from Baber to Aurangzeb and bears the autographs of all of them. His numismatic collection, especially of Kushan and Gupta coins, is considered the third best in the world. He also had a good and large collection of works of art and historical importance. Singhiji was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London), a member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, the Indian Research Institute and a Founder-Member of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He was also the President of the Jain Swetambara Conference held in Bombay in 1926. Though he had made no special study of law he was well up in legal matters. On one occasion in the Calcutta High Court when he found that even his distinguished lawyers were not properly representing his case he himself pleaded out the case successfully, much to the surprise of the opposite party who was a manager of a big European firm.
Though a highly religious and leading figure in the Jain Community he had an outlook which was far from sectarian. More than three-fourths of the six lakhs and over of his donations were for non-Jain causes. More often than not he preferred to give his assistance anonymously and he did not keep a list of his donations even when they were made in his name.
To the Hindu Academy, Daulatpur, Rs. 15,000/.
to the Taraqi-Urdu Bangala 5000/.
to the Hindi Sahitya Parishad 12,500/.
to the Vishuddhanand Sarasvati Marwari Hospital 10,000/.
to several maternity homes 2,500/.
to the Benares Hindu University 2,500/.
to the Jiaganj High School 5,000/.
to the Jiaganj London Misson Hospital 6000/.
to the Jain Temples at Calcutta and Murshidabad 11,000/.