Pandit Nathuram Premi

(26.11.1881 – 30.1.1960)

Can a man's handwriting change his future? Yes it can. It changed Pandit Nathuram Premi's future and the history of Hindi language publishing in India. It was Pandit Premiji's handwriting that took him to Bombay, the city where he was to meet his mentor, Pannalal Bakhliwal, and where he was to start his own publishing firm and the first bookshop in Bombay, Hindi Grantha Ratnakara Karyalaya and where later, in the memory of Seth Manikchandra, he was to start the Manikacandra Jaina Granthamala. His contribution to Jain and Hindi literature through his own writings, as well as through his work in translation and publishing remains unsurpassed. A man of firm beliefs and strong principles, he used his editorship of the influential magazines Jain Mitra and Jain Hitai?i to advocate social reforms in the Digambara Jain community to which he belonged and the publication of the Digambara Jain scriptures.

Born on 26 November 1881 in Devari, in the district of Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, Nathuram Premi was the eldest child of Tundelal Modi, a travelling merchant of modest means, belonging to the Paravar caste of Digambara Jains, hailing from Bundelkhand. Premiji studied in grammar school and was the monitor of his class. He cleared his pre-high school exams in 1898 and became a schoolteacher nearby at Rehli. Inspired by his guru Syed Amir Ali Mir, Premiji became a budding poet who wrote in Urdu and Braj. Premiji often said that he was not a spontaneous poet. His command of rasa, ala?kara and pi?gala gave him the impetus to write poetry, and his mastery of Sanskrit grammar would help him greatly in future as well. Young Nathuram wrote under the nom de plume of "Premi". His poems were published in the literary magazines of the time, Rasika Mitra, Rasika Va?ika and Kavya Sudhakara, but unfortunately, his poems are no longer available.

In the 1890s, he married Rama Devi, who was from the nearby village of Sarkheda, in the district Sagar. They led a very happy married life. Premiji, a staunch supporter of women's empowerment, regarded Rama Devi as a close friend and took great interest in educating her. In 1901, the Digambara Jain Tirthak?etra Committee, situated in Bombay, released an advertisement for an office clerk. Premiji sent in an application for the post, and his beautiful handwriting won the job for him. He arrived in Bombay in 1901, and started working for the Digambara Jain Tirthak?etra Committee as a clerk. (2) His efficiency and honesty soon ensured that he was running the entire office. From accounts, and correspondence, to general administration and handling the safe, everything was entrusted to him.

Competence breeds jealousy. The all round competence and hardworking ethics of Premiji made his co-workers insecure. Hence, a false complaint was made against Premiji alleging that he was not completely honest in his bookkeeping. Premiji insisted that his books be audited. When the books and cash where tallied, it was found that there was some cash in excess. This was because Premiji, who had begun taking on translation jobs, would keep his own earnings also in the office safe. Premiji's name was cleared, but he decided not to work for anyone who would question his honesty. He decided to quit and start out on his own. The owner of Hirabaug, Seth Manikchandra, had seen Premiji and was impressed by his honesty, diligence and intellect. He asked Premiji to take up rooms at the Hirabaug Dharmashala at the heart of the Bombay market and start his business from there. He accepted the offer and together with Pannalal Bakhliwal started the Jain Grantha Ratnakara Karyalaya in 1906.

While he was working for the Digambara Jain Tirthak?etra Committee, Premiji also edited Jain Mitra, making it one of the most influential Jain magazines of that era. It became known as a progressive magazine, sound on Jain siddhanta but willing the community to change with the times and give up its orthodoxy. Premiji's editorials on Jain history were much appreciated. In fact, Jain Mitra became a masthead for all those who wanted the Jain community to move forward and who were known as the sudharavadi as opposed to the conservatives, the ru? hivadi. Premiji was at the epicentre of this movement for social freedom, universal progress and modern education. He also began advocating the remarriage of Jain widows. This was unheard of in the conservative Jain community of that time and there was much opposition. But other Jain reformers, such as K?ullaka Ganeshprasadji Varni of Bundelkhand, publicly backed Premiji. In 1914, Premiji and Varniji both addressed a rally at Sonagiri, a Digambara Jain place of pilgrimage in Bundelkhand, where they publicly declared their support for widow remarriage.

Pandit Premiji was the first Jain scholar of the 20th century to carry out a critical study of Jain history. He was the inspiration for the Svetambara stalwarts Pandit Sukhlal Sanghvi and Muni Jinavijaya who carried out immensely important studies on Jainism. Pandit Sukhlalji and Muni Jinavijayaji, along with Pandit Becharadasji Doshi, Pandit Agarchand Nahata and Dr Dalsukh Malvania acknowledged their debt to Premiji in a festschrift dedicated to him.(4). Premiji's festschrift, Premi Abhinandana Grantha, edited by the Vedic scholar Dr Vasudev Sharan Aggarwal, was the first such work in the Jain community. An incident during the formal launch of it provides an insight into Premiji's character. The 1946 Premi Abhinandana Grantha, with messages written by Indian luminaries such as Sir Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Purushottamdas Tandon and Kaka Kalelkar, was to be formally launched in Calcutta, and a grand luncheon was to mark the occasion. Premiji opposed the idea of a festschrift in his honour and had to be prevailed upon to go to Calcutta. But when he heard of the luncheon, he refused to attend; in that year, Bengal had suffered a famine and Premiji could not accept the invitation for a grand luncheon when there were thousands of people dying of starvation.

