Nathuram Premi

Pt. Nathuram Premi
Pt. Nathuram Premi
Born	26 November 1881 Deori, Sagar, (Bundelkhand), Madhya Pradesh
Died	30 January 1960 (1960-01-31) (aged 78) Mumbai, Maharashtra
Occupation	Writer, Publisher, Poet, Editor, Linguist and Scholar; Thinker and Social Reformer
Spouse(s)	Rama Devi

Nathuram Premi (in Hindi – नाथूराम प्रेमी) was a writer, publisher, poet, editor, linguist and an intellectual giant in the field of Jainism as well as Hindi literature. A budding poet, he wrote under the nom de plume of "Premi". Although belonging to the Digambara sect of Jainism, he adopted a non-sectarian attitude and published and translated many Digambara as well as Śvetāmbara works. Working as a clerk in a firm in Mumbai he rose to establish his own publishing house and bookstore Hindi Granth Ratnākar Kāryālay which published works of many of the biggest names in Indian literature, including Munshi Premchand, Hajariprasad Dvivedi, Jainendrakumar, Yashpal, Swami Satyabhakta, Sharatchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore. The bookshop and publishing house now called Hindi Granth Karyalay is now being managed by his grandson and great-grandson 100 years after its establishment.

Born on 26 November 1881 in Deori, in the district of Sagar in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nāthūrām Premī was the eldest child of Tundelal Modi, a travelling merchant of modest means, belonging to the Paravāra community of Digambara Jains hailing from Bundelkhand. He studied in grammar school and was the monitor of his class. He cleared his pre-high school exams in 1898 and became a schoolteacher nearby at Rehli. In the late 1890s, he married Rama Devi, who was from the nearby village of Sarkheda, in the district of Sagar.

In 1901, the Digambara Jain Tīrthakṣetra Committee, Mumbai, released an advertisement for an office clerk. Nāthūrām Premī sent in an application for the post and his beautiful handwriting won the job for him. He arrived in Mumbai in 1901, and started working for the Digambara Jain Tīrthakṣetra Committee as a clerk. Soon he was running the entire office – right from handling accounts and correspondence to general administration and handling the safe. However, a complaint against him resulted in the audit of his books and cash balances. When his name was cleared, Nāthūrām Premī decided not to work for anyone who questioned his honesty and quit the job. The owner of Hirabaug, Seth Manikchandra asked the young Nāthūrām Premī to take up rooms at the Hirabaug Dharmashala at the heart of the Mumbai market and start his business from there. He accepted the offer and together with Pannalal Bakhliwal started the Jain Granth Ratnākar Kāryālay in 1906.