________________ JOHRI MAL PARIKH The great Jain Scholar who dedicated his entire life for the development of Jain and Prakrit literature expired suddenly on 5th February 1996. A Gold Medalist Chartered Accountant by profession, he renounced his profession and worldly life to dedicate himself to the cause of Jain education. He established a modest institute at Ravati (Jodhpur) named Seva Mandir and continued his crusade for restoring to the Jain studies its due place in the academic world. Very laboriously he established a library at Jodhpur and persuaded the local Jain community to start country's first ever graduate course in Jain studies at the Jodhpur University. He was attached to almost all the Jain organisations and was perhaps the only person who was respected and loved by all the four sects of the Jains. He appealed to the entire Jain community to come forward and contribute for preserving their rich intellectual and spiritual heritage. This resulted into a monumental project undertaken by the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute under which an Encyclopedic Dictionary of Prakrit is being compiled and edited under the general editorship of a great scholar Prof. Ghatge. The first fascicule of the project has already appeared. Another outstanding contribution of Johari Mal Ji was the publication of catalogues of manuscripts contained in the Jain Bhandaras of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. He will be long remembered for his role in inspiring the Jain community and mobilising support from the Central Government to establish a Prakrit Academy at New Delhi. Apart from his exemplary dedication to Jain education he was a great Sadhak himself who lived an extremely simple and austere life. All through his renounced life he wore only two unstitched clothes. A living legend of self-control, he took food only once in two days and used to eat a maximum of five food items contained in a sinall bowl and that too only while standing. While Mahatina Gandhi used to save envelopes for writing purposes, Johri Mal Ji would use each and every piece of paper thoroughly for writing. He used to speak only during a day time and observed mauna from dusk to dawn. Such an inspiring saint, educationist and scholar will be always remembered not only by the Jain community but by the entire society. J. B. Shah for 10894
