Risht Samucchaya

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

Page 21

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to the Jain Dharma Pracharak Sabha, Manbhum 5,000/. to the Jain Bhavan, Calcutta, 15,000/.
to the Jain Pustak Prachar Mandal, Agra, 7,500/.
to the Agra Jain Temple 3,500/.
to the Ambala Jain High School, 2,100/.
for the Prakrit Kosh 2,500/.
to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan 10,000/.
At the Singhi Park Mela held in Decembar, 1941, at his Ballyganj residence in which Viscount Wavell, then Commander-in-Chief and Lord John Herbert, Governor of Bengal and Lady Herbert participated, he donated Rs. 41,000/. for the Red Cross Fund.
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Really speaking, he did not in the least hanker after name and fame even though he was a multi-millionaire and a big Zamindar, and even though he was a man of superior intellect and energy. He was by nature taciturn and a lover of solitude. Art and literature were the pursuits of his choice. He was very fond of seeing and collecting rare and invaluable specimens of ancient sculpture, painting, coins, copperplates, inscriptions, manuscripts, etc. He spent all his spare time in secing and examining the rarities which he had collected in his room as well as in reading. He was seldom seen outside and he rarely mixed with society and friendly circles. Wealthy persons like himself usually have a number of fads and hobbies such as seeing the games and races, visiting clubs, undertaking pleasure trips etc., and they spend enormously over them, but Singhiji had none of these habits. Instead of wasting money on such things, he spent large sums on collecting ancient things and valuable curios and on the preservation and publication of important literature. Donations to institutions and charities to individuals were, for the most part given by him anonymously. I know it from my own experience that these gifts, donations and charities reach a very high figure at the end of every year. But he was so modest that on his being requested so often by me he did not show the least inclination to part with the names and whereabouts of the individuals and institutions that were the recipients of such financial aid from him. By chance I came to know of a very recent example, just now, indicative of this characteristic of his nature. In the year 1941 he shifted,