Appendix 2 - Jain Antiquities from P.C.Nahar Collection, Kolkata

During last few years I have extensively explored different parts of ancient Bengal. This led to the documentation of an amazing repertoire of archaeological sites/settlements including huge sculptural as well as architectural remains, some known and some new discoveries. In this collection, Jain sculptural and architectural remains are plenty in numbers and most of them have been recorded from the different river valleys of the present study area and the core area is the eastern fringe of the Chhottanagpur plateau region. These abundance Jain antiquities indicate that Jainism was strongly survived in the different parts of ancient Bengal up to the 14^th century.

During the exploration, I also visited and documented some collections of artefacts housed in the local museums as well as personal collection. Here again the Jain sculptural remains are in good number. In Kolkata P.C.Nahar has good collection of stone sculptures of different religious ideologies and according to available information these images were collected from the Murshidabad as well as adjoining area of south Bihar plain. Among his collection Jain sculptures are really iconographically wonderful and deserved special attention. I have not included these images in the present research, however, I think it is truly necessary to discuss these Jain images specially and in the present appendix, I have tried to highlight the iconographic details of the Jain images with individual photographs.

Before discussing the iconographic details of the said images I would like to highlight about the Late Puran Chand Nahar, who was a well-known scholar and antiquarian, a man of wide culture, and a true gentleman. Mr. Nahar came from the Nahal's of Azimganj in Murshidabad District, Bengal, a family distinguished not only in Bengal but also the rest of India for its public spiritedness and its devotion to learning and culture, particularly in connection with Jainism. He was born in 1875 and took his B. A. degree from the Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1895, and was the first graduate and lawyer among the' Jains in Bengal, who are engaged mainly in banking and trade. In 1908 he became an M.A. of the University of Calcutta, and in 1914 he joined the High Court in Calcutta as a Vakil.

Mr. Nahar took a very keen interest in public activities of various kinds, educational, social, and cultural. He was prominent in his own community as a social reformer. For a long time he was connected with the University of Calcutta as an examiner for its various examinations. He was a member of the Benares Hindu University Court representing the Jain Swetambar community of India. His favorite studies were in connection with the history and civilization of ancient India in general and Jainism in particular, and in consequence he was a member of many Oriental and Indological Societies in India and abroad. He joined the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1908 and he was made an Honorary Correspondent of the Archeological Survey of India. He also served the community in the capacity of an Honorary Magistrate in Murshidabad, a Commissioner of the Azimganj Municipality, and a Member of the Murshidabad District Board.

Mr. Nahar' was a distinguished Scholar of Sanskrit and Prakrit and published a number of books and papers in English, Bengali and Hindi. His 'Jain Inscriptions' in three volumes is a corpus of over 3000 inscriptions from all parts of India, and is valuable for Jain history and epigraphy. He was joint author of an ‘Epitome of Jainism', a comprehensive work on the history and philosophy of that religion.