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.
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.
Inspiration: The three and a quarter couplets that transformed ‘Nahata’ into ‘Nahata’ as people know him are the following ones:
A. Karat karat abhyas ke, jadmati hote sujan
Rasri aawat jaat hai, sil par parat nisan
The meaning: With regular practice even a dull person can become intelligent just like the continuous fraction by a cord creates a mark on the stone. We all know this couplet but Nahata literally imbibed through out his life. Though, unable to complete formal education Nahata with sheer hard work and rigorous practice mastered Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apbhransh, Maagdhi, Gujarati and Rajasthani.
B. Kaal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab
Pal mai parlay hoyegi, bahuri karego kab
The meaning: What you plan to do tomorrow do it today and what you want to do it today do it right now there will be not time for eating when the world is going to end in a second.
C. Re maan! Apphu khanch kari, chinta jaal mappadi
Phal tittau hij pamisai, chittau lihau liladi.
The meaning: Keep your wishes under control; don’t worry too much about them. You would get at least what is in your fate.
D. Ek Saadhe sab sadhe.
The meaning: One should not try to do every thing at a go. If one becomes master in one thing everything falls in line.
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
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.’