While still the editor of the Jain Mitra, Premiji also started editing classics such as the Banarasavilasa, Daulatapadasa?graha, Jinasataka, etc. His work on the Ardha Kathanaka was ready in 1912 - 1913, (5) but the book was not printed until 1943 as it was Premiji's policy to publish other scholars' works before his own. Premiji was adept at several languages. One of his mentors, Pannalal Bakhliwal, taught him Bengali, the language of Tagore, and on his own, he studied and mastered Gujarati and Marathi. His Sanskrit background helped him to learn Prakrit and Apabhramsa, also on his own. Premiji, became known for his command of languages as well as grasp of Jain siddhanta, and was flooded with translation work. At the behest of the ?rimad Rajacandra Granthamala, he translated from Gujarati into Hindi Srimad Rajacandra's Mok?amala. This translation was unique in that he translated the prose segments into prose and the poetry into verse form. He also translated Acarya Am?tacandra's Puru?arthasiddhyupaya from Sanskrit to Hindi.

All along, Premiji unwaveringly continued to edit the Jain Mitra. In 1912, (6) he founded the Jain Hitai?i, a Jain magazine with a reformist and questioning approach. Jain Hitai?i was known for the forthright views of its editorials and academically sound articles on Jain history, culture and society. Premiji's scholarly articles on Jain history were trend setters which paved the path for the academic study of Jainism by lay Indian scholars in the 20th century. His Jain Sahitya aur Itihas, a collection of articles that he wrote for Jain Mitra and Jain Hitai?i, set the benchmark for scholarly research into Jain history. He later re-edited these articles and produced a compilation, first published in 1942, and a second edition in 1956. His grandson Yashodhar's wife Vijayalakshmi helped him with the second edition. He had taught her Sanskrit, Bengali and Marathi, and she was to help him greatly by proofreading his writings.

Premiji also edited and published Ardha Kathanaka, Banarasivilasa and many other Digambara Jain works, including Kundakunda's Barasa A?uvekkha. On 24 September 1912, Premiji founded the publishing house Hindi Grantha Ratnakara Karyalaya (now known as Hindi Grantha Karyalaya), which was to become the foremost Hindi publishing house in India and also the oldest bookstore in Bombay. The first publication was a Hindi translation of John Stuart Mill's Liberty, titled Svadhinata. The Hindi translation was by Pandit Mahavir Prasad Dvivedi, whose Hindi magazine Sarasvati was regarded by Premiji as the benchmark for Hindi quarterly publications. Hindi Granth Karyalay became synonymous with the best Indian literature. He published almost the entire oeuvre of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyaya, the great Bengali writer and some works of Rabindranath Tagore, such as A?kh ki Kirkiri, and Nauka Dubi. Apart from publishing Hindi translations of these Bengali classics, Premiji also published Hindi translations of the Gujarati writer KM Munshi, such as Gujarat ke Nath and Pata? ka Prabhutva. Premiji and Munshi Premchand were close friends, and he published the first edition of Munshi Premchand's classic novel, Godan. Apart from Godan, Premiji published Premchand's short story collections entitled Nava Nidhi and Sapta Saroj.

Premiji was always keen on publishing the work of new writers including Hajariprasad Dvivedi, Jainendrakumar, Yashpal, Acharya Chatursen, and Pandit Sudarshan. He also published the Bengali plays of Dvijendra Lal Rai for the first time in Hindi. In memory of Seth Manikchandra, Premiji established the Manikacandra Jaina Granthamala wherein he published Jain scriptures, for the first time systematically edited by philologists. The Manikacandra Jaina Granthamala published over 40 Digambara Jain texts, mostly written in Prakrit, Apabhramsa or Sanskrit. Premiji ran the Manikacandra Jaina Granthamala on an honorary basis between 1915 and the 1950s. All the books were sold at cost. When his health began to fail, it was decided to hand over the series to Bharatiya Jñanapi?ha in Varanasi. After that, the series came to a halt. None of its books are available today. Even getting photocopies of all the books is difficult in India. A great treasure has been lost through neglect and modern man's apathy towards religious knowledge.

Premiji lived his life at the vanguard of the Indian Renaissance Movement which began in Bengal and heralded an unprecedented upsurge in education, in the printing and publishing of classical Indian, medieval and modern literature, health care reforms, and the introduction and acceptance of sweeping social changes that awakened India from a sleepy nation rooted in the middle ages into the rapidly growing industrial and economic power that she is today. Hindi Granth Ratnakar Karyalay became India's No. 1 publishers of Hindi literature. At that time, nationalism and patriotism were peaking and Hindi was not merely a non-local language, it was a symbol of Indian patriotism and defiance in the face of British imperialism. Very appropriately then, the acclaimed Hindi novelist Vishnu Prabhakar called Premiji the "Bhi?ma Pitamaha" of Hindi publishing. Premiji lived a long life studded with literary and scholarly achievements. He had suffered from asthma for a long time and passed away owing to old age on 30 January, 1960. He left behind his daughter-in-law and two grandsons. His elder grandson Yashodhar Modi is continuing his legacy along with his son Manish Modi. In Premiji's memory, his grandson Yashodhar Modi has started the Pandit Nathuram Premi Research Series. This series has published select volumes focusing on subjects as varied as Jainism, philosophy and yoga and published scholars such as Premiji himself, Ludwig Alsdorf, Maurice Bloomfield, Padmanabh Jaini, Nalini Balbir, Willem Bollée, Jaykumar Jalaj and Hermann Kuhn. Original texts by ancient and medieval Jain ascetics such as Kundakunda, Samantabhadra, Umasvati, Pujyapada, Joindu, Prabhacandra, Bhaskaranandi, Jinabhadragani, Vadiraja and many others have been published in this series.

-----------------------------------------------------

Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
www.jainsamaj.org
R250210