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Muni Jinavijayaji
Under the auspices of Thakkar Vasanji Madhavji Vyakhyanamaja, he had delivered a series of lectures at the invitation of the Bombay University. He was awarded Padmagri by the Government of India in 1963. He had the rare honour of presiding over the Religion and Philosophy section in the conference organized by the Gujarat Sahitya Parishad and held under the Presidentship of Gandhiji. He conducted ably the proceedings of the Gujarat Itihasa Parishad as its honoured President. But the greatest honour ever done to an Indian was given to him by the German Oriental Society by nominating him as its member when the seat fell vacant by the demise of the previous member. The society has thirty members selected from different countries holding worldwide reputation as scholars who have outstanding contributions to their credit and they are nominated by a panel unanimously when the demise of a member occurs and the seat falls vacant. Being his close associate, pupil and assistant, I was the first recipient of this information from him which while giving, he had tears of gratitude and joy in his eyes, I fully remember.
Muniji was requested by the late Shri Bahadur Sinhji Singhi to be in sole. charge of the Singhi Jain Series which was inaugurated at Muniji's suggestion to commemorate the sacred memory of his departed pious father, Shri Dalchandji Singhi. The late Babu Bahadur Sinhji who was generous beyond limit not only never asked Muniji to submit an account but on the contrary, he insisted and permitted him to spend as much as he liked for the betterment of the Series.
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Muniji used to tell me a number of personal anecdotes and experiences interspersed here and there with the events and episodes of his life when we sat together in the evening, in a relaxed mood, after the day's work was over. He became suddenly so silent and did not utter even a syllable for a moment as he was so overpowered with emotion when he referred to the supremely munificent and enlightened nature of the late Babu Bahadur Sinhji. Field of research would not have so excellently developed had Muniji a gifted scholar of eminence and an indefatigable. worker and Babuji, an abridged edition of Ford and Rockfeller in India not been combined together by the benign and benevolent Destiny just in the manner of Jupiter and Moon a combination of which augurs well for the native in astrological terms.
Muniji's exteriors fully matched his royal interior. He had inspiring, dignified and respectable outside as he had pure, emotional aad forgiving inside. He was six feet and a little more in height and was neither fat nor lean though, of course he had a tilt towards lankiness. He could be fully seen only if we raised our head a little skyward. He wore a Khaddar dhoti going fairly beyond his kness but not reaching the ankles. He put on usually a silken Kafni but very rarely a shirt also. He wore black glasses having a fine frame, which enhanced his majesty. With advancing age he had introduced two more things; one, a woollen Jawahar jacket or some
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