Calcutta Sheetalnath Jain Temple - Rai Badridas Bahadur Statue

Rai Bahadur Badridas Mookim also referred to as Rai Badridas Bahadur Mookim (1833–1913) was a noted jeweler, philanthropist, Jain social leader and founder of the

Calcutta Jain Temple Calcutta Jain Temple (also known as Parshwanath Temple) is a Jain temple at Badridas Temple Street, Gouribari in Maniktala and a major tourist attraction of Kolkata (Calcutta), India. The temple was built by a Jain named Rai Badridas Bahadoor ...

. He belonged to

Shrimal Jain Shrimal (Srimal) Jain is an ancient Jain and Hindu community originally from Rajasthan, Shrimal or Bhinmal town in southern Rajasthan. They were traditionally wealthy merchants and money lenders and were prominent at the court of Rajput kings ...

community and was son of Kalkadas. He migrated to Calcutta in 1853 from

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and soon established himself as a leading jeweler of the town with his honesty, integrity and enterprise. In 1871, Viceroy Lord Mayo appointed him the Mookim State Jeweller and honoured with the title of

Rai Bahadur RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Eco ...

He is noted for building the

located at Badridas Temple Street in north

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. 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

. 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. Later, with the inspirations and cooperation of Seth Maneck Chand, J.P. of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, he got closed a pig slaughter house which was opened at

Shikharji Shri Sammet Shikharji () is a pilgrimage site in Giridih district, Jharkhand, India. It is located on Parasnath hill, the highest mountain in the state of Jharkhand. It is the most important Jain Tirtha (pilgrimage site) by both Digambara and ...

. Apart from Calcutta Jain Temple, he also built Jain temples in Shikharji and Purimatal at Allahabad. He was also the member of first delegation of 36 members, which met

Harcourt Butler Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler (1 August 1869 – 2 March 1938) was an officer of the Indian Civil Service who was the leading British official in Burma for much of his career, serving as Lieutenant-Governor (1915–17 and 1922–23) and later Go ...

under leadership of Madan Mohan Malviya that proposed for foundation of a

Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. ...

in 1911. Rai Badridas is the founder Chairman of
Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and industry
He is also the founder of Panjrapole society and Dharamkanta of Johri Bazar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukeem, Badridas 1833 births 1913 deaths 20th-century Indian Jains Businesspeople from Kolkata Indian goldsmiths Indian jewellers Rai Bahadurs 19th-century Indian Jains 19th-century Indian philanthropists Social leaders