Badridas Mukeem

Statue of Rai Badridas Bahadur Mukeem at Calcutta Jain Temple.

Rai Bahadur Badridas Mukeem also referred to as Rai Badridas Bahadur Mukeem (1832–1914) was a noted jeweler, philanthropist, Jain social leader and founder of the Calcutta Jain Temple.[1][2][3]

He belonged to Shrimal Jain community and was son of Kalkadas. He migrated to Calcutta in 1853 from Lucknow and soon established himself as a leading jeweler of the town with his honesty, integrity and enterprise.[2] In 1871, Viceroy Lord Mayo appointed him the Mukeem (State Jeweller) and honoured with the title of Rai Bahadur[2][3]

He is noted for building the Calcutta Jain Temple located at Badridas Temple Steet in north Kolkata. Inspired by his mother, he purchased the whole area including the big pond and got the pond filled up and constructed there the grand and artistic famous Garden Jain Temple which is now a center of attraction of a large number of foreign and Indian tourists of Kolkata. On completion of the temple in 1867, under the instructions of Jain saint, Kalyansuriji he decided to install there the image of Bhagwan Shitalnath. In search of a suitable Jain image he traveled extensively in the country. Under a miraculous intuition, an old image was dug out from a Jain temple, buried under ground near Agra. Greatly joyous, he brought the image to Calcutta with much respect and got it installed in the temple he had built at Calcutta.[1][2]

Later, with the inspirations and cooperation of Seth Maneck Chand, J.P. of Bombay, he got closed a pig slaughter house which was opened at Shikharji. Apart from Calcutta Jain Temple, he also built Jain temples in Shikharji and Purimatal at Allahabad.[2]

He was also the member of first delegation of 36 members, which met Harcourt Butler under leadership of Madan Mohan Malviya that proposed for foundation of Benaras Hindu University in 1911.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Shivanandan Lal Dar; S. Somaskandan; Banaras Hindu University (1966). History of the Banaras Hindu University. Banaras Hindu University.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "RAI BADRIDAS - ENCYCLOPEDIA". en.encyclopediaofjainism.com. Retrieved 2016-11-24.
  3. 1 2 Calcutta (India) Municipal Corporation (1967). Calcutta Municipal Gazette Volume 86. Office of the Registrar of Newspapers. Press in India. p. 5. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Jha, T. (2015). The Inception of Banaras Hindu University: Who Was the Founder in the Light of Historical Documents?. Partridge Publishing India. ISBN 9781482852479. Retrieved 2016-11-24.
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