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The
family of Raja Gokuldas immigrated to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, earlier known
as Central Provinces, from Jaiselmer in Rajasthan between 1750 and 1800 AD. This
hardworking and entrepreneurial Marwari
family soon became one of the richest in India and had an empire spanning the
country. Their businesses included malguzari,
banking, trading and industries with offices from Bombay to Rangoon.
The
real life story of the family can make the story of the most dramatic Hollywood
or Bollywood movie shy. Raja
Gokuldas became a merchant king, with a simple, hardworking and religious life.
His son Jiwandas was honoured with the title of Diwan Bahadur and had the
lifestyle of a prince, with over a hundred cars, dozens of horses, numerous
carriages and several luxurious bunglows & villas at his disposal. Though
Jiwandas always respected his father, they were always at loggerheads over their
respective life styles. Thereafter, Seth Govinddas, son of Jiwandas and grandson
of Raja Gokuldas, rebelled openly against his father and joined the Indian
freedom movement relinquishing all his family property and wealth. Seth
Govinddas shunned all the comforts of a noble family and was arrested and jailed
by the British several times for his contribution to the freedom movement. He
was an extremely learned man having read thousands of books, including the
ancient Indian scriptures. He wrote dozens of plays and books and, after
Independence, was a life Member of the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian
parliament. Over the last about three centuries, the family’s contribution to business, public works, charity, freedom struggle, literature and nation building is incomparable to anyone else in this part of the country. Several dharmshalas, hospital, town hall, water reservoirs, etc, etc have been built with support from them. Over one hundred and fifty titles in Hindi and English have been published on diverse subject viz. Mythology, history, travel, social problems, etc. Active pursuit and representation in the executive for promotion of Hindi language, establishment of government institutions in the region and overall development has been done by leaders from the family. |
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