Spiritual, Selfless, Scholar
Aakhe des kamai keerat, naam ‘Nahata’ dhanya kiyo
Bikaner basayo Bika, Te pan teerath dhaam kiyo.
Dhanya Chunni Bai, jisne sut jaya Agarchand
Hai Nahata, Nahata satpath se, gir gaye visham vikral bandh.
Birth: Agarchand Nahata was born on Krishna Chaturthi of Hindu calendar month of Chaitra in Samvat 1967 (The Gregorian Calendar year 1911).
Death: Agarchand left for heavenly abode on Krishna Chaturdashi in the month of Paush in samvat 2039 (English year 1983).
Family: His father Shankardan, a native of Bikaner belonged to ‘Nahata’ gotra (clan). His mother’s name was Chunni Bai. They had eight children-six sons and two daughters.
Costumes and Appearance: Simplicity was Agarchand Nahata’s prime jewel. His clothes were simple and traditional. A clean white ‘dhoti’ (unstitched loin cloth tied around waste), a long jacket adorning white cotton shaw and Marwari pagri (turban) and Juti. Yet, impressive body features including a prominent forehead, serene but introspecting eyes, dense eyebrows, beautiful corpulent nose, ears indication of a great man, big egoless moustache and a majestic face, created an awesome aura around his personality, even in this simple clothing
Schooling: Nahata entered in school on Aksshya Tritiya. He completed his primary education from ‘Jain Pathshala.’ Unfortunately, Nahata’s school education ended prematurely in the sixth class.
His Rajasthani attire and tender and affectionate personality reminded of a couplet sung a ‘Charan’ (People who sing songs in praise of their patrons):
Tan Choka Man Ujla, bheetar rakhe bhav
Kinkakuran chitve, taku rang chadhava.
Marriage: Agarchand’s engagement to Panni Bai, daughter of Morsidas Sethia of Gangashehar who originally hailed from village Melania took placein samvat 1981(English year 1936). Almost a year later on Aashadh Krishna 12th of samvat 1982 (English year 1937), they got married. They had two children Dharamchand and Vijaychand.
The memorable year: The samvat 1984 (English year 1937), is of highest importance in Nahata’s life. He discovered a purpose of life. Quest for knowledge replaced desire of accumulating wealth. Materialistic pleasures became meaningless as, beauty of eternity and divinity dawned upon him. What triggered this sudden change was a chance meeting with great Jain saint, Acharya Shri Jinkripachand Suri when he came to Bikaner and stayed Nahata family.
This provided him a great opportunity to do something meaningful with his life. While, seeds of knowledge and spiritualism were already there in his heart what required was someone who could nurture them. In that sense, Acharya Suri became catalyst and a guiding light. Acharya Suri’s sermons and his impressive personality encouraged Nahata toward the path of knowledge and spiritualism.
Nahata now transformed into a inquisitive student and immersed himself in research and books. He became a renowned thinker.
Devotion for learning: There is an old say that there have been many addiction in the world but two of them are the best –education and veneration of god.
Vyasnani santi bahudha, vyasan dwaymev kevalm vyasnam
Vidya vyasnam vyasnam athva haripad sevanam vyasnam
Agarchand Naht had an unmatched obsession for learning. Everyday, he would spend 10 hours in reading, meditation and thinking. What could be a better example of his love for education than the world famous institute ‘Abhay Jain Granthalaya’, which he created single handedly?
This library has more than 40000 rare manuscripts and a similar number of printed books. Apart from that he also established ‘Shankardan Nahata Kala Bhawan’, which has a collection of rare paintings, coins, sculptures and other artworks.
Both are an invaluable asset of the country. And, the remarkable thing was that he built it with out any government support. “Collection and perseverance of ancient and artistic things is very important. They are essential to gather information about ancient culture,” he used to say.
But, his passion was not just limited to mere collection of books rather he was an avid writer himself. He wrote and edited 40 books. More than 5000 articles were published in over 300 magazines. Many magazines appointed him editor or member of editorial board. Rajasthani, Rajasthan Bharti, Vishambhara, Parampra, Maru Bharti, Varda, Anveshan and Vaichariki were some of the prominent magazines which came out under his editorship. He also got published 25 books from ‘Abhay Jain Granthalaya’ and 9 from ‘Rajasthan Sahitya Parishad.’
Nahata also became a guide for hundreds of research students and thousands other received important information and study material from him. He also served as invigilator for researchers.
Nahata was unfortunate for leaving formal education in the early stages yet his love and devotion for knowledge was exemplary. In Dashrath Ojha’s words, “Nahata’s acquaintance of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apbhransh and Rajasthani reminds of great Acharya Hemchandra who had good command over these languages. Nahata deeply studied Jain, Buddhist, Shankar, advait (monotheism), Vishishtadvaita, and shuddhadvaita philosophies along with saints like Kabir’s Nirguna worship and Sufism.”
Though, according to Ojha, the biggest contribution of Nahata was his discovery of more than hundred books in Apbhransh and Hindi languages, which were somehow unknown to the people. Nahata’s efforts revived the forgotten ‘Raaso Tradition (A poem containing the exploits of a king in details).’ He published historical ‘Raaso’ to bring forth invaluable hidden treasure of ‘Raas Literature.’ He inspired analytical study of ‘Raas.’
Exception Memory: Agarchand Nahata had a profound memory but he also had a very good habit of taking notes if he spotted a new book in a library or a museum. While visitng other cities, he would invariably go to the museum there. And, there he would scribble down on small piece of paper or take a mental note of name of the book and its author along with the year in which it was written.
Religious: Nahata was deeply religious man. He was very much influenced by Acharya Shri Jin Kripachandra Suri’s sermons on asceticism and monasticism. When, Acharya Suri was in Bikaner, Nahata took a vow before Acharya to give up few things in his life. He said no to gambling, meat, alcohol, other woman, dinner, honey, drugs and accumulating wealth of more than Rs 5 lakh etc. It reflects his religious inclination. From a very young age of 18 years, he was leading the life of a ‘Shravak’ (strictly following Jain principles).
Nahata was very fond of religious travels. Some how he would find time for visits to religious places like Patan, Pondicherry, Kolkata and Kanchipuri. He was a secular and liberal person. Though a Jain by birth, he was an embodiment of sarv dharma sambhav. He respected each and every faith and their saints without any distinction. “We should not look at colour, regardless of the colour, if the cloth is pure and pious, it deserves our respect,” Nahata would say.
Hard Working: He was an assiduous man. In the word of Dr. Kanhaiya Lal Sahal, “Nahata’s relentless working has opened my eyes. I used to thing of myself very hardworking and disciplined in reading and writing. However, I am surprised by Nahata’s grueling regimen. I have never seen him taking rest after meal. From 4 o’clock in morning till 10 o’clock in the night there is regular work at his place. Every day hours are spent in writing letters. Almost 100 write ups would be ready for dispatching to magazines while new ones were being written.”
Vidya shastra vinoden, kalo gatchchti dheemtam
Vyasane tu murkhanam, nidrya kalhen ch.
Dr Manohar Sharma said, “Nahata was very industrious man. One day, after meeting some friends, I reached ‘Abhay Jain Granthalaya’ at around 11pm. There, I saw Nahata busy reading surrounded by heaps of books. I was astonished to see his commitment and concentration. The entire Bikaner was in deep slumber while this disciple of literature was immersed in his work.”
Social service: Nahata liberally helped other institutions. He prepared a catalogue of 10000 ancient handwritten scriptures for Vrihatkharatghach Jain Gyan Bhandar. Similarly, he contributed in cataloguing of more than 100000 ancient books for Shri Jindutt Suri Gyan Bhandar and Upadhyaya Jai Chandra Gyan Bhandar